Gamify, learn to sell more while your clients have fun.
Buying can be great fun, for some people buying might be their main hobby- but sometimes it is just a mere formality. If you sell Spanish ham, your customers probably do not need any more reasons to buy it apart from its delicious aroma and flavour (my mouth is watering already as I write this). But if your field is the manufacture of power strips, maybe you could spice things up a little bit.
We all like to play. It is an important part of human nature. A few days ago we went through some suggestions to encourage gamification today we will go through some ideas in order to gamify your products or services, let your clients have a blast while you improve your sales.
If you are feeling a little bit lazy and don’t feel like clicking our last post (even though is something that is quite advisable), we will remind you what gamification is. It is the use of elements and gaming techniques in non-recreational environments in order to provide characteristics of games in such environments, such as motivation, involvement and fun qualities.
Decades ago, gamification, which did not even exist as a concept, would mean giving a deck of cards with your business logo printed on the back of each card. Today, with the rise of Internet and apps, there are endless possibilities. Do you want your customers to have fun and get involved with your products? Here are some ideas to gamify like a pro.
Score points.
One of the easiest ways-but also one of the most effective ones- is to gamify the act of purchasing. Actually, this has been going on for ages, do you remember when you used to keep yogurt lids when you were a kid in order to obtain those little gifts?
However, today there are ways to make it easier and fun, from cards that accumulate labels which offer a discount when a certain number is reached to more advanced systems that allow you to access a catalogue of prizes based on purchases made. For example, there is a well-known chain of coffee shops that allow accumulating stars when consuming their products. When a certain amount of stars is accumulated, you can enter different levels on the website of the company, giving you access to different prizes.
This is a strategy that rewards and reinforces customer loyalty. Depending on the size of your business, you can go for more or less complex techniques.
Create games for the customers to become familiar with products of the company.
Sometimes some products or services may have a certain complexity and it might be interesting to encourage the customer to learn how to use them and become familiar with them (if they do, you know ,you might have gained a new client). If you have a software program, for example, you can encourage the client to perform actions and make them earn points with those actions, and then those points will be later exchanged for prizes.
On other occasions and for simpler items, just a game that to know-one app, for example, and generate a closeness that will make them remember your company and its products. Yes, it tries to be funny; if all you care about is that your company logo out everywhere are likely to leave and forget quickly.
Create competitive games with other users.
Within the category of games related to your products, these are particularly encouraging. For example, the application of Nike + allows customers of the sport brand to compete against each other and against the community of users of the app in such fields such as running.
Such games not only link the customer with the product, but also may create good publicity to reach people who are interested in entertainment and social relationships, allowing the user to have a go at it.
Give customized options.
Sometimes, you can introduce elements of gamification that directly affect your products, even changing them. For example, some electronic fashion stores allow you to design and modify the colour, texture or shape of products such as shoes or dresses, which make some particularly inspired users to spend hours enjoying their own designs.
With 3D printing technology knocking on the door of the industry in the near future, these options might be necessary in certain types of sales.
Make contests.
Sometimes the game will not only entertain your customers, it could add considerable positive publicity as a valuable contribution to your company.
There are, for example, cases of companies that have promoted contests to create a slogan, or to choose the name of a new product. Such initiatives cannot only make your users have that great feeling of participating in a competition; but as well it can mean great contributions to your company.
Make draws.
This is another classic in order to gamify, but you can add a few extra components to make it more interesting, for example by mixing this with other gamification techniques. You can make customers have more possibilities to be rewarded if they get more points in an app, or if they accumulate more points when purchasing.
Finally, remember that the games you do, they need to be under the current law -including the fiscal law, so do not forget to be well informed of the steps you must follow.
Always remember to gamify within your company in order to improve sales and create a big and great impact on your customers. Your customers will thank you for it as well as your workers. In order to gamify, you have to be creative and come up with great and interesting ideas to make it more fun for everyone. Time to brainstorm some ideas!
Now that we’ve seen some ideas to make your customers have fun while playing with your product, would you mind sharing some experiences of gamification with us? You have a section comment below this article. Write us and tell us how you have implemented gamification in your company and share with us the results obtained. You will make us as happy as a lark!