Integrating Gamification Techniques To Your Content Strategy

Persuading people to save for the future can be a challenge. The rewards are distant and the act of transferring funds from a deposit account to a savings account can be made at any time — a recipe for procrastination. The PNC Bank made the act of saving fun. Users of its online account can set the frequency with which an animated pig appears on the screen. If they punch the pig, or shake their mobile phone, a set amount of money is transferred from their deposit account to their savings account.

It’s a simple solution. But it’s elegant, it solves a problem and it matches perfectly the persona of the end user. The bank’s customers want to save. Tapping into their memories of bedroom piggy banks makes that saving enjoyable instead of a chore.

Implementing gamification techniques can be difficult for a content team. The gaming elements shouldn’t just engage but also keep players engaged. They have to be integrated into the content strategy and deliver benefits to the brand.

The process starts with an understanding of the persona of the client or lead. We have to know what interests them, where they’re drifting away from the activity the brand would like them to take, and what would encourage them to come back and stay engaged.

Replacing Long-Term Goals With Short-Term Rewards

Sometimes, that engagement can be very important indeed.

Dr. Katrina Firlik is a neurosurgeon in Connecticut. She often sees patients in the ER whose problems could have been prevented if they had been taking their medications properly.

"There are no short-term rewards in taking a chronic medication," she explained to the New York Daily News. "It's different than other behaviors like brushing your teeth where there's an immediate benefit. It's very similar to saving for retirement: The benefits are so long-term it's hard to act today."

Her solution was a game in which pharmaceutical companies offer prizes including Starbucks and Amazon gift cards, cookbooks, and donations to charity when patients respond to an app's daily text or email asking if they've taken their medication. Instead of a medication calendar, the app shows a “scorecard” that keeps track of their medication program.

The gaming elements work. According to one study more than half of patients who take part in the gamification platforms for different conditions continue to fill their prescriptions and stay with the programs. They work because the game matches the incentives, activities and rewards to the personas of its target audience.

Gamification also brings rewards to the brand not just in the form of regular sales but in valuable information. By giving leads and customers digital profiles, brands can track their activities as they play and interact across an app, website or store. For the brand, the gamification techniques become a path that guides the customer through the customer journey enabling them to better target content based on their experience and engagement.

Gamification doesn’t have to be as complex as Farmville or a video game. It’s not about playing games but about using game principles and rules to turn brand content into a meaningful experience that generates engagement.

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