What is Gamification?
Gamification is the process based on the application of game-design techniques and game principles in non-game contexts with the purpose of improving organizational productivity, results, user engagement and knowledge retention among others. This set of activities is goal centered, since behind every strategy there is a purpose that can be related to encourage people’s desire for social interaction, altruism, crowdsourcing, etc.
Gamification used in marketing strategies
As mentioned above, gamification can be used in several fields and one of them is in marketing strategies. It is useful for educating audiences about products and services as well as for attracting new clients. Moreover, companies are using it for improving their customers’ loyalty so they want to repeat and choose their brand. Engagement increases and users have a great perception of the brand and positive feelings around it. It also helps to increase people’s sense of achievement since they feel motivated to give their best and at the same time they feel rewarded.
Behind these benefits, gamification can be useful for the big amount of data that is generated. Every interaction between the user and the system is generating key information about this person including general aspects, interests or behaviors. In this way, companies can identify targets, make future predictions and offer personalized offers to keep attracting them. However, defining the right gamification marketing strategy requires time and people involvement since first is necessary to experiment and test until finding the right strategy.
Gamification Marketing examples
Loyalty reward program
It is very common for businesses to create loyalty programs for customers to reward them for sticking with the organization. These programs are gamified by design with the goal of motivating people to participate and keep buying more products. It is better to personalize the rewards based on the customer’s profile, each one of them has different needs and preferences. One of the most popular examples consists in rewarding customers with points that they can use as a significant discount on future purchases.
Content creation
Gamification can be also implemented in the content creation process as a strategy to build user engagement. Social media are not just a way of promoting our company and products, but a way to create a community and provide valuable content to them. A great example of integrating gamification can be the creation of a quiz so users can test their knowledge about brand-related topics and be entertained at the same time. It is an attractive way for them to challenge themselves while spending more time navigating.
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Competition
Another great strategy for using gamification can be running a competition between customers in order to increase sales but also interaction. Competitions create expectations and excitement and as a consequence, people keep connected in order to be updated with the status of the competition. Winners of the competition can be rewarded with something for free or a discount, but it is important to appreciate all the participants and maybe offer them a small discount. Furthermore, all the generated data can be used for future campaigns since thanks to the competition, the firm will have more detailed information about customers preferences.
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