What is Gamification?
Gamification is applying the mechanisms of game to other activities such as learning and businesses, thus transferring people’s inherent behavioral patterns.
Gamification in Marketing
When gamification moved into marketing perspective, game dynamics were combined with webpages, business services, online communities, products information and promotional events; then changed audiences’ buying behaviors and successfully induced them more willing to take the initiative to participate it.
Gamification is a way of thinking. In my opinion, marketers should consider what if the game could really mean something and convey valuable information. Marketers should also learn the designing, management, the application of psychology and how it generates the happiness and satisfaction.
When gamifying marketing… I think it should be like…
GOAL: Complete the missions. → Task consumers and qualify their behaviors. Match the levels of experience according to their contribution.
For example, customer spends £10 each or share the information once, they could obtain 100 experience; 1000 EXP for regular membership, 1000 EXP for senior, 100000 EXP for VIP.
ALLOW: Earn experience under conditions. → Rules of bonus experience.
For example, customers could get experience bonus as purchasing featured products or gain certain number of followers.
REWARD: Win the respect, medal and random rewards. → Experience corresponding membership level; participating events corresponding member achievements;
Level and achievement match discounts and privileges.
For example, special VIP birthday gifts. Customers could get cash back by expending EXP…
INTERACTION: Addressing friends. → Encourage the sharing and feedbacks.
For example, purchasing with friends would be eligible for a discount. Reaching a certain time of Sharing or reposting would be reward limited-edition products.
Why Gamification?
The main purposes of marketing gamification are promoting the participation and loyalty of users. Gamifying encourages users stay on the site, patiently go through the content and fully understand the information, which in order to increase users’ viscosity, and enhance brand awareness.
After building such a system, gamification would become a more practical function rather than a simple virtual game; of course the pleasure and accomplishment it brought would be higher than other traditional participatory approaches significantly.
What is more important to the enterprises is through gamifying to guide and engage users, they will obtain the opportunities to learn and track users’ trajectory data online. In this age of big data, it is essential to analyze customers’ behaviors. The users who are willing to spend time on the site are more likely existing consumers or brand fans, by understanding their behaviors, companies could try to probe what kind of design is more likely to attract them, then targeted to innovate new products, trimming, enriching or streamline the connotation of brand, so that to achieve customer retention and increase brand loyalty.
Reference:
Werbach, K., & Hunter, D. (2012). For the win: How game thinking can revolutionize your business. Wharton Digital Press.
