CUSTOMIZED GAMES FOR VIRTUAL STORE EXPERIENCES

CUSTOMIZED GAMES FOR VIRTUAL STORE EXPERIENCES

By using gamification tailored to your brand, you can boost engagement, increase purchase intent, and significantly extend session durations. Additionally, you can focus on key performance indicators by employing custom games to encourage exploration, targeting consumers with today’s gaming culture.

Turning Shopping into a Game: Gamification in Virtual Stores

Gamification is not a new concept in the retail world, but what we are witnessing today are new use cases where gamified elements steer consumer interactions. With attention spans rapidly decreasing, businesses must not only attract customers but also keep them engaged for longer to achieve better conversions.

According to Harvard Business Review, a mere 5% increase in customer engagement translates to a 25-95% increase in profits. Gamification is emerging as a preferred approach to enhance brand awareness, boost sales, and foster customer loyalty.

*Harvard Business Review :The Value of Keeping the Right Customers

The Power of Gamification: From Competitiveness to Motivation

Humans are inherently competitive and open to motivation. We can easily be motivated by different rewards—whether they are physical, material, or even prestige-driven. Therefore, gamification targeting our competitive nature offers businesses a powerful tool for motivating both customers and employees. The motivation we experience while tackling a challenge and experiencing tension creates a positive sense of achievement. This forms a feedback loop where our efforts are consistently rewarded. Companies leverage this principle to continually enhance productivity through leaderboards and enjoyable challenges. This principle is equally effective in gamified products aimed at consumers.

Why Is This So Important?

Customer experiences are a cornerstone of success in the retail sector. When it comes to customers, gamification methods can provide valuable insights to retailers about customer sensitivity and perspectives by increasing engagement and strengthening communication. Additionally, by enhancing collaboration among employees, gamification can boost overall productivity and thus improve the in-store experience.

This era is shaping up as a game-changing period for gamification, aligning with the rising trends of virtual commerce and the metaverse. Gamification plays a central role in the transformation of the retail sector. Investing in gamification strategies to engage customers and motivate employees can help businesses enhance their competitive advantage.

The Role of Gamification in Virtual Shopping: What Are the Effects and Consequences?

When applied correctly, gamification marketing can have a significant impact within the metaverse.

1.Provides a Competitive Advantage

Virtual stores are still an emerging field, with only a limited number of companies daring to experiment in this space. This presents an opportunity to be a pioneer. As the metaverse evolves alongside consumer habits, more businesses will strive to enhance the shopping experience with branded virtual stores. Gamified shopping can stand out as a means to attract more customers. Virtual stores can encourage passive shoppers to engage more with more captivating visuals and enhanced game designs. The more customers engage, the easier it becomes to upsell additional products and increase the potential for suggesting related items.

2. Builds Trust

Through games, people feel in control of every choice they make, which fosters trust in the process. You can build trust by sharing the free values your products offer. By providing quality content and visuals in your virtual store, you can encourage consumers to engage more with your products and brand.

3.Encourages Loyalty

This is a natural outcome of an effective gamification marketing strategy. By helping consumers achieve their goals through gamified elements, you can also build strong brand loyalty. In-store currencies and loyalty rewards can transform one-time customers into loyal brand advocates.

4.Utilizes Interaction Data to Create Meaningful Experiences

Virtual stores provide businesses with rich data points to fine-tune their strategies. Data such as the time spent on completing challenges or the number of replays of games, when analyzed more deeply, can help you offer richer experiences.

5.Bridges Generational Gaps

Since the market is still new, the concept of virtual stores may appear complex to older generations. Gamification can fill this gap by appealing to universally intriguing emotions. Shoppers of all ages can engage in solving challenges and earn free gifts or discounts on products, regardless of their age. By lowering entry barriers, retail brands can reach consumer segments beyond Generation Z and Millennials.

BRANDED GAME EXAMPLES

Search and Find Games

Use treasure hunt games in your virtual store to boost exploration. Place customizable branded tokens throughout your virtual store and encourage shoppers to find them – this promotes store discovery, leading to longer session durations, increased brand interaction, and higher purchase likelihood.

Tic-Tac-Toe

Offer Tic-Tac-Toe as a strategic version of the simple rock-paper-scissors game in your virtual store. This game is enjoyed by people of all ages worldwide and adds excitement to the discovery experience in your virtual store. This game of wits and tactics between two players provides a fun break while shopping. With its simple rules and quick start feature, Tic-Tac-Toe offers a fun gaming option anytime, anywhere. Trying this game in your virtual store can make the shopping experience even more memorable. Tic-Tac-Toe is a great way to capture visitors’ attention and potentially increase both brand interaction and purchase likelihood.

Branded Quizzes

Create a brand-specific quiz and offer consumers a personalized experience while capturing unique first-party interaction data about store visitors. Our platform allows your brand to use games to enhance customer engagement and achieve meaningful results.