Gamification is an increasingly popular method for making the user experience as joyful as possible, and more business areas are continually finding their ways of implementing gaming mechanics into their models.
Gamification is the concept of implementing principles from the gaming world in fields that do not necessarily connect to gaming. Gamification has become an increasingly common method of engaging employees to businesses and students within schools and making applications, devices and programs more interesting to users.
For online casinos and modern betting sites, gamification can be especially crucial to keep users coming back instead of leaving for a competitor.
There are several examples of how online businesses find inspiration from video games. Letting users earn points, offering the possibility of level advancements, and adhering to different sets of rules to unlock new features, are all ideas that online businesses have modelled from video games.
The concept of gamification comes with several benefits for both consumers and businesses. For the consumer, gamification provides enhanced and versatile user experience, whereas companies find their consumers engaging with their platform more often and for more extended periods.
In the world of online shopping, all the different reward systems based on points received from purchases could be considered as a form of gamification. Similarly, plenty of popular work-out apps offer different badges and rewards for achievements. The concept has been used within areas of education historically and long before digitalisation. Long before the publication of “The Game of Work” written by Charles Coonradt in 1973, marketers had invented loyalty stamps in the late 1800s and Boy Scouts had started awarding badges in 1908.
Today, Nikes+ running app, Code Academy, the online language learning app Duolingo, Redit, Github and Linkedin , among others, all use some levels of gamification to engage users. Apple watch has integrated gamification in many of their WatchOS applications, such as the breathing app, and the activity circles.
The word and topic gamification started trending in search engines from 2010 and the curve continues uphill.
Making it possible for the user to personalise their experience is used frequently in online interactions. Netflix, iPhone and Snapchat are just a few examples of online services that let you create avatars for your account. To take it further, the user can then be rewarded for their activity and unlock further options to modify their avatar, such as virtual clothing or accessories. Many apps let you customise the interface with different colour themes.
When a user has invested time in reaching different achievements and reaped the rewards, the idea is that a continuously stronger loyalty bond will grow between the consumer and the business.
One example of successful gamification is the “Turn your visits into rewards” program of the international coffee shop chain, Starbucks. In this program, users get a gold star for every time they use the Starbucks card or the mobile app to pay for their coffee. Five golden stars entitles the customer to free refills and 30 stars makes you a gold member and you get a customised gold card. You can redeem 150 stars for food or drink in select stores.
