The gamification either gamification, in English, it has been with us for years now, but it never stops being a trend. And if the success of Pokémon Go and Candy Crush shows anything, it is that we love playing! And for brands, this human trend is a great opportunity to increase engagement.
However, as with all marketing trend fashionable, the gamification in itself is not enough to generate results. We have to see how to apply it to our brand with criteria to generate good results and contribute to achieving our business objectives. Therefore, let’s see What is gamification and how to implement it in your marketing plans.
What is gamification and how can it help you?
The gamification (also known as gamification) is the process of introduce game mechanics and design in non-gaming contexts, for example, in campaigns for a certain product. The idea is to apply the data-based techniques that video game creators use to engage players, and apply them to channels such as a website or a company app to motivate actions that generate value for your business.
An important aspect to keep in mind is that gamification does not necessarily have to take the form of a classic game, with its points and levels (although in this article we will use them as an example). Sometimes it’s simply a matter of taking existing brand elements and giving them a more playful look.
The gamification is transforming the Business models because it creates new ways to nurture long-term relationships and build loyalty among both customers and employees. Its success lies in the fact that it is fueled by motivations that exist in all of us, such as the feeling of community, immediate response, achievement and reward. Combined with the latest research on motivation and big data generated by user interactions, we have a very powerful tool in our hands.
For brands, gamification has multiple advantages:
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Increase the engagement of clients, potential clients and collaborators. Offering rewards to these user groups stimulates loyalty and positive feelings around the brand. These rewards don’t have to be material: they can also simply be recognition or even valuable content.
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Stimulates the sense of achievement and competitiveness. People want to feel that they are paid attention to and that their efforts are rewarded. Offering them a way to compete with other users motivates them and encourages them to do their best.
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It helps to identify different targets and generate big data. Gamification tools generate a large amount of data through interactions between users and the system. In turn, this data can help us identify the interests and behaviors of these users and design highly personalized offers to attract them.
10 examples of game dynamics in gamification
This is all very well but how do you apply the gamification in practice? Fundamentally, through game dynamics, that is, elements taken from games that increase interaction with content. These 10 examples will help you visualize it better:
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Goals. To offer a good gamification experience, the user must be clear about the goals to achieve both in the short and long term.
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Competition. In the end, we play to win or at least to outdo others. The “pique” is a fundamental explanation of why games hook us.
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Collaboration. In addition to competing with each other, players can also collaborate with each other and form teams to achieve larger goals. An especially interesting dynamic if we are using gamification internally in a company.
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Levels. Within the context of the game, we call each of the “screens” or experiences that the user must go through a level, but levels also serve to assess how much experience or skill the user has in a specific aspect (for example, “strength level 4 “).
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Points. Points are tangible and measurable evidence of users’ achievements, which provide feedback on their progress and can also be accumulated to obtain rewards and surpass levels.
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Markers. Point leaderboards, as well as individual and team profiles, allow the user to compare themselves with others and stimulate competitiveness.
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Interactive learning. Rather than forcing users to read a manual, games often incorporate a series of simple tasks that allow the user to learn how to navigate the game environment.
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Insignia. Badges are a type of virtual medals that recognize a specific achievement or skill. This is a reward whose value is intrinsic to the game itself.
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Community. Creating a community around the game provides social recognition and gives meaning to virtual rewards, such as badges. Users learn from each other and motivate each other to achieve their goals.
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Feedback. A very important characteristic of the games is that they offer the user real-time feedback on their progress, both through the points counter and messages on the screen, emails and other resources. For example, you can congratulate a user for achieving a goal, explain the next step, or present a reward.
It is also interesting to note that the game dynamics alone are not enough to provide a good experience; It is also very necessary to take into account the game design, that is, the user’s complete journey in the application, in such a way that sufficient stimuli are offered to keep them motivated but without overwhelming them.
7 tips from Forbes to add gamification to your marketing strategy
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Know your audience. Before launching into creating a gamification strategy, you have to be very clear about who you are targeting. Although we all like to play, the type of game that works with millennials may be very different from the one that interests baby boomers. In the same way, if your game includes quizzes or Trivial-type questions, you will have to take into account the most relevant topics for your audience.
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Investigate. As with any strategy, it is essential to know what your competition is doing. Look for other gamified experiences or games that target the same segment. How do they work? What kind of rewards do you offer? How is the product integrated into the game? What elements are working best? From this information, you can try to develop a series of good practices to design your own gamification experience.
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Set clear objectives. Gamification is still part of your marketing strategy, and as such, it has to respond to the general objectives of the company. Therefore, you must be very clear about what you want to achieve with gamification and how you are going to measure it. In most cases, game experiences include internal analytics that allow us to obtain statistics on user participation, such as time spent on each level, number of visits or achievements achieved.
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Establish incentives. For users to actively participate, they have to obtain a clear benefit. Within the game mechanics, this benefit takes the form of rewards. For example, you can offer samples of your product, useful content, or promotional coupons. Remember that there may also be rewards for completing objectives within the game itself, for example, badges. In addition to the research you’ve done in the previous section, it may also be a good idea to directly ask your audience what type of rewards they are most interested in.
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Don’t complicate your life. Sometimes the best games are addictively simple (for example, think Tetris!). In general, we live in an environment completely overloaded with stimuli, so our attention span is quite short. If the user cannot quickly figure out what the game is about and how to participate, they will most likely abandon it. It is also necessary for the levels to be short enough so that players don’t leave them halfway through.
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Set deadlines. To develop and execute your gamification strategy effectively, you need to set milestones and deadlines. For everything to flow seamlessly, it’s a great idea for marketing, creative, and technical teams to collaborate with each other to make expectations and logistics clear.
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Don’t be afraid to evolve. Virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence… New technologies provide a lot of new options to create interactive experiences and keep your audience hooked. So now you know, renew or die! Don’t hesitate to try new things and lose your fear of failure. After all, making mistakes and learning from them is the only way to move forward.