10 Reasons Why You Need to be using Gamification in Loyalty Programs in 2024

Updated: February 01, 2024

Loyalty programs have long been a big part of the success of strengthening customer relationships with brands.

The programs are a tried-and-true tactic to help organizations secure repeat customers. If your company is not using a loyalty program yet, or you want to freshen up your current program, the gamification of this program is key to making it engaging and effective.

The idea behind gamification is that it guides your consumers to perform certain actions on a repeated basis to secure rewards. These rewards can be monetary, but they might also come in the form of badges and other kinds of benefits that can help to advertise the success and commitment of the person to your brand. Tapping into the reward center of the brain makes loyalty programs work well and have staying power for businesses.

If you are ready to learn the 10 reasons that you need to be using gamification in your loyalty programs, keep reading.

What is gamification in loyalty programs?

Gamification in loyalty programs is the process of adding game-based mechanics (points, rewards, levels, etc.) to increase brand and customer loyalty.

Gamification in loyalty programs can be accessed in a variety of different ways. Most gamified loyalty programs use more than one kind of reward style to keep people shopping with their company over the long term. You can apply as many of these kinds of gamification as you wish, although not all of them will probably fit into your specific business’ identity.

Gamification in loyalty programs can be offered through discounts, points programs that lead to rewards, progress bars that show how close someone is to a goal level of purchase, and rewards for mundane items like adding information to an app. All of the actions that are taken by the customer can be used to create engagement and to keep the consumer coming back to your business over and over again for products and rewards.

Gamification is common to many applications and software these days because it is so effective at what it does. You can do so much for your brand just through the use of gamification that you really cannot afford to pass up this opportunity to make your business better than ever.

How to Use Gamification in Loyalty Programs

Now that you know what gamification is in loyalty programs, you probably are wondering how you apply it to your loyalty program. There are ways that you can add the benefits of gamification to your loyalty program, and you might want to explore all of these options depending on your business type.

1. Discounts to Encourage Customer Engagement

Offering discounts for purchases of specific types, for spending thresholds, or for other milestones that are related to customer engagement with your brand can offer an immediate reward that also leads to another sale. This is a great way to motivate consumer involvement as well as further purchases that customers might not otherwise be motivated to make.

2. Reward Points to Boosts Customer Sales

One of the most common ways that gamification is added to a loyalty program is through the use of reward points. There are many ways that you structure a rewards system that offers benefits to consumers that lead to more sales. Your consumers will almost always accumulate points through purchases and other actions that you want to encourage, and then they can spend these points or turn them into cash. Not every reward points style system offers the option to turn the points into cash, and you can be as creative with how your consumers use these points when you build your system.

3. Customer Status Levels to Reward Customer Loyalty

You can make your gamification more motivational if you offer levels of customer support. This means that consumers that spend the most with you will get added perks as well as a different loyalty level within your program. This is common for travel reward structures, and these kinds of loyalty programs often include things like free nights of travel or free food, and so forth.

4. Rewards to Incentivize Daily Engagement

If you have an app that you want people to be using even when they are not currently shopping with you, you can make it rewarding for consumers to engage daily with the app by offering rewards for this action. Maybe you want your consumers to check the coupons or deals that you are offering each day, and you can reward this action by delivering a discount, some points, or so on for those who take this action.

5. "Challenges" to Drive Specific Customer Behavior

"Challenges" are often prompts that encourage or incentivize specific behavior. These kinds of gamification tools can provide a little bit of pressure on consumers to act within a short time period. For example, Starbucks offers this kind of reward to those who step up on the day of a challenge and buy a specific kind of drink. You can also offer daily quizzes, challenges, and more within your app to make it easy and fun for people to remember to check out what is going on with your business on a regular basis.

6. Streaks and Milestones to Encourage Customer Participation

While more common in the gamification of workout apps or healthy behavior apps, this gamification tool can help to keep consumers involved with your company. If you have a coffee company, for example, you can reward consumers who come in every day in a given week with a free drink or some other reward. These kinds of milestones or streak-based rewards can help to make consumers invested in daily interactions with your brand.

Examples of Gamification in Loyalty Programs

There are many ways that you can use gamification to create a committed and involved consumer base. You can use the above suggestions to make your loyalty program more fun, but you can also offer more individualized rewards, like offering someone who brings in a new customer a reward. You could also offer deeper discounts and perks to those who have their whole family involved in your loyalty program.

The holidays can also be a great way to create added buzz about your loyalty program that might catch the attention of new users and new customers for the rest of the year. If you are running a sales event, you can make the loyalty program a part of the action and encourage people to interact with the sale through the loyalty program for increased benefits.

There are so many examples of ways that gamification can be added to a loyalty program that the list is quite long. If you can think of a reward structure that you would enjoy, then this is probably a reasonable plan that you can put into action for your own loyalty program. Making a loyalty program that is fun to interact with is really easy when you leverage the benefits of gamification.

Why Use Gamification in Loyalty Programs? Benefits explained.

Here are 10 highlighted reasons why you need to be using gamification in your loyalty program. Most loyalty programs will not thrive without effective gamification of the program, so you need to make this investment in your gaming system.

1. Drive Brand Loyalty

This kind of promotional program creates brand loyalty and continued investment in your brand.

2. Strong Loyalty Programs Generate Word-of-Mouth

Consumers who like your rewards program will be more likely to tell others about it and bring in new business for your brand.

3. Positive Brand Image

If you are looking to elevate the image of your company to make consumers more willing to see what you are all about, a loyalty program can create feelings of positivity toward your brand.

4. Repeat Purchase Behavior

Customers who have been given a discount or other perk that motivates a further purchase will be much more likely to come back to your business over and over again.

5. Opportunity to Develop Brand Personality

Part of your work branding a business is making sure that the business seems like it has a personality. This is something that a loyalty program can offer through your app and your engagement with customers on a regular basis.

6. Giving-back Programs and Gamification

Gamification doesn't always have to be about repeat purchases. It can also be centered around any giving-back programs in your company. The idea that your business gives back can become part of your company persona in really effective ways.

7. Promotes Healthy Competition Among Customers

There are various ways that your loyalty program can create a bit of competition amongst your consumers that leads to increased spending and engagement.

8. Customers Can Plan Purchases around Rewards

Customers who are able to plan for rewards that they want to earn will be more committed to being invested in your company for the long term.

9. Dopamine Rewards the Brain

Engaging with gamification platforms of various kinds offers the dopamine rewards that engaging in actual gameplay can bring.

10. Encourages Product and Service Exploration

Consumers who are invited to engage with your brand will also be more likely to look at new features and purchase offers they would never have even considered without your loyalty program.

Loyalty Program Gamification Platforms

These are some of the best gamification platforms for loyalty programs. You might leverage these platforms to work with your business to create gamification that delivers big results for your loyalty program.

1. Annex Cloud Loyalty Experience Platform

This is one of the leading providers of gamification that can be added to any kind of loyalty program. You can count on this application and software base to help you create scalable solutions that deliver customized and personalized gamification solutions for any kind of business. This is a very flexible customer experience solution that can make your business popular with all kinds of different consumers, all through the use of clever and unique gamification solutions and options.

There are few companies that offer such a wide array of unique and special gamification selections, so you can make your loyalty program totally different from anyone else’s with this tool.

2. Kangaroo

Another really great marketing platform that can be used for gamification is Kangaroo. This is a great option if you want to make a completely customized and unique gamification structure that will work hard for your loyalty program. You can choose to build your program in many different languages with this tool, and it also offers omnichannel experiences that most other platforms in this space cannot. From digital gift cards to points benefits and automated marketing, there is nothing that is left out of this really great loyalty program tool.

3. Salesforce Experience Cloud

This is one of the best-known enterprise community applications out there and for good reason. You can build any kind of loyalty program that you want with ease using salesforce, and you can make your loyalty perks and gamification completely custom to your needs. This is also a great option due to the technology-forward foundation of this company that makes it remain at the leading edge of the options that are offered for your design and support processes.

4. White Label Loyalty

If you are looking for a cloud-based solution for the gamification of your loyalty program, you need to look no further than White Label Loyalty. This is a great option if you want to make your loyalty program focused on customer retention, and there are many ways to seamlessly integrate gamification options that will lead to a commitment to your loyalty program. This is a great choice that works well with existing systems and applications, which means that you can use White Label Loyalty to make your existing software better than ever.

Incorporating Gamification Into Your Loyalty Program Can Generate Huge Benefits

If you have been fretting over the ways that you can add gamification to your loyalty program, you need to consider these great software options. There are so many benefits to adding gamification to your loyalty program plans, and you will see improved customer retention and more from your efforts in this area of your business.

Being able to make sure that your brand stays relevant and easily engages new customers is easy when you use gamification for your business loyalty program. Gamification is a part of almost every application out there, so your consumers will almost expect that you can offer them this kind of experience within your loyalty program. Make sure that your business stays at the leading edge through the use of a gamification structure that delivers big results for your brand.