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Why you should add games into your mobile app or website?

goama games

By: Aakanksha Singh, Product Manager | Goama

According to a study by Statista, in today’s mobile app market, there are over 3.2 million apps on Google Play, 2.1 million on Apple App Store. So in all, we have over 5 billion mobile apps!

It is getting challenging for Apps to stand out from the competition with such a huge number. If your app does not provide the users with a value proposition and a fun experience, the users will not download your app, and even if they do, they will uninstall it after use.

The app should have something unique and exciting to offer so that the users stay engaged and use the App more and also keep coming back to the app.

If your App doesn’t have something unique to offer, your app will not only lose the existing users and not be able to attract new ones. This will be a huge loss for your business.

Not acquiring new users will also impact your app’s performance in the app stores as fewer users mean fewer reviews, and thus your app’s ranking will also suffer. So, sooner or later, your app’s operational cost will become a loss for your business.

So, the question comes, what can you do to make your app stand out and offer an interesting user experience?

The answer is – Add Games To Your Existing Mobile App/Website.

I am Aakanksha Singh, Product Manager at Goama. In this article of mine, I will guide you WHY and HOW to Integrate games to your existing mobile app. Let’s get started.

Add games to your existing app

Add a separate game section in your app. Strategically provide CTAs (Call To Actions ) to drive users there.

  1. Add Just for Play games that the users can enjoy.
  2. Use Advanced Gamification techniques which can up your App performance by ten folds.

Let’s explore both options thoroughly. You can also jump to the bottom of the Blog and check how you can achieve this at Goama.

1. Add just for play games to the existing mobile app

existing mobile app

Add a Games section in your App and turn your non-gaming app into a gaming powerhouse. Choose an attractive game and give your users a unique reason to keep your App installed and use it again and again. From our self help portal you can change games in a few clicks. 

Suggestion to Growth Hack:

  1. Conduct A/B Test on which Game is turning out to be most engaging 
  2. Place the Gaming Section strategically on your App’s Home page/separate section/Carousel/New Announcements, etc.

Talk to our Growth Hack Team. Contact us.

2. Use Advanced Gamification Techniques

Mobile app gamification is about adding game components in the mobile app to make the app’s user experience a fun-filled one. The fun features in the app help increase the app’s traffic. Moreover, this experience encourages the users to use the app again.

With points gathered, the users will get rewarded for using the app or purchasing from the app, and the app will be able to get loyal customers.

Here are Gamification methods that can be integrated with your mobile app to gamify it:

Tournaments

Tournaments are highscore skilled based game sessions that multiple players can enter to compete between a large pool of players. 

Tournaments are proven to be 8x more effective than just playing games.

Leaderboard

It is a proven Gamification technique which acts as the best motivation for the users to perform better. It showcases how other users are performing. This will motivate the users to go the extra mile and be featured on the leaderboard.

Combined with tournaments, it turns into a competition where the top spots on the leaderboard will get a gift or coupon. This will really motivate the users to do their best to be on the top of the leaderboard.

Social Integration

Its a trend having social integration in apps and games. With this, the users can add their social media friends as in-app friends, and then they can keep an eye on the progress of other players. They can share their achievements too.

Sharing their progress and everything will help the users connect with their friends or look out for each other. This way, your app will become a special place for them, and they will use your app more and more.

Note: From our self help portal you can configure everything very easily in just few clicks. 

Benefits of adding games to your existing mobile app?

Adding games to your app will be a great asset for your app. It will not only upgrade your user experience but will also provide a fun-filled experience to the users. The addition of games can increase your app’s ROI by 3x and user engagement by 10x. In addition, it will reduce user churn and make the users revisit your app repeatedly.

Here are some definitive reasons you should add games to your mobile app.

1. To Increase Engagement of your App

Games are and will be a brilliant marketing strategy as it is proven to attract visitors from all genres. 

Once people start getting engaged with your App, it’s an opportunity to retain them and also acquire more users through word of mouth or through our Social Media sharing/Refer a Friend capability.

2. To provide a better experience

The key to ensuring that the users download and keep your app is your app’s experience. If your app offers amazing games with its core features, users will get a better in-app experience.

Games will add a fun side to your app, so people will keep your app installed. This way, whenever they need services/products related to your business/brand, they will use your app first.

3. To push beyond your limits

The mobile game industry is thriving and growing at an exponential rate. By adding games to your existing mobile app, you can enter the gaming industry.

You can transform your product or service into a game, and thus you will get the profit of an app and a game in one place. Venture around different genres and develop amazing games to push yourself out of your comfort zone and experiment with games to provide your users with the best app they have ever downloaded.

4. To provide the users with a reason to come back

In 2022, users are looking for apps that can provide a unique and captivating experience that leaves them craving more. By adding games to your app, you can deliver that unique experience. This unique approach will be the selling point of your app and will help you get more users and turn them into faithful customers.

5. Get More positive reviews

The gamification of your app makes it more interesting and more profitable for the users to use. The in-app experience and the users’ overall experience with your brand will improve, and you will get many positive reviews on the internet.

6. Get an edge from competition

In this competitive world, App creators are struggling to add differentiators to their App. Adding Gaming section to your App could be a real differentiator which can set you apart.

Why should I choose Goama as my Gaming Partner?

List is long, but here are top reasons why:

  • Experts in Gamification strategies and in market since 2019
  • Presence in 24 countries and experience with some of big brands like Pepsico, FoodPanda, Razorpay, Cricbuzz, GCash, BKash, JazzCash etc.
  • Supports all advanced Gamification Techniques like Tournaments, Leaderboard, Rewards, Points, Refer a Friend etc.
  • Integration is absolutely FREE, and Goama does it for you on a live call.
  • Use all features in 30 Days FREE TRIAL. It is sufficient time to conduct experiments as well.
  • We provide On Call and Email support after you Integrate with us
Getting Started on this journey with Goama

Go Live in a few easy steps:

  • Create a FREE Account with us. 
  • Generate your Gaming Page. Customize it. Add more Games.
  • Complete the Integration. Do it yourself or We can do it Free of cost.
  • Go live.
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Blog Case Studies

Snickers Games strategy

Snickers gamification goama

Snickers launched a regional strategy to create new audiences though Goama’s gaming platform.

Snickers launched a new campaign based in Latam in early 2022 to increase their users data base and increase brand activation through a gaming platform that included prizes for the players.

These are the key points regarding the study case.

Snickers Games and Tournament platform

Customized Games with Snickers brand and look and feel

Snickers and Goama developed together a strategy for picking up the best games to be customized with Snickers brand guidelines regarding the audiences they where spotting.

The company choose 10 games from a 100 portfolio to be branded and customized with the brand colors, fonts and logos to increase brand awareness.

See some examples:

baseball games snickers

The level of customization inside the games has different layers

  • Tournament Platform: The whole gaming platform is branded with the company brand guidelines to match the look and feel.
  • Thumbnails: The Preview of the game including Snickers Logo
  • Loader: Product or logo placed in the loader of the game
  • Logo Placement: The logo is placed inside the games thought many spots where the brand will be seen during the whole session.

User to player metrics and key performance indicators

6 weeks campaign duration where the company created multiple social media ads to drive new potential users to the StandAlone tournament platform and these are the main results:

  • +70.000 new users traffic on gaming platform
  • +1 Million games plays
  • +14 minutes on average gameplay

Users interacted over a leaderboard to redeem prizes and rewards given by the brand

Check some examples:

Many companies around the globe are using gaming strategies to reach their marketing and sales KPIs

If you are interested in develop a Gaming and Gamified strategy for your company you can contact Goama to schedule a free demo.

contact sales goama
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Blog

Gamification in Mobility

mobility gamification

When Nick Telling coined the term “gamification” in 2002, he probably did not imagine the world as it is today. Games are no longer the purview of clunky consoles and hand-held controllers; they are a gentle touch away from lighting up our smartphones.

And when we say games, we don’t just mean the kind meant to entertain and do nothing else. Elements of games are quickly seeping into most apps and online portals because the efficacy of a game-like environment has been proven multiple times by now.

Apps and websites in every industry are introducing gamification into their UI. Gamified user journeys tend to show greater user engagement, productivity and specific positive behaviors that benefit businesses and users alike.

In the world of mobility apps, gamification is achieving surprisingly optimistic results. While you would think that something as seemingly mundane as mobility could be made interesting, gamification seems to be proving the idea wrong.

Not convinced? Here are a few examples of real-world mobility apps getting the best out of gamification strategies-


Waze

Waze is a community-based traffic and navigation app. Its users share real-time traffic data, updated about route congestion, accidents, speed traps as well as gas prices to help others find cheap gas stations.

Initially, Waze was a lot like Pac-Man. It showed a route with digital pellets, and you had to travel that road to collect all the pellets, which users ended up doing in huge numbers. Today, Waze uses game elements like a score system, badge rewards, avatars with “moods” and a leaderboard – to encourage users to participate in the community spirit of contribution.

Chromaroma

Chromaroma was a London-based app that made the otherwise tedious Tube (London subway) travel more interesting. It showed users their movements and locations as they swiped their Oyster card when going in and out of the subway.

Once users signed up, Chromaroma used their Oyster card data to award points for each trip, not just on the Tube but also on buses and bikes. The apps tracked stats on swipes, achievements, modes of transport, seasonal highlights, places, “missions,” “collections” and more. This allowed them not just to earn rewards, get awards and bonus points, but also to discover new ways to travel and explore the city beyond the crowded paths.

Uber

Uber’s driver app uses badges and quests to make drivers’ experience more interesting and to make the whole thing feel less like a place of backbreaking work. An earnings tracker is always visible (similar to the “lifeline” in a video game) that reflects how much they have made and how many trips are completed.

Monetary rewards are also built in, which drivers can get by maintaining positive feedback ratings or completing a number of trips within a specified time. There are also tipping systems and other elements to inspire engagement and encourage the driver to get the most out of their workday.

Jaunt

Journey-sharing app Jaunt won the Ford Smart Mobility Game Challenge at the Mobile World Congress 2016. The app allows users to create, share, and join journeys to interesting, popular destinations. They can specify their interests within six categories – food, nature, arts and culture, history, esoteric and weird, shopping. Their “jaunts” are then prioritized and designed by the app accordingly.

The clincher here is that the app offers alternative, possibly less crowded traffic routes. This doesn’t just get users to their destination faster. It also eases the pressure on the most commonly used roads, translating into a win-win situation.

Ford Fusion Hybrid Leaves

While this is different from the other apps covered here, it serves a similar purpose with similar features. On the dashboard of the Ford Fusion Hybrid, there are animated “leaves” which multiply when the car achieves a predetermined level of fuel efficiency. Instead of depicting efficiency with a traditional chart, the gamification element shows a “tree growing,” conveying a better sense of the environmental impact of driving.

The more fuel efficient a driver is, the more the “leaves” and “vines” grow. A game-like interaction between the vehicle and driver turns the cat into a guide for smart, conscientious driving. It encourages fuel-saving and efficiency practices, and creates greater awareness of the effect of human activity on the environment.

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Gamification works because it turns boring everyday tasks into little snippets of fun. It challenges users to turn everyday activities into fun competition with others, and gives them something positive to take away from making good decisions. It can become a trigger for creating better behavioral patterns, making them more conscious of how they affect transportation and environmental systems.

Well gamified mobility apps should be unique, attuned to the preferences and peeves of commuters and flexible to accommodate new rewards and “quests”. This provides the kind of autonomy and control that all game-players seek, goals them to keep playing and participate in a community that ultimately makes life easier and more interesting for everyone involved.

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Gamification in Software Technology

Gamification in Software
Gamification in Software

The Gamification industry is now valued at $12 billion worldwide, up by $7.03 billion since 2016. The reason for this astronomical uptick can be attributed to a few important factors – first, the gradual decline of the attention span for the average user. Second, the phenomenal rise in smartphone users all over the world, and the subsequent quick shift of the industry and innovation towards mobile devices. Third, increased competition in almost every sector, and lastly, the two-plus-year pandemic that has put additional pressure on traditional business and methods. Organizations as a result have opted for newer, unconventional methods like gamification to transform their existing processes into interactive, interesting sets of tasks. This, in turn, has created better user engagement, attracted new users, and improved the loyalty of existing customers.

Software Technology is one of the world’s largest sectors, with revenue projected to reach a staggering $626 billion by 2022. With numerous large, medium, and small-scale organizations vying for a piece of this pie, gamification has emerged as the tool of preference for them to leapfrog their competition. Here’s how gamification is helping software industry companies to stand out from their peers and leasing a new life into traditional business processes.

How is Gamification Relevant in Software Technology?

Here’s how gamification helps software technology organizations:

  • By increasing user engagement, gamification attracts new users and transforms visitors into loyal customers.
  • Incentivized milestones-based tasks increase the chances of retaining an existing user base.
  • Increasing perks and points keep users loyal for a longer duration.
  • Brand value, awareness, and customer-centric messages are more effective and boosted with gamification.
  • Organizations can analyze the permission-based user data collected from trivia, Q&A, and surveys in gamification to gain valuable insight about their user base and further customize their products and services.

Some Recent Examples:-

TrailHead
  1. TrailHead is a free-to-access website to learn the in and outs of the Salesforce platform. Salesforce, one of the world’s largest sales and ERP software, gamified the platform by building the user’s progress like an adventure. Trailhead leverages gamification in many ways, including heavily using camping and hiking motifs, utilizing video-game-like progress monikers like ‘Choose Your Adventure’ and ‘Blaze Your Trail,’ and giving users unlockable 450+ badges that they can share on platforms like LinkedIn.
  2. Deloitte were pioneers in gamifying their internal learning platform with badges and stickers back in 2012. The leaders at Deloitte realized the potential of gamification early and didn’t hesitate to implement it. Deloitte Leadership Academy, as a result, saw a 37% increase in returning users and 75% faster completion of the courses. Deloitte also saw employees spending more time on their learning platform and completing more courses on average.
  3. Nike+ and FuelBand are good examples of software gamification tied to the health and fitness industry. Nike released their Nike+ program, with Fuelband fitness tracker, to nudge users into an active lifestyle as well as to introduce them to the Nike ecosystem. Users could select a fitness program that suited them best, follow certain superathletes, buy shoes through the Nike app, as well as track their running and walking progress. Some stickers and badges are unlocked when a user completes certain daily, monthly or yearly milestones. Moreover, the top three users on the leaderboard stood a chance to win exclusive prizes.
  4. Khan Academy is one of the most popular online learning platforms. They use gamification principles to increase student engagement, pitting their users against each other in friendly competition in pursuit of them competing in more courses. By utilizing the standard template of incentivizing course completions, exams – via badges, stickers, and loyalty points, Khan Academy can keep more users signing up on their platform, as well as retain existing users.
  5. Other examples include Apple and Google‘s socially shareable daily milestones, badges, and stickers in their respective fitness apps, and similar rewards-based activities in daily mindfulness apps like Calm.

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Gamification in the software industry started a decade back in 2012 when Deloitte decided to gamify its business processes. It has since spread across the entire market segment, even trickling down to startups and new entrants. Increased competition has forced market leaders and organization heads to tweak existing gamification methods to suit their purpose. The effects of these steps can be seen in various campaigns – both internet, public-access marketing ones, and intra-company ones. Business processes have transformed in tandem with the times, and if you are a software technology decision-maker, gamification is a tool that you simply cannot afford to ignore.

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Gamification in the World of Entertainment

Gamification in Film
Gamification in Film

Gamification is everywhere – from the witty trivia that your food delivery app pops up every once in a while, to your health tracking device pushing you to complete your ‘rings’ or compete with your peers to gain special badges. Even organizations like Microsoft and Amazon now nudge you to showcase your e-badges online after passing their certification exams. 

The idea of gamification has taken very little time from its initial days as a concept to a combination of actual steps that many market leaders and large organizations have incorporated to transform their business processes and marketing effectiveness. We live in an era where the market is predominantly mobile. The recent years of the pandemic have solidified the need for entertainment to go mobile as well, with OTT (Over-the-air) video platforms projected to reach a revenue of $210 Billion by 2026. This proliferation has given rise to many competitors to traditional players like Netflix and Amazon Prime. With the average user being more and more difficult to engage, entertainment organizations are looking to bring in gamification measures to win them back. In this article, we take a look at how gamification has become a disruptive force in the world of entertainment.

How does Gamification Help in the World of Entertainment?

Gamification helps in the world of entertainment in many ways, including:

  • Gamification measures are built with user engagement and interactivity in mind. Once implemented, they ensure people’s interest and participation are increased.
  • Gamified processes and services attract new customers and retain existing customers.
  • Milestone-based incentivization ensures returning customers stay loyal for longer durations.
  • Gamification increases brand promotion, awareness and helps drive home important customer-centric messages.
  • Gamification strategies like permission-based user activity tracking help gather important data, which when analyzed gives organizations greater insight into their key user demographic and apply customizations to their offerings.
  • Gamified newsletters help get more email subscribers and ensure they interact regularly with emails.

Some Recent ‘Gamified’ Examples in the Entertainment Industry:

Here are some recent examples of gamification in the entertainment industry:

  • OTT entertainment giants Netflix released an original movie, called Black Mirror: Bandersnatch in late 2018. This movie had something truly unique – it gave viewers interactivity by offering them story progression choices at different intervals, and based on their selections, the story arc would take twists and turns. This user engagement style was heavily influenced by the gameplay mechanics of role-playing video games (RPGs) and presented an excellent implementation of gamification. The success of this movie prompted Netflix to produce several more in the coming years. The current tally of interactive movies in Netflix sits at 18, with more in the pipeline.
  • Legendary Pictures Productions, the team behind superhits ‘Godzilla’, ‘300’ and the likes, organized a custom screening for one of their movies and then used emotion recognition software on the viewers to understand scene-by-scene human emotions that their fanbase underwent while watching the movie. This data was utilized by their applied analytics division to curate their movie trailers accordingly and create a more personalized experience for viewers worldwide. This reduced Legendary’s spending in marketing by 10% and exceeded their box office opening budgets by $30 million.
  • Disney has taken many gamification steps to increase fan engagement for their entertainment offerings, from partnering with game developers to release video games tied to their movie releases, to opening full-fledged, interactive theme parks. They recently opened the doors to an immersive, ultra-expensive Star Wars-themed hotel, called ‘Galactic Starcruiser’ to further bolster interest in their upcoming Star Wars movies as well as ongoing TV series, ‘Mandalorian.’
  • During the marketing campaign for their 2012 movie ‘The Hunger Games, Lionsgate created an interactive website as part of the promotion. Users could log in and explore the city that they had previously experienced only in the pages of the books. A gamified competition called ‘Ultimate Fan Challenge’ was also created. Social interactions were boosted courtesy of a ‘Capitol Couture’ Instagram profile and Tumblr page, and a ‘Hunger Games’ Facebook community that hosted games, trivia, and other daily events.

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Companies that use gamification are seven times more profitable than the ones that do not. One can argue that an industry like entertainment that thrives on audio-visual engagement requires gamification more than any other, and it is not entirely wrong. Gamification puts the focus back to the user and drives more engagement via three i’s – interaction, incentivization, and instant gratification. Organizations that have adopted early to the gamification trend are now driving the market, forcing other players in the same field to follow suit. The entertainment industry has seen major growth in the past five years, and the Covid-19 pandemic has added fuel to their upward trajectory. Gamification has provided them with the right mix of audio-visual interactivity and tangible rewards that are roping in users. If you are a market leader or a business owner, gamified entertainment may be the next big thing you are looking for.

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Using Gamification for Education & Learning

Gamification in Education
Gamification in Education

Gamification has been a prevalent product enhancement strategy since the 1900s. It has been employed in many areas to increase productivity, interest, and engagement. Today, it is gaining popularity as a highly effective tool in boosting software products in the education industry. 

What is Gamification in Education?

Gamification intrinsically involves implementing various game-like scenarios or elements into non-gaming environments. They are introduced to improve the engagement and motivation of the participants. 

Incorporating gamification in the realm of education helps increase student participation by building their interest through reward-based systems. Applying gaming elements to the classroom can make way for a more interactive and immersive experience that transforms the education space. 

The application of participatory approaches influences the student’s attitude and behavior towards education: encourages collaboration and self-study and strengthens the learner’s intellectual and creative abilities. 

How to Employ Gamification in Education?

The following are some ways in which gamification can be introduced in the classroom:-

1. Build a Point-System for Academic and Non-Academic Goals

The assessment system can be restructured to ensure points are awarded to students based on their efforts and completions of academic and non-academic tasks. This can include points for submitting assignments on time, or for following school codes of conduct. Gamification helps in breaking down the tasks and improving the ways in which the students engage with the tasks at hand. This can further be complemented with a rewards system that increases their motivation to participate in the learning-oriented tasks.

2. Transform the Perception of “Progression”

By creating smaller milestones, celebrating successes, encouraging students to improve if they score less, and giving rewards or “level-up” options on reaching target goals, the system for tracking student progress is transformed. It becomes more goal and achievement oriented rather than failure focused. Creating visual checkpoints for students and tracking their progress in this manner can make a more enjoyable learning environment for them.

3. Create Healthy Competitive Environments

Healthy competition amongst students or between students and teachers can increase engagement in the learning process and inculcate leadership, teamwork, creativity, and problem solving in students. This is a more immersive way of teaching and learning and can help in better comprehension of the subject. Gamification also enhances their ability to assess the implication of the theoretical text in real-world situations.

4. Encourage Introspection of Personal Performance

Similar to gaming scoreboards, creating “player statistics” and scoring systems for the quests, challenges, and tasks accomplished by students can help teachers improve students’ learning experience. Students can reflect on their progress, find out areas that require improvement, and enhance their productivity. They can enjoy more control of their growth and learning experience. Educators too can track individual progress and employ effective gaming strategies to guide and implement future learning goals. 

Benefits of Gamification in Education

1. The immersive education experience provides learners with the opportunity to proactively participate in the learning experience and engage with various tools and techniques to build on their skills.

2. The variety of learning tools and objectives make the experience more engaging and leads to the holistic development of the learners. The multiple options make the experience more exciting for the students to engage with, and the educators to plan.

3. Learning via interactive methods and immersing in the process is known to improve knowledge retention amongst students. It impacts the cognitive abilities of the students positively and they are better able to comprehend the information. Further, associating the theory with interactive gaming scenarios and real-life simulations or role plays allows the students to understand the real-world implications of their classroom learning modules.

4. Gamification impacts the holistic education of the students by teaching them academic and non-academic skills. They are able to better harness their intellectual and creative abilities with more focus while reflecting on their study behaviors and attitudes. It also creates a space for educators to interact with students and form effective guidance and lesson plans for optimum learning outputs. 

The following are some examples of how the education industry can harness these benefits: 

  1. Introducing classic games, such as scrabble, scavenger hunts, and interactive quizzes with multiple choice questions and word clouds promote cognitive, creative, and social skills.
  2. Role playing, going on quests, or completing group challenges can build on teamwork and problem-solving, while also allowing students to explore real-life implications of their learnings.
  3. Sites such as Duolingo and Classcraft use gamification strategies such as memorable avatars to build student engagement and make learning fun.

Thus, gamification as seamlessly facilitated by Goama, has enhanced the students’ learning experience and helped them achieve their learning goals in a more efficient and engaged way. It is the future and a transformative force in the education industry. 

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Gamification in Telecommunications

Gamification
Gamification

The telecommunication market has seen tremendous growth in the past decade, riding the smartphone wave. 4G and LTE generations have matured, giving way to the current dogfights for 5G supremacy. In the US alone, the number of smartphones in active use rose from 50 million in 2009 to a staggering 300 million in 2019 and is now projected to reach 311 million by 2025. Increased competition caused by this uptick has increased the urgency for industry veterans to look for ways to attract and retain more users, and gamification has stepped in to fill the need. Game mechanics coupled with smart incentivization and social media integration have helped many sectors see significant growth. Telecom giants are now hoping to introduce some of the same mojos in their sector as well. Let’s look at how the telecom industry can benefit from gamification strategies.

How Gamification helps in Telecom:

Gamification provides quite a few niche benefits, and here’s how those boost the players in the telecom industry:

  1. Gamification drives user engagement. This user can be an external visitor to an organization’s internet-based site, or an employee accessing intranet resources.
  2. For employees, gamification has been seen to improve morale and job satisfaction.
  3. Incentivization strategies in gamification increase user interactivity and increase their loyalty. Customers are bound to stick with a product/service longer that provides instant gratification via badges and other rewards.
  4. For organizations, implementing gamification mechanics increases the effectiveness of internal training, accelerates the process of employee onboarding as well as increases employee productivity.
  5. Companies can get valuable insights about their user base by analyzing the permissions-based data shared by the customers. Users consent to sharing this data while engaging in different interactive tasks like trivia, QnA, etc.
  6. User data analysis helps organizations to customize their products to serve their users better.
  7. Through gamification, companies can boost their brand awareness and deliver messages tied to their specific marketing campaigns.

Some recent examples:

Gamification in business is not a new concept, and the telecom sector has reaped the benefits of implementing gameplay mechanics into its business processes to amass more user engagement and retention. Some recent examples include:

Verizon Wireless in 2012 decided to gamify its website to tackle low user engagement. The revamping duties for the Verizon Insider Web Portal were given to Gigya, a popular gamification vendor via a digital agency named Modal. Verizon, then with more than 108 million subscribers, was trying to engage more users via social media integration. Modal helped build Verizon Insider – an online hub for lifestyle and entertainment aimed to house all events, contests, sponsorships, and social initiatives that Verizon Wireless took – while Gigya worked on seamlessly integrating social and gamification features through features like social media logins, comments, and sharing. As part of this program, a milestones-based, tasks and rewards regimen was built. Users could get awarded with badges for commenting on articles and sharing them, and unlock better rewards if they referred them to more people.

The results were very promising. More than 50% of the site’s users engaged with the gamified content, and users who logged in via their social media accounts spent on average 30% more time versus users who used regular, older logins. These users who used social media logins generated 15% more page views.

Samsung in 2011 paved the way for gamification in the consumer electronics and telecom industry by adding game-like elements to incentivize user engagement in their corporate website. Dubbed ‘Samsung Nation’, members could earn points, unlock various rewards including badges, and get featured on the leaderboard by engaging and completing various activities like watching videos, commenting on different articles, and opting for various social media-specific tasks like liking posts, tweeting/retweeting about Samsung products, and even participating in user-generated Q&As on Samsung’s U.S website. Samsung also sweetened the pot by offering three Samsung Galaxy tablets to three lucky users who entered the sweepstakes.

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Gamification has changed the way organizations look at user engagement. Traditional methods of marketing have given way to newer, game-derived mechanics to attract visitors and turn them into loyal customers. The telecom industry – although going through the most prolific decade in recent history – has recently found it difficult to expand its user demographic by using traditional methods and has started adopting gamification strategies. The rewards have also been handsome: incentivized loyalty programs have brought in more users, and permission-based information sharing has given organizations valuable insight about said users. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. As gamification strategies mature, many players in the current telecom industry will join the bandwagon. If you are a telecom market leader or a business owner, the time is now to leverage gamification and step up your user engagement.

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Health & Wellness Gamification

Health & Wellness Gamification
Health & Wellness Gamification

Like other industries, gamification has crept in health and wellness sectors too. Your fitness tracker nudges you to complete a set of steps or burn several calories every day – for a banner or a badge. Do it continuously over days and you get an even bigger reward. Share it with friends to go to the next tier – the processes to keep you healthy are numerous, but the underlying principle is the same. Gamification has introduced a sense of fun and competition by assimilating gameplay and interaction mechanics from video games.

Healthcare gamification, as a result, has been valued at $25.3 billion in 2020 and is forecast to grow at a CAGR of almost 15% between 2021-2027. As we continue to make strides in analyzing user behavior, more healthcare and wellness organizations are accepting gamification in their daily processes.

How Can Gamification be Employed in the Health and Wellness Industry?

Gamification simply said, is the process to transform day-to-day business processes into milestone-based, incentivized activities. Gamification is a tool that organizations leverage to increase user engagement, interactivity, and retention – while increasing brand and/or product awareness, and even broadcasting customer-centric values and messages to their target demographic.

In the health and wellness industries, gamification points to incorporating the same principles of video games like gameplay mechanics and high user interaction to incentivize and promote physical and wellness activities, and to provide user-centric customization while analyzing several key data points generated during these activities.

Benefits of Gamification in the Healthcare Industry:

In the realm of health and wellness, gamification can be beneficial in more ways than one, including:

  • Increasing user engagement and motivating them to complete their health goals
  • Transforming monotonous activities like daily health checks into fun incentivized activities. This is pivotal for certain key sections of the customer base like diabetes and cancer patients.
  • Promote an organization’s commitment towards their users’ health and help people on their wellness journey.
  • Gather vital user health data via different health trackers to provide better support and customization, increasing customer focus.
  • Building a long-term connection with the customers.
  • Promoting the brand value and boosting brand/product awareness.

Some Examples of Gamification in the Health and Wellness Industry:

Nike+

Nike+ is a program, consisting of an activity tracker and an app. A microchip in certain Nike shoes measures the distance and the pace of a run or a walk and the data is then visible in the app. Nike+ provides a nice leaderboard where users can compare their scores, and the winners stand a chance to win rewards, including coupon codes, tailored fitness programs, and more. Nike+ also released a fitness tracker called FuelBand (now discontinued) that worked in tandem with the iPhone and the Nike+ app.

Fitbit/Apple Watch

The best examples of gamification in the health and wellness industry come in the form of wearables and fitness trackers. The two biggest players in this domain have been Fitbit and Apple, providing users with connected fitness trackers – each replete with their ecosystems. Both Apple and Fitbit use mobile apps in tandem with the data recorded by the fitness band (several to choose from for Fitbit, Apple Watch for Apple). Users get rewarded with different badges for completing their daily quota of physical and mental wellness activities, as well as trying out new workouts. Fitbit is arguably the most popular health and wellness brand in the world, with almost 1500 corporate wellness program tie-ins, including big customers like HP, IBM, Bank of America, etc. These programs have reduced the overall healthcare costs for these employers by boosting employee health and promoting better lifestyles. Close social integration and a full ecosystem around health and fitness have boosted the sales of the Apple Watch to make it the best-selling wearable currently in the world.  

Re-Mission

Re-Mission, a video game developed by the non-profit organization HopeLab, targets a serious problem – people suffering from cancer not taking their medications on time. In “Re-Mission”, players took control of the nanobot “Roxy” to fight cancer with chemoblasters, radiation guns, antibiotic rockets, and other weapons derived from actual medical procedures. The game proved to be a huge success, spawning a sequel, Re-Mission 2.

Mysugr

MySugr is another ingenious example of introducing gamification principles into tackling the task of monitoring and dealing with Diabetes. MySugr mobile app uses attractive graphics and an interactive platform to transform the day-to-day blood sugar monitoring and other tasks that people with diabetes have to go through, into fun, incentivized activities. It seamlessly integrates with blood sugar monitors and ties in with both Google and Apple Health platforms. MySugr transforms diabetes into a virtual ‘monster’ – akin to Tamagotchi creatures – and users must finish daily activities to nurture it so that it does not go out of control. Additional activities can also be completed for more rewards. MySugr also provides a dedicated app for children, further expanding its reach.

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More than 71,000 fitness apps were released in 2020. Our increased reliance on mobile digital platforms and an overall reduction in focus has forced organizations to look towards more attractive, interactive ways to capture our interest. Gamification has led the way – by helping companies integrate many principles that made the video games industry the biggest money-maker in the world today. Health and wellness industry has been at the forefront in the past couple of years due to the pandemic, an uptick in chronic diseases, and the emergence of health consumerism. More creative ways of gamification have benefited. The consumer gets rewards for completing activities beneficial to their health – and the organizations receive increased traffic, revenue, and a plethora of loyal customers. 

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Using Gamification in Food Apps

Gamification in Food Apps
Gamification in Food Apps

The Food and Beverages industry thrives on user interaction, reviews, and word-of-mouth endorsements. However, traditional ways of marketing in this domain have reached their limits – forcing companies to look elsewhere to find inspiration. Gamification has emerged as a revitalizing tool to create new market buzz, attract and convert new customers, retain existing users, and decrease banner blindness. 93% of marketers agreed that gamified, interactive approach to content presentation was effective in educating buyers, and 88% said that gamification played a pivotal role in differentiating their product from the competition.

How can Food Apps be Gamified?

Gamification techniques can be added to the food apps in several key areas to enhance them for better user interaction, create an ecosystem of loyal customers, and generate awareness about brands and their messages. Let’s explore some ways you can do this:

  • Incentivize new user engagement from the starting step, including onboarding rewards, promo codes for signing up, social media sharing, and referral bonuses. Staggered referrals and time-limit bonuses are also good ways to keep users hooked and attract more potential customers.
  • Gamify purchasing by introducing loyalty points, reward first purchases via discount codes or coupons.
  • Create a tiered loyalty program where users gain points for their purchases, referrals, and other actions and then spend those points to unlock more benefits – to incentivize them to stay longer with your app/platform.
  • Incorporate gamification techniques like innovative trivia, quizzes, and other methods to gather user data and analyze them to understand your customer base. Leverage these data points to customize your product to provide a more user-focused, customized experience.

Benefits of Gamifying Food Apps:

Gamification in food apps (including food delivery apps) have quite a few big benefits, including:

  • Boosting user engagement
  • Converting more casual scrollers into loyal customers
  • Less banner blindness
  • Increasing customer retention
  • Better brand awareness and message conveyance
  • More understanding of user demographic by analyzing customer data
  • Offering a more customer-focused, personalized product

Examples of Gamification in Food Apps:

Pizza Hero by Domino’s:

Domino’s Pizza Hero app, created for iPad in 2011, is a perfect example of gamification in the food and beverages industry. Pizza Hero was a fun game where users assumed the role of a pizza maker, intending to create the most perfect pizza. On top of the experience of creating a pizza from scratch, players could order the pizza they created to their home. Not only that, but players with great pizza-making skills also stood a chance to win a jackpot – a job at Domino’s Pizza.

Through the app, Domino’s engaged users attractively and increased their brand awareness. They also incorporated game mechanics into their hiring process seamlessly. While the app was created just for fun, Pizza Hero turned out to be a huge success, with over 300K downloads. 7million pizzas were created through the app, and it increased Domino’s sales revenue by 30%.

Chipotle and ‘The Scarecrow’:


Chipotle, to create awareness about their messages about ethical food sourcing and sustainability, created a short animated film called ‘The Scarecrow’ and an associated game of the same name. The film showed several harmful practices which were fairly standard in the food industry and how Chipotle’s goal was different, eco-friendly, and geared towards the health of their customer base. The Scarecrow lit the market abuzz, with 18.4 million conversations across 17 social media platforms, and a 92.7 social sentiment score. The campaign -originally started in 2013- also won a Cannes Lions award in 2014 and helped Chipotle replace Taco Bell as the top fast-food brand in the United States.

Starbucks Rewards:

Arguably the best example of a gamified loyalty program is Starbucks Rewards. This loyalty program has had a monumental impact on the food and retail industry, boosting sales revenues for the global beverages giant, promoting an ecosystem of customization, pre-ordering, and payment. Loyal customers can get promoted to different tiers – upper tiers come with more exclusive benefits, coupons, discount codes, etc.

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Gamification has moved out of just being a proof of concept to an actual, reliable mechanism that companies are leveraging every year to get big results. Globally, the gamification market is valued at almost $12 Billion. This uptick means that gamification is spreading across every stratum of the market – including the food apps. Food apps have seen a surge in the pandemic years, and the increased competition has forced organizations to look for innovative measures to appeal to their customer base. Gamification has come in handy – in inviting more user interaction through a milestones-and-rewards-based approach. Be it delivery or restaurant apps, the food industry is riding the gamification wave to create newer interaction models between their customer base. If you are an organizational lead or a product owner, the time is now to hop aboard the gamification train!

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Applying Gamification in Ecommerce

Gamification & EcommerceA
Gamification & EcommerceA

Gamification marketing is everywhere – from interactive doodles on the Google homepage to Buzzfeed trivia to various mini-games, spinning wheels, and digital slots on Amazon. Recent years of lockdown have increased our dependence on e-commerce sites, and with general customer interest waning every year, gamification and its added immersion and interaction have become the need of the hour for these business owners.

In e-commerce, gamification indicates assimilating and deploying strategies akin to gameplay methods in video games to boost sales in digital stores – either digital assets or physical items.

Ways to Gamify Your Ecommerce Business:

As a market leader, here are a couple of ways you can harness the power of gamification in your e-commerce business.

  • Use games like Scavenger Hunt to ensure that your customers – both existing and new – visit key pages on your e-commerce site. Gamification marketing strategies like these incentivize user interaction and create the initial hook.
  • Another good way is to use a Wheel of Fortune with different promo codes and discounts at stake. Not only does this game of chance introduce a sense of thrill among customers, but it also turns casual site-browsers into potential buyers.
  • Set up a rewards program. Loyalty points and incentives redeemable via spending those points boost your trustworthiness as a brand. They show users that you care about them – a factor that attracts new customers as well. Vary the rewards into tiers that work like levels of privilege to reap more benefits. Choose the customer behavior that you want to reward – ranging from signing up for your newsletter, sharing in social media, product reviews, etc.
  • Fun behavioral quizzes or trivia are another great way to direct your customers to the product that is best suited for them. You can analyze the vital data generated from these gamification marketing methods to further understand your user base and demographic as well as traction levels for products being sold via your e-commerce site.
  • Recently, some organizations have also benefited by launching dedicated mini-game apps that tie into their e-commerce sites. These game apps can help promote products available in your store as well as generate awareness about your brand and its message.
  • Lastly, make sure your gamified incentivization methods are meaningful. Quite often, users tend to be more loyal to a brand or a site where they can achieve or partake in something bigger than them. A good example of this is Nike’s successful Nike+ campaign – tailored towards covering every aspect of an athlete’s life – including social integration, training, competition, and sports style. 
Source: https://www.knowband.com/blog/ecommerce-blog/gamification-increases-customer-engagement-ecommerce-store/

Some recent examples:

  1. Global beauty brand Sephora has an extensive loyalty program that is the perfect example of a gamification technique applied in e-commerce. Users earn 1 loyalty point per $1 they spend in the store/site and these points can then be used to unlock more privileges (free shipping, deeper discounts, etc.). Moreover, long-time users are also promoted to the next privilege level (VIB, Rouge) with even more rewards.
  1. Karl Lagerfeld’s online store created a retro-inspired video game similar to the cult classic, Pacman, to promote their Spring 2020 pixel collection. The game featured Karl’s very own cat, Choupette. This online game had users catching as many special KARL bonus items as they could while defeating Choupette’s foes – dogs. Winners were rewarded with a shopping spree at Karl Lagerfeld’s store.
  1. Nike released an online game in 2011, dubbed ‘Winter’s Angry. Fight Back’ to promote its line of winter sportswear debuting at the end of that year. Players took control of a virtual avatar of one of three very popular athletes – NFL wideout Greg Jennings, USA Women’s soccer player Alex Morgan and Olympic gold medal sprinter Allyson Felix – to perform a series of training exercises to ‘beat the cold’. Players could win prizes for completing challenges, and ones with top scores were eligible for a trip to meet the athletes. Nike’s game website also doubled as a store to purchase apparel featured on these athletes.
  1. ‘14-Day Blast Off’ from the popular grocery chain Whole Foods encouraged participants to commence on a healthy diet journey at the onset of a new year. Whole Foods cleverly incorporated gamification marketing techniques in this campaign that rewarded users when they completed one or more milestones, in form of rebates on in-store purchases.
  1. Cityville, the now-defunct social city-building game from Zynga, was a mammoth hit back in the early 2010s when it launched. At its heyday, a staggering 71 million users were playing the game on Facebook. Best Buy took advantage of Cityville’s reach by opening the first branded retail store in-game. Players could place the store in their virtual city, gain game currency and points when they collected electronic items, and even roam the city in Best Buy’s widely popular Geek Squad vehicles. This gamification marketing was a clever way to advertise Best Buy’s store to a wide variety of customers beyond their usual demographic.
  1. ALDO’s Instagram Moodboard is also a good example of gamification being used in e-commerce. ALDO tied its release of the “A is for Aldo” fragrance collection with Facebook minigames that encouraged users to match their mood with Instagram images. The result was a shareable collage of images associated with any of the three colors and the perfume represented by that color.

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The global gamification market is projected to reach $32 Billion by 2025. Organizations are being compelled to implement more visually immersive, engaging, interactive ways to attract new users and retain their existing customer base. In the world of e-commerce, the fight is even more fierce. Incorporating gamification techniques can not only make your e-commerce platform stand out from the competition but can also build value and awareness for your brand – assets that are defining factors of success in this fast-moving industry.

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