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Promotion Gamification: How and Why It Works: A Talon - One White Paper
Promotion Gamification: How and Why It Works: A Talon - One White Paper
Promotion Gamification: How and Why It Works: A Talon - One White Paper
Promotion Gamification:
How and Why It Works
What is Gamification? 04
Tiered/Daily Rewards 07
Target-Based Rewards 08
Loyalty Tiers 09
Gamified Experiences 11
Shopping Gamification 13
Talon.One’s Solution 15
What is
Gamification?
Gamification allows brands to give
their customers a much more
rewarding shopping experience.
Gamification is a concept that many brands Early promotions were limited by various
use to improve the shopping experience for factors. But now that we, for the most part,
their customers. While most of the newest live and shop online, the possibilities for
and most creative gamified promotions are gamification are almost unlimited.
digital, the idea of gamification has been
around for a long time. There are some great examples out there
that can provide inspiration for any business
In fact, gamification has been around in looking to give customers a more engaging
some form or another as long as modern shopping experience.
promotions have been a thing. Take coupons Let’s take a look.
and prize giveaways, for example.
There’s a lot that brands in other regions can In fact, gamification is now so prevalent that
learn from the Southeast Asian way of brands can risk falling behind competitors if
gamifying promotions. It helps sell more they lack gamification in at least some small
while also increasing brand reputation in the part of their marketing/sales operation. This
eyes of existing and potential customers. is partly because mobile purchases are
significantly more common in Southeast
Gamified shopping experiences help Asia than the global average. And where
brands bring a degree of excitement that there are lots of online shoppers, there are
online shopping typically used to lack. countless opportunities for gamification.
In a similar way to daily rewards, This initial offer could be altered as follows:
target-based rewards use clear goals to
encourage customers to complete certain ● Target: $400 spend over two months
actions or behaviors. Where daily rewards ● Reward: $40 coupon + 50% for every
focus on regular interaction with customers, additional $200 spent
target-based rewards set specific goals
related to spend and other customer actions. This new offer adds a clear incentive for
Most of the time this kind of reward is linked customers to up their spend over the two
as part of a loyalty scheme to track customer month period, as the coupon amount
progress in relation to the promotional goals. offered with every additional $200 spent
increases significantly.
For example, a brand may run a promotion
that offers customers a $20 coupon for every Again, target-based rewards don’t just have
$200 they spend. This is a simple promotion to be related to the amount of money
in itself. But they could add additional customers spend. You could also link the
targets to increase the incentive over a rewards to Facebook likes, number of friends
longer period of time. referred, number of different product
categories bought, etc.
Gamification options have been increased This type of promotion is easy to implement
massively thanks to the rise of digital digitally. But giving customers a stamp card
technology and shopping. But there’s still a where they can see their progress and watch
significant role for gamification in offline stamps being added in person makes this
situations too. gamification technique more tangible.
Take a simple stamp loyalty card as a basic This is the same idea behind special edition
example. Many establishments, like coffee products that are only available to top
shops, offer customers a free drink after customers. Collectable badges and stamps
they’ve bought X amount of coffees. This is can also be replicated digitally to evoke
effectively the physical version of the the same feelings when customers shop
tiered/daily rewards mentioned earlier. online. Just like games give players awards
and badges for completing certain
objectives, businesses can set up badges for
Coffee Card
customers when they complete certain
actions. For example:
Free
Coffee!
This gamification technique is particularly Take Nike’s ‘Nike Run Club’ for example. Nike
popular among luxury brands, where brand created a full, standalone app with a range of
image and customer loyalty is a more special features specifically for runners.
important consideration than in many other Rather than being geared towards selling
business models. Again, this type of Nike’s products, the primary purpose of the
gamified promotion is big in Southeast Asia, app is to provide a fun, engaging user
where luxury brands have a big presence experience. There aren’t any obvious
among middle class consumers. purchase options in the app. Instead, it’s part
of a wider, longer-term marketing strategy
A ‘gamified experience’ can be one of many that aims to increase Nike’s brand image.
different things, from apps, to contests or Importantly, the app is free and you don’t
real life games. have to be a Nike customer to use it.
While most of the gamified experiences Many brands also use gamification to make
created by brands are now digital, there are competitions and prize giveaways more
still many examples of real-life physical attractive. Prize giveaways are one of the
games or experiences that are also designed oldest forms of gamification because they’re
for the same purpose. This type of simple to run and immediately eye-catching
gamification is particularly popular in China to consumers. But, with the help of digital
where it has proven a hit with the millennial platforms, modern prize competitions can
and Gen Z age groups. be made even more exciting.
Many brands have created their own There are all sort of ways you can add
versions of classic arcade games that additional elements to a standard prize
customers can play to win products. For giveaway. For example, you could add some
example, Chanel developed a series of sort of location rule via a geofence to get
arcade games which toured Asia as the customers to travel to certain locations in
‘Coco Game Center’ back in 2018. Customers order to participate.
could play a claw game to win samples of
Chanel’s new lipstick colours, a driving game Alternatively, you could offer customers free
and even a Chanel-themed Guitar Hero-style entry into a prize giveaway, but only if
music game. they’ve spent a certain amount of money
with you over the past two months. This way
Chanel invested a significant amount of you’re introducing an additional incentive to
money to create the Coco Game Center and encourage customers to spend. You’ll also be
transport it to numerous cities across Asia. able to balance the cost of your prize
But it’s a prime example of the power of giveaway with the amount of money you
marketing and brand awareness, as it’s expect to gain from increased sales. The key
still being talked about as an excellent to making this kind of gamified promotion
marketing campaign two years later. more effective is creativity.
Alongside larger gamification mechanisms, While they’re not gamification in the typical
like loyalty programs and target-based sense, many brands use personalised
rewards, there are a number of smaller, more messages to encourage certain user
subtle techniques that are commonly used behaviours. This type of promotion can help
by businesses to add a level of gamification frame a brand in a positive light because it
to their online experience. shows that they’re reacting to the user’s
behaviour in real time. For example, if a user
Gamified webpages has items in their cart, but they’re taking a
while to complete the purchase, you could
Brands often gamify their websites or apps apply a discount to their cart and let them
with interactive graphic elements, know via a custom notification. The logic for
personalized messages and other subtle this promotion would look like this:
techniques to make the user experience
more enjoyable. These techniques often go ● IF customer has ≥$70 worth of items
under the radar, but they can play a in cart
significant role when it comes to spreading a
● AND no purchase completion within
positive brand image and encouraging 20 minutes
customers to shop with you.
● THEN apply 10% discount to current
cart
Small features like this all add to the
● AND custom notification: ‘For a
general user experience and their limited time only: 10% off everything
satisfaction with a brand. in your current cart!’
All of the separate gamification techniques Working out how you want to fit each of
we’ve already discussed can be combined as these separate elements together under one
part of a loyalty program to give customers loyalty program can take a bit of planning.
the ultimate gamified shopping experience. But the payoff can be significant. According
To successfully gamify objectives and targets to Harvard Business Review, increasing
over a longer timeframe, you need some customer retention by just 5% can increase
way to track and store customers’ progress. profits by 25% - 95%.
That’s why loyalty programs are ideal.
They can track customer profiles, loyalty In conclusion
points, loyalty tiers, collectable badges
and much more. There are many different gamification
elements that brands can incorporate into
Rather than simply adding gamified their online and offline operations. But
elements to an online shop where user data generally, the more interlinked these
is less available, tying the gamification to a elements are, the better. That’s because the
loyalty program allows you to build a much data they provide about customer trends
better picture of the kinds of products, and shopping habits is highly valuable when
promotions, and gamified elements each of it comes to planning ahead and increasing