When you think of the fact that, in the US alone, there are 183 million active gamers and that the world’s population spends 3 billion hours a week gaming, it’s no surprise that brands are increasingly adopting “gamified” marketing campaigns to better engage customers.
Research firm Gartner predicts that 70% of Global 2000 companies will have at least one application or campaign that utalizes gamification by 2014.
As a result, the gamification experience is rapidly making its way inside retail environments as well, helping customers become more completely interfaced with a retailer while they are shopping. Joe Easley, Kobie’s Director of Global Product Strategy, recently spoke with Roger Williams of Loadfactor about how retailers can harness the power of play to enhance the customer experience instore, boosting engagement and loyalty.
Joe makes several important points, including:
- If optimizing your loyalty program depends on customers sharing their information with your brand, it’s essential they get value in return.
- It’s important for retailers to ensure they have the right technology for their gamified promotions and that the in-store process is clearly mapped out in advance to avoid operational snags.
- Fostering competition among customers – for instance, on who gets the best deal in a particular program or promotion – is an important driver of game behavior and one of the best ways to engage customers utilizing gamification.
- By adding layers of engagement and value to the shopping experience, gamified promotions can pull customers into stores and boost the likelihood of a purchase.
Games are a universal part of the human experience, which means that gamification has the power to provide your loyal customers with a fun experience in real-time – and keep them coming back to engage with your brand again and again.
You can watch Joe’s interview here and share your thoughts in the section below. Are you incorporating game mechanics into your loyalty program? If so, how effective is this approach? We would love to hear from you!
