Gamification

Although gamification may be dismissed by some as a gimmicky marketing trend, those who have implemented it effectively have made it an effective tool in their marketing and sales toolkit. A relatively recent concept, gamification entered the marketing spotlight beginning around 2010-2012 and has managed to increase in prevalence since then. Google search trends show that the term has had maintained relevance consistently over the past 6 years.

              Gamification does not simply mean giving users meaningless badges and titles. This version of gamification was used heavily in the early 2010s and implementers quickly learned that it simply wasn’t effective. Real gamification comes from understanding the psychology behind why people like games and what makes them addictive and rewarding and applying these things to a marketing strategy or application. Duolingo is a prime example of properly implementing gamification as a business model. This includes difficulty selection, milestones that require completion before further progress is allowed, and meaningful badges that highlight and represent actual accomplishments. LinkedIn is an example of a company that features lighter gamification yet still maintains effectiveness. Overall, gamification is not simply adding meaningless features, rather it is implementing rewarding and even addictive aspects to the very core of the product.