Many companies are adopting this new marketing strategy to engage customers in their products.
What the heck is gamification? Great questions. It refers to adding 'game-like' components to interactions a customer has with a brand.
With companies struggling to hold the attention span of their market, gamification helps to amplify engagement rates through 'play'.
Gamification, To Educate Potential Customers
Think of a company with a product that is difficult to understand and requires 'learning' before the customer would see the value in following through with a purchase. These types of company can use an online game to reward potential customers for learning more about their product. The result is, the customer is informed enough to consider the product and is fulfilled by the experience.
Gamification, As A Reward System
Jet.com is similar to Amazon.com in that it is a hub for e-commerce. You can go to Jet to buy just about anything, but there's a playful twist: Each time you buy an item, you unlock a saving percentage on a related item. Say you buy a blender. After you go through with the purchase, smoothy cups become available to you at a discounted rate. Although Jet.com doesn't offer an actual game that users can play, the system is an icon of video games where the player can progress in levels based on their performance. This process gives incentive to customers to buy and offer repeat business.