They say the average attention span is about 8 seconds. That should mean something to your business, especially when it comes to your marketing strategy. One way to capture the attention of your audience is by leveraging gamification.
Gamification marketing involves incorporating gaming elements into a non-gaming context to improve engagement levels and encourage users to take specific actions. While the concept of gamification marketing in business is nothing new (relatively speaking), there are many strategies that can help you take your marketing to the next level.
Below are five tried and tested gamification email marketing examples you can start leveraging today!
1. Incorporate real games
When it comes to incorporating gamification marketing into your business, you don’t always have to be clever. Take the straightforward route, and try incorporating real games into your marketing strategy to see how it’s received by your audience.
Source: America’s Army
- The US army isn’t afraid to flex its proverbial guns with its war simulator. The game is meant to entice young players to consider a career in the military. If players like what they see, they can visit the military’s website to learn more about enlisting.
- The women’s subscription rental service Gwynnie Bee simulates the fun and chance of a scratch-off lottery ticket, a popular gamification marketing tactic that incorporates real world games as a way to reward email recipients and expand their brand.
2. Implement a loyalty reward program that’s also a game
Why not reward your customers for being loyal to your business by implementing a loyalty reward program? You could say loyalty reward programs are gamified by design.
The more money your customers spend on your goods and services, the more points and rewards they can earn. When a customer eventually accumulates enough points, they can cash them in for significant discounts on future purchases.
Source: Starbucks
- There’s a lot to learn from Starbucks’ “My Starbucks Rewards” program. As customers increase their spending, they’ll be rewarded with points that they can put towards future purchases. This gamification example shows off how the purchasing process encourages customers to keep coming back to earn more points that they can put towards future rewards.
- oVertone offers an excellent example of a gamified rewards program with their Color Club Rewards page. By utilizing simplified icons and sparse content, the loyalty program is broken down into easy-to-digest tiers. The hair care brand clearly shows program members how much they need to spend to ascend to the next tier, and have neatly laid out the benefits that are available at each level, incentivizing users to try to reach the next tier by making more perks and rewards available at each additional level.
3. Encourage customer interaction
One of the main goals of gamification marketing is to increase customer interaction. For example, you could give rewards to participants who engage on your platform, encouraging the likelihood of future interaction.
Source: Samsung
- Samsung has the right idea when it comes to driving customer interaction with a great gamification strategy. To get customers to interact with one another, Samsung has a function on its site that allows users to discuss current issues and watch video clips. The most active participants are rewarded with a badge. You can easily increase the number of customer touchpoints with a successful email campaign, but make sure to clean your email lists to avoid getting blacklisted by firewalls.
- Foreign language learning software Duolingo created a four-point gamification strategy within its mobile application to help make learning a foreign language more fun and interactive. Attempting to learn a new language is a big, time-consuming goal, so Duolingo asks users to set small, specific daily goals to help break down the task. The smaller tasks bring users back daily, and consistent users are rewarded. External triggers are used to bring lapsed users back, and a progress bar can be shared to measure yourself against other learners or your own expectations.
4. Integrate gamification into your business by running a contest
Looking for a gamification marketing strategy that will help expand brand awareness? Run a contest! Contests are exciting and fun to participate in. The most successful contests improve the visibility of your brand and can drive massive customer interaction.
Source: The MKTG STR
- Everyone should know about McDonald’s multimillion-dollar Monopoly campaign. This annual contest has raised massive brand awareness for McDonald’s for many years. In 2017 alone, a $65 million prize grabbed headlines. The beauty of it all is that everyone can participate in the contest…as long as they make a purchase from their friendly neighborhood McDonald’s to gather the game pieces. Needless to say, McDonald’s is profiting wildly from this contest.
- Litmus used a 5-email sequence to help promote their conference on social media. Offering a free ticket to the conference, Litmus sent users a series of emails each with hidden text or a hidden image. Those who found the hidden items and posted the answer on Twitter with a special hashtag were entered in the ticket drawing. Litmus received free social promotion for their conference with the help of gamification marketing.
5. Tap into the competitive spirit of your audience
Deep down, we’re all a little bit competitive. When implementing a gamification marketing campaign, try to tap into the competitive spirit of your audience, much like Nike.
Source: Nike
- The Nike + Run Club app is an excellent gamification example that brings people together through the power of community. This app allows users to personalize their own training program based on their current level. It also allows you to compete in challenges to win trophies and badges. This app does well in engaging the competitive spirit of the user, drawing them back to the Nike brand time and again.
- SAP taps into the naturally competitive nature of sales people with a program called Roadwarrior. The game simulates interactions with customers, and by answering questions, sales reps can win badges and earn points, or lose points by requesting a life line. Reps then challenge coworkers to try and match their accomplishments. It's a gamification strategy that also helps train employees.
Implementing the right gamification marketing strategy for your business
Leveraging the right gamification marketing strategy can drive massive engagement for your business. Take the time to experiment until you find the right strategy perfectly suited to your brand. While the above list of gamification examples is by no means all-inclusive, it should give you an idea of the type of strategies you can leverage starting today.