Increase Customer Engagement by Leveraging Secret Tricks used in Addictive Computer Games

Businesses have an increasingly difficult time reaching millions of customers who are tied into new "digital addictions", who expect instant gratification, and live on 24/7 Internet connectivity. Addictions in the 21st century are digital: BlackBerrys, online role playing games like World of Warcraft, casual games like Farmville, or social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

A recent study revealed that college students who are not able to use Facebook/Internet will show symptoms of withdrawal just like drug addicts do when they don’t get their drugs.

The creators of computer games talked openly about their intentions when creating games:

“Do game developers design games to be addictive?”

“Yes, totally. That is the main goal you have when you design a game.”

Jason Kapalka, co-founder of casual game company PopCap.

Source: MSNBC

Cutting Through the Noise

I don’t want to discuss whether that’s good or bad for an individual or our society – this is something that we (and future generations) have to learn how to deal with.

The reality is many successful companies understand how to use various mechanisms to trigger addictive behavior and increase player and customer engagement.

The consequence is companies who are not applying these "principles of addictiveness", or "principles of customer engagement", will not be able to attract and keep customers. We are already surrounded by mechanisms that aim to create addictiveness, even though many companies call it "customer engagement" or "customer loyalty".

Your airline status, bonus miles, Facebook friends and Twitter followers are examples, but I believe we haven’t seen the full scale of what is possible to create customer engagement.

Rethinking your Mobile Phone Subscription

Why is your mobile phone subscription not designed like a game where you can actually "earn" something for all the time you talk? Or maybe you give me free minutes when I sign up for another offer through your website? Sounds unrealistic? Well, this is exactly the business model that Farmville uses to earn hundreds of millions of dollars a year and I see no reason why this model – that works with virtual farms and cows – should not work with mobile phone subscriptions.

The challenge is not that consumers are not listening to your advertisements anymore. It’s about consumers being addicted to Facebook, Twitter, and World of Warcraft, and not caring about your products and services anymore.

Principles of Design for Customer Engagement

The area that is currently most advanced in understanding the mechanisms for creating addictiveness and ensuring engagement is the computer game industry. The following section describes common techniques that are used in game design and how these techniques can be transferred into traditional businesses:

Introduce a High Score

Every computer game has a high score and many loyalty programs have the same. Being a Lufthansa Hon Circle member (the highest loyalty class with 200k miles per year) is a clear statement of what status you have achieved. There are many other areas where the introduction of a high score can induce certain behavior. Maybe after each phone call you receive a message that tells you your current score and helps you to unlock certain "features" or rewards? Or you can decide to save your credits and keep calling to save for a bigger reward. The same can be applied for shopping.

Your monthly statement, with whatever reward or bonus point statement, is not enough to keep customers engaged. Instant gratification is what will keep the magic alive.

Simple, Repetitive Behavior gives Rewards

The key to an addicting computer game is to have a game that has an infinitely replayable gameplay and is not too brainy. Jason Kapalka, co-founder of PopCap explains this more: “The first step is to avoid being too brainy. Games with "really cerebral" puzzles "that you can’t really replay are just not as popular as infinitely replayable mechanics that don’t require a ton of deep thought," explained Kapalka.

Transferring this to product and services means it should be absolutely clear what customers have to do to achieve new levels and unlock new status. It should not be complicated, just do this (use your mobile phone, fly our airline) and receive this award.

Timing and Amount of Rewards

The right timing and the right amount of rewards are essential to keep gamers active and customers engaged. In game design, you differentiate between ratio of reward and interval of reward as well as between fixed and variable. A fixed ratio means that the same reward is given each time, while the variable ratio means that the reward given varies each time. In a fixed interval, it is predefined and known to the gamer when a reward is given, whereas in a variable interval, the time when a reward is given is not known.

In game design, the rule is that a variable interval and ratio is what ultimately keeps gamers playing.

If we compare that to many customer loyalty programs, we see a completely different approach; all of these programs are fixed reward and fixed intervals. I think there is potential for a variable reward as well as variable intervals. Just surprise your customers at random intervals with a small reward. If it keeps gamers engaged, it might also keep your customers engaged.

How to Increase Duration of Engagement

The first step to increase the duration of engagement is by preventing players to stop. In computer games this is usually the case when there is nothing to do and the game becomes boring. Games prevent this by offering other tasks that can be done when the main activity of the game becomes boring. Upgrading your character or exploring virtual worlds are two ways to overcome this problem. Another challenge that stops player engagement are sharp drops in rewards. If the received reward drops sharply in value (or delayed for too long) players get bored and move somewhere else.

The same principles can be applied to create customer engagement. The number one priority is to prevent your customers from stopping. There might be reasons that are beyond the influence of a company (i.e. variety seeker that just likes to switch between products and companies). Nevertheless, understanding when it becomes "boring" to use your products and services helps to identify opportunities to introduce new mechanisms of engagement.

Leverage Social Networks

Have you ever seen the "status cards" hanging from the bags of travelers? This is the way to communicate your status without online social networks in the offline world. Facebook and Twitter allow use of digital channels to send out new high scores, to communicate rewards, and include others in achieving goals. But in the physical world there could be mechanisms to communicate to others the status of your customers. Maybe through exclusive editions of your products that can only be purchased once you have reached a certain status, or a special dialing tone when you call a high-status customer on the mobile phone.

Implementation in your Business

Incorporating these game mechanisms in your product and service design can lead to breakthroughs with new customer experiences and improved customer engagement.

If you are running a startup and you have a chance to design your business model from scratch, these mechanisms are a great opportunity to increase customer engagement. If the startup has not found a final business model yet, this approach can lead to new ways to engage customers and generate income.

If you are running an established business, it is essential to understand which behavior you want to induce and how this can be paired with the right rewards to create engagement. It is important to focus on understanding the right relationship between variable ratio and variable intervals and the reward that is given to keep them engaged and keep the fundamentals of your business model alive. At the same time, if an organization is able to define game mechanics that lead to increased engagement (and increased profits) completely new business models might emerge.

Additional Resources

This article is based on several articles, if you want to know more, here is the list:

• BigDoor: A startup from the US that offers a platform to integrate game mechanics on your website or business.
• Behavioral Game Design
• What makes video games addictive?
• Interview with the Founder of PopCap
• Tricks to make games addictive

Score Picture via Viewmaker