Today giving a strategic advice to Italian companies is not an easy task. Yet there is always a new road that can be taken, even in times of crisis like the present one.
When the mental attitude ceases to be based on what you can do and you are stuck on a negative thought, it becomes difficult to find new solutions. Then it happens that you give up, brooding over the past or endlessly repeating what you have always done even if it does not bring results.
Life is not a matter of having good cards, but of playing a poor hand well.
(Robert Louis Stevenson)
So, going back to the statement at the beginning, we have a suggestion: is to start using gamification in a systemic way in your strategies. Yes, because gamification is a serious thing and can help companies enormously in a business and online marketing perspective.
Gamification: discover why it’s so important to your business
The future of creativity and innovation is gamification. The ability to use gamification and reward mechanisms to engage people is an incredibly effective marketing tool.
The concept of gamification to acquire and retain customers is relatively recent, although gamification is the activity that has always allowed human beings to learn and socialize, at every stage of life.
Loyalty had already existed since the eighteenth century, when some American merchants thought of giving their customers copper tokens that, once accumulated according to the required number, could be used to get real products in exchange. Copper tokens are in all respects comparable to coins and virtual credits used to reward the most loyal customers.
In recent years gamification has evolved and with it the related possibilities, although few companies fully exploit such dynamics of active involvement, especially small ones.
It has been verified that an active behavior that encourages to perform actions is much more effective than a passive one because it stimulates human instincts (social status, competition, search for success and reward) to create or satisfy desires and needs rooted in people.
This is the logic of Facebook, Instagram and especially TikTok. After launching TikTok For Business, a space designed to allow brands to do creative marketing and adv, the Chinese social has further enhanced the tools for business by introducing gamification to actively engage the TikTok community in the messages of companies.
TikTok has in fact launched Gamified Branded Effect that allows to integrate brand messages with gamification effects to facilitate users’ creativity for a fun and interactive video experience. People can use facial expressions, poses and body movements to control and interact with branded elements, thus customizing advertising campaigns.
Atlantix: the gamification advantage within everyone’s reach
Atlantix is one of the few italian companies to have developed a gamification system to create engagement and loyalty for e-commerce customers by rewarding participation, commitment and interest.
The use of gamification will spread more and more, becoming a differentiating element in non playful contexts such as marketing.
Yu-Kai Chou, one of the pioneers of gamification, was one of the first to deepen the relationship between gaming and the human mind, identifying the core drives of gamification, i.e. all those levers that act on the brain, influencing in a decisive way the behavior: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5Qjuegtiyc
Behavioral psychology helps us to understand the functioning of the human brain and its responses to certain stimuli: the right hemisphere is the most irrational and instinctive part to which emotions are related and where individuality is expressed; the left hemisphere is the most reflective and rational part to make us choose analytically and objectively. The gamification techniques are based on these characteristics.
Self-expression, epic sense, relationality and unpredictability that affect our inner dimension (and not the acquisition of something) act on the right side of our brain; while progress, possession, scarcity and fear of loss act on the left side that commands the desire to grab or lose something.
Gamification through the use of elements and dynamics typical of games can increase the most significant metrics of a business by impacting directly on the sale of products and services, on the diffusion and perception of a company brand and on user engagement.
It is not magic but well-defined techniques that make those who know how to master them almost invincible. These techniques can in fact lead the user to perform certain actions while having fun, such as: buying a product while participating in a direct promotional, to invite other friends to participate in the contest, share brand posts on their social media or register for the newsletter.
Keeping the activity of your community high by living a fun and interactive experience keeps people constantly involved and connected to the product.
The benefits of this creative way to grow your business are many. For example, you increase brand awareness because the fun experience during a gamification activity promotes an emotional connection and positive mental associations with the brand.
The effect of some game dynamics does not end with the purchase of a product because you create a lasting relationship with your customers, for example through the mechanisms of rewards.
Gamification also allows you to get feedback and useful data to profile people while they play. In this way you can learn about participants’ interests and preferences in order to set up a sales funnel based on their characteristics.
With gamification systems the conversion rates are higher because those who participate in the activities feel involved, valued and rewarded. Gamifying a process or selling a product allows to make fun what is usually boring or badly tolerated through a targeted use of points, badges, rankings, levels, missions, virtual rewards, real or combined, progress bar and much more.
Whether you participate for competition, socialization or as a pastime, the important thing is to make the game activities satisfying and stimulating.
In a competitive scenario like online, digital products to emerge must leverage all those human factors that move the emotional sphere and unconscious needs of people.
The game develops dynamics that touch precisely these factors, so gamification is a formidable means of communication to maintain the connection with your target audience.
If you want to know the gamification activities of Atlantix in support of your brand, click here :)
