In this guide, we cover everything you need to know about gamification marketing, including what it can look like, why it works, and examples of gamification in action.<\/p>\n
![\"gamification](\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/BLOG-IMAGE.png\")
<\/p>\n
What is gamification marketing?<\/h2>\n
Gamification is a clever way to engage and motivate people with the concept of game-playing. It\u2019s something more and more businesses are adopting into their sales and marketing strategies, because it can be used to help your brand in a number of ways, including:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Lead generation<\/a><\/li>\n
- Customer acquisition<\/li>\n
- Website performance<\/li>\n
- User experience<\/li>\n
- Customer satisfaction<\/li>\n
- Customer retention<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
In fact, 50%<\/a> of startups use gamification, which makes sense. Gamification really hooks people in, and gets them wanting more – without them needing to know anything and everything about the company they\u2019re interacting with.<\/p>\n
The effects of gamification on marketing<\/h2>\n
So, why does the art of gamification work so well in marketing strategies?<\/p>\n
In short: it\u2019s psychology.<\/p>\n
Whatever type of gamification you go for, if it\u2019s done well, users become invested in the game you present them.<\/p>\n
By using gamification marketing, you tune into the majority\u2019s healthy sense of competition, everyone\u2019s love for validation, and your own knowledge that the more engaged your customers are, the higher the return<\/strong> for your business. That might be time-on-page, that might be in spends, that might be more referrals, that might be a bunch of things that benefit your business and its metrics.<\/p>\n
Speaking of benefits, let\u2019s look into those.<\/p>\n
3 (big) benefits of gamification in marketing<\/h2>\n
Done effectively, gamification can bring your business a few benefits that we think <\/em>you might be interested in\u2026<\/p>\n
1) Increase user engagement<\/h3>\n
Game-based motivation increases user engagement by up to 48%.<\/p>\n
Because of the interactive nature of gamification, engagement rates are typically higher and better than other styles of campaigns you can run. In fact, gamifying your website can boost browsing time (or time-on-page) alone by around 30%<\/a>.<\/p>\n
And you know what higher engagement means<\/a>? A higher conversion rate<\/strong>, as well as referral rate. Ideal for lead generation from inbound leads, cross-selling, and upselling.<\/p>\n
2) Gain customer data<\/h3>\n
If you\u2019re looking for a new way to generate leads, this is definitely a fun option – an option that requires creativity, hard work, and tracking, but fun all the same.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s not just email addresses and other contact information you can gain through gamification like a lead capture form at the end of a quiz so they can get their results. Depending on the type of game you go for, you can gain all sorts of information about the people hitting your website. Things like:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Buyer behaviors<\/li>\n
- Location<\/li>\n
- Preferences<\/li>\n
- Are they even our target audience?\n
- \n
- Yes: Great news<\/li>\n
- No: Damn, time to reevaluate that campaign<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- You get the jist<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
To make sure you do <\/em>get the right audience playing your games and avoid wasting all the hard work gamification can require, use Similarweb Digital Marketing Intelligence<\/a>. You\u2019ll gain full insight into your target audience<\/a>, the keywords they\u2019re searching for, the keywords your competitors are getting hits for, and the best ways to distribute your campaigns within your specific industry.<\/p>\n
3) Build brand awareness and customer loyalty<\/h3>\n
Another great thing about including gamification in your marketing strategy is that you get people to engage with, interact with, and subscribe to your brand, without the need for your sales teams to get on the cold calls or emails.<\/p>\n
That means you get brand awareness<\/strong><\/a> and inbound leads<\/strong>, without having to directly educate. You just reel them in with your gaming adventure, whatever style, shape or size it may be.<\/p>\n
Lead qualification = absolutely necessary though, as you might get a few that are out of the realm of your ideal customer profile just because it\u2019s #fun.<\/p>\n
On top of that, you can use gamification as a way to keep your customers engaged and up-to-date, helping with customer loyalty and retention.<\/p>\n
How to use gamification marketing in your strategy<\/h2>\n
Alright alright, so what can gamification look like for your brand?<\/p>\n
We\u2019re not saying you have to create the next Super Mario, but introducing some kind of gaming element that incorporates your brand, your product, your goals, and that little bit of fun can mean you reap all the benefits mentioned above.<\/p>\n
Here are just some of the ways you can include gamification marketing into your strategy:<\/p>\n
- \n
- On-page games<\/strong>: Create a game that users can\u2019t help but share to others to increase your brand awareness, indirectly educate users about your solution, boost your website performance, and promote inbound leads.<\/li>\n
- Regular challenges<\/strong>: Encourage regular visits, returning visitors, and user engagement to help make sure that users are getting the most out of your product.<\/li>\n
- Calculators<\/strong>: When you\u2019re in an industry that includes some difficult mathematical equations, offer a calculator to do the math for your users – financial and mortgage advisors, we\u2019re looking at you. (Top tip<\/em>: This example is great for backlinks).<\/li>\n
- Leaderboards<\/strong>: Touch on everyone\u2019s competitive side and create a points system on a company, national or global level to retain engagement and interaction with your website or app.<\/li>\n
- Badges and awards<\/strong>: Everyone loves being recognized, and who can say no to winning virtual badges or awards?<\/li>\n
- Countdowns<\/strong>: As simple as it sounds, a countdown works well with people\u2019s engagement as they create a sense of urgency and encourage action, whether that\u2019s putting something in the calendar or making a purchase before the timer runs out.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
5 successful gamification marketing examples<\/h2>\n
Now, for some examples of great gamification marketing in action – here are just five campaigns we know, love, and will probably keep falling for:<\/p>\n
1) LinkedIn: Progress bar<\/h3>\n
One example you probably haven\u2019t managed to miss is the LinkedIn progress bar, motivating you to optimize your profile to its fullest potential.<\/p>\n
This means completing \u2013 or strengthening <\/em>\u2013 your profile by filling out everything from your name and current position, to your full professional and educational backgrounds.<\/p>\n
Note: LinkedIn\u2019s progress bar is never at zero, because nothing is more demotivating than starting from scratch and having a long way to go. Clever.<\/p>\n
![\"linkedin](\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/linkedin-profile-strength.png\")
<\/p>\nThe visual of a progress or completion bar drives users to accomplish goals<\/strong> and create goals<\/strong>, benefiting in customer experience. But the thing is, this isn\u2019t only benefiting your own customer experience of the social media platform; the more information you put in, the more you\u2019re benefiting others\u2019 experience of the platform too.<\/p>\n
Think about all the recruiters who specifically want someone who did a Math degree, or has at least 3 years of experience in SEO. Think about event planners looking for specific roles in tech companies that are local to the area, or know how to speak Spanish fluently.<\/p>\n
We see you, LinkedIn. We see you. Yet we still absolutely cannot have our profile strength in anything but the green zone – it\u2019s impossible.<\/p>\n
2) Peloton: Leaderboard<\/h3>\n
There\u2019s nothing like a bit of healthy competition, and as well-known pioneers of fitness, Peloton choosing a leaderboard as their example of gamification makes sense.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s take Peloton bikes for example. The Peloton leaderboard here shows everyone that\u2019s in a class with you during a ride, whether it\u2019s on-demand or live, and there\u2019s also an all-time leaderboard with anyone that\u2019s ever taken the class.<\/p>\n
Why do they do this? Well, the position on the leaderboard is based on your output, and if it sparks your competitive nature, that\u2019s going to make you work harder. And when you work hard and make the most of the at-home fitness regime, you\u2019ll see results, therefore you achieve exactly what Peloton set out for: improved health and fitness.<\/p>\n
Customer satisfaction even though you did all the hard work, making that monthly payment worth it? Tick. ✅<\/p>\n
The same score system applies for all their products, and people know this kind of motivation works. There\u2019s also something extra<\/em> enticing about it being in the comfort of your own home, isn\u2019t there?<\/p>\n
The proof is in the pudding with Peloton\u2019s organic traffic<\/a> via desktop being mostly branded keywords, with the intent to purchase or sign in.<\/p>\n
![\"peloton](\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/peloton-organic-keywords.png\")
<\/p>\nPeople want to find out more about Peloton as a brand, (even if they aren\u2019t quite sure how to spell it) and check up on their performance. But let\u2019s take a quick look at the volume of both organic and paid traffic:<\/p>\n
![\"peloton](\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/peloton-organic-traffic.png\")
<\/p>\nThat big spike in January 2021 comes as no surprise as it came at a time of worldwide lockdowns during the pandemic, meaning no gyms and not much else to do than worry about our health.<\/p>\n
Peloton have maintained a reasonable plateau since the reopening of gyms, as well as a high average visit duration of over 5 minutes. Our Organic Pages feature gives us a little inkling into the specific pages which most people head to – we took a look at the past three months:<\/p>\n
![\"peloton](\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/peloton-organic-pages.png\")
<\/p>\n3) Duolingo: Streaks<\/h3>\n
For those of you that have tried to learn a new language with Duolingo<\/a> (successfully or not), you\u2019ll know the daily notifications they send through to your device, encouraging you to continue your streak.<\/p>\n
(Or<\/em>, you\u2019ll know how to turn the notifications off on your phone in the fastest way possible after receiving too many of them).<\/p>\n
A streak on Duolingo is the number of days in a row you\u2019ve completed a lesson, so when you do one through the app or online, your streak will go up by one.<\/p>\n
The more lessons you complete, the more you go on the Duolingo app<\/a>, the more of the language you learn, the more customer satisfaction you have, the more likely you are to return as a paying customer.<\/p>\n
![\"duolingo](\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/duolingo-success.png\")
<\/p>\n4) Il Makiage: Quiz<\/h3>\n
Our next example of marketing gamification is from online make-up experts, Il Makiage<\/a>; it\u2019s their Find Your Foundation Quiz.<\/p>\n
![\"il](\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/il-makiage-homepage.png\")
<\/p>\nGiven the rise of ecommerce, a quiz (that actually works) is a great way to engage online shoppers and help them buy the perfect foundation for their skin and skin tone, without having to leave the house. It works well for both the company, its prospects, and its customers.<\/p>\n
The Il Makiage quiz has a good amount of questions – it nails the balance between being not too long so the user stays engaged and doesn\u2019t click off the site, and not too short, so the user trusts they will get reliable results. In fact, they advertise it as taking only 90 seconds.<\/p>\n
Plus, you know your gamification is a hit when people are searching for that specific feature:<\/p>\n
![\"il](\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/il-makiage-quiz-search-volume.png\")
<\/p>\n5) Starbucks: Rewards for loyalty<\/h3>\n
Okay, so we know people love games – and we know we all love games where we win. But what happens when you actually win something? An actual thing, for no money at all.<\/p>\n
Two words: rewards schemes.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
Starbucks<\/a> is just one example of a business that uses \u2013 and makes more money from \u2013 reward schemes.<\/p>\n
![\"starbucks](\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/starbucks-rewards.png\")
<\/p>\nHow does it work? You know, giving away rewards but still making money?<\/p>\n
Well\u2026 with Starbucks, the secret is that you only get rewards for frequent purchases. This may work well for those that already drink 3 Starbucks coffees a day, but it will entice those that consider a non-instant coffee a bit of a payday treat, to buy them more often.<\/p>\n
Free stuff gets people going<\/em>, especially as the cost of living increases. While, a lot of the time, we are actually spending more to get the free items, we are hell-bent on getting as many stars as we can.<\/p>\n
☝️ And that obsession with collecting stars to get \u2018free\u2019 stuff, even in an economic crisis, is yet another reason why gamification works so well.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s us, isn\u2019t it? We\u2019re the problem.<\/p>\n
![\"gamification:](\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/free-stuff.png\")
<\/p>\n3 ways to get your gamification inspo from Similarweb<\/h2>\n
If you want your gamification marketing campaign to knock it out the park, you want users to convert into customers. And to get users to convert into customers, you need to be hitting the right target audience.<\/p>\n
While a fun game can boost your time-on-page and general website engagement, there\u2019s not much use in that if they aren\u2019t converting or telling their friends, colleagues, bosses and LinkedIn about you.<\/p>\n
With Similarweb Digital Marketing Intelligence, you can find out all about your target audience, what they\u2019re searching for, and what your competitors are doing better than you.<\/p>\n
With our platform, you can:<\/p>\n
1) Target keywords that will actually drive traffic<\/h3>\n
Using our Keyword Generator<\/a>, you can discover the best keywords to target to promote your business. Not only can you generate keyword lists filled with related keywords, you can also ensure that your target search terms actually have search volume so no efforts are wasted.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what we can tell you about the term \u201cmortgage calculator\u201d, for example.<\/p>\n
![\"mortgage](\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/mortgage-calculator.png\")
<\/p>\nAs you can see, there\u2019s a huge search volume<\/a> throughout the year. Meanwhile, that idea you had for that oh-so-specific \u2018weight on the moon calculator\u2019.<\/p>\n
![\"weight](\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/weight-on-the-moon-calculator-keyword.png\")
<\/p>\nAn interesting concept, but not something widely searched or even thought about.*<\/p>\n
*(Cue a rise in this keyword\u2019s search volume, as we predict it will have a similar response to when people say \u201cyou can\u2019t lick your elbow\u201d, and you now simply <\/em>must<\/em> find out how much you\u2019d weigh on the moon).<\/em><\/p>\n
2) Discover what keywords are new, trending, or up-and-coming<\/h3>\n
Thanks to our fresh data, you can get your hands on the up-and-coming and trending keywords<\/a> that relate to your business, long before your competitors do.<\/p>\n
These keywords might be seasonal and perhaps not a year-round favorite like \u201cmortgage calculator\u201d, or they might be completely new to search engines. Either way, you can find them and make the most of the opportunity with Similarweb.<\/p>\n
Say you host a personality quiz on your website, and traffic isn\u2019t looking so good. Take a look at the Keyword Generator and its yearly trend pattern. Including the word \u201cfun\u201d could be what takes your page to the top in the SERPs.<\/p>\n
![\"personality](\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/personality-quiz.png\")
<\/p>\n3) Compare your pages with your competitors\u2019 to see what\u2019s up<\/h3>\n
Out of all your pages and your competitors\u2019, find out which are performing well and badly to inspire your website optimization.<\/p>\n
How? Using our Organic Pages <\/strong>tool and comparison, that\u2019s how.<\/p>\n
Spy on your competitors and spot their high-performing pages (and the not so high-performing), including trending and recently discovered pages.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s take a look at Il Makiage, a brand we mentioned earlier. In checking out its top organic pages, what do ya see – it\u2019s the quiz. Online make-up brands: you know what you\u2019ve got to (try and) do.<\/p>\n
![\"il](\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/il-makiage-organic-pages.png\")
<\/p>\nOur Competitor Analysis tool<\/a> also gives you the opportunity to compare your ranking keywords with competitors<\/a>. Choose where they aren\u2019t ranking so well or where they are weaker, and plan your (organic) attack.<\/p>\n
Score high with gamification, and higher with Similarweb<\/h2>\n
When you\u2019ve got answers to questions like these, you\u2019ll have a solid base on what to build and how to distribute it, so you get the results you want.<\/p>\n
To find out more about how Similarweb can help you and your business, book a demo today or start your free trial today:<\/p>\n
- Regular challenges<\/strong>: Encourage regular visits, returning visitors, and user engagement to help make sure that users are getting the most out of your product.<\/li>\n
- On-page games<\/strong>: Create a game that users can\u2019t help but share to others to increase your brand awareness, indirectly educate users about your solution, boost your website performance, and promote inbound leads.<\/li>\n