The web design industry is a prime example of how businesses can seamlessly integrate gamification into their websites. Gamification, the practice of incorporating game-like elements to boost user engagement and retention, has become a powerful tool for websites of all kinds. By adding these engaging features, businesses can keep users hooked and coming back for more.
This article dives into 5 examples of gamification websites in action. But before we explore those, let’s establish a foundation.
A gamified website incorporates game-like mechanics, features, and dynamics into a non-game context. Think loyalty programs like Starbucks Rewards or user feedback scores in Strava, the running and cycling app. These examples gamify everyday tasks, reward users for engaging with the community, complete challenges, and collect points or prizes.
In the realm of web design, companies can leverage gamification to enhance user engagement. Imagine a progress bar embedded within blog posts, encouraging readers to finish the entire article. Or, an e-commerce store could implement a system where shoppers earn points or discounts for sharing brand links with friends, ultimately boosting product sales.
Gamification on websites goes beyond offering literal games. In fact, most successful implementations involve subtle adaptations of game elements to guide the user experience and promote a brand.
Are you curious to see how others have mastered the art of gamified websites? In the next section, we’ll delve into specific tactics for adding a layer of fun and engagement to your own website.
LinkedIn employs a clever mechanic that subtly nudges users to complete their profiles. It gamifies profile building by treating each completed section as an achievement, visualized with a progress bar. This taps into our natural desire to “finish what we start” – the completionist instinct. More importantly for LinkedIn, it leverages the perception that detailed profiles equate to better networkers. This subtly injects a touch of competition, motivating users to create a more impressive profile. It’s a fantastic example of how a well-designed feedback system can subtly guide users towards a desired action – a complete and impressive profile in this case.
Since the beginning, Reddit has embraced gamification principles. The platform thrives on user-generated content, where links and text posts are submitted for community evaluation. Users can upvote or downvote these submissions, acting as judges and curators. This system fosters a dynamic environment: popular content rises to the top of relevant subreddits (communities), gaining visibility, while less-favored posts sink. This inherent competition incentivizes users to create engaging content, sparking social interaction through comments and discussions.
Further emphasizing gamification, Reddit assigns a “karma score” to each profile. This score reflects the perceived quality of a user’s contributions, based on the upvote/downvote system. Upvotes boost your karma, signaling valuable contributions, while downvotes lower it. While intangible, karma serves as a social currency within Reddit, signifying a user’s reputation and expertise. Though it doesn’t translate to physical rewards, the pursuit of a high karma score fosters a sense of accomplishment and bragging rights among Redditors.
Twitter, now known as X, is one of the most commonly used social media platforms, and because of this, it’s important for businesses to understand how to use it to their advantage. One way X uses gamification is through its poll system. Polls are a great way to get feedback from users, and they’re also a great way to engage with followers and get them involved in your brand. Twitter has helped users to create an online social environment that can allow for interaction and the exchange of ideas.
As much as BuzzFeed wishes to be seen as a news source, many of us appreciate it for its capacity to offer a random diversion during the workday.
That being said, they do a fantastic job creating these quiz-like diversions. While they don’t necessarily drive the bottom line (other than to get more blog subscribers), they are effective in driving brand awareness.
While the quizzes themselves usually don’t drive business-related interaction directly (although they can), they are often used quite effectively as a marketing campaign tool.
Buzzfeed’s quizzes are a perfect example of how a business can effectively use marketing in a fun way to garner more engagement from its users.
Eraspace is a prominent online store in Indonesia that sells a variety of products related to gadgets, lifestyle, and entertainment. It offers affordable prices and guarantees the quality of its products. Eraspace is part of the Erajaya Group, which includes several other retail brands such as Erafone, iBox, Urban Republic, and iT. The integration of these offline retail outlets with Eraspace provides a comprehensive shopping experience for customers. In addition to the website, Eraspace also has a mobile application available on Google Play. This app allows customers to easily shop from leading brands right from the palm of their hand. Eraspace also offers various promotions, cashback, and a comprehensive and secure service called MyEraspace. This service enhances the online shopping experience for its users.
During Erajaya Group’s 27th-anniversary celebration, known as Eraversary 2023 (held from August 14th to October 1st, 2023), the Eraspace website featured a variety of attractive promotions. Customers had the chance to win tens of thousands of exciting prizes, including vouchers, smart home devices, video game consoles, smartphones, and much more, with a total value of Rp. 2.7 billion.
Eraversary 2023 offered a variety of games and activities to engage customers. These included Popquiz, Guess the Logo, Giveaway, MyEraspace Flash Sale, and Treasure Hunt. The games were hosted across various platforms, including Eraspace.com, TikTok, and Instagram. The event also included a Journalist Writing Competition to acknowledge the collaboration with media partners.
The game features within the website were developed by the gamification service company level up powered by Agate, which specializes in creating interactive and engaging gaming experiences. The collaboration with Level Up powered by Agate for Eraversary 2023 resulted in the development of an arcade-style game that was seamlessly integrated with the Eraspace app and website. This game, designed to enrich the customer experience during the anniversary celebration, featured insightful questions and a captivating leaderboard, encouraging players to compete for points redeemable for various rewards.
Furthermore, a content management system (CMS) was implemented to allow for the easy input of custom questions, visualization of leaderboard data, and monitoring of branch data. This system ensured that the game remained fresh and exciting, with new challenges regularly introduced. To cater to all customers, including those visiting in-store, a lite version of the game was made available, which did not include point collection but still offered a fun and interactive experience.
A: Gamification on websites involves incorporating game-like elements, such as points, badges, leaderboards, and challenges, into non-game contexts to enhance user engagement and retention. This technique is used to encourage users to interact with the website, complete tasks, and return for more.
A: Gamification enhances user engagement by tapping into human psychology, leveraging the desire for competition, achievement, and social interaction. It creates a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction when users complete tasks or achieve milestones, which motivates them to continue interacting with the website.
A: Some examples of gamification on websites include:
A: Gamification benefits businesses by:
A: Some challenges of gamification in elearning include:
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