Game-Based Marketing : Inspire Customer Loyalty Through Rewards, Challenges, and Contests

by Gabe Zichermann; Joselin Linder

• ISBN13: 9780470618691
• ISBN10: 0470618698
• Format: eBook
• Copyright: 2010-03-01
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

Harness the power of games to create extraordinary customer engagement with Game-Based Marketing.Gamification is revolutionizing the web and mobile apps.Innovative startups like Foursquare and Swoopo, growth companies like Gilt and Groupon and established brands like United Airlines and Nike all agree: the most powerful way to create and engage a vibrant community is with game mechanics. By leveraging points, levels, badges, challenges, rewards and leaderboards - these innovators are dramatically lowering their customer acquisition costs, increasing engagement and building sustainable, viral communities.Game-Based Marketing unlocks the design secrets of mega-successful games like Zynga's Farmville, World of Warcraft, Bejeweled and Project Runway to give you the power to create winning game-like experiences on your site/apps. Avoid obvious pitfalls and learn from the masters with key insights, such as: Why good leaderboards shouldn't feature the Top 10 players. Most games are played as an excuse to socialize, not to achieve. Status is worth 10x more than cash to most consumers. Badges are not enough: but they are important. You don't need to offer real-world prizing to run a blockbuster sweepstakes.And learn even more: How to architect a point system that works Designing the funware loop: the basics of points, badges, levels, leaderboards and challenges Maximizing the value and impact of badges Future-proofing your design Challenging users without distractionBased on the groundbreaking work of game expert and successful entrepreneur Gabe Zichermann, Game-Based Marketing brings together the game mechanics expertise of a decade's worth of research. Driven equally by big companies, startups, 40-year-old men and tween girls, the world is becoming increasingly more fun.Are you ready to play?

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Introduction

The Argument for Loyalty

''Stickiness'' Is Loyalty

Playing with Loyalty

The Future of Loyalty-Frequent Flyer Games

Communities of Influence: Flyertalk

Funware: Putting Fun into Everything

Chase ''Goes Dutch''

The Value of Prizes

Game Mechanics

Don't Hate the Player, Hate the Game

Passive Play

The Incidental Games We Play

Latte Leaders: Status and Levels

Black Cards and Red Carpets

Keeping Score

The Subway Scrum: Rules of Play

The Bar Brawl: Demonstrable Status

The Components of Funware

Social Networks and Leaderboards

Social Network Clutter

Marketing with Social Networks

Orkut: A Case Study in Leaderboard Effectiveness

Funware at Work: Facebook Friend Games

No News Isn't Good News

Leaderboards in Business

The Jigsaw Example

Correctly Using Leaderboards

Points Proxy: Masking and Directing Behaviors

Wal-Mart and the Theory of Relativism

Leaderboard Levels

Leaderboards: The Top 10

Funware Mechanics: Points and Beyond

Making Points the Point

Point Mechanics and Branding

Virtual Economics

Virtual Currency

Real-World Value versus Virtual Value

Creating an Easy and Effective Virtual Economy

Badging Players

Newbie Badges

Building Levels

America's Army

Defining and Meeting Goals

Bringing Players into the Game

Tracking Behavior

Meaningful Status Displays

Prizes and Games of Chance

The Ansari X PRIZE: The Power of Games to Change the World

Can't Buy Me Love: Choosing Prizes

Games of Chance

Games of Chance and the Law

McDonald's Monopoly Game: A Case Study

The Value of a Prize

Long-Term Motivation and Customer Loyalty

Gaming the System

Amazon Reviews: Community Policing at Its Finest

Using Sweepstakes to Fight Gaming

Virtual Points and Prizes

The Ultimate Funware: Frequent Flyer Programs

Frequent Flyer Programs Take Off

What Business Are Airlines In?

Designing the Frequent Flyer Massive Multiplayer Online Game

The Power of Points

Getting There without Points

Real-World Redemptions: Do They Matter?

The Solution Is Virtual Goods

But Does Redemption Matter?

Levels and Badges in FFPs

Throwing Your Weight Around

Benefits of Status

The Level Error of FFPs

Going Above and Beyond: The Boss Level

Challenges and Contests

United's Team Challenge

Making It Work for You

Know Thy Player

Bartle's Player Types

Achievers (♦)

Socializers (♥)

Explorers (♠)

Killers (♣)

The Naïve Player

Competitiveness: The Most Important Motivation?

Closing the Gender Gap

Nike+: Early Adopter Advantage

Fahrvergnügen's Failure

The Wrap-Up

The Future of Gamers: Generation G

A Generation Gap

What Makes Generation G Special?

The Trends

Smith & Tinker

The Gulf Is Real

The Effect of Games: Tetris, Team Building, and Tug of War

The Character of a Generation of Gamers

Conclusion: Successfully Marketing to Generation G

Motivating Sales with Funware: Getting Employees into the Game

Front Line and Top of Mind

Bitten by the Achievement Bug

Mary Kay: Generating Loyalty

Trust and Motivational Funware

Sales Teams and Customer Trust: Pep Boys

Making the Corporate Personal through Games

Funware at Work: Wells Fargo's Stagecoach Island

Playing Together

Everyone Wins: Games in Your Business

Product Power

Advergames and In-Game Advertising

Pursuing, Engaging, and Rewarding Customers: The Business of Lifestyles

Arming Your Business

First Steps Are the Hardest

Do It for the Children

Funware on the Rise

References

Index

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