Gamification: Reinventing the Marketing Funnel
An article by Weplay Esports concludes that over 36% percent of the world’s population can be classified as a gamer.
That means that one in three people across the globe has experienced the sensation of beating an extremely tough boss or leveling up their character to the max. The gratification of beating a difficult level or finding the solution to the puzzle is an extremely gratifying sensation that can be addictive.
The concept of Gamification is reaching adolescence in recent times, and its understanding is yet to be made transparent to business owners and executive teams.
Today we take a look at how to apply the same sensation that is experienced by that 36% and how it can be utilized in your marketing funnel.
What is Gamification?
Gamify states the definition of gamification simply.
“Gamification is the addition of game elements to non-game activities.”
To put it into a marketing perspective, gamification is the process of increasing the reward and gratification of consumers through interactions with elements associated with your firm and company. The process is quite simple.
In terms of gamification, one would receive the same serotonin boost experienced when “beating that boss,” in another instance that is not directly related to playing a game, but rather when interacting with a firm’s intellectual property. This usually occurs in the digital space.
Let’s look at an example:
E-Learning made Fun
One of the most well-known language learning applications on the market is most assuredly Duolingo.
Learning a language is time-consuming, difficult, and for some people impossible to fit into their busy schedules. Duolingo takes the process of learning a language and flips it on its head through short, interactive learning approaches that grant users a reward for the amount of time and effort spent using the application.
The model Duolingo is based around is making the process fun. Through this, users receive badges, engage with a visually stimulating application that encourages progression, get involved with a community, and much more.
Colorful backgrounds, bars that increase as you progress, literal badges to show your friends how good your French is coming along. Duolingo pushes the concept of gamification to the max by incorporating these elements. The user wants to keep going and keep spending time on the app not only because they are learning a new skill, but because the feeling they get as they learn is stimulating in all the right ways.
Moving on
The concept can be stretched into almost any aspect where a user is involved. Gamification can occur in the user experience on a website, it can occur through the way influencers interact with their audiences, and it can also occur in the usage of health-based applications.
The idea of gamification is taking away from the monotony of “normal” advertising and user interaction by giving consumers n engaging way to interact with your firm or business.
Giving customers a way to interact and engage with content is the goal for any marketer or business owner. The idea of gamification applies this concept as the root of the principle.
Having interaction as the main goal (in place of sales and ROI) sees engagement increase quite furiously throughout your firm.
Gamification is a relatively new concept in the marketing sphere that is only now being explored. With access to technology being made available almost everywhere, the digital age sees major potential for the expansion of business entities getting engagement from users faster and for longer.
The fun thing is that anyone can do it.
