The gamification market is estimated to be worth about $2.8 billion, having increased 10 fold over 3 years. Widely used in staff training or education, there is now a growing trend toward adding gamification to drive consumer engagement and loyalty.
The online environment vastly increases the possibilities for the use of gaming to engage customers . You can turn your instructions into simulations that can demonstrate your products. Virtual tours have become popular for the travel industry and real estate industries. Virtual environments can also apply to the use of products. Customers can try products in a virtual environment and be rewarded for their efforts.
Gamification in Marketing:
To help it in its competition with larger snack manufacturers, as a brand-builder, San Francisco-based Klip, manufacturer of Popchips began inserting virtual coupons into hundreds of mobile games. These coupons pop up as rewards for points and are redeemable for free bags of chips .
Foursquare is a mobile app in which customers at restaurants “check-in” to virtual locations and get rewarded for the number of check-ins, ultimately earning the title of “Mayor.” Restaurant owners describe it as a “virtual maitre’ d.”
Simulation for Customer Onboarding:
Gamification is the perfect tool for customer onboarding. If you are in an industry where you have to teach customers how to use your products. Deploying a simulation or interactive element into your sales presentation or into your instructions can be a perfect addition. This approach can be used to introduce existing customers to new versions of a product, to demonstrate advanced features, or when customers are renewing their existing subscriptions.
- Garmin receivers have a simulation mode built into their GPS units to get their customers up and running.
- Dassault Systems has been offering simulation software to manufacturing business customers to train operators. This kind of training has become increasingly prominent in technical and medical fields.
Gamication for customer loyalty:
Gamification can be a form of feedback. Reward customers for participation for asking questions, making suggestions, or making referrals using redeemable tokens that can be exchanged for rewards like increased data storage space or merchandise. A form of gamification has long been part of loyalty programs in Starbucks and other retailers. Purchases are rewarded with points or “stars” which translate into free merchandise. As customers accumulate stars they rise in rank and can expect more rewards as they advance. The Starbucks “My Starbucks Rewards” program makes use a mobile app to offer rewards for purchases.
Credit image: flickr
