From gamified loyalty programs to immersive experiences, there are more common denominators between the gaming and commerce worlds than ever. Discover how gamification strategies in commerce journeys can boost customer engagement, loyalty and conversion rates for brands and retailers.
Gamification might not be exactly new but it remains a force to be reckoned with. By integrating game mechanics — such as points, badges, leaderboards, quizzes, challenges and rewards — into non-game contexts, customers are more likely to engage, buy and become loyal to brands.
Loyalty programs have taken the lead in sprinkling game-like elements to add interactive and entertaining shopping experiences that encourage customers to participate and spend more. For instance, Pret A Manger provides Pret Perks, a loyalty program that lets customers earn stars with every purchase and choose a perk from a selection of tasty treats.
The leading beauty retailer Ulta Beauty has successfully incorporated game-like interactivity, an example being a word game for their loyalty program that gives users rewards for playing every day. Forty percent of users come back the next day. With a loyalty scheme boasting 43 million members, which makes up 95% of Ulta Beauty’s sales, incorporating such gamified elements is crucial for the company’s success.
According to an interview with media outlet SiliconAngle, the retailer’s rewards points enable loyal customers to redeem free gifts and enjoy discounts across a range of programs targeted to specific demographics, like Conscious Beauty, an initiative that targets Gen Z with vegan and cruelty-free products.
More than reward programs and loyalty points, a range of retailers are betting on creative ways to engage users, such as completing challenges and quests. Nike’s Run Club gamifies fitness by offering challenges that reward users with badges and achievements for completing runs and meeting fitness goals. Collabs between brands, such as McDonald’s and Monopoly, give customers game pieces with purchases, which can lead to instant prizes or entries into larger sweepstakes.
Plus, immersive experiences with augmented reality (AR) are also integrating gaming elements. Home improvement retailers are increasingly allowing customers to visualize and “play” with furniture pieces and home decor in their own spaces before making a purchase.
There’s no denying that gamification offers numerous benefits to commerce. Increased customer engagement and higher conversion rates are primary advantages, as gamification makes shopping interactive and fun, encouraging customers to spend more time and money with a brand. This heightened engagement also leads to enhanced loyalty, as rewarding customers for their interactions and purchases fosters stronger relationships and increases customer retention, as well as reduces the rate of abandoned carts.
Furthermore, data collection becomes more robust through gamification, allowing brands to gather valuable insights into customer preferences and behaviors. This data can be used to personalize marketing strategies, ultimately improving customer satisfaction and business outcomes.
Tapping into popular games and immersive experiences
There’s more to gamification than adding game-like bits and pieces into loyalty programs and “traditional” shopping experiences. Leading businesses are in fact leveraging popular games like Roblox, as well as immersive worlds, truly gamifying the experience for younger, tech-savvy audiences.
For example, users can purchase e.l.f. Cosmetics products through a virtual kiosk in Roblox, selecting products with a bundled “virtual twin” digital good, an offering targeted to Gen Z users. The company is testing commerce on Roblox as a way of merging beauty with immersive platforms, setting the stage for the future of shopping across various channels and platforms.
Luxury brand Coach made a similar move to appeal to younger, digital-focused shoppers as part of a campaign called “Find your Courage,” which brings Coach items and themes based on the brand’s spring collection to the online game platform Roblox and social avatar app Zepeto.
Immersive experiences are taking hold in commerce in different ways, with leading brands such as Tommy Hilfiger forging ahead with a new mobile metaverse game, FashionVerse. This playable app uses AI-generated, photorealistic avatars and settings, inviting users to take on the roles of “Stylists” and “Trendsetters.”
Moreover, social commerce is also a fertile ground for gamification initiatives, fostering a sense of community building as users collaborate, compete and share achievements within their social networks. Ultimately, the instant gratification and rewards provided through gamification keep customers engaged, incentivizing continued interaction and driving up conversion rates.
What brands should watch for to up their commerce game
While gamification is undeniably here to stay, brands need to be cautious about the risks of over-complicating the experience and strike a balance between fun and simplicity, ensuring that the game mechanics are intuitive and easy to understand.
Maintaining authenticity is essential, with gamification efforts aligning with the brand’s identity and values. Balancing rewards is also a critical aspect of a successful gamification strategy, as the rewards offered should be enticing enough to motivate customers to participate, but not so generous that they undermine the brand’s profitability.
Moreover, gamification often involves collecting significant amounts of customer data, which can raise privacy issues, so be vigilant about data privacy concerns and transparent on how customer data is used.
Game on with composable commerce
As brands and retailers continue to seek new ways to stand out in a crowded market, gamification offers a promising strategy to enhance customer engagement and loyalty. A composable commerce approach enables companies to take advantage of gamification strategies in four ways:
A composable approach allows for the seamless integration of gamification elements, no matter if they’re points, challenges, quizzes or rewards, without overhauling your entire infrastructure. This modularity ensures that gamification components can be added, modified or removed independently, providing the flexibility to iterate and improve the gamified experience based on customer feedback and engagement data.
Another aspect to consider is how composable commerce supports personalized customer experiences. With access to real-time data and analytics, brands can tailor gamification strategies to individual customer preferences and behaviors. This personalization enhances the effectiveness of gamification by ensuring that the challenges and rewards resonate with the target audience, thereby increasing engagement and loyalty.
As brands grow and their customer base expands, the modular nature of composable commerce ensures that gamification elements can scale accordingly. Brands can introduce new gamified features, integrate with emerging technologies like AR and virtual reality (VR), and continuously innovate without the constraints of a monolithic system.
By integrating gamification through composable commerce platforms such as commercetools, brands can ensure that data collection and processing adhere to privacy regulations and best practices. The modular architecture allows for clear data flow and management, ensuring transparency and building customer trust.
In short, composable commerce offers an ideal approach for integrating gamification that drives customer engagement, loyalty and business growth. By leveraging composable commerce with commercetools, brands can stay agile and innovative, continuously enhancing their digital offerings to meet evolving customer expectations.
Discover how composable commerce empowers your business to take your customer experiences to the next level with our guide How to Compose Your Commerce in 2024.
Manuela Marques Tchoe is a Content Writer at commercetools. She was a Content and Product Marketing Director at conversational commerce provider tyntec. She has written content in partnership with Facebook, Rakuten Viber and other social media platforms.