It can be tricky to generate and increase your leads for your business without feeling as if you’re being too pushy. If you’re entrepreneurial but don’t look forward to hustling for customers, finding alternative marketing methods is key. Fortunately, there is a way to turn this process into a fun and engaging experience.
In this article, we’ll take a close look at the concept of ‘gamification’. We’ll discuss the pros and cons of this method and several approachable ways to implement it. Let’s get started!
How Games Can Increase Your Leads
Gamification is a technique used to drive engagement by applying point systems, competition, and other elements that make for a game-like experience. This requires utilizing a bit of psychology to increase motivation to interact with your brand.
As overall smartphone and tablet usage increases, the popularity of mobile gaming has also risen. This creates ample opportunities to use this trend to the benefit of your brand by incorporating it in your marketing strategy.
Take Starbucks Rewards, for instance. This loyalty program drives sales by enabling customers to earn ‘starts’, which they can eventually redeem for free food and drinks:
The point system motivates members to continue participating in order to achieve certain goals. Plus, the accompanying mobile app also includes bonus challenges and games users can play to earn additional stars.
Another example is The Foundation quiz:
This game-like element taps into users’ desires to be successful and understand more about their own personalities. The benefits for The Foundation have been significant. They collected 16,000 leads and generated additional revenue by pairing the quiz with a Facebook ad campaign.
However, there are some potential drawbacks to be aware of when it comes to using games to market your products and services. For example, building a visually pleasing and highly engaging experience can often cost quite a bit of money.
Additionally, there can be a bit of a learning curve with applying sound theory to your project, and you’ll need to be prepared to promote your game. That being said, there are several tools available that can help you take advantage of this strategy.
3 Kinds of Games You Can Leverage on Your Website to Increase Lead Generation
Regardless of how you host or develop your website, there are many gamification options available to increase your leads. While setting up an extensive point system like Starbucks’ may be out of reach, there are several alternatives that are much simpler to implement, including those we’ve described below.
1. Wheel Spin Games That Collect Email Addresses
Wheel spin type games rely on random chance and encourage engagement by offering relevant prizes to players. Rewards might include free shipping or a discount. To use this activity for lead generation, you might require visitors to input their email address before they can participate:
To implement this strategy on your website, you might consider signing up for a plan from reputable digital marketing company OptinMonster. Their tools enable you to create wheel spin popup campaigns to collect contact information and recover abandoned carts.
Alternatively, if you’re running an e-commerce store on Shopify, you can try out Wheelio. This is another application that can help you build a wheel spin game. It includes both time-triggered and exit intent popup options.
Finally, WisePops is a viable option if you’re looking for a comprehensive pop-up platform that includes spin-to-win design elements. All of this tool’s features can be integrated with any major website builder or Content Management System (CMS), including WordPress.
2. Quizzes With Social Sharing Features
Earlier, we mentioned quizzes as an example of gamification. They can prove to be quite useful for driving engagement and collecting leads on your website, as visitors enjoy testing their knowledge or comparing personality assessment results to how they perceive themselves.
For example, Oh My Disney, the online publishing arm of the Walt Disney brand, has created a whole section on their website just for quizzes:
This page regularly publishes new content to test visitors’ Disney knowledge. It also includes personality quizzes that may suggest a particular movie, television show, or even theme park ride to the participant.
Visitors who take these quizzes can share their results on their social media profiles. This promotes the Disney brand and creates more visibility for their various entertainment experiences.
One of the most widely-used quiz applications is Survey Monkey. You can easily integrate the content you create with this platform on your website or even your own social media accounts. It offers both business and personal plans, as well as a month-to-month option.
If you’re looking to create a highly visual and interactive quiz experience, Qzzr is another option you might consider. While perhaps not as comprehensive as other tools, it makes it really easy to add media elements alongside your questions.
On the other hand, Drimify has a pretty extensive feature set. You can create polls, quizzes, surveys, and games. Additionally, it provides data analysis tools, and the ability to export your information.
3. Interactive Digital Scratch-Off Tickets
Many people find the concept of a scratch-off ticket exciting. The idea that you might win big on a one-dollar investment is pretty appealing.
Consequently, digital scratch-off tickets can be useful marketing tools. Since consumers seem to prefer interactive content, even when it comes to advertisements, they’re a simple way to get visitors’ attention.
Like a spin-to-win wheel, digital scratch-off tickets play on consumers’ beliefs that they might walk away with exclusive prizes:
Both Brand Gaming and BeeLiked offer fun and interactive scratch-off game features for marketing campaigns. You can set up your potential prizes based on a number of options, such as your online store inventory.
Additionally, BeeLiked offers integration with email and social media campaigns. This enables you to gamify other elements of your marketing strategy, rather than focusing solely on your website content.
Conclusion
Games of any kind have a pretty deep psychological appeal. Not surprisingly, this means they are a natural fit for most digital marketing strategies. Fortunately, there are a lot of easily implemented options available for just about any budget and brand.
Do you have any questions about gamification for digital marketing? Let us know in the comments section below!
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