Does Gamification Increase User Engagement?

Studies show that engaged customers represent a 23% higher share in profitability, revenue, and relationship growth. As a business owner, it's best to engage your customers to the best of your ability if you want a higher ROI. 

So then, how do you go about engaging your general customers with your next marketing campaign?

One of the best ways to engage your audience is with gamification. Gamification is the principle of adding game-like elements to non-game activities, in this case, your marketing strategies for your product or service.  

Read on to learn more about how gamified marketing and the power of games can help increase customer engagement and inspire customer loyalty. 

How Gamification Increases User Engagement

You can use gamification to increase user attention & engagement, obtain more users, and improve retention rates. Here's why it works: 

Behaviour Reinforcement

Behaviour reinforcement is one of the biggest reasons for the success of gamification. Using games or game-like elements in your marketing allows you to reward users for their behaviours. This may look like levelling up in a game or earning points for completing the desired game goals. 

When it comes down to it, rewards are a powerful way to create and contribute to our enjoyment of an activity because they encourage the release of dopamine. As a result, users are more engaged and inclined to return.

In fact, you can create strong customer loyalty through rewards challenges and contests, as an enticing reward at the end of an engaging experience elicits positive brand association and a stronger engagement metric.

The Customer Feels in Control

Gamification marketing can also improve user engagement by making the user feel in control. By creating a gamification campaign wth strong game design, it encourages exploration and users get to decide how to proceed. If they're choosing how to play and interact, they're more likely to enjoy the experience overall. 

People are Competitive

Gamification takes into account the fact that people are competitive by nature. They are competitive with themselves and with others, and since they like to compete, games satisfy this itch.

Adding a competitive aspect to your game means that once a user starts it, they will likely become committed out of a desire to win, or at least outrank their friends or family playing the game. 

You can encourage competition within oneself by creating goals or best scores that audiences will want to beat. The personal best score is an example of game dynamics frequently used by fitness apps and marketing competitions in an effort to create a community within the game and inspire social media shares, which ultimately builds brand awareness.

Users Can See Progress

Part of the nature of game mechanics is that a player has an idea of where they are in the game, from what level they are on to how far they have left to go.

People like to feel like they're making progress, and you can apply this aspect of gaming to your gamification marketing campaign. Imagine a lead getting the same joy out of your website that they do when they beat a level in a video game, as this sense of achievement also releases dopamine in the user's brain, tying your business to the sense of enjoyment and ultimately creating an example of positive brand association.

An example of how to use progress mechanics is to provide a progress bar or levels to your game experience. The use of progress mechanics not only help users to understand far they’ve come in a gaming experience but it also helps them see how close they are to achieving the top score in a competitive leaderboard.

These mechanics work hand-in-hand to both set goals for the user and help them stay motivated throughout their interaction with the campaign.

All the while, they’re putting in a lot of face time with the brand and subconsciously retaining the original purpose and information behind the marketing campaign simultaneously, whether that be bringing awareness to a new product or service, or simply reclaiming front-of-mind status.

Increase User Engagement with Gamification Marketing

When it comes down to it, game-based marketing is a great way to effectively increase user engagement. There are many reasons it works, from psychological principles to the mere fact that games are engaging and fun to play.

Just like all forms of marketing, there is definitely room for failure when it comes to gamified marketing. 

Common errors include the construction of a game-based campaign just for the sake of it, with no real connection to the brand at all, as well as poor quality in the finished product, and a lack of promotion.

The best way to create a successful gamified experience is to collaborate with professionals.

The team at Gamify are sticklers for detail, providing quality finished products within a quick turnaround period and a reasonable price no less.

So, if you're ready to increase your user engagement, get a quote for our gamification services today.