Gaining a new customer costs more than retaining an existing one. Also, an existing customer spends more than a new one, and that’s where the significance of customer loyalty kicks in. Businesses offering customer loyalty programs help retain clients and see the revenue graph go upward.
As per a study, the gamification market grew from 4.91 billion U.S. dollars in 2016 to nearly 12 billion in 2021.
Customer loyalty programs have transformed from conventional to modern ones, and fierce online businesses have emerged. Customers have plenty of options in this digital age, but how can you stand out? The answer is gamification.
What is Gamification?
Gamification applies game principles and game-design elements in a non-gaming context. As a result, Gamification has impacted almost every industry, including e-commerce, education, and booking-based businesses such as hotels. For example, when gamification is plugged into a customer loyalty program, customers spend more loyalty points and rewards.
There are different variations on gamification that help businesses increase their customer loyalty. Among those variations, the most important and popular one is gamification badges.
What is a gamification badge?
Gamification badges are rewards for customers that represent their achievements. For example, people who have earned a certain number of points or passed a certain course or module can get badges in gamification.
How Can I Plugin Gamification Badges on My WordPress Website?
It is advised that the badges should be tiered to reward your customers based on those tiers. This also helps customers track where they are and how to upgrade their badges.
Examples of Gamification Badges
The following are some of the examples of gamification badges:
i) Basic Badges:
These badges can be in the form of simple emblems that customers can achieve for accomplishing easier and more basic shopping goals. For example, a basic badge can be given to customers who have bought at least two products in the last month.
ii) Achievements:
This gamification badge can be from achievements completed by your buyers after climbing multiple tiers. For example, consider a customer’s rides accrued points has accrued over time. Also, an achievement badge can be awarded to a regular customer who has done an abnormal amount of shopping for the first time.
iii) Awards:
These badges can be specific to new buyers to convert them into repeat ones. For example, if a customer buys your product worth $500, you can award them the “Award badge,” which will entitle them to discounts in the future. This will entice them to keep coming back to your online store.
These are just a few examples, and you can make your badges with other names. But how to incorporate these badges into the WordPress site? The answer is quite simple. All you need is a badges WordPress plugin. This WordPress plugin helps you add multiple gamification badges.
How Gamification Badges Works Well for Customer Loyalty Programs
There is no one size fits all approach to gamification badges loyalty programs. However, it teaches powerful emotions like intrigue, excitement, and happiness to influence particular customer actions when done correctly.
Brands are increasingly using gamification or behavioral economics to differentiate between themselves and their competitors. The results of gamification amplify when you use game design strategies or components to impact customer behavior and engagement as a component of your marketing plan.
The Benefits of Gamification for Customer Loyalty
Here are three significant benefits of gamification badges to boost customer loyalty:
i) Rewards for existing customers
You can skyrocket your customer loyalty graph by rewarding your existing customers through gamification. Also, gamification badges give customers a sense of saving, and ultimately, they continue to buy from your online store.
ii) Minimize slow seasons
Subject to industry, there may be some dry seasons for your business, and that’s where gamification can give you a major helping hand. You can increase your frequency of giving out gamification badges in these low sales seasons. In addition, you can add an “expiration date” to these badges to make them seem more urgent. This will make customers want to visit your website more often.
iii) Minimize costs
Marketing to new clients or searching for new leads can consume a lot of time and money. However, if you focus more on using gamification badges with different variations, you can save on finding new buyers; hence, your cost would be reduced.
Final Words
A gamification badge is a direct route to enhancing customer loyalty through your website. Effective loyalty programs can use gamification and focus on customer engagement instead of making more money from them.
Online businesses across industries take gamification seriously to incentivize users to implement new business applications and processes. In addition, loyalty and engagement can encourage your customers to repeatedly do business with you and choose your products over your competitors.
