Why Gamification has Value for Marketing

Game elements and funware are basically integrated into non-gaming websites and software, for example progress bars, virtual prizes, virtual currency, achievement badges, points, challenges and leaderboards, to name but a few. By using "gamification" online users have meaningful experiences while receiving interesting content and sharing this content with family and friends through electronic word of mouth (eWom). The Squidoo website for registered members, for example, has some game elements to encourage its writers to submit high quality lenses. Writers are also being rewarded for outstanding lenses.

By using game elements, interaction with brands can be stimulated which increase impulse sales, increase brand awareness and may build trust. Customers are rewarded for their participation by gaining achievements, proceeding to higher levels on a particular website or by achieving some sort of status among the members of the community (by being a top achiever).

Gamification could be a beneficial complementary tool to traditional, online and social media marketing strategies. It especially can be very useful for relationship marketing where consumers are to be retained in the long-term by gaining their trust. Research has shown that consumers, who have meaningful interactions with a company, tend to become loyal towards that company.

Various gamification techniques exist such as, for example, creating own pages on Foursquare where brand badges can be earned by consumers. Specific actions of registered consumers can also be rewarded through point systems and challenges that are built into a company's website.

Interestingly Gartner Research (2011) predicts that by 2014, "a gamified service for consumer goods marketing and customer retention will become as important as Facebook, eBay or Amazon, and more than 70 percent of Global 2000 organizations will have at least one gamified application". They furthermore predict that by 2015, "more than 50 percent of organizations that manage innovation processes will gamify those processes".

Not all consumers would want to be included in gamification strategies. It is thus important for a company to consider its target audience. The company's, brand, product and even service should also be suitable for games. Futhermore, the platform that will be used should also be carefully considered. Many companies benefit from their own custom-built games instead of using existing social media platforms. A good case in point is Tripit, an online trip organizing and managing website where users can show off their various business trips abroad on status bars. This provides some sort of status and peer recognition to the traveler in terms of being well-traveled.

However, gamification is not without criticism from game industry professionals claiming that this practice misrepresents the gaming industry.