Repeat Purchases Promoted Through App Gamification: Empirical Evidence Provided
Mobile apps have revolutionized the way we learn, stay fit, and even date, and now they're taking the world of customer loyalty by storm. By incorporating elements from games, such as points, rewards, challenges, and levels, these apps are motivating user behaviour in non-game environments, leading to increased engagement, retention, and sales.
Boosting Engagement and Repeat Purchases
Apps with gamified elements see about 47% higher engagement rates, as users return more frequently and make more purchases. Rewards such as points, badges, and exclusive perks motivate customers to stay involved beyond mere transactional interactions, leading to elevated repeat buying behaviour.
Enhancing Retention
Gamified loyalty programs have been shown to increase customer retention by around 22-30%. By encouraging continuous interaction and participation rather than passive shopping, they create brand loyalty and reduce app churn. Major brands have reported a 30% growth in retention due to gamification features driving repeated visits.
Emotional and Social Benefits
Gamification fosters a stronger emotional connection between customers and brands by making the experience fun and personalized. It also leverages social features like leaderboards and shared challenges, which increase social engagement and organic sharing, further enhancing customer retention.
Enhanced Sales and Conversion Rates
The anticipation of rewards triggers a "dopamine effect," increasing shopping excitement and leading to longer browsing sessions and up to a 25% boost in conversion rates.
Data Collection and Personalization
Gamification encourages users to provide valuable first-party data in exchange for rewards, enabling apps to tailor offers more effectively and further improve retention and repeat purchases.
Case Studies
Duolingo, a popular language learning app, uses daily streaks, XP points, goal tracking, and milestone celebrations to keep users engaged for months. Fitness apps reward users for daily workouts, streaks, or hitting hydration goals, turning fitness into a game of consistency that helps build healthy habits.
Nike Run Club uses smart gamification to motivate and retain users by transforming running into a fun, rewarding experience through challenges, achievements, milestones, and social sharing. Snapchat's streak system is an example of habit-forming app gamification, encouraging daily use through reminders and rewards for milestones.
Tinder gamifies dating with its swipe mechanic, featuring Boosts, Super Likes, and animated match screens to create a fast-paced, reward-driven experience. Flipkart's SuperCoins is an underappreciated success that rewards users for every action and builds those rewards into unlockable benefits.
Starbucks Rewards is an example of loyalty gamification where every visit feels like a win, with double-star days, bonus stars for challenges, and personalized offers. Productivity apps gamify task completion with levels, streaks, and rewards, making productivity feel less like work and reducing friction.
The Perfect Platform for Gamified Loyalty
Mobile apps are perfect for gamified loyalty due to habitual usage, push notifications, personal screen real estate, and touch-first UX. Social media platforms use gamified features like post insights, profile views, and engagement milestones to motivate creators, creating feedback loops that reinforce continued posting and interaction.
Travel apps offer tiered loyalty points not just for bookings, but for reviews, check-ins, and app opens during travel, building anticipation and emotional connection with the brand. Finance apps use milestone trackers for savings goals, daily spending check-ins, or cashback achievements, making money feel more tangible and encouraging users to save and stay loyal.
A Subtle Approach
Gamification in mobile apps doesn't mean turning the app into a game like Candy Crush, but rather using game mechanics to motivate user behaviour in the app, such as a progress bar showing how close a user is to unlocking free shipping or a loyalty points wallet that fills up after every purchase.
Healthcare apps reward users for logging meals, taking medication on time, or reaching physical activity targets, improving adherence and making health management less intimidating. E-commerce apps incorporate daily logins, spin-the-wheel offers, and referral missions that hook users into returning daily, steadily building into larger purchase intent.
Tapping into Psychological Triggers
Gamification in mobile apps works because it taps into core psychological triggers that govern how people behave, form habits, and make decisions, such as variable rewards, completion bias, commitment and consistency, and status and identity.
In conclusion, gamification is transforming the landscape of customer loyalty programs and in-app experiences, making them more engaging, rewarding, and interactive. By effectively incorporating gamified challenges, rewards, and social elements into mobile apps, businesses can strengthen customer loyalty and lifetime value.
- Gamified elements in mobile apps, such as points, rewards, and challenges, can increase user retention by around 22-30%, as demonstrated by the case study of Fitness apps retaining users through gamified rewards for physical activities.
- Gadgets like mobile phones and apps leveraging technology and artificial-intelligence, like Duolingo, Nike Run Club, and Starbucks Rewards, use push notifications to create a playful, personalized user experience, thereby encouraging repeat purchases and enhancing retention.
