This article was originally published on GrowthRocks

We all love Super Mario Bros, right? Or perhaps you’re more of a Candy Crush person..

But does gaming (or gamification) have a place in your business?

Gamification has become a bit of a buzzword in the last few years. Have you ever heard of gamification? Well, it’s a fancy term, that Marketers around the world love. Oh, and is going to save your life, as it is the ULTIMATE strategy to lead generation. But let’s take things one step at a time.

Although gamification has been around for a few years, it is still positioned as a marketing trend going forward and, if anything, is gaining more attention as an ideal way to create engagement with your audience. That’s because the concept of playing a game and possibly winning something stimulates the creative, playful and competitive spirit …in pretty much… all of us.

Using gamification to increase the amount of time a potential customer spends on your site can raise their engagement level with your brand/company. This goes a long way toward influencing their purchase decisions in the future.

Activating the voices of your happy consumers is one of the best things you can do for your brand but it’s also one of the most difficult.

There is a fine line that a marketer must stay inside of when working with consumers to promote your product. The biggest mistake I see made, is when marketers forget that the relationship needs to be mutually beneficial – meaning that they need to be acknowledging these messages and fueling them with rewards. One way to make relationships mutually beneficial is through rewarding consumers for sharing socially and making it fun and worthwhile to help share your brand’s message.

My latest kind of “addiction”? But of course, the new “Wheel of Fortune” Widget. The most simple and easy way to implement a gamification marketing strategy.

What is the “Wheel of Fortune” Widget?

The concept of the “Wheel of Fortune” is very simple: It’s all about FUN! It’s not just reading words on a screen or watching an interesting video. It’s the whole process to get better at something, plus it involves some type of prize.

Wheel of Fortune is easy to setup widget for your website. New website visitors who are browsing your site will be presented with the opportunity to spin the wheel for a chance to win one of several great prizes. Once the wheel has been spun the user is presented with the opportunity to receive their free gift by providing their email address.

Unlike traditional email pop-up offers which typically generate 1-2% email signups, the Wheel of Fortune typically averages 6-8% email signup rates making it one of the most powerful tools for savvy online marketers to take advantage of.

The Wheel of Fortune works best with discounts and promotional items. You may also choose to propose your products and services.

Playing a game is a voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles.” Bernard Suits, The Grasshopper Click To Tweet

Does gamification work?

The entire reason people play games is that of the reward. The reward can be external, like a trophy, or intrinsic, which is a sense of accomplishment. In either case, the reward warrants a flood of dopamine into the pleasure center of brain, which is why games are so powerful. When used properly, gamified applications can be a staggering tool to persuade visitors to stay longer and perform certain actions.

So, this widget performs better than any other gamification strategy, just because it triggers real, powerful human emotions in few minutes.

Happiness, intrigue, excitement…

These are positive user experiences. And positive user experience leads to better engagement, loyalty and higher sales.

Okay, so what makes the Wheel of Fortune so powerful?

Quite simply, it triggers emotions that are linked to positive user experience.

 

1. It Gives The User Control

Simple psychology tells us that people don’t like to be forced or dragged to the destination. They like to be the masters of their own destiny. Most people like to feel in control. It’s like a ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ book or picking which level to play in a game.

 

2. A Sense Of Achievement

Achievement is one of the most powerful psychological driving factors of human behavior. Everything we do, we do to achieve something. If you can make your user feel like they’ve achieved something, they’re going to come back.

 

3. Humans Love To Explore And Escape

Of course, this exploration should be carefully structured so users don’t get lost.

 

4. We Love Rewards

This one almost doesn’t need explaining.

Everyone loves rewards. We’ve already talked about creating a sense of achievement. But, why not go one step forward and offer a real, tangible reward?

 

5. People Will Do Just About Anything For Exclusivity!

There’s a reason why people pay thousands of dollars for a first class plane ticket. Sure, you get a bed and a glass of champagne. But you’re not paying for the features. You’re paying for status.

Exclusivity creates intrigue, jealousy, and curiosity. People will work hard to achieve that status. Starbucks gets the balance perfect with it’s ‘gold’ status for regular customers.

How to use it?

Competitions

Running a contest is the easiest to participate in for your customers.  Reward your visitors with special gifts. Ask them to add their e-mail and after a draw pick the winner!

There are some points to note here:

• Ensure that your contest is not too product centric
• Incorporate some elements of fun and intrigue

Promo Code Giveaways

Offers and discounts are one of the reasons why people gravitate towards your Facebook Fan Page or Instagram Account. Reward your site’s visitors with promo code giveaways. That could be 10% off, 20% off etc.

Engaging Visitors

Simple as that. All of this process is an easy way to boost your engagement with your customers and provide a frequent reason for them to return to your site. It will help your site to stay top of mind.

Tools that give you the opportunity to create your own Wheel of Fortune

There are a numerous number of tools just doing spinners but there are few that the have all kind of widgets including spinners in various  formats (popups, full screen takeovers, half screen takeovers etc). Just let your imagination to go wild!

APPOCALYPSIS

A visually stunning tool that will enable much greater engagement in your website. The main concept behind it, is based on the give and take relationship. You offer to your visitors the chance to win a gift via an interactive and fun game and in return they give you their contact info and engage with your website.

WHEELIO – SHOPIFY

Attract new visitors, engage customers, and drive traffic to your online store with the new Spin the Wheel widget from Shopify.

WHEEL OF POP UPS

Brand, customize and create your own spin widget and win new customers with the Wheel of Pop ups.

OPTINSPIN

OptinSpin is smartly asks the visitor to submit their email and helps to generate leads by populating your email list with a good collection of emails.

LISTAGRAM

Listagram is an email list building tool which increases opt-in conversion rates by turning opt-in forms into an interactive game. It works on any platform (Magento, Shopify, WordPress/Woocommerce, Bigcommerce, SquareSpace, ClickFunnels – literally any platform) and integrates with many of the top Email Automation platforms.

PRESTASHOP

The store admin can manage the gifts being offered to the customers from the back-end of Prestashop interactive exit-intent pop-up and create his own – customized spin widget.

WP OPTIN WHEEL

Offer your users a moment of fun and a chance to win a prize by turning the Wheel of Fortune, made with love by WP Optin Wheel.

VYPER

You’re not limited to JUST Shopify. Doesn’t matter what platform you’re on, you’ll be able to install the interactive Vyper’s popup.

Gamification is 75% Psychology and 25% Technology.” – Gamification by Design co-author, Gabe Zichermann Click To Tweet