Gamification certainly sounds a lot of fun – after all, most of us love gaming. However, unlike the normal way that we’ve been using games—passing time, entertaining ourselves, developing our skills, and creating new relationships with others, businesses have stepped a notch higher to use games to create memorable, engaging marketing campaigns.
A digital marketing campaign can be interactive and attractive if we introduce elements of gaming such as rewarding users for certain actions or activities. It allows brands to involve more representatives of the target audience to achieve a high level of awareness. Moreover, it remains one of the most powerful tools for building loyalty.
There are many reasons to gamify, but here are five key points that show why you shouldn’t hesitate to deploy gamification in your marketing efforts.
Improve Customer Engagement
What makes gamification so appealing to customers?
For a start, most examples of gamification in marketing are interactive.
It’s a perfect way for brands to build stronger relationships with their target audience and influence their decision-making process.
Unlike traditional marketing, games don’t unexpectedly pop-up in user feeds to capture a user’s attention; instead, users get to choose how they interact with the content which means any engagement from this point comes from the user. This makes them feel like they’re in control which adds a whole new layer of fun and excitement that isn’t often available elsewhere.
With users interacting and engaging with games, there is a good opportunity for businesses to display their messages in a variety of ways to invoke a level of engagement that cannot be reached even by videos.
Increases Brand Awareness
Games are multi-generational and they appeal to young and old alike. For brands that are looking for ways to appeal to customers with different demographics, games are presently the most available and accessible stream to reach a wide audience.
By providing your products and services in a fun way, you not only make it easier for customers to find them but also engage with your brand. These interactions are intended to foster positive associations and relationships for the user, which yields great benefits in the long-term.
This form of marketing can influence consumer behavior, such that consumers are more likely to purchase the product associated with the brand over and over.
Boosts Brand Loyalty
Attracting new customers is the ultimate goal of every business. Retaining them is even better. In fact, acquiring new customers can cost five times more than retaining and satisfying current customers.
Including gamified content in your marketing campaigns can help increase engagements and interaction with your brand. Common gamification tactics to achieve this involve giving incentives to loyal customers or recognizing your top customers. This can be something as simple as giving redeemable points every time they play a game or retain a winning streak.
When consumers interact with gamified content, they familiarize themselves with your brand pretty well. And when it comes to making purchases, they are more likely to go for your brand due to the bond you have created with them over the years.
Easy Collection of Powerful Consumer Data
It would be a waste of time and resources if brands keep launching marketing campaigns for products and services without predicting the outcomes of the campaign to a certain extent. This is where data and analytics come into play.
Using data, businesses can identify campaigns that are likely to do well and those that cannot. The same data provides insights to help marketers make the right decisions when it comes to choosing marketing strategies to adopt.
Gamification platforms require users to log in using a valid email address or social media credentials. You can even ask them to provide their information to unlock certain levels of games, have their names on a badge or leaderboard. From there, your organization is able to collect important customer data which you can use for your marketing and business strategies.
Boosts Sales
When customer engagement increases, it’s expected that sales will equally increase.
While this isn’t always the outcome, if done properly, gamification can help increase engagement which translates to high conversions. More particularly, if the campaign features rewards for playing or winning the games, your target audience will feel encouraged to take actions that can help increase sales.
Gamification promotes repeat business by ensuring customers are consistently engaged in a manner that is fun, innovative, rewarding.
Gamification is a simple but underutilized tool that can help brands create memorable experiences that keep users coming back for more.
Whatever strategy you choose to adopt when it comes to gamifying your content, make sure it is interactive, rewarding, and most of all fun.
If you’re looking for a fun way to keep yourself and your customers engaged, we have got you covered. Browse our latest collection of games and become part of the community.