Must-Know Mobile App Gamification Trends of 2023, You Can’t Afford to Miss
Updated: Jul 4
Remember those good ol’ school days back when we were kids? Teachers used to reward us with stars when we performed well in assignments or tests. This way, those shiny stars turned our boring tasks into exciting missions, right?
Fast forward to today; imagine the same concept but on your mobile phone. Mobile app gamification does the same thing but with a tech twist. It turns everyday tasks or learning into a game, where upon completion of certain levels or tasks, you receive points or rewards.
But why? Well, people usually have a natural desire for achievement, recognition, and rewards. Knowing this, apps incorporate gaming elements like virtual badges, stickers, and rewards into non-game contexts to make them interesting. It adds a layer of fun and competition, motivating and engaging users. It turns life into a friendly competition, pushing you to achieve more just for the thrill of it. Cool, right?
Seize and Sustain the Attention
Did you know that the human attention span has dropped to 8 seconds? Think about how often we get distracted by small things. In this digital era, grabbing people’s attention is harder yet crucial for business continuity. With over 8.93 million apps available and new apps being added every day, users might not get the attraction they are hoping for unless you give them something different to capture and retain their attention. Mobile app gamification does this, offering both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. A well-designed, gamified experience is a clever way to reduce churn and drive engagement and loyalty.
Gamification Trends In 2023
Over the past years, gamification has undergone a fascinating evolution, transforming from traditional approaches to more personalized approaches. Apart from entertainment purposes, businesses realized their true potential in improving the experience. The adoption of AI in gamification has increased, which has changed the gaming perspective from offering mere points and badges to personalized, purpose-driven experiences.
Mobile app gamification isn’t just a development but a journey into a world where your app gets a serious upgrade to sustain itself in the market. Here are some of the gamification trends that re-shaped interaction with mobile apps.
Better Implementation in Healthcare
In the realm of healthcare, a dynamic shift has taken place in recent times. Innovative gaming techniques merge with medical settings to establish the concept of healthcare in an engaging way while still pursuing health goals. Perhaps one of the biggest challenges in the healthcare industry is low medication adherence. According to a report, about 50% of patients fail to take their medications. Gamified products help users track dosages, organize their medication programs, or schedule appointments. Wellness and mental health gamification allows patients to understand their chronic condition better and simplifies medication management. Overall it’s a win-win for both users and health care providers.
The Re-mission 2 game series from Hopelab Studios has proven to be effective in helping children and young adults with cancer with treatment compliance. It put the player in control of the “Roxy” nanobot, which was to fight cancer with a chemo blaster, a radiation gun, and other animated weapons. This innovative idea proved to be a huge success, improving treatment adherence rates and also increasing the self-efficacy of patients.
Corporate Sustainability Gamification
Gamification can be used to improve social sustainability by motivating users to behave in a socially responsible way. By offering rewards or points for every social engagement, users will be motivated to support the cause and actively participate in community actions. By providing real-time data on their eco-friendly choices and daily energy consumption and suggesting alternate transport modes, the switch to sustainable mobility solutions can be promoted, contributing to a greener planet.
Recycle Bank lets users earn points by participating in green activities such as planting or adopting trees, participating in recycling efforts, and tallying them up in a point system. The more you recycle, the more points you receive. These points are converted into savings at a local business, with discounts for sustainable goods and services.
Blockchain Loyalty Programs
Why not take advantage of gamification and its dynamic nature to spruce up your customer loyalty programs using blockchain? The integration of blockchain technology can be used to enable different loyalty schemes to redeem tokens. The decentralized nature of blockchain enhances transparency and security and is user-friendly too. These Web3 loyalty programs have managed to capture the customer's attention because of their versatility. The tokens could be easily exchanged, sold, or traded. This way, Web3 reshapes the loyalty propositions of companies.
Krisflyer, now called Krispay, a frequent flier program of Singapore Airlines, announced blockchain-powered fly campaigns. Customers can easily exchange the air miles they traveled for digital tokens for digital shopping with other merchants.
Machine Learning and AI Integrations
Gamified solutions can offer personalized experiences with the help of ML and AI algorithms. They are capable of assessing the users, identifying patterns, and analyzing data to deliver customized challenges and rewards. Users are then offered tailored modules that align with their preferences at any of their programs. Whether it’s fitness, learning, or productivity, AI makes gamification smarter.
Robinhood is an investment app that integrates gamification with AI, allowing users to invest in stocks or participate in challenges. With AI algorithms, it analyzes user preferences, behavior, and market trends and provides tailored investment suggestions and insights. This way, it makes investing more engaging and also increases user interaction through incentives.
Gamification in Social Media Marketing
With a lot of people active on Social media, businesses include gamification methods to gain traction and visibility. It includes various ways, like running polls, adding interactive elements, offering rewards for engaging with social posts, and encouraging UGC. This is a strategic way to create a sense of community, competition, and social proof among users. According to SAP, social media gamification boosts engagement by one-third and content discovery by 68%. The evolving nature of digital marketing turns casual followers into active brand advocates.
Zomato is a popular food delivery app that implements a lot of social media gamification strategies. One notable example is their campaign, where users earn points by writing reviews, liking or commenting on their social media posts, uploading food photos, or inviting friends to join Zomato. The more active the users were, the more they were rewarded with complimentary dishes or discounts.
How does Mobile App Gamification benefit?
Gamification of mobile apps goes beyond catering to the general public. There are many more advantages to gamification in mobile apps, such as:
Gamification offers a better user experience, fostering a sense of attachment and commitment among the users.
Integrating gamifying elements in the apps boosts the average revenue per customer, as customers are likely to spend more time and more often.
Game interactions provide valuable user data, which can be helpful in tracking user behaviour. This can be used to fine-tune the app according to their preferences.
The use of interactive and rewarding elements encourages users to return to the app more frequently, thus reducing the churn-out rate.
Creating a way to share users' achievements and rewards via social platforms increases brand visibility and awareness.
Time to Gamify
Gamification is all about keeping the fire on! Looking ahead, continuous innovation in gamification marketing isn’t a strategy but seems to be an absolute necessity. Whether it’s integrating AI for smarter challenges or using immersive technologies, the possibilities are endless. The success of any gamified app isn’t only about the visual appeal; it’s also about keeping the users hooked and engaged, driving sales. So in this ever-evolving landscape, the key to sailing is to embrace the wave of innovation and trends.
Not sure which gamification strategy to implement for your app or website? An irresistible upgrade to your app or website begins here!
