There’s immense competition in the eCommerce world. Customers have many brands to choose from. Hence, there’s high churn.
eCommerce membership models however, provide added value to customers in this crowded space. Gamification strategies for eCommerce can signifcantly benefit your membership model.
In this blog, we explore how to use gamification for your membership models.
Defining gamification in eCommerce
Gamification involves using game-like and fun elements to encourage customers to engage more with your brand. For instance, motivating customers to buy more products to earn more points and rewards. The idea behind gamification is to add an element of fun through games, interactive activities, and the idea of winning. Customers are encouraged to participate in specific behaviors to enjoy added benefits and perks.
Here’s an example of gamification in eCommerce.
Rip Curl sells surf wear and has a membership program, Club Rip Curl. The program connects members who are passionate about surfing. Members get to earn points for surfing, making purchases, registering, etc. The program has a membership app that tracks every time members go surfing and adds points to their accounts.
Gamification strategies for eCommerce membership models
Gamification has many immediate and long-term benefits for eCommerce brands’ membership models. From adding an element of fun, to enhancing your brand reputation and increasing customer satisfaction — there are many reasons to gamify your eCommerce membership program. Here are a few strategies to apply.
Set up points and rewards system
The more opportunities you give members to earn points and rewards, the more they’ll engage with your brand. Create chances to earn points on purchases, writing product reviews, sharing feedback, making referrals, engaging on social media, etc.
As well as making it easy to earn points, enable members to easily redeem points. From time to time, recommend ways in which they can use points, such as for discounts, during sales, to send gifts, etc.
In gamified membership programs, you can create multiple tiers and encourage members to progress tiers by earning more points. This way you can incentivize continuous engagement via gamified experiences.
A few key points:
- Make it easy to earn points for performing different actions
- Tell customers how they can redeem their points
- Create gamified experiences for members to engage more
Badges and achievements
We humans are wired to want things immediately. That’s why achievement badges work well as gamification strategies in membership. Gamification badges are digital tokens given to customers for completing specific actions and milestones. For example, when members make purchases, cross a certain threshold of purchases or points earned, make referrals, etc. Achievement badges work because they make members feel good, promote engagement, showcase recognition, and are fun and exciting.
Another way to increase engagement via badges is to allow members to showcase their badges on their profiles. This encourages them as well as other members to compete and earn more badges. This brings in playfulness and a culture of competition and winning.
Additionally, you could also offer rewards to members who have earned multiple badges. This boosts engagement.
Challenges and contests
Another engagement strategy for your eCommerce membership model is running contests and creating challenges for members. These help engage customers and earn rewards and points. For instance, you could run regular weekly or monthly challenges. Another effective way to run challenges is to use your social media channels.
An effective gamification tip is to display leaderboards. Studies show that customers tend to engage more with eCommerce programs that have leaderboards. That’s because leaderboards rank members, provide gratification, create competition, and engagement, and drive members to take actions.
Also read: Ecommerce Memberships Marketing Strategies And Examples
Personalized gamification
Membership programs offer multiple opportunities to brands to personalize customers’ experience. As membership is a long-term association with customers, you can get to understand a lot more about your customers. Analyze data, run surveys, and ask customers to share information about themselves so you can personalize their membership experience.
For instance, personalize challenges based on customers’ behavior, activities, likes, and interests. Create different segments of customers and tailor challenges for different groups.
To personalize this further, provide personalized feedback as members progress through challenges.
Quests and missions
You can get as creative as you like when it comes to gamification strategies for eCommerce. Create missions and quests depending on your products and services. For example, you can create thematic missions around festivals, specific seasons, or months.
Another way to boost engagement in your eCommerce membership model is to have step-by-step missions. You can break down bigger missions into smaller milestones for members. For example, create a big mission that members can complete over a long period of time, while earning rewards.
Creating narratives or stories is another way to boost engagement with your membership plans.
Social and community features
Online customer communities are one of the best ways to offer experiences to your members. Communities offer added value to members, where they can meet other like minded people. Communities also align with the long-term approach of membership programs.
Involving members in creating gamification experiences is also a way to get them engaged. When members are more involved, they automatically feel more interested. For instance, ask members to create challenges and invite their friends and family to participate. These challenges could be online or offline.
Conversely, you could set up community or collective goals—involve a segment or group of members to achieve a collective goal. For instance, encourage a group of 10 members to earn X number of points within X time and give them free gifts when the target is achieved. Also, get members to interact with each other through comments, likes, shares, etc.
Exclusive access and content
Another gamification strategy for eCommerce is to offer exclusive content to members. However, they’ll have to complete a certain task to unlock access to content. For instance, you can create special tutorials, articles, behind-the-scenes videos, early product release content, etc. Bring in gamification so members have to perform certain actions to unlock content.
Tiered programs enhance eCommerce membership experience. It has different levels, offers different perks and benefits, and has an element of higher engagement. VIP and premium tiers offer higher levels of perks and benefits and value to members, making the experience more exclusive.
Gamified onboarding for eCommerce membership model
Did you know 83% of people uninstall apps within a day of installing them? And that is why you need to make your eCommerce membership process exciting and ensure their first impression hooks them to your brand. How do you do that? By gamifying the onboarding process.
Create interactive onboarding experience. For instance, ask members to answer a few questions about them. Research shows that gamified onboarding experiences lead to members feeling that the process is useful as the brand will offer more value to them, and hence, they tend to engage more. For instance, you could have a progress bar in the process, or ask customers to set a personal goal for their membership, etc.
Through your onboarding process, you could also provide interactive tutorials to members. Make it educational and fun for them to understand your brand and membership plan better.
Example: Nike Training Club adds many forms for members to answer during the onboarding process so as to personalize their membership experience
Why choose Appstle Memberships App?
Gamified membership models can benefit your brand and its marketing strategy in many ways: short term and long term. It can enhance your membership experience, brand presence, member loyalty, increase profits, etc. Appstle Memberships App can help you gain an edge over membership market competition. Here’s how:
Appstle offers unlimited membership tiers and custom plans. With Appstle, you can set up and run tiered membership programs. You can choose the type of membership based on your brand, product and service. Moreover, Appstle offers advanced customization features that enable you to create customized membership plans.
When running gamified membership programs, you may require to integrate third party apps into your existing Shopify system. This is another area where Appstle provides ease. Appstle’s integration is seamless and done with highly tested APIs.
Another essential feature you must have in your membership model is intuitive discounts. Appstle enables offering tiered discounts based on the length of a members’ engagement with your eCommerce membership model. With this feature you can easily create gamification strategies for eCommerce memberships.
With Appstle Memberships App, you can set up and run an exciting gamified membership program on your Shopify store.
Install Appstle Memberships App on your Shopify store today!
