One of the biggest challenges membership organisations often face is enhancing member engagement; in fact, it’s one of the top priorities according to the MemberWise Digital Excellence 2024 Report. But what if the secret to engagement no longer lies solely in traditional methods?
Enter the world of gamification – a strategy that could revolutionise your approach to building loyalty and activity within your member community.
Simply put, gamification takes gaming elements – think things like scoring points, competing with others, and achieving objectives – and applies these to non-game environments to increase interaction and engagement. This approach transforms mundane tasks into exciting, rewarding experiences, which in turn can prompt members to engage more deeply and bring them back to your organisation time and again.
Good examples of gamification in practice include Duolingo, the language-learning app that uses badges and streaks to keep users coming back to the app daily, or Café Nero’s app, which rewards users with free coffee after purchasing a number of coffees over time, incentivising users to always choose the chain for their caffeine fix. Instagram also recently launched its new ‘Achievements’ display available for creators, which allocates different badges for various engagement milestones, like Reels plays or follower count.
Gamification can be an extremely powerful tool for increasing member engagement. In short, it makes your member community more exciting and entertaining, enhancing it with a sense of achievement and belonging.
According to Spinify, a whopping 90% of employees admit to being more productive when applying gamification – imagine therefore, the impact on your membership base!
There are a bunch of different ways you can implement gamification into your member community, which we’ve outlined below:
Regardless of how you implement gamification strategies, it’s important to note that gamification should enhance and complement the member experience, rather than detract from it. Ensure that your gamification strategy aligns with your community’s purpose.
Leveraging gamification goes beyond just gameplay; it can be the pathway to inspiring members, fostering social connections, and offering escapism with an accessible, creative touch.
By integrating gamification into your member engagement strategy, you can significantly enhance engagement and create a dynamic, interactive ecosystem. When gamification is done right, it can truly transform how your members engage with and interact with your community.
Get in touch with one of our online community experts at [email protected] or click here for more information.
