Currently, the saturation of the market with a multitude of companies and brands that offer similar products and services adds more difficulties to do business. For this reason, more and more organizations are looking for innovative strategies to bring products and services closer to their customers.
Gamification is one of the emerging initiatives that companies are using the most to increase the motivation of their employees and to build customer loyalty.
Video games and games in general are very motivating for people to take action. The video game developer Jane McGonigal specifies in her book "The Reality is broken" four reasons that would explain why video games are motivating.
Why do video games motivate?
These are the four points that explain the power that video games have to motivate:
1.- Clear objectives: In a video game any player is clear about what they have to do. Get 3 stars, get 100 coins or kill all enemies. Having a clear purpose motivates users to strive to achieve it.
2.- Feedback: In a game, users receive constant information about the level of progress. They know if they are doing it right or if they are doing it wrong at any time. Add points, unlock the next level, climb positions in the ranking, etc. Users are motivated to know that they are on the right path and that failure does not penalize them, since they can try again and again.
3.- Social interaction: Video games motivate people because they allow them to interact with other individuals with the same interests. Even if it is an individual game, users never get tired of playing it so they can explain their progress and frustrations to their friends.
4.- Transcendental mission: People like to play video games because they want to be part of something bigger than their own existence. They play to save the world from a horrendous villain, rescue innocents who have been in an accident, and perform a feat that no one has ever accomplished before.
Based on these four motivations that video games use to stimulate users, companies can build dynamics that motivate their workers to improve products and services and encourage customers to buy them.
Four ways to build customer loyalty with gamification
Gamification builds customer loyalty with the four strategies that video games use to motivate users:
1.- Promotions that really meet your needs. Often companies forget to focus on their motivations and offer them discounts that are not significant to them. Instead of handing you promotions you don't want, companies need to get to know their customers and present you with only those promotions they want.
2.- Immediate rewards for each of the different loyalty levels. Rewarding those customers with different recognitions depending on the products or services they have purchased motivates them to continue buying more products or services.
3.- Building relationships with customers through meaningful stories and quality content. One of the best ways to increase social interaction with customers and increase sales is by telling them stories that really matter to them and sharing content that is valuable to them.
4.- Emotional connection with personalized experiences. Customers who receive personalized promotions, as well as exclusive events or unique products increase their connection with the brand and are more loyal.
PGR has many years of experience in designing marketing strategies to build customer loyalty and now also proposes gamification to help companies sell more.
