Marketing promotion method: the winning secret of gamification marketing!

Introduction: The success of gamification marketing actually benefits from the overall application of marketing psychology, but the scale of the "game" must be strictly controlled, otherwise it will backfire.

Why do people tend to avoid free gifts, but have no resistance to getting gift rewards by playing games for free? Why are consumers so eager for marketing activities that offer prize draws or gifts when spending a certain amount of money? Why do people pay special attention to marketing activities such as collecting cards and points? All of this is a reflection of the effectiveness of gamification marketing.

Gamification marketing does not mean using games to complete marketing in an objective sense, but using game ideas to attract the public and complete marketing operations. Why do games attract players so much? Because of their unique relaxation and fun, people can't put down this kind of game, which is the main driving force for the success of the game.

With the development of the times, people who have entered society are busy with their lives, and the proportion of games in their lives is getting lower and lower, and people's lives are filled with work content. However, during holidays, most people are mentally averse to work, and relaxing activities such as games or fun become the first choice for many working people to spend their holidays.

Why can games easily attract people's attention and keep people's attention on games for a period of time? This is incredible in this age of attention deficit. But games actually make this a reality. Games are magical.

If you successfully gamify your marketing activities and give them this special "magic", you can retain your customers and implant your brand impression.

1. What is the gamification marketing model?

The gamification marketing model is not a simple marketing game, but a marketing campaign with the "magic" of games. Why can games quickly attract people, keep them hooked, and make them spend their time and money in a relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere? What is the principle behind this?

1. Easy to join: For most games, players can easily join the game and enjoy the fun of the game. Gamification marketing allows people to easily enjoy the fun brought by games and quickly increase the dissemination of marketing activities.

2. Goals are easy to accomplish: Setting simple, achievable goals can help people quickly gain a sense of accomplishment from the game. Therefore, at the beginning of many games, it is very easy to upgrade or obtain excellent equipment. In the gamification marketing model, by setting up simple activity tasks, we can effectively mobilize the enthusiasm of the masses to participate and let them gain a sense of accomplishment.

3. Delayed enjoyment: Many games have a cooling-off period or time, which is a waiting period between the player's operation and the harvest of results. This makes the results more valuable in the eyes of the players and gives them a greater sense of pleasure.

4. Self-recognition: In real life, due to complex interpersonal relationships and the lack of clear indicators of self-realization, many people are very eager for self-realization in games. The score rankings in the game make those at the top feel proud; the same is true for the rank displays in many games. In gamification marketing, through mutual comparison, intuitive value can be reflected, allowing those who rank high to achieve self-recognition, which can promote mass consumption and increase the stickiness between enterprises and the masses.

The gamification marketing model is planned through the magic of games. It has the ability to quickly attract the masses and enable them to interact positively with the company. Through activities, the masses can feel the satisfaction of self-realization and develop a sense of superiority through comparison.

2. Why is gamification marketing gaining more and more attention?

Compared with other types of marketing strategies, gamification marketing planning is not the most advantageous in terms of the sophistication of the plan and the time it takes to create it, but the effect is very impressive. In today's market, gamification marketing strategies have received more and more attention and application. What is the reason for this phenomenon?

1. "Attention concentration" has become a luxury of the times, and people find it difficult to quickly pay attention to new things

We are now in an era of information explosion. All kinds of information will appear around us from various channels. The fragmented environment has added a lot of difficulty to product marketing.

In such an environment, people's brains will automatically block or filter new things or new information to protect existing data. This is the "mental" protection function of the human brain. Even if it gains short-term attention, it is difficult for the product to occupy a place in the hearts of the masses. In a homogeneous market, competition between products is beyond your imagination.

It is precisely in such an era that it is increasingly difficult for new products or new brands to gain public attention. In this era of scattered public attention, the ability of gamification marketing strategies to quickly attract attention can just meet the requirements of enterprises.

The gamification marketing model has the characteristic of delayed enjoyment, which can effectively deepen the public's impression of new products and complete marketing conversion.

The era of "lack of" public attention provides the best stage for gamification marketing to showcase its charm.

2. In a "fast-paced" life, people are more likely to relax physically and mentally through "interesting" game marketing

With the development of the Internet economy, the nine-to-five work model has become a "good memory" for people in the workplace. While companies are loudly shouting "996" and "997", few people know that people in the workplace are currently experiencing physical and mental exhaustion.

The fast-paced lifestyle makes people’s lives lack of “interest” and it is difficult for people to “relax” physically and mentally. The "fun" gamification marketing forms a sharp contrast with the stressful and tense normal life, making "games" very attractive to people. Because of this, gamification marketing will be used more and more frequently in the market.

3. Marketing models that fit "human nature" are more easily accepted

"The best state of life is not to work and have endless money to spend." This is the voice of many people. The happiest thing is to "sleep until you wake up naturally, and count money until your hands cramp". This is human nature. People have a natural yearning for relaxing things. Gamification marketing is a marketing method that caters to human nature. It can be planned in any way that caters to the masses.

3. The marketing points of gamification marketing are actually all in line with marketing psychology

Gamification marketing is a marketing strategy formed by catering to the psychological characteristics of the masses. Its various marketing elements are completed using marketing psychology.

1. Decoy Effect: Ownership of Virtual Permissions

Enterprises set levels for users. The higher the level, the greater the permissions the user has on the platform. Users will purposefully "possess" permissions by upgrading their levels.

This is similar to the character level upgrade in the game. When the character level is higher, the player will also develop a psychological concept of "ownership" of the character.

The ownership of characters in games and the "ownership" of permissions in gamification marketing are exactly the "virtual ownership" in the "bait effect" in marketing psychology. Enterprises retain users through "virtual ownership" such as "levels" and "authorities", which allows users to create value for the enterprise spontaneously and sustainably.

In addition, there is such a membership level system on a certain purchasing APP. As the purchasing amount increases, the membership level will be upgraded accordingly. The higher the membership level, the more popular products you can see, and it will be easier to increase the purchasing orders accordingly. However, if the user's monthly amount does not meet the corresponding membership requirements, the membership level will automatically downgrade and the user will lose privileges. In such a situation, users will work hard to increase orders to maintain their purchasing advantages and platform authority.

This is the “bait effect” under “virtual ownership”

2. Psychological suggestion: When the goal is about to be achieved, there will be a strong desire to consume

Companies often give consumers actual rewards through activities such as collecting stamps or cards, which is also a form of gamification marketing.

Why do users have a strong desire to complete the collection when they are about to collect all the stamps? Why would consumers try to make their spending amount above 199 when they get a 100 yuan discount on purchases over 199 yuan? It's all psychological suggestion at work. The closer consumers are to completing a task, the more they will feel the urge to complete it.

There used to be a tourist stamp collecting activity in Taiwan. When tourists visited a scenic spot, they could get the stamp of that scenic spot. Although tourists could not get prizes after collecting all the stamps, many tourists still enjoyed collecting stamps. Under this activity, many tourists would spontaneously visit some scenic spots that were not planned.

3. Participation principle: create additional value between products and users

If users participate in the growth of a product, then the product becomes more than just a product to them. User participation can effectively narrow the distance between product users and make it easier for users to accept the product.

For example, after a movie comes out, many people will say “the review is much more exciting than the movie,” which makes more users pay more attention to the output of film reviews.

The previously globally popular "Ice Bucket Challenge" has enabled the ALS public account to develop and mature rapidly. This is a psychological phenomenon manifestation of the participation principle under gamification marketing.

4. Delayed enjoyment: Delaying the acquisition of results makes it easier for users to get satisfaction

After gaining public attention, a company needs continuous exposure to have an impact on users' psychology.

The characteristic of prolonged enjoyment is that it allows users to wait for a period of time after contact, so that users can be more satisfied with the final achievement. It will increase the user's sense of accomplishment.

Delayed gratification is widely used in daily life. A common example is the punctual promotions on e-commerce platforms. Customers know in advance that the store will have a promotion at a certain time, so they will wait patiently for that moment to come. When the promotion starts, the customers who have been waiting will show amazing fighting power. The most obvious example is Tmall Double Eleven. A week before Double Eleven, it can be said that users across the entire network are looking forward to that day and suppressing their desire to buy until the day of Double Eleven.

Delayed gratification is achieved by suppressing the public's expectations for a while and then directly detonating them at a certain moment. Users will generally show more enthusiasm than before. During the waiting time, users' attention will be focused on related activities, which can effectively gain continuous attention.

5. Loss aversion: People have a natural aversion to losses

People are less likely to give up on things they have already invested energy and time in. This is the psychological effect of loss aversion.

People have an instinctive aversion to loss. We often encounter such a situation: many people will choose to refuse free gifts, but people will cherish the rewards obtained by completing games more, even if the two gifts are the same.

The reason for this phenomenon is, on the one hand, the mass loss aversion effect mentioned above, and on the other hand, the self-realization effect we will talk about next.

6. Self-actualization: Users experience a sense of self-achievement after completing an activity.

When people achieve success through hard work, they will feel that they are chosen by fate, that they are different from others, and that they are better. The reason for all this is people’s “self-realization” psychology.

7. Curiosity: The “results” create a strong “temptation” for users

People have a strong desire to learn about uncertain things, which is a behavior driven by curiosity.

Gamification marketing takes advantage of people’s curiosity about the results of an activity, so they will continue to explore during the activity.

For example, in a stamp collection activity, you don’t know what kind of psychological satisfaction and rewards you will get after collecting all the stamps, so you will work hard to collect all the stamps.

For example, some companies will launch some activities to give out surprise gifts for recharges. Why do people have such a strong interest in surprise gifts?

8. Comparative psychology: comparison promotes competition and output

There are comparisons, there are highs and lows, and in gamification marketing, there are often some score rankings or fan dedication rankings, so that everyone can know the situation at the top and the gap between themselves and the top.

Users with high rankings will develop a sense of superiority and will work harder to maintain their rankings. Those with low rankings will work hard to improve their rankings, and in the process of improvement, they will feel a sense of accomplishment. Moreover, ranking can easily induce competition among users with similar ranking sequences.

For example, the daily step count ranking in WeChat Sports within the WeChat APP and the weekly reading time ranking in WeChat Reading both utilize the user's comparative psychology and subconsciously change the user ranking. The platform will also achieve higher daily user activity.

4. The psychological scale that gamification marketing should grasp

Gamification marketing can effectively motivate users to produce, but if the scale of the "game" is not mastered, then the marketing may not be effective and may even make users feel disgusted with the product.

1. In the bait effect, if the bait is too difficult to complete, it will cause users to have a negative mentality. The bait will not be able to play the role of lure.

2. In loss aversion, if the value of the result return is completely disproportionate to the investment, the user is likely to choose to give up.

3. In psychological suggestion, if the task span is too large, the influence of the suggestion will be weaker.

4. In comparative psychology, if the gap between the comparison objects is too large, it will be impossible to mobilize the competitive consciousness of weak users and the sense of accomplishment of strong users.

Summarize:

Although gamification marketing strategies are more likely to achieve better marketing results, we must pay attention to the scale of the "game". Otherwise, it may backfire.

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Author: Xiao 5

Source: PR Home