Let the Games Begin – In Your Emails!

Gamification. It’s the latest buzzword, although it’s not necessarily a new idea.

Gamification involves turning something that’s not usually fun into a game. The idea is to create a fun and engaging way for your customers to interact with your company.

Some companies use elaborate point systems and levels to create a game that can become an addicting hobby. Others offer games that are shorter and less elaborate, but still effective.

In this two-part series, we’ll examine how games can help your business and how you can use email marketing to leverage your games. We’ll start off with some simpler and shorter games…

First, The Benefits of Games

Creating games for your audience comes with perks for you:

Let’s take a look how some companies tackle this:

Lomography’s Game: Register to Play

Lomography uses a flashy, sleek design to advertise fun games you can play when you register with their website:



Udi’s Game: Encourage Brand Interaction

Udi’s has a BINGO-style game that let’s them get to know you more, plus has participants visiting the Udi’s section in Whole Foods stores:



Ghiradelli’s Game: Buy The Product to Compete

Ghiradelli’s has the classic recipe contest with a twist: the recipe must include a product from Ghiradelli’s. Not only will they get more sales for people creating the recipes, they’ll get even more sales from people following the recipes:



Converse’s Game: Design Your Product

Converse makes a game out of buying. Customers design their own shoes which they can then purchase and have delivered in three weeks or less:



Next Up: Gamification On a Larger Spectrum

Companies such as Nike and RecycleBank have taken gamification to a whole new level. A whole lot of other companies are following suit, and there’s an increase in games involving points, badges, levels, etc. We talk more about these games in Part 2 – check it out here.

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By:
Education Marketing Associate (Crystal Gouldey Moore) on Google

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4 Comments

  1. EMS

    Nice post !! This is solid benefits that you can easily earn more about your audience and easily promote your product.

    9/11/2012 6:14 am
  2. Nader Mah

    Wow!
    Attractive designs.
    The design of distributed emails is very important on my deliverables rate.

    9/14/2012 1:21 pm
  3. Andrew Woo

    I’ve worked with companies that do games (sweepstakes, scavenger hunts) all the time and they’ve always had a ton of participation because they rely heavily on email during the launch

    9/18/2012 8:55 am
  4. Randall Magwood

    Awesome examples of “gamification” lol. The concept and principle behind it is profound. Engaging your prospects and customers is a great way to build customer loyalty, and will also inspire lots of backend sales. Great post.

    10/25/2012 7:01 pm

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