{"id":105679,"date":"2023-10-23T04:29:36","date_gmt":"2023-10-23T11:29:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thegood.com\/?post_type=insights&p=105679"},"modified":"2025-05-21T08:11:43","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T15:11:43","slug":"ecommerce-gamification","status":"publish","type":"insights","link":"https:\/\/thegood.com\/insights\/ecommerce-gamification\/","title":{"rendered":"Ecommerce Gamification: How To Engage Customers Like A Winning SaaS Company"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The world of ecommerce might be changing, but one thing is certain: it\u2019s growing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a study by Adobe<\/a>, the global ecommerce market reached its peak in 2021, with a growth rate of 17.1%. These numbers are only projected to maintain a growth rate of at least 8% over the next several years. And sales are projected to grow by 50% in the next three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With so many new companies, brands are challenged to come up with creative ways to approach potential customers and keep loyal customers engaged. Ecommerce gamification is a fun, yet often overlooked, strategy to do just that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why do we love to spend our free time playing one video game or another?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aside from escapism, gamification plays to some psychological factors<\/a>. It addresses our natural needs for relatedness, autonomy, and competence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SaaS companies are aware of this because, unlike their ecommerce counterparts, many SaaS companies use gamification to enhance customer experiences<\/a>. Because of this, they saw a 54% increase in trial usage<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ecommerce stores can take a page from SaaS brands’ playbooks. From built-in reward systems to compelling stories, leveraging gamification could also lead to improved user engagement and digital experience in ecommerce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, we’ll dive into what gamification is, why it’s relevant to optimizing the digital experience, different categories of game elements, and winning examples of gamification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Gamification? <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Let’s start with the basics. What exactly is gamification?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, as one might guess, gamification is the practice of “gamifying” certain tasks or behaviors by designing user experiences that are more interactive and fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the help of gamification, tasks that might otherwise be boring or mundane are elevated to improve customer engagement. To put it simply, gamification is the usage of game mechanics in nongame contexts. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think of your favorite apps for a moment \u2014 especially those that are designed to improve daily life or help reach certain health and learning goals. Examples of these could be Duolingo, MyFitnessPal, Strava, or Apple\u2019s Health app. Then, think of all the social media apps that users easily spend hours using each day: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"gamification<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What do all of these apps have in common that ensures their ease of use?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

They are all prime examples of successful gamification in UX Design<\/a>. Apps that encourage users to adopt certain challenging lifestyle changes, such as MyFitnessPal, Strava, or the Apple Health app, utilize gamification techniques that tap into users\u2019 desires for community support and a sense of competition to reach their goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Duolingo<\/a> turns the process of language learning into a mobile game through the use of limited lives and short, digestible puzzles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"myfitnesspal<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

MyFitnessPal<\/a> uses visible progression bars, and Apple Health uses closing rings to encourage and remind users of their progress and how close they are to reaching their daily diet goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the Strava running app encourages users to track their running progress by utilizing community support and a sense of competition as users can see how they stack up to other users in their network of runner friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even social media apps use the power of variable rewards within unlimited feeds to keep users scrolling. Users are motivated to continue using social media platforms by the possibility that they might find something funny or exciting in their feeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s take a look at some of the specific gamification elements that ecommerce brands can leverage in their digital experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5 Ecommerce Gamification Stealables from SaaS Brands <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

1. Goals<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Goals are a common game mechanic used in apps and websites to motivate users. You can see this in the form of badges, progress bars, or any other visual means of recording progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, Duolingo uses badges and levels to indicate when users accomplish a learning goal. Additionally, the app encourages users to set their own daily goals of time spent learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"duolingo<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When such goals are met, Duolingo notifies the user of their streak. Users also receive notifications when their streak is in danger or when they have not met their daily goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How <\/strong>to leverage this in ecommerce gamification:<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, this strategy can be utilized in ecommerce gamification when brands set certain goals for their customers. For example, an ecommerce store could set a threshold for how much a customer needs to spend in order to be eligible for free shipping. You would be surprised at how this simple goal\u2013reaching the price threshold\u2013can incentivize shoppers to spend a little more to avail of free shipping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n