According to Facebook IQ, 69% of the UK’s population play games (Peek & Poke 2021), and further research shows gamification can result in a 100 – 150% increase in engagement. Incorporating gamification elements throughout a loyalty scheme, whether this is a seasonal campaign, a promotion, or just to break up the scheme could be a good way of igniting and retaining your customers. This could be an instant win, discount on products or bonus spend, utilising gamification will help strengthen your customer journey throughout your scheme. Let's explore in more detail how gamification can boost your customer loyalty scheme.   

1. Gamification engages your channel partners as well as your customers 

Gamification is a very powerful tool for engaging with your customers, however, it is also a great way to motivate and engage your sales staff.

An engaged and more motivated workforce offers more positivity and productivity than a team that is unconnected. This said, your sales staff are imperative in communicating with customers about your loyalty scheme, so creating strong brand ambassadors through interactive and exciting content will motivate your staff to promote within. With 40% of salespeople motivated by making progress or winning, choosing internal branch competitions, leader boards, or ice breaker games could help your staff achieve high-impact results.

2. Gamification helps to maintain your customers 

Getting a customer to enrol in a loyalty programme doesn't always result in continued engagement, which is the true outcome of a customer loyalty programme. Implementing gamification into loyalty schemes and rewarding customers for the things that matter the most to them will drive engagement.

A report by Tech Validate's found that 30% of companies using gamification in their schemes improved registration conversion rates by 50% (Medium, 2018). You can easily fit gamification into your marketing strategy and schedule these interactions to help reach or align with specific business objectives such as increase spend, or purchase specific products.

Gamification also works for a range of different customer objectives, such as increasing greater participation from your loyal customers, at-risk customers, and those who bought from you once and had no other repeat purchase.

3. Create strong brand advocates while building brand awareness 

Games are a great way to build brand awareness, it can tap into human competitiveness meaning that your customers will be more likely to share or talk about your brand with other people. According to Snipp, brands that incorporate gamification into their customer engagement strategies see a 47% rise in engagement, a 22% rise in brand loyalty, and a 15% rise in brand awareness.

We all know that trying to promote a new product or general business update in a creative way can be quite challenging, but offering a prize competition, discount, or brand credit can be a great motivator for customers to better absorb your messaging. Gamification can provide your customers with a sense of achievement and competition, whilst also increasing engagement for a longer period creating real retention benefits for your business.

4. Strengthen your customer relationship through seasonal campaigns 

It can be a struggle to think of different ways to engage with your customers and this is where seasonal branded games come in!

Seasonal or tactical promotions can inject energy into your customer database and can be used throughout the year across a range of communication channels. They easily tie in with advertising campaigns, product offers, prize draws, or bonus point promotions and there are so many seasonal opportunities throughout the year.

It has been shown that using a tactical gamification approach within a loyalty scheme increases customer engagement by 48% overall.

5. Gamification adds an element of surprise and delight

Offering an instant win game such as peel to reveal, scratch to win, or even a prize reward calendar at any time through your loyalty scheme can be a great way to surprise and delight your customers. Having no real reason to offer this, but as a 'we appreciate your loyalty approach', can help your customers become more emotionally attached to your brand and with the scheme itself, which builds loyalty.

Summary

As we know, trends in customer loyalty and retention are constantly evolving and advancing, but gamification in loyalty schemes is here to stay. As technology develops and customers' need for emotional interaction grows, it will only get bigger and better!

If you'd like to find out more about the gamification options we can offer your business, call us on 0113 887 8620 or drop us an email at [email protected].