As far as industry buzzwords go, gamification has a pretty broad definition.
Some people think gamification involves producing a product-themed re-skin of Tetris. Though that can be fun, the philosophy of video game design has much more insight to offer into making a compelling, quality product. So we will talk a bit about what makes games so compelling and how those qualities can help customers along their purchasing journey.
Video games are not only fun, but they have tapped into what motivates people: Clear objectives, immediate rewards, and easily identifiable progression are only a few factors that make games compelling.
But taking the well-honed motivational techniques of video games and applying them to other products isn’t as easy a transition as walking through a Mario warp pipe. And much of the time, the qualities of good game design are just the qualities of good design in general.
One of the best parts of video games is comparing your achievements to other players — measuring your high score in Frogger, seeing what level you reached in Donkey Kong and comparing whether or not you could beat Sub-Zero. It’s a great social way to show off.
Since the days of Xbox, “achievements” (which recognize a wide variety of game feats) have been a successful way to hook gamers. Some players are so obsessed with these achievements that they play games exclusively to collect them and up their gamer score.
Other industries have started to appropriate the achievement system for their own uses. Many online news outlets have given out achievements to users who have “read 25+ articles” or “commented in the life section 10 times.”
Just make sure you walk the fine line between friendly scorekeeper and creepy stalker. Give your customer the option to share their awesome achievements but never force it. People would be horrified if Amazon gave them an achievement that automatically went out to their friends for buying Twinkies for the 100th time.
Along with achievements, meaningful/meaningless digital prizes can be compelling as well. I remember playing the game “Red Dead Redemption,” and as my cowboy shot off a bandito’s sombrero, I was rewarded with my own sombrero for my Xbox Live avatar. It cost the game developer almost nothing to give me that hat, but I was much more enthusiastic about the game after that.
Giving away digital swag such as wallpapers, avatar icons for forums or fun little email signatures can be a nice little surprise, especially if people aren’t expecting it. Bestowing some of these virtual freebies for completing an online order or survey is a great reward. Even if most people aren’t thrilled about it, you could still earn a few die-hard fans.
Of course, few things can be more rewarding on the Internet as a free game. If you want to add some fun to your product by adding a game, be careful how you do it.
First, never force people to play the game. Don’t ask people to play your game before they can order a pizza from you. That just gives people an excuse to exit your acquisition funnel. Games should be unobtrusive and optional.
Also, don’t try to put too many mechanics into the game or make it very long. These games should be simple, take 10 seconds to learn, and be fun to play over and over again.
One of the best examples of a company using games to make their product fun is MailChimp and its FastFives games: After you send out an email over MailChimp, the service congratulates you with graphic of a monkey paw offering a high-five. You click the graphic, and the monkey will high five the screen. You click the paw a whole bunch of times and the FastFives game will launch.
In FastFives a bunch of objects (open palms, thumbs ups as well as rocks, knives and cactuses) will appear on the screen which you have to high five appropriately. The MailChimp game is a perfect example of good gamification: It doesn’t get in the way of the product function, it’s easy, fun and unexpected -and it makes me want to send out more emails.
For more advice on how to bring you marketing gamification to another level check out Then in Boston and see the session “Gamification Is Your Next Marketing Strategy.”
This article is brought to you by THEN, DMA’s reinvented Annual Event. Click here to join us and thousands of GenD marketers, Oct. 4-6, 2015 in Boston.