Ever wondering why do people love games? the short and obvious answer is: they are fun and boost our mood, especially when we won the game. So, how this enjoyment of playing games is explained psychologically?

According to The Role of Psychology in Understanding The Impact of Computer Games, there is a theory which states that human behavior is driven by the need for competence, autonomy, and relatedness. If those needs are met, we enjoy activities more, even in gaming. Competence is fulfilled in games through flow, which is a completely focused mental state, and is used to explain the enjoyment of games.

By these interesting behaviour of games, did you know that we actually could implement it into various activities? with gamification, you’ll be able to transform serious knowledge into something fun and more understandable. It is a unique and effective way to boost engagement to your product of service, even in conservative industries such as bank or state-owned enterprise.

Read More: Gamification is the Future of Learning

Fun Way to Gamify Your Business

Did you know that Starbucks is one of the famous brand that successfully applying the gamification concept for their products? On 2008, Starbucks first launched their rewards program in 2008 with a punch card. Customers increase their level of loyalty – depending on the number of purchases – to get more in addition to free products.

Through this program, Starbucks managed to gather 19.3 million members and generates nearly 50% of their revenue in 2020. They also considered as number one in customer loyalty, with their reward program that just basically – gamification!

You can always put gamification to increase the awareness of your business. To make it easier for you, here we summarize some tips for gamify your products or services.

Make it social

Social media has a special place in marketing. Adding social media sharing options in your gameplay makes it attractive to your clients, for example rewarding users for reviewing, liking, commenting on or contributing content.

Gamification also acts as a passive advertisement to the client’s social circles. Allow your clients or users to showcase their achievements in contests or features they love about your product to their social media friends or followers. Their sharing will likely trigger a response from friends or followers.

Hold contests with rewards

We all love freebies. The possibility of winning something will almost always make your clients or customers buy more of your products or services. You can also choose to reward your most loyal customers by giving them something if they meet a specific requirement.

Referrals are an excellent example of giving rewards to faithful customers. Once a client refers another client that buys your product or service, they either get cash rewards or discount vouchers on their next purchase.

Redeemable points

Most games today allow you to gain some coins that you redeem later on for something else. The same principle is easy to apply in a banking or financial setup. You allow your clients to earn points as they shop using your credit card or whenever they buy your product. The customers can then redeem the points they accrue as a discount for their next purchase or get some cash equivalent for spending on your products.

Read More: All About Gamification: With and Without Application

Easy and simple

One guiding principle to gamification is the simplicity of the game. You want something that people can easily handle without frustrations. Besides, the goal of gamification is engaging your clients, not putting them off, isn’t it?

Article source: Knowtechie.com – Interesting Ways to Gamify Your Products and Services (wrote by Chris Smith, published 1 July 2020)