7 Examples of Website Gamification
Sunday, June 12, 2022
Web design is a good example of an industry that has managed to seamlessly integrate gamification into just about every aspect.
Gamification is an idea that has been utilised for customer retention and to increase engagement from customers.
By adding game-like elements to a website, businesses can keep users hooked and coming back for more.
In this blog post, we will take a look at 7 gamification examples in action. Keep reading to learn more!
What is Gamification?
Before we get too far ahead of ourselves though, gamification is the practice of putting game-like features, mechanics, and dynamics into a non-game context.
Gamification examples can look like loyalty programs such as Starbucks' Rewards Program, or user feedback scores within the Running & Cycling App, Strava.
These examples of gamification take tasks from our everyday lives and rewards loyal customers as they collect points and win prizes for engaging with the community and the challenges set.
Within web design, a company may wish to increase user engagement by putting a progress bar within their blogs to encourage their audience to read an article through to the end.
Or perhaps an eCommerce store wants to increase product sales by setting up a system that allows shoppers to earn points or get a discounted rate on their shopping when they share brand links with friends.
Websites That Feature Gamification
Gamification can be used on a website to help guide a user experience and provide marketing for a brand—and it’s not just about offering up literal games either. In fact, most forms of gamification are fairly simple adaptations of game elements.
Are you curious to learn how others have implemented gamification on their sites? Let's look at how gamification elements can add a new layer of fun to your website.
Habitica
Linkedin
Interland
BuzzFeed
Twitter
Reddit
Todoist
1. Habitica
Habitica is a great gamification example of how an app can improve a user's everyday approach to task completion.
This app is probably the most overt form of gamification techniques on this list. Adopting video-game-like visuals, this free, habit-building, and productivity app treats your real life like a game.
With in-game rewards and punishments to motivate you and a strong social network to inspire you, Habitica can help you achieve your goals to become healthy, hard-working, and happy.
Habitica attempts to do this through the rather direct application of roleplaying game mechanics. Spending time on your new habit, gains you points. Succumb to old habits, and you begin to lose them. When you collect enough you get upgrades, badges, and so on.
2. LinkedIn
Okay, you might not think of this as a “game mechanic” but LinkedIn implements a mechanic designed to encourage you to complete building out your profile. It treats filling out each part of your profile a bit like an achievement and gives you a status bar to show just how full (or not full) the profile is.
It’s designed to trigger your “completionist” instinct on one level. Also, people with more detailed profiles are perceived to be better networkers, according to these sites. It's sound advice on one hand, but it also stings your competitive instincts a bit.
This is a great example of how a feedback system can encourage users to complete a task.
3. Interland
Interland is a game designer's dream.
It’s literally a Google webpage filled with mini-games as a gamified learning initiative.
These video games are designed to teach Internet safety and courtesy as users play, and are primarily directed at children. This is, perhaps, not an approach that can be used for most sites. However, for educational sites introducing play and some interactivity into learning a concept can help with knowledge retention.
4. BuzzFeed
As much as BuzzFeed wishes to be seen as a news source, many of us appreciate it for its capacity to offer a random diversion during the workday.
That being said, they do a fantastic job creating these quiz-like diversions. While they don’t necessarily drive the bottom line (other than to get more blog subscribers), they are effective in driving brand awareness.
While the quizzes themselves usually don’t drive business-related interaction directly (although they can), they are often used quite effectively as a marketing campaign tool.
Buzzfeed's quizzes are a perfect example of how a business can effectively use marketing in a fun way to garner more engagement from its users.
5. Twitter
Twitter is one of the most commonly used social media platforms and because of this, it's important for businesses to understand how to use it to their advantage.
One way Twitter uses gamification is through its poll system. Polls are a great way to get feedback from users, they're also a great way to engage with followers and get them involved in your brand.
Twitter has helped users to create an online social environment that can allow for interaction and the exchange of ideas.
6. Reddit
Reddit is one website that has been gamified from the start. The site is made up of user-submitted content in the form of links and text posts.
Other users can then upvote or downvote these submissions. The most popular submissions rise to the top of their respective subreddits while the less popular submissions sink to the bottom.
This system creates a competitive environment where users are constantly vying for the top spot. It also encourages social interaction as users comment on and discuss submissions.
Every Reddit profile has a karma score. This essentially gauges the quality of a user’s online comments and submissions to the site based on the downvoting and upvoting explained earlier. If your comments and submissions get lots of upvotes, your karma goes up. If they get lots of downvotes it goes down.
There’s no actual value to this. You don’t get prizes or anything tangible. It pretty much just signposts to others that you’re a good Redditor. Of course, there are bragging rights to be had too.
7. Todoist
Like many project management tools, Todoist has created a simplified yet engaging interface that allowed users to fill in their ongoing tasks and then check them off upon completion.
What sets Todoist apart from the others, however, is its use of goal visualisation. So, rather than just saying “good job!” whenever a task is completed, Todoist offers Karma rewards based on how productive customers are.
Services like these tap into loss aversion, and motivate customers to keep up to good work, not wanting to break their positive streak.
Todoist even offers a "Which productivity method is right for you?' quiz on their website to help you in the search for the best method to approaching tasks as an individual.
Summary
If you’re looking for ways to add a little more fun to your business website and engage visitors, gamification may be the answer.
These seven gamification examples have shown that it can work well to increase customer loyalty and encourage users to stick around longer. And if you need help getting started, our team is happy to give you a hand.
Check out some of our other blogs for more ideas on how to make your website stand out from the competition.