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Sales Gamification: Beneficial Mix of Business and Fun

Selling online becomes more and more complicated, and it is not always about the sophisticated and ruthless competition. Often, it’s about the lack of unique shopping experience and fun.

In most cases, offline shopping is entertainment and customers want to have fun online, as well. Digital games are the greatest gain of the virtual world and their power of engagement is not yet completely used in ecommerce and gamification is one of the ways to leverage their impact on sales.

There are several definitions of gamification, but most of them converge in one interpretation. Gamification is the way to intensify users' engagement and contribution through the application of game playing principles (personal or team scoring, competition, badging, etc.) in non-game areas.

This is a both-sides advantageous technique usually implemented in marketing, personnel management, education, competitive intelligence, market researches and online sales, of course. Usually gamification is used in conjunction with loyalty programs and other promotional tools.

Gamification Advantages



    • Engagement. Engagement is the main advantage of gamification and can be numerically measured in visitors, sessions, page views, etc., which is very important to determine its effectiveness.

 

    • Motivation. Providing clear goals and explaining the ways to achieve them gamification intensifies efforts and make customers to get involved. And, the competition with other participants makes this process even more exciting.

 

    • Influence. Defining game rules you can directly manage both the results and ways of their achievement. You can set up own milestones and final targets, e.g. ask for more sales, visits, or other leads, and make the game suitable just for you. This also makes gamification a universal tool, applicable to different online stores.

 

    • Feedback. Gamification provides valuable feedback from your customers. During the game they share their wishes providing you with invaluable information regarding their needs and demands.

 

    • Loyalty. Gamification also allows you to retain existing customers and even convert them into regular clients. Eventually, gamification forms a habit to make purchases only in your store, which is the highest level of loyalty.

 

    • Virality. The power of word of mouth cannot be overestimated even now, when marketers have tremendous number of technical facilities for advertising and promotion. Trusted reviews and friendly advices are at a great price and the most persuasive incentive for customers. The mouth to mouth effect multiplies this influence and gives virality real power over online sales.

 

    • SEO. The increased number of page views, comments, and the newly added content naturally boost your SEO parameters.

 

    • Fun. Fun is the greatest advantage of gamification and the most important reason that makes wheels turn.



Need some cases? Follow the link.

Starting Gamification


As any activity, which is supposed to bring some results, gamification should be based on clear and detailed strategy. You cannot just implement several gamification elements (badges, leaderboards, etc.) and hope everything goes the right way. The launch of gamification should be properly planned and prepared:

    • Define your goals;

 

    • Determine the target audience;

 

    • Identify the desired behavior;

 

    • Determine game rules;

 

    • Set up your KPIs;

 

    • Measure their fulfillment;

 

    • Calculate ROI.



Implementing Gamification


On this stage you should make the game unique and completely matching your brand tone. Participants should feel that their achievements are properly evaluated and have a possibility to share their accomplishments.

Well prescribed rules should not delete surprises from your game and make it dull. People like fresh ideas and sudden delights, and sometimes, unpredictable plot twists. However, creating these unique features of the game is the most pleasant part of work.

eCommerce Gamification Suite


If you have an intention to benefit from gamification, the eCommerc Gamification Suite extension is a great canvas for the game in your Magento store. It allows you to implement gamification features easily, including badges, leaderboards, achievements, ranks, etc.

The eCommerce Gamification Suite Magento ExtensionThe eCommerc Gamification Suite extension allows customers to accumulate points and get ranks, accomplish certain tasks and get badges for their achievements (lifetime sales amounts, largest orders, reviews quantities, etc.), track the progress of their competitors, and change their profiles (avatars, nickname, account statuses, etc.).

Using integrations with other aheadWorks extensions you will be able to provide customers with additional opportunities. They will be able to share their achievements via Facebook, earn additional points for friend invitations, spend points for purchases, etc.

The detailed description of the extension’s functionality is placed on the product page of the extension. You can also refer to the product documentation and try the module in action in our demo stores.

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