You’ve probably taken part in countless forms of gamification without knowing it. Have you ever collected points after a purchase? Earned a free coffee after filling a loyalty card with stamps? Unlocked VIP content after completing a challenge? These are all examples of gamification techniques companies use to influence your purchases or build brand loyalty.
Video games have achieved levels of engagement and motivation that very few sectors have matched, and these qualities have sparked interest in game mechanics and how to apply them in everyday contexts.
What is gamification?
Gamification is the application of game-related elements and techniques (points, badges, rewards) in non-game contexts.
The main goal is to attract and motivate users by tapping into the human desire to win, in order to shorten purchase decision time, increase purchases, build brand loyalty…
To do this, players are encouraged to take part, share and interact in an activity, either individually or with the community.
What types of gamification are there?
Gamification strategies get users to take part dynamically and proactively in activities that usually require effort or are boring.
Depending on where it’s applied, there are three different types of gamification.
Internal gamification
These are game techniques and tactics applied within a company, usually not public, with users limited to the organization.
When Microsoft launched Windows 7, it did so in different countries and languages, and needed to make sure the dialog boxes were correctly translated into each language. That would have meant hiring native speakers to review all the text. Instead, it created an internal competition among all Microsoft offices around the world to find errors in those dialog boxes. There were no rewards other than being the best office and topping the leaderboard.
The result: Microsoft employees reviewed half a million dialog boxes and reported thousands of errors missed during the initial translation.
No Microsoft employee would have read dialog boxes for fun, but through this kind of gamification the company gained a real benefit through motivation.
External gamification
This is the gamification used in eCommerce, aimed at getting users involved in aspects of the company.
In 2011 Nike launched Nike+, a social network that set out to turn running into a real game. The app lets you log the kilometers you run, your heart rate, time and calories burned on every run. It then sets daily and weekly goals to keep users motivated and exercising. The app also has a social side: a community where you can challenge your friends. Points equal the distance covered in each run, with a leaderboard topped by those who train the most, so you can climb the rankings as your number of workouts grows.
With this app Nike managed to grow its number of registered users (Engagement), increase sales of running shoes (Profit) and challenge users to keep exercising (Motivation).
Social gamification
Through the introduction of play, it aims to change people’s behavior in specific areas.
It was observed that, faced with regular stairs and an escalator, the vast majority of people chose the escalator despite health advice about the benefits of taking the stairs. The idea was to make climbing the stairs fun, so the regular subway stairs were turned into a piano (sound included).
It was a resounding success: very few people didn’t try the piano staircase. By turning something ordinary into something fun, you can change how people behave.
Gamification in eCommerce
Since not all of us have Microsoft’s or Nike’s budget to invest in gamification as much as we’d like, we can use gamification elements in our own eCommerce.
Collecting points, earning rewards, competing against other users, getting special mentions for completing challenges… these are some of the concepts we can use with our customers.
MGM (Member gets a member)
Your customers can recommend you to their friends so they make a purchase or sign up. For every sign-up or purchase made by one of your friends, you or both of you can receive a reward.
The reward can be tangible (a discount, free shipping) or intangible (access to buy exclusive products).
A user is 4 times more likely to buy from your store if they were referred by a friend. The profit margin from referrals is 25% higher than from customers who arrive through other channels.
ePoints
For every purchase, every product review posted or every new customer registered, points are added to the customer’s account. These points can be redeemed for discounts, or the customer can share them with friends (who must also be customers).
Rewards
Get your customers to do something for your brand, the crazier the better, and reward those who pull it off. The reward doesn’t have to be a gift voucher or a discount on their next purchase; it can be access to VIP products visible only to the winners.
How can gamification help our eCommerce?
Today eCommerce is omnichannel, and a user will search for and compare a product before buying it. For them to end up buying it in your eShop rather than from a competitor, you need to offer more than products: you need to motivate the customer.
Actions that offer no benefit to the consumer, like signing up to your online store or reviewing products, get done thanks to gamification.
The end result: Win-Win.
Who said games were just for kids?
