When you think about mobile apps, do games come to mind? They should!
Games are a great way to engage users and keep them coming back for more.
In fact, mobile app gamification can provide a number of benefits for end users. Here are 9 of the most important ones:
- More Installs
- Unlocks User Creativity
- More Time In Your App
- Increased Brand Awareness
- Better App Retention
- Lower App Churn
- More Satisfying User Experience
- More In-App Revenue
- Make Onboarding/Learning Fun
What is Gamification?
It can be hard to stand out from the crowd in a world where we’re constantly inundated with notifications and alerts.
But what if there were a way to make your app so addictively fun that users couldn’t help but keep coming back for more?
That’s where gamification comes in.
By adding elements of play, you can make even the most mundane tasks feel exciting and rewarding. Here are a few ways to get started:
- Use points, badges, and leaderboards to create a sense of competition and encourage users to keep using your app.
- Make tasks more engaging by adding elements of chance or making them more challenging.
- Allow users to customize their experience by choosing their avatar or selecting different difficulty levels.
- Use rewards to motivate users to complete tasks, such as offering discounts or exclusive content.
By incorporating these gamification techniques, you can craft an app experience that will keep users coming back for more.
More Installs
What’s the best way to get people to download your mobile app?
If you said, “make it more fun,” you’re on the right track.
The goal of gamification is to make the in-app experience more enjoyable and addictive, which in turn leads to more people downloading and using the app.
And it seems to be working: studies have shown that gamifying a mobile app can lead to up to a 33% increase in installs.
So if you’re looking to boost your app’s popularity, consider adding a few game-like features. It could be just the thing to get people hooked.
Unlocks User Creativity
When you gamify a mobile app, you open up a world of possibilities for users. No longer are they confined to the traditional way of doing things.
Here are just a few ways gamifying a mobile app helps your users reach their creative potential:
- Gamified apps often require users to complete tasks or goals in order to progress. This can help encourage creative thinking, as users must come up with new and innovative ways to complete the tasks at hand.
- Gamification often relies on rewards and achievements to motivate users. This can lead to a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment, which can, in turn, boost creativity.
- Games are typically designed to be fun and enjoyable. This positive atmosphere can help users feel more open to trying new things and thinking creatively.
More Time In Your App
When you game-ify your mobile app, you’re giving users a reason to keep coming back.
They’ll want to earn more points, unlock more features, and beat their high score.
And the benefits for you are clear: the longer users spend in your app, the more likely they are to make a purchase or take some action that you want them to.
Increased Brand Awareness
It can be hard to cut through the noise and get noticed in a world where we are constantly bombarded with marketing messages.
Enter gamification: Adding games or game-like elements to your mobile app is the perfect way to make your brand more memorable and engaging.
In addition to keeping users coming back, gamified apps also tend to generate a lot of word-of-mouth buzz, which can help to attract new users.
And since users are more likely to recommend an app that they find enjoyable, gamification can also lead to more positive reviews and higher ranking in app store search results.
Ultimately, gamification is a win-win for both brands and users, so it’s no wonder that this trend is on the rise.
Better App Retention
We all love a good game.
The satisfaction of completing a level and the sense of accomplishment when we earn a high score – these things keep us coming back for more.
And what do you know – the same principles can be applied to keeping users engaged with your app.
Gamifying a mobile app is a great way to increase app retention. Here are some of the benefits:
- Encourages users to keep coming back: In order to progress in a game, users need to keep playing. The same is true of gamified mobile apps. By adding features that require users to come back on a regular basis, you can encourage them to stick around for the long haul.
- Provides a sense of accomplishment: As users complete tasks and earn rewards, they’ll feel a sense of progress. This can help to keep them motivated and engaged with the app.
- Provides a sense of community: Gamified apps often have leaderboards or other social features that help users feel like they are part of a community. This can foster a sense of belonging and keep users coming back to the app.
- Makes your app fun: Ultimately, if an app is more fun to use, people are going to be more likely to stick with it. Gamification can help to make your app more enjoyable for users, which can lead to better retention rates.
So if you’re looking for a way to keep your users coming back to your app, consider gamification. It could be just what you need to boost app retention.
Lower App Churn
App churn is a huge problem for mobile app developers.
According to Statista, the average app loses 95% of its users within the first three days after downloading it.
That’s a lot of people who are never going to use your app again, and it’s a massive waste of time and money.
By gamifying the app experience, you can add an element of fun and competition that encourages users to keep coming back.
By adding elements of competition and rewards, users are more likely to stick around in hopes of coming out on top. And if they’re having fun in the process, all the better.
So if you’re looking for a way to keep users engaged, gamifying your app might be the key to reducing churn and keeping your users coming back for more.
More Satisfying User Experience
There’s something about game-ified apps that make them more satisfying to use.
Maybe it’s the sense of accomplishment you get from completing a task or earning a high score.
Or maybe it’s the feeling of social competition you get when you compare your progress to your friends.
Either way, game-ified apps offer a l
evel of engagement that other apps just can’t match. And that’s why
they’re so addictive.
Of course, not all game-ified apps are created equal.
A good game-ified app will:
- Strike a balance between challenge and rewards, offering just enough incentive to keep users engaged without becoming too frustrating.
- Provide a clear sense of progress, so users can see how far they’ve come and how close they are to meeting their goals.
Ultimately, a game-ified app is one that’s both fun to play and satisfying to use. And that’s why they’re always worth another round.
More In-App Revenue
Businesses can tap into a growing market and increase their bottom line by gamifying an app and offering users multiple ways to generate revenue.
There are a few different ways to gamify an app and generate revenue:
- In-app purchases: This is the most obvious way to generate revenue from a gamified app. Users can be prompted to make purchases in order to unlock new levels, features, or power-ups.
- Ads: Another way to generate revenue is through ads. Gamers can be shown advertising before, during, or after gameplay. Ads can be targeted to specific demographics and interests, making them more likely to be clicked on.
- Referral programs: Referral programs incentivize users to share the app with their friends and family. The original user gets a prize, such as in-game currency or a discount on an in-app purchase, for every person who signs up for the app using the referral code.
Whatever the approach, there’s no shortage of ways for game-ified apps to make money.
Make Onboarding/Learning Fun
What about the gamification impact on online education?
The effect of gamification on online learning is pretty straightforward:
By incorporating elements of game design into the learning process, students can stay engaged and motivated while they absorb new information.
And let’s face it: learning can be pretty dull without a little bit of fun injected into the mix.
But how exactly does gamification make onboarding and learning more fun? With the use of gamification, your app can:
- Add a sense of competition and motivation: Game-ified apps often reward users for completing specific tasks or reaching certain milestones. This encourages users to keep going until they achieve the end goal.
- Make complex concepts more understandable by breaking them down into smaller, manageable pieces: When learners are presented with manageable goals, they’re more likely to stick with the task at hand and see it through to completion.
- Encourage trial and error. By allowing users to experiment with different options and choices, they can quickly see what works and what doesn’t. So instead of being afraid to make mistakes, they’re more likely to take risks and try new things.
- Provide users with immediate feedback. When users are given immediate feedback on their actions, they can learn from their mistakes and improve their performance more quickly. So instead of feeling frustrated, they’re more likely to feel motivated.
- Encourage social interaction. When users are able to interact with other users while playing a game, they can exchange ideas and learn from each other. So instead of feeling isolated, they’re more likely to feel connected.
Wrapping Things Up
Apps that gamify keep us engaged by rewarding us for completing tasks.
They give us a sense of accomplishment and make us feel good about ourselves, encouraging us to continue using the app.
In addition, apps that use game elements, such as
- points
- levels
- badges
- and leaderboards
Tap into our competitive nature and provide social validation when we achieve something or rank high on the leaderboard.
These nine benefits of mobile app gamification show how important it is to consider incorporating game elements into your app design if you want to create a successful and engaging product.
What keeps you coming back to an app? Is it the satisfaction you get from completing tasks or leveling up? Or maybe it’s the social validation you receive from ranking high on a leaderboard.
Let us know in the comments below what motivates you to keep using an app!
Thanks for reading!
