Are you a fan of Minecraft or Super Mario? What is the average number of hours you spend per day on your favorite games? It is hard to pull out the exact number of ideal interactions a game should be composed of but obviously, every single act of a game must be meticulously planned and tested by game designers before its massive launch. Imagine your relationship between your brand and your customers is similarly designed at micro levels of engagement. How many efforts should you create to make your customers take a single action towards the brand? Can the process be automated? Must it require “carrots and sticks”?
Think beyond loyalty programs with complicated redemption schemes or popular gamification frameworks you can easily search on the internet. Forget about all the statistics that show how important it is to apply gamification in brand activation and organization building. By definition, gamification is the strategic attempt to enhance systems, services, organizations, and activities by creating similar experiences to those experienced when playing games in order to motivate and engage users. This is generally accomplished through the application of game design elements and game principles (dynamics and mechanics) in non-game contexts. Gamifying your brand is reasonably the effort to design a highly engaging experience from zero moment of truth (ZMOT) to infinite moment of truth (IMOT), however, the motivations & rewards are not simply to earn more points.
Most people work so hard to stock up their financial bank accounts. A brand should likewise build up its own emotional bank account, an account of trust by designing a superior customer journey that deposits positively after each interaction. Let’s take a look at the example of Starbucks – the bank that sells coffee. Starbucks does not have the best coffee but the brand can be proud of being among the top in the coffee shop industry. This is driven tremendously by its outstanding in-store experience and loyalty program that enables personalization, points earned outside of Starbucks locations, and re-purchase through points earned upon each bill (not to mention seasonal mugs!!!).
Don’t worry if your brand is small and can be easily diluted by the Titans. Every brand should have its own set of language to communicate with its target audience. Your brand tonality and visual cues are elements that help your brand “speak up” in the highly distracted market. Design as if your brand is a living entity and has its own unique way of interaction that matches your target audience. Your customers may have unsatisfied experiences but still love your brand depending on how well they feel engaged and how considerate their inputs are taken care of. A good ad can open a heart instead of merely throwing commercial product information. A chill shopping experience can calm down a stressful mom who may initially just want to tighten her belt. A promise-made-promise-kept product function delivery can generate trust and a good reputation. A timely response customer services system can prevent potential media crises. Loyalty programs make your VIP feel special, love your brand more then buy more. Define your engagement language and key receptivity moments (whether it should be skewed towards ZMOT, FMOT, SMOT or IMOT) and ensure a happy ending and hints for the next in every phase. Taking into account the ATL and shelving dominance of the big players, smaller brands should invest more in SMOT and IMOT just like how young artists cumulatively grow their fan bases by simply being the “voices” and representatives of their communities. It is an all-win deal waiting to bloom when the time comes.
Practice with the below framework till you get the right formula or reach out to us for quick advice. Make your brand loveable rather than heavily schemed to motivate your customers because “love is a not game, but you are… engaged”.
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Author: Nguyet Nguyen (Azurie)
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