All You Have to Know About Mobile App Gamification

Do you know that 81% of Gen Z and 77% of Millennials are video gamers who spend a combined average of 7hrs daily playing video games. Hence, gamification as a way of applying gaming elements and concepts in other sectors like business, marketing, adverts, entertainment, health, etc., can go a long way in promoting audience interaction and exposure.

Gigya shows that app gamification increases interaction by 33%, content visibility by 68%, and percentage share jumped by 22%. This article focuses on incorporating gaming elements in non-gaming apps to boost app usage and interaction.

What is Gamification?

Gamification is the application of game-based principles and design elements in the build and design of non-gaming apps to boost usage and interactions, ease of learning, etc. Gamifying non-gaming apps make such apps exciting, engaging, creative, and fun; as such, gamification is applied in businesses, marketing, health, and other domains to motivate users for increased interaction and exposure.

Gaming Elements To Deploy in an App

Gaming apps have the highest no of downloads and user engagement because they incorporate elements like competition, high scores, rewards, achievements, leader-board ranking, community participation, intuitive user interface, and more in the game development to foster human interactions.

Commonly used gaming elements in mobile app development include:

• Levels

Humans love challenges; hence, providing levels of challenges from the simplest to the most complex in apps can serve as a motivating factor to keep users engaged.

• Badges

Badges are visual representations of achievements attained as users move up the ladder of challenge levels.

• Performance charts

Performance charts let users keep track of their performance while interacting with an app; hence, it displays performance records that let users compare their present performance with their past.

• Scoreboard (Leaderboard)

Scoreboard is a useful community feature that displays users' performances in hierarchical order, starting with the best performer to the least. A scoreboard is a way of encouraging increased participation and community interaction through competition.

• Points

Points help users to keep track of their rewards; it is used as a reward unit to keep track of users' performances and to provide a basis for reward; hence, the more users interact with an app, the more point they accumulate, and the more reward they get.

• Rewards

Reward is a way of incentivizing users to keep them engaged with an app. users are rewarded for completing their tasks, participating in a competition, winning a badge, buying goods, sharing the game with friends, etc., to maintain or increase users' level of interest.

Users are rewarded with in-app currency, which in some cases can be exchanged for goods or converted to other forms of currency, cash rewards, or digital products which can be sold or exchanged for physical goods.

• Competition

The desire to be the best brings about competition. Incorporating this game element increases usage and participation as users compete with each other in a community task or challenge.

• Social interaction

Social interaction promotes app engagement by promoting online competitions where friends can compete and invite more friends to participate.

Applications of Gaming Principles in a Non-Gaming Contexts

1. Customer Loyalty

This gaming concept is applied in businesses to retain customers. Customers are rewarded for their loyalty and continued patronage with points that can be redeemed as shopping discounts or cashback.

2. Contests

Contests motivate customers to continue with app interaction by competing for a bigger prize. Online trivia and quizzes are examples of contests that have been used for a long time to boost customer interaction and patronage.

3. Lucky draws

This is a post-sale approach that involves using gaming principles like Hat Draw or Spin the wheel to reward customers for their patronage. Customers are made to spin the wheel or make a hat draw for a chance to earn a reward after purchase as a way of winning customers' loyalty.

Examples Of Non-Gaming Apps That Make Use Of Gaming Principles

Here’s a number of app that has applied gaming principles in their app design;

• Snapchat

• Starbucks App

• Tiktok

• Nike + Run Club app

• Smarty Pig

• MathLand

• Epic win

• Mint

Benefits of Mobile App Gamification

• Boosts positive reviews

• Improves SEO ranking

• Establishes a strong social media presence for businesses

• Boosts userbase

• Improves user engagement

• Guarantees customer satisfaction.

Final Thoughts

Mobile App Gamification provides the basis for users to enjoy interacting with non-game apps by incorporating gaming elements in the build and development of such apps.

However, you should consider other factors, which might include; Users’ needs, Target audience, App usability and accessibility, and Users’ satisfaction.