YouTube, GooglePay, Amazon, Zomato, Cred, and most lately LinkedIn, platforms that define connectedness today have taken to gamification to increase engagement with users, get more conversions and enhance ad revenues as a result of the increase in time spent by users on the respective applications.
The gamification strategy is where hyper-casual, tap-and-play games are used to engage customers, speed up sales and enhance revenue.
For instance, Linkedin says 72% of its surveyed users said playing games such as Pinpoint, Crossclimb, Queens etc. “is professionally rewarding and a great mental exercise”. For GPay, scratch cards and gamification has elevated customer experience beyond payments. Its Diwali stamps game became viral overnight last year when users on social media created memes and the game became a competitive race to collect diyas, rangolis, jhumkas and lanterns.
Zomato on the other hand seems to have perfected the art of customer conversions with its Zomato Premier League (ZPL) which runs parallel to IPL every year and combines Indians’ love for food and cricket.
In last years edition, ZPL had attracted 60,000 game predictions on one single match day, user retention went up by 15% and weekly orders shot up 15-20%, it said. People were more likely to order desserts with the rewards they had won. Meanwhile Amazon now hosts a permanent section of spin-and-win games on its landing page, and YouTube has become the gamification connoisseur of maximising ad revenues.
“To continue finding ways to bring professionals together, we have integrated thinking-oriented games directly into the LinkedIn experience,” a LinkedIn spokesperson said.
“More than just fun, we’re excited for the potential of these games to kickstart conversations, deepen connections, and open fresh avenues for knowledge and opportunities for our members,” the person added.
“‘Better Luck Next Time’ scratch cards became the gist of many memes on social media and our Rangoli stamps game on Diwali saw users take to social to trade stamps to complete their set,” Violet Cong, Product Manager, Google Pay told ET. “The success of these levers has led us to make gamification a regular feature of the Google Pay product experience.” Around the ICC Cricket World Cup, GPay also started with Tez Shots, in which users could bat and score runs each time they opened the app.
As per global estimates, gamification is larger than any other form of online gaming in geographies like India and is growing faster than video games and esports.
Surging Business
According to Precedence Research, the global gamification market size was evaluated at $10 billion in 2022 and it is projected to surpass around $116.68 billion by 2032, growing at an annual rate of 27.9%.
“Platforms don’t really aim at converting ‘new’ users by gamification – they aim at increasing the average time spent by existing users on their platform,” said Rohit Agarwal, founder and director of marketing agency Alpha Zegus. “If done well, engagement rates of users can go up by 15-20%, which is a significant rise on average time spent,” he said.
AI-based tutoring startup Supernova, which gamifies lessons for kids, said these strategies have increased retention by 4X on its platform.
“While earlier, kids used to complete an average seven assignments per month on our platform, adding fun activities has taken this number to 23,” said Maharishi RB, chief executive of Supernova.
Mobcast Innovations is driving voluntary upskilling among blue-collar and grey-collar employees by gamifying training needs across sectors.
