Using scratch off cards as a business tool

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Maybe you’ve seen a competitor use a digital scratch card and thought it looked pretty neat, or maybe you’ve made one before as a one-off marketing activation and got pretty good results…

But why stop there?

The digital scratch off is a near perfect prize delivery system for businesses trying to engage and motivate audiences for a few key reasons:

• Everybody understands how they work, there is no barrier to entry or participation
• They’re highly visual and give more scope for storytelling through their overlay and underlay images
• They’re online – meaning you’re not limited by printing runs or distribution
• They’re easy to create at a high level of quality through online scratch card templates and gamification platforms

The digital scratch off defies categorisation when it comes to being utilised as a business tool. It works for external audiences, internal audiences, and can be a game changer in B2B campaigns as easily as it can in B2C campaigns.

Build a custom scratch card around sports events, holidays like halloween or Christmas, or as part of digital gamified calendars; and distribute them by email, QR code, or embedded on a web page – modern mobile technology has really made the scratch card a highly versatile and capable communications tool.

In this article we’ll run through (almost) every way you can possibly use a digital scratch off card to help support your business.

Why the digital scratch off works for achieving business goals

Whether you want a customer to buy something, an employee to feel valued, or to encourage people (en masse) to submit data, the virtual scratch card follows a winning pattern.

1. Bait: It promises a chance at a reward to get people to engage.
2. Interaction: Through engagement, people interact with your branded messaging, allowing you to influence or inform them.
3. Result: Win or lose, they’ve travelled through your customised user journey, and been exposed to your call to action (CTA).

A well designed digital scratch off – implemented as part of a strategic gamification campaign – will yield results as more and more people participate.

For example, a custom digital scratch card made using the Drimify gamification platform’s scratch game generator could be set to distribute a promo code to every participant, redeemable to get a new product at a special price.

Through a well designed scratch overlay and underlay that highlights the product benefit (or is just fun and memorable and on-brand), and a promotional video on an intermediate content screen that further shows off the product, it is much more likely that participants will go on to make a purchase.

This can easily be tracked through your point of sale (POS) system if the code is only distributed through the game.

But this is just scratching the surface of what these digital tools can help your business achieve…

Digital scratch offs for external communications

External audiences, such as customers, viewers, readers, donors, etc., really owe you and your business nothing.

They can scroll past your social media posts.

They can skip your adverts.

They can block your email newsletter.

But scratch a card for a chance to win tickets to the big game? A go on a scratch card as part of your loyalty programme for a premium prize? Now you’ve got their attention.

A compelling quid pro quo gets them in, smart visual design and an optimal user journey gets them to do what you want.

Here’s a (near) complete list of all the ways online scratch offs can engage and motivate external audiences.

Scratch card games for marketing

• Product promotion
• Lead generation
• Data collection
• Market research

Scratch card games for loyalty

• Loyalty programmes
• Client retention
• Generating feedback and reviews

Scratch card games for events

• Making in-person events phygital
• As an additional interactive component to structure online events

Digital scratch offs for internal communications

Your internal audiences owe you a little more when it comes to paying attention to your communications, but this isn’t so much work-related as on the employee experience side (EX).

This is where you’re working to make their working life better, both for employee retention and for the strength of your employer brand.

In much the same way that customers can ignore your marketing, you employees are under no obligation to participate in casual dress Friday, after work social functions, or any other non-work related initiatives.

While gamification can form the framework of more compelling and effective EX campaigns, digital scratch offs and other instant win mechanics are an essential element of these. Much like with external marketing, that familiar prize distribution format’s reputation precedes itself.

It’s giving employees an opportunity to win something, so most of them will perk up and take notice.

Digital scratch cards can be used for:

• Components of employer branding experiences
• Recruitment marketing
• Business tool and business site discovery
• Employee retention
• Internal online contests
• Employee reward programmes
• Corporate social responsibility (CSR)

Of course, whether it’s to improve external or internal communications campaigns, this is just a small sample of possible scratch card ideas.

Unlock better business results through digital scratch cards today

You can create a free account on the Drimify platform and start experimenting with gamification at any time. You even get a free trial to test your scratcher across devices and on different integrations.

Any business function that you can improve or level-up through better engagement and motivation can be served by custom digital scratch offs.

Want to know more?