Imagine if every time you ordered your favorite sandwich or latte, it felt like playing a game.
Imagine if every purchase – or perhaps even every interaction – presented an opportunity to earn points, unlock levels or win a prize. That’s the power of gamification. It’s like taking the best parts of a video game – points, rewards, challenges – and sprinkling them into the customer experience to make it more fun and engaging.
Gamification: the integration of game-like elements into non-game activities to encourage participation or boost engagement. Marketers can leverage gamification in their email campaigns or loyalty programs to create fun, interactive experiences for their customers.
Why gamification matters for QSR brands
Many QSR brands have entered the loyalty program space – a step in the right direction towards making the dining experience more engaging and rewarding. But this trend can also be fatiguing for customers. So many programs, so many apps! QSR brands need a way to enhance their programs (and marketing communications, too) to gain a competitive edge. Gamification provides a solution. It’s a way to turn monotonous everyday interactions into fun experiences that subtly encourage customers to increase spend and purchase frequency.
3 key benefits of gamification
- Improved messaging engagement: When recipients see messages via email or SMS that suggest something fun, interactive or rewarding, your open rates and click-through rates are poised to see improvement.
- Exciting loyalty programs: Gamification adds a level of excitement that can help differentiate your loyalty program from competitors. And there are so many ways to gamify.
- More chances for data capture: Personalization is critical for engendering lasting loyalty. But it requires customer data. Gamification presents ripe opportunities to incentivize data sharing.
1. Loyalty tiers & progress bars
You’ve probably heard of loyalty tiers before – levels of increasing exclusivity that customers can reach in time. Often, naming conventions include bronze, silver, gold, platinum, etc. There’s science to back up why these tiers – and progress bars to show proximity to the next tier – are so effective. It’s explained well by the Goal-Gradient Hypothesis, which posits that people become more motivated as they get closer to completing a task or reaching an objective. Consider a loyalty program that reveals to customers their tier progression. As they approach a new loyalty tier, which includes some sort of new benefit or reward, their inclination to make additional purchases increases, in pursuit of that new benefit.
2. Punch cards
A simpler alternative to progress bars or loyalty tiers, punch cards can still achieve a similar goal: acknowledging a customer’s existing business and illustrating how close they are to their next reward or milestone.
As their name implies, punch cards began as physical cards given to customers that would be marked (typically stamped or punched) each time the customer made a purchase. These days, many businesses have opted into creating digital punch cards that a customer can access via an online account and/or mobile app.
Relative to other more complex gamification options, punch cards are fairly straightforward from a technical perspective and can be implemented quickly with a marketing solution provider like Marigold.
Real-world example: Researchers at the University of Chicago put the Goal-Gradient Hypothesis to the test in a real café reward program. They found that participants purchased coffee more frequently the closer they got to earning a free coffee. Further, they concluded that the Goal Gradient “may lead to a sales lift that exceeds the cost of the reward” and that customer acceleration toward rewards “also predicts loyalty and future engagement with similar goals.” Full study here
3. Task-based rewards
Consumers don’t necessarily need to be making purchases to participate in gamification. Consider deviating from the “points only for purchases” approach and reward other consumer behaviors, too. Examples include rewards in exchange for SMS marketing opt-ins or mobile app downloads. While these sorts of behaviors won’t immediately generate revenue, they do present more opportunities for sales in the long term
Data collection experiences: Surveys, polls, quizzes
According to Marigold’s 2024 Consumer Trends Index, a whopping 78% of consumers cite that they’re likely to engage with personalized offers tailored to their interests. However, to deliver effective personalization, you need customer data. A great way to get it? Customer surveys.
Coming directly from the customer, the zero-party data that surveys yield is free from much of the uncertainty that is inherent in third-party data. The biggest challenge lies in inspiring participation. Fortunately, our Consumer Trends Index also asked consumers to identify the benefits they found most valuable in exchange for their personal data.
Here are their top five responses:
- Discounts or coupons (91%)
- Loyalty points/rewards (89%)
- Early and/or exclusive access to offers (83%)
- A chance to win something (81%)
- Unlocking content (60%)
Instant wins
Gamification done right is fun, exciting, and interactive. Among the best examples are what we call “instant wins” – interactive experiences that reveal some sort of benefit to the recipient. With dynamic content, these experiences can be delivered right into your customers’ email inboxes. And the possibilities are vast.
Wheel spins, peel-to-reveals, and scratch-offs are all compelling options that can give you a massive spike in click-throughs. They enable you to capitalize on human curiosity – if the experience looks interesting enough, it will be tough to ignore. Much tougher than a plain, static offer.
Wrap up
If you’re looking to liven up your customer experience, gamification is an excellent option. And you’re in the right place. Whether you’re looking to gamify your email marketing, your loyalty program, or both, Marigold has the technology and expertise you need to bring your ideas to life.
