What is gamification? It is the use of game mechanics for non-game applications/ businesses in order to activate engagement from people.
The game mechanics we can use are varied and could be such as level structures, reward systems, competitive elements, virtual games… It is all about using game elements or mechanics to improve businesses or experiences leading to customer loyalty, awareness programs and lead collections.
The gamification market is different throughout the world. In the US, you will find a lot of couponing and cross channel uses such as print on everyday products. In Europe, campaigns are more about prospects/lead collections and social network/ web/ mobile and some print ad (newspaper) campaigns.
If you look closely at your marketing objectives such as recruiting leads, creating traffic and building visitor/customer loyalty, content creation to feed your site, qualifying databases, sales generation, site notoriety, advertising space income generation, etc. … gamification campaigns answer all these questions and help you reach your objectives. The questions asked during the game and the mechanics used will all be directed towards ensuring your goals are met. You will drive your visitors’ behavior in a fun way. Thanks to a game you direct your visitor towards an action. A game is involving (you can win a prize, you can compete against your friends…), a game is non-intrusive (you play when you have time, you control your involvement), a game is fun, a game needs to be simple, yet engaging.
When launching a gamification campaign, we see results today such as average time on site higher than 20 minutes in the game section. People have fun, dopamine is flowing through their system and they are engaged. They are in the right state of mind to listen to your messages and to be more responsive to what you are trying to achieve.
A gamification campaign provides what it takes to follow the three golden rules for the development of a market:
1. Increase traffic to your store (whether e-commerce or point of sales), build a prospect data base and promote your activity.
2. Transform visitors into buyers.
3. Increase the frequency of visits, the amount of purchases and the average shopping cart value to build loyalty
When building a gamification campaign it is important to follow these steps to ensure success in your campaign. Like all “traditional” campaigns if your game is not right for your target or if your campaign promotion is not effective, you will fail.
1. First set your business goals clearly. What do you want to achieve? Who are your targeted prospects? What kind of behavior do you want to trigger? What results do you want?
2. Then, based on your business goals, you will need to decide on games strategies, dynamics and prizes (incentives).
3. Once your game has been chosen and tested, launch it and check in real time your results. You will be amazed!
4. Finally ensure you get the right analytics input. You will need to understand what drove your visitors to your site and to your campaigns. You will need to calculate your ROI precisely based on your Key Performance Indicators. You will need to understand which campaign has worked most effectively and which one gave you the best results.