A certain segment of the Singapore population will remember scratch-and-win discount coupons and spin-the-wheel lucky draws. These examples may be far removed from how gamification is experienced or understood today, but they all have the same roots — a marketing technique used by brands to drive various objectives such as increasing customer engagement, educating consumers, driving footfall, app downloads and sales targets through games.
Such techniques have evolved and diversified over the years. Gamification has now reached a stage where its potential to connect brands with consumers is aided exponentially by new technologies and the increasing use of mobile devices.
In Singapore, the number of smartphone users reached about 5.42 million in 2021. According to Statista Research Department, this number has increased since 2017 and is expected to grow to over 6.16 million by 2028. Globally, there are 3.129 billion more mobile connections than people worldwide.
Gamification today
Gamification is a growing trend in Singapore. With the country’s strong focus on technology and innovation, gamification is a natural fit for many businesses and organisations for customer engagement, brand adoption and sales conversion.
Looking back at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns across countries, one fact emerged – the gaming industry witnessed a global surge in mobile game demand, with an increasing number of smartphone users downloading games and apps.
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While the majority compete within the exponentially overcrowded digital marketing landscape, one company in Singapore has developed a unique playbook that dovetails and deep dives into the psychology of gameplay at a granular level to cut through the noisy clutter and create revenue and mindshare.
Sqkii, a Singapore-based company that provides gamification marketing solutions to connect brands with consumers, is the creator of the largest cash hunt in Singapore — #HuntTheMouse. The success of its flagship #HuntTheMouse event is built on the game pillars of Why Play, Why Stay and Why Spend in its playbook.
To date, #HuntTheMouse has attracted over a million players looking for coins worth up to SG$100,000 (US$74,000) hidden around the island state based on a proprietary real-time game map. In the recent month-long campaign, at least 3.6 million minutes of gameplay were clocked, with more than 8.1 million engagements registered on the game website.
On the commercial front, the game connected participating brands and players with simple brand actions such as purchasing groceries or a bubble tea to help players get ahead in the online-to-offline phygital game loop. Sqkii’s carefully designed #HuntTheMouse game loop generated over SG$1,600,000 (US$11,84,000) collectively in incremental revenue for participating brands and merchants in two campaign iterations, each running for just a month.
The future of gamification
Allied Market Research highlighted in its report that the global gamification market generated US$9.9 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach US$95.5 billion by 2030. The figure represents a compound annual growth (CAGR) rate of 25.6 per cent from 2021 to 2030.
Gamification is proving to be a powerful tool because it engages users, drives motivation and loyalty, and, most importantly, translates to revenue. After four successful runs of #HuntTheMouse and other brand-led viral activations, the Singapore company is looking to expand its presence and market its proprietary games overseas, starting with Southeast Asia.
Moving ahead, the next phase of gamification will see fast changes in largely three main areas. These include:
More personalised mobile-first gamified solutions
With more in-depth machine learning, the next milestone of gamification will possibly take on a more sophisticated and personalised approach in terms of game experiences and outcomes tailored to suit individuals’ predilections and information consumption patterns.
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Greater online-to-offline phygital game loop
Businesses are gamifying operations from human resources to marketing activities. In fact, 93 per cent of marketers love gamification for what it can do to connect with consumers and drive sales.
Gamification is not just a technique. It is a psychological manoeuvring that creates the conditions to funnel and motivate players into achieving desired outcomes. Going forward, more defined playbooks and purposeful game loops will be required to attract and retain consumers with fresh experiences to drive sales from online to offline.
From Pointsification to Gamification
Gamification solutions thus far have largely taken the form of pointsification — a superficial approach where game elements such as points and badges are applied. Common examples of these are seen in reward points systems or spin-the-wheel gimmicks. While these may serve to attract consumers’ attention at the beginning, they miss out on the key aspect that allows games to retain their players — a fun and addictive experience that is rewarding in and of itself, and for some, the conversations and camaraderie.
The future will see more brands seeking to truly maximise their acquisition, retention, and conversion through gamification. Gamification solutions will bear greater resemblance to mobile games in which consumers can earn rewards through a curated, enjoyable, and addictive process. This is where the potential for viral appeal and the real adoption lie.
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