Marketing games for customers: building brand loyalty

The value of customer loyalty is not a secret. It costs less to retain a customer than it does to attract a new one. Within the modern mix of digital marketing strategies, gamification and marketing games have proved themselves an effective tool for not only attracting new customers, but for building brand loyalty and maximising retention when applied to the point of sale. 

The point of sale is really the ultimate crux of a brand’s relationship with its customers. It’s the crucial contact point where the customer makes a decision and commits to a product or service, and it’s where the brand converts its efforts into revenue. There are perhaps few better examples of a “non-gaming context” in business than a monetary exchange in return for goods or services, and it’s precisely in such an environment where gamification can work its magic. Gamification is the application of game mechanics to non-gaming contexts in order to achieve a desired outcome.

The desired outcome of gamification at the point of purchase is, ultimately, to promote brand loyalty. Relevant marketing games ideas might get there through prize giveaways and signing people up to newsletters or loyalty programmes, but fundamentally, the customer is already buying. We’re trying to give them a reason to come back and buy again.

Surely customers return because the product is good? How important is the point of sale?

Incredibly important. Have you ever bought a great product or enjoyed a great service but been left soured by your experience paying? Have you never enjoyed a great meal but had to chase staff for your bill, ultimately leaving soured or frustrated?

Instore and online sales and retail are selling a lifestyle as much as they are selling products – this principle becomes more apt the more specialist the product, and the more niche the clientele. Your supermarkets might lump themselves into 3 distinct categories based on value, but in sports, electronics, luxury items, fashion, and even applying that idea to facilities like gyms and clubs, you’re selling a lifestyle to your customers. If your point of sale, or point of purchase, doesn’t match the quality of what you’re offering or the hard work spent elsewhere in your business, in a worst-case scenario, it can be your undoing. Adding marketing games to the process to make it more interactive is a great way to make it a memorable and exciting experience.

So how can we make the act of buying in-store effective?

To make the act of buying in-store more effective and increase customer loyalty, you can use a variety of methods. This can be done by means of classic loyalty processes or more subtle processes, such as more attention to detail being applied to the customer’s user experience (UX). This is the case with Ikea, which has designed its shops to optimise the path of every visitor to maximise potential sales. As a result, the visitor passes a maximum number of items and different categories in order to reach the checkouts and the exit.

The aim of such strategies is to create a positive and enjoyable experience, which will drive the user towards the sale and back to the brand. In the case of Ikea, the level of exposure to products might live in their heads for a few days: even if they don’t realise that they need storage solution X, having seen it in a showroom set-up, it might come back to them a few days later when they discover an inefficiency in how their home is organised.

Loyalty programmes

Coinsider for one second, the reality of what buying a cup of coffee from any high street coffee chain actually is. You speak to what is probably a complete stranger, and potentially have to engage in small talk while they pour and steam whatever specialty item you’ve asked for, and maybe heat up a sandwich or bag a cake or cookie. There is so much potential for disgruntlement on both sides of the counter – the barista who is probably juggling 12 different housekeeping tasks, and keeping an eye on 4 or 5 different customers who are waiting for items to arrive, concerns you, waiting for your coffee, are not aware of. It’s so easy to perceive their divided concentration as absent-mindedness or rudeness, and decide to go elsewhere afterwards. The experience has made you a 1-time customer.

Now, consider you’re on a loyalty programme. Consider that with so many visits you get a free coffee. One less than perfect experience can be forgiven, and you come back. You can see that you came at a busy time, and because there was that incentive to try them again, to earn that free coffee, you become loyal.

Adding marketing games into the mix

Let’s go beyond earning a free coffee and think about how adding interactive games can spice up the point of sale. For a limited time, you could run a promotion where customers could play instant win games with every purchase over a certain amount to be in with a chance of winning certain prizes.

If this was well publicised, this gamification project could encourage consumers to purchase from you over your competitors. In exchange for signing up to your mailing list at the point of purchase, they could be sent a QR code to a Wheel of Fortune Game, spin the wheel, and potentially win an additional prize to go with their purchase – you could even have terminals set up at the tills for them to play. This could work for e-commerce sites as well.

Limitless possibilities to foster loyalty and generate excitement

Gamifying the point of sale to make it more interactive gives your business three main advantages. Firstly, it incentivises potential customers to choose you over your competitors because you’re running an interactive promotion. Do I just want to buy a new TV, or would I rather buy a new TV and have a chance to win a soundbar to go with it? The possibility is almost certainly going to sway me. Secondly, it incentivises customers to sign up to your mailing list, newsletter, or social media channels. If that’s a condition of being able to win a prize, why wouldn’t I sign up? And thirdly, it delivers a memorable experience. It delivers engagement. Spinning a wheel or playing a game to potentially get something extra is an exciting experience in itself. If someone wins, they’ll talk about it, and that will in turn drive more business to you that might have gone elsewhere. Even when your promotion ends, they’ve had that positive experience and will associate that with your brand, and your operation.

There are a number of game engines on the Drimify platform that could be customised to your branding and utilised for point of sale promotional campaigns. Some will work better for some businesses, while others will be more suited elsewhere, but all have the ability to collect data. The only limit on how you can gamify the act of purchase is your imagination. The more creative, the more eye-catching, the more effective it will be in helping you reach your goals.

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