Gamification and loyalty - the way to deeper engagement for brands

Deeper levels of engagement with customers is the mantra for brands with databases and P&Ls to please, and gamification and loyalty are two of the marketing strategies for how it can be achieved. Dan Bedi, Head of Sports, Retail and Gaming at Railsr, the world-leading embedded finance experiences platform, takes a look at both, and how they are being used by greater numbers of brands than ever before.

I’m talking to so many brands at the moment, and our conversations will always focus on how to gain greater and deeper engagement with their customers. It’s no longer about the odd newsletter and the occasional incentive to keep their customers happy, it’s what they are prepared to do for their customers that will keep them engaged and loyal by providing real and discernible value exchange.

I used the word ‘loyal’ deliberately, because this is what companies and sports organisations need to focus on in order to attract customers and retain them. And to use a sporting cliche, the pandemic has been a game-changer - the end-user, the consumer, the fan, is nowadays very demanding and pretty clued-up about their value.

When I get asked about gamification, I explain that it’s a mechanism to drive customer engagement and, more crucially, customer loyalty. All brands want to drive this metric. Whether it’s retailers increasing the recency and frequency of their customers, or sports clubs looking to engage with their fans in other ways outside of matchday.

Loyalty proposition

Take the Railsr loyalty proposition. We allow brands to reward for both interaction and transaction It allows organisations to flexibly incentivise customers for engagement and spend behaviours that they want to see more of. This level of configurability is key to helping brands tweak offer parameters to optimise their programmes (and ROI) over time.

Brands want to know how they engage their customers in areas outside of their typical environment. How can a sports club engage with fans outside of matchday and how can a brand involve itself in other areas of your life? Customers are keen to actively explore options on this and our loyalty solution allows them to focus on the customer experience first - we take care of the rest.

 

Our customers get to design a bespoke loyalty scheme for them to engage their customers. We take care of the heavy lifting and the infrastructure. They design and focus on the most important aspect of the process: the customers! This allows them to stay relevant, create new relationships with their customers and ultimately, drive revenue.

Brand experiences

In return, customers benefit from relevant and personalised loyalty schemes that reward returning custom. In the most successful programmes, customers can redeem for brand experiences that they can’t obtain anywhere else; early access, meet and greets, limited edition runs. For customers, being rewarded for things money can’t buy is the holy grail of loyalty.

I also get asked if gamification and loyalty is a fad, the current hot trend which will quickly run its course. The answer is pretty clear, both are here to stay and will have major roles to play as companies continue to refine their customer relations strategies.

I read a recent report from Beroe which predicted that the global market for loyalty programmes was valued at staggering $181bn in 2019 and should hit between $185bn and $195bn by 2022. It’s a big figure, but totally believable. We’re seeing loyalty increasingly become more important in the marketplace. Customers expect a fantastic customer experience and with a world of choice now, if you are not actively focusing on the customer experience and putting in measures to retain customers through loyalty you run the risk of falling behind.

Hyper-competitive

And these concepts are spreading. Any sector can join the fun where a customer’s end customer experience is easily replicated. This makes the space hyper-competitive and means you need to retain customers at all costs. Companies with a high CAC typically see loyalty and gamification as a crucial part of their business strategy.

As for the future, I think it’s via partnerships. Those who are able to partner together to create even more compelling loyalty schemes I think could work really well. Customers are able to then be rewarded even more.