App developers are finding it harder to be noticed among the many mobile apps on the market. People, particularly millennials and generation Z, are more likely to become bored than ever. They need something challenging and exciting to keep them engaged in the Gaming.
There are many user engagement and retention strategies that can implement. These include social media management, product customer experiences, personalized discounts, giveaways, Etc. Gamification is one of the most effective methods for user engagement. This can help companies stay competitive.
Although you may not be aware, there are many examples of gamification in daily and professional life. Gamification is not limited to mobile apps but also recruitment. Teachers can give stickers to their students as a reward. Shops can offer customers stickers in a set amount depending on how much they spend. Customers can then exchange the stickers for a promotional product. A contest with prizes is possible for supermarket checks. These techniques encourage students and shoppers to complete tasks to enter a contest. This is how gamification works in practice. Today, mobile apps are increasingly aiming to gamify their users’ lives.
Statista reports more than 2,659.5 million mobile gamers globally as of 2021. Another report shows that the games category is far ahead of all other Apple App Store categories for 2021. The gaming category is home to 21.49% of all apps, while business accounts for 10.1%. Therefore, it is not surprising that apps of other types borrow game design elements such as badges, rewards and points, scoreboards, and internal currency. It is essential to monitor your progress and improve your channel marketing. It will help you stay on track with your marketing efforts.
Before you decide to gamify an app, it is essential to understand the benefits that mobile app gamification can bring to your business and how you can increase user engagement.
Let’s begin with some scientific actualities. Matthias Koepp (now a professor of neurology at Queen Square Institute of Neurology at University College London) wrote the Wall Street Journal article on video games. Professor Koepp discovered that adult players were experiencing more challenging challenges and releasing more dopamine. We can conclude that those non-game elements released dopamine in users’ brains. They want to spend more time with the gamified apps to achieve more achievements and feel the satisfaction of accomplishment. Gamification can trigger a variety of human emotions.
Here’s another way that gamification can take place to motivate and influence people:
- It stimulates curiosity. And motivates users to move ahead and receive more rewards.
- It encourages competition. Displaying top-rated players’ achievements encourages other players to do more and compare their results.
- It gives you the logic that you are in control. It is not something that anyone likes to be forced into doing. Gamification’s primary purpose is to allow users to control the process and decide what milestones they want to reach next.
How do you Gamify an App?
You must first create the design elements and then move on to the gamification workflow. These are the standard design features:
Levels:
These are the different parts of the game’s world. Each level increases in complexity, making it more difficult for the user to progress.
Performance charts:
These graphs display how the player performed compared to their previous results and track their records.
Scoreboards:
These lists contain player rankings that help determine who is the best at a particular activity. Unlike performance charts that show one user’s performance over time, A scoreboard shows how the other players performed.
Badges:
Badges indicate users’ achievements and show their performance within an app. Some fitness trackers offer badges based on how many steps the user has taken during the app’s use.
In-game currency:
This currency is used to “pay” for game-related benefits, such as extra lives. It can use to reward specific achievements or daily bonuses.
Points:
These are the primary rewards the user receives for their achievements as they progress in the game.
Above all, elements can implement with specialized gaming software. You can use these elements with specialized gamification software, such as Google Game Services, Amazon GameCircle, or Apple’s Game Center.
But, successful mobile app gaming strategies go beyond design and development. The primary purpose of gamification is to retain and engage more users.
Here’s how you can do it:
- Remember the problem you need to solve with gamification. The app is not converting at the desired rate. We recommend implementing gaming elements and aligning them with your corporate goals.
- Social elements should be included. Gamification’s most striking feature is its ability to bring people together through collaboration and socializing. Gamification should encourage and reward social networking.
- Please keep it simple. Gamification is about simplicity and fun so that the user intuitively knows where they are at and what to do next. You have to guide the user smoothly and transparently through each step.
- Create a simple reward system. Instead of promising one big reward at the end, break it into smaller pieces and give small prizes for each completion.
Conclusion:
In simple terms, Gamification is the use of game elements in the non-gaming app. Gamification has been used in many industries such as education, productivity, healthcare, entertainment, and more.
It increases user engagement and turns a tedious routine into a fun experience. It seems to work because the human brain is always looking for new challenges.
Have you gamified your app? Start gamifying your app today to see the results. Capermint can help you convert your bland app into an engaging gamify app.
