An Overview of Gamification in Mobile Apps: The Pathway to Boost Engagement and Retention

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Today is the era when mobile app users expect the apps to go ‘an extra mile’ and provide more than just a smooth and stable user experience. Here is when ‘gamification’ comes into the picture. Gamification hasn’t remained limited to just video games. It is being used in countless mobile apps like Starbucks, StepSetGo, Paytm, Todoist, Fitbit, SmartyPig, etc. Such applications have borrowed diverse game design elements like rewards, scoreboards, badges, character animations, etc. in varying ways for customer engagement and retention. 

Today’s post is all about that. In this post, I have shared some detailed insights on how gamification boosts user engagement and retention. I have also discussed what strategies to implement in mobile app gamification. So, let’s get started.

What is Gamification in Mobile Apps?

In general, gamification simply means implementing fun elements from the gaming world into the tech world. It refers to the employment of game dynamics like game design techniques and gaming elements in non-game contexts. Mobile gamification involves encouraging the target app users to engage with the application using such gaming elements or methods associated with game design. 

These strategies intelligently influence human behavior by making app usage more exciting and fun-filled. It is like a marketing tool that makes use of simple psychology and helps achieve increased traffic, higher engagement, repeated visitors, etc. 

Popular Examples of Gamification in Mobile Apps

1. Google Pay’s amazing reward system: Users are being asked to scratch a card to see what rewards they get, rather than randomly collecting them. This gamification technique generates curiosity in the users. Due to this strategy, the app has gained gigantic popularity in recent years.
2. Fitbit’s innovative way of tracking progress: Fitbit started the trend of showing its users the number of steps they walked in a day, rather than rewarding when they reached a milestone of 10,000 steps or so. This made the users obsessed with the app and generated a loyal user base; leading to ultimate success. 
3. Starbucks app’s loyalty system: The coffee giant Starbucks uses techniques like rewards i.e. stars for every order and displaying the progress of the purchasing frequency of the customers. This keeps their customers interested in using the app often and improves engagement rates. 

Top-notch Benefits of Mobile Gamification

• Happier users
• Incentivizing the users
• Monitoring and tracking user behavior
• Higher engagement rates on the app
• More and more active users on the app 
• Positive reviews from the users
• More publicity and stability on social media platforms
• Leading positions in search engines
• Attracting new users 
• Older users returning to the app i.e. user retention 
• Value creation for the users
• Competitive edge over others
• Helps the owners gain a competitive edge
• Building brand awareness
• Reduction of app installs

Diverse Gamification Strategies in Mobile Applications

Reward Systems

Rewarding the users for repeated usage of the app, buying goods, attaining certain goals, participating in quizzes and competitions, sharing social media posts with friends, inviting other contacts, etc. helps to attract the users, and constantly maintain their interest. Here are the types of reward systems that mobile app developers can employ in the apps.

• in-app points/currency for buying products or services within the app or outside the app
• exchanging of digital goods for real goods
• cash awards

Displaying Achievements

Recognition is one of the best tactics for pulling the attention of app users. This is a general tendency that people like to know how far they have reached, what their achievements are, etc. Recognition can also be provided in the apps by awarding the users with badges, medals, trophies, etc. whenever they complete a test, a challenge, or some task. So, displaying the progress and achievements of the users motivates them to engage in the app. In the long run, the users may even share their progress with their contacts on social media, and thus, promote the app and make it viral.

Leader Boards

The competition encourages humans and they always want to win. And if their accomplishments are displayed on the leader boards, it can inspire them all the more. This technique tempts the app users to participate more, get higher scores, and acquire the first position; thus, boosting user engagement. This strategy especially works the best for fitness or sports applications.

Quizzes 

In some apps, wherever it matches with the objectives and goals of the app, quizzes can be hosted for the customers. This can enormously boost interaction and engagement if it matches the requirements of the customers. They may also try the quizzes just for fun at times.

Final Verdict:

Gamification ensures that the usual activities in mobile apps look much more compelling. It requires the utilization of elements like special characters, rewards, point levels, etc. to create such effects. For several apps, mobile gamification could turn out to be a big asset as it can transform the general target audience into potential clients. But for a few, it could even frustrate the users and ruin the brand image. So, gamification needs to be implemented carefully with proper research, thought-process, and keeping the end-goals of the app in mind. 

Have you too implemented gamification in your mobile app? If yes, do comment below and share your experiences.  

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