There’s no secret to reward and incentive marketing. You reward your players with a free gift. You incentivise them to come back by letting them choose something they really want. 

Your players are happy, they keep playing. The more they play the more they spend, and the more return you see on your investment. It really is that simple.

But what if there was a way to make your rewards campaign even more effective, more engaging, more enjoyable?

And what if you could do that while spending less on rewards?

It’s possible. And it’s simple. You just need to ask your players that age old question.

Do you feel lucky?”

Why Gamification Works

By now, you should be familiar with the psychological triggers that come with receiving a physical gift. Having a long-lasting, tangible reminder of your company’s generosity makes your players value you more highly.

Once they get the gift.

Gamification starts that psychological process even earlier, by making the player reward experience more enjoyable.

Choosing a free reward is nice. But until that gift is delivered, there’s no real psychological connection. But being told that you’re in a win/loss scenario? That you have the chance to win something for free? That starts work on your brain straight away.

By adding that element of risk, your players get a little dopamine hit, a sense of achievement. They’ve not been given something – they’ve won it.

They’ve not been handed a reward for turning up, they’ve earned it through persistence and loyalty.

And if they miss out because of the roll of a dice – that’s not your company letting them down, it’s fate, or destiny, or lady luck. So instead of being upset, they’re inspired to try again.

Winning Gamification Ideas for Your Campaigns

Triggering these positive psychological effects is a matter of choosing the right games. They need to be a fun, engaging experience. 

Because if your players enjoy the game even when they lose, you don’t need to reward every single one. You can stretch your budget even further, reduce your cost per customer, and engage more people than ever before.

Start with tried and tested interactive games, such as:

Spin to Win –  A spin to win game offers players the chance to try their luck and claim a random prize. Use a high-value reward (with low odds of winning) to raise the stakes, and keep your costs down by filling the rest of the wheel with lower value (but still coveted) prizes. You can even trigger that “winning” dopamine hit for free by offering free spins as a lower tier prize.

Raffles – Scarcity triggers our competitive instincts, so by making a “limited” number of tickets available in a raffle, you’re able to reach large numbers of customers while only giving away one big-ticket item. Just make sure every ticket holder wins something they really want, even if it’s lower value.

Scratch Cards – Playing a scratch card ramps up the tension and delivers multiple jolts of excitement. Winning is great, but just getting two of the three required symbols creates the feeling that the player has “nearly” won and incentivises them to come back time and time again.

Sweepstakes – With a sweepstake, players know that someone is guaranteed to win the star prize, and that lowers the perceived risk of playing while increasing the excitement around a draw. Sweepstakes are also social activities, helping you turn your players into word-of-mouth advocates for your brand.

Win their Business, Win Their Loyalty

Gamification isn’t solely a matter of creating interactive games and activities for your players  to enjoy. A player loyalty program also gamifies repeat business. And by combining an initial interactive game with an ongoing loyalty game, you can win and retain customers’ business.

The secret to a successful loyalty program is to create reward tiers that incentivise returning time and time again without claiming a reward.

A free coffee after five stamps at the local cafe means giving away a coffee every week. But by giving increasingly expensive rewards after collecting ten, twenty, even fifty points, you encourage even more loyalty while giving out fewer rewards.

Giving every single player a free coffee every single week won’t get them talking. Giving them the chance to claim a PS5 after fifty or one hundred visits will. A large aspirational gift keeps them playing, keeps them earning points, keeps them buying.

Hit the Jackpot with Gift & Go

However you choose to add gamification to your player rewards and redemption strategy, Gift & Go makes sure your customers will always hit the jackpot when it comes to choosing their reward. 

There’s no need to keep rolling the dice, because you’ll give them the chance to choose something they really want – direct from Amazon or Best Buy – so you won’t need a casino-sized vault to hold all the stock.

If you’re running a gamified incentive marketing campaign, Gift & Go makes it easy. It’s quick and simple to create your campaigns, set your tiers and budgets, select your gifts, and then let your customers choose their own rewards. 

With us, everyone’s a winner.

Book a demo of Gift & Go.

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