By Apurv Modi, Managing Director and Co-founder, ATechnos
Take a moment to consider these statistics. As of 2019, there were 2.1 billion mobile video game players globally. In India, the gaming industry is estimated to be worth US$ 1.1 billion as of 2021. Interestingly, the average age of gamers is about 33 years. Moreover, the mobile gaming market in the US is estimated to hit US$ 11.35 billion by 2025. It is evident that video gaming is one of the most enjoyed activities across age groups, and it is very popular on mobile phones.
The relationship between gaming and customer engagement
You might wonder what gaming has to do with customer engagement. Truth be told a lot! The gaming industry has introduced the concept of gamification into business. We love playing games, and we love winning. It’s that desire to be in control and create your own experiences that drive us.
Marketers who want to build engagement with their customers can use work on this psychology of their customers to make them a part of their brand’s story. When brands seek customers’ inputs and give them a solid reason to become a contributor, the results can be magical. There are three main reasons for this.
- Gamers like a personal connection. They like being able to contribute to the success of a brand by contributing to their own accord.
- Gamers like to be rewarded. Starbucks knows this and rewards its customers. Get more points and win yourself a reward. Customers like that.
- Gamers enjoy competition and sharing their wins and achievements with others. This tendency of gamers can be further leveraged by businesses to create a loyal and highly engaged community of users. Contests and challenges are a great way to bring out this quality in your customers.
What are the different ways to incorporate gaming into your brand?
Provide opportunity
It’s a well-known fact that humans fear losing out on good opportunities. This concern is even more exaggerated among millennials. A survey discovered that seven in 10 millennials experience FOMO or the fear of missing out. So, giving younger customers a sense that the clock is ticking or that their friends or acquaintances are buying something similar is a definite way to get them to act. Adding a few gamified tactics can add more fun too.
For instance, the grammar-checking mobile app, Grammarly rewards and congratulates customers who go on a writing streak or write with no errors. It also has lightning discounts, limited-time deals, and other sales that encourage users to upgrade their membership to premium.
Make your customers feel important
Customers love to make positive contributions. So, give them that feeling by involving them in your day-to-day activities or improvement of your product. Giving data or information can make them feel that they are helping. Google Maps is one such product that encourages its users to provide data on missing locations, changed addresses, and disturbances in a definite route to make its usage smoother for other users.
Create a status symbol
Everyone loves to win and be at the top. When users know that they have a chance to get ahead and rise to the top, they will want to use or buy more of your service. Airbnb is a great example, it uses its Superhost feature to invite more users to rent their homes through its online portal.
Encourage progress and completion
Websites like LinkedIn have a progress bar that shows what percentage of your profile is complete. It is an effective technique in gaming that pushes people to finish what they started. You can add more to this and award your customers badges and access to premium content or products whenever they complete a specific set of tasks on your platform. Myntra does this effectively by encouraging users to shop for a certain amount and place a certain number of orders before involving them in Myntra Insider.
Gamification is a great add-on to an existing customer-brand relationship
For brands that already have a good user base and strong sales, including gamification can help their popularity to the next level. However, a poorly incorporated gaming strategy can also backfire. Brands and businesses must remember that a good gamification plan will work only when they have an ongoing relationship and high-quality products and services to fall back on. Otherwise, they run the risk of losing customers to competitors. After all, the gaming strategy is only a part of a whole and cannot be too prominent in the customer’s experience.
Very interesting blog. Good job!