Using Games To Keep Users On Your Website
Gamification is a proven tactic. Can B2B brands make use of games for lead generation or to keep users on their websites?
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Gamification is a proven tactic. Can B2B brands make use of games for lead generation or to keep users on their websites?
This week whilst I was reporting a technical issue with my broadband, and I noticed a game within the PlusNet dashboard.
‘Make The Perfect Brew’ is a teabag dunking game. If you can make the best cup of tea, you can win some sort of prize.
Now knowing PlusNet’s marketing centres on them being from Yorkshire, and knowing that Yorkshire is passionate about their tea, this seemed a great concept.
The game is a simple web-based game click game. When you click, a teabag is dunked into a mug, and you have to stop when you think it is perfectly brewed. At the end, you’re shown a link to view prizes (sadly there are no prizes to win at the moment, but I was quite happy playing about with the game itself, spawning this post.)
The game is simple enough to play, and there’s a carrot at the end, a chance of winning something. At present, it directs you to membership perks.
For domestic-focused brands with large customer bases, running competitions is an added bonus to customer data that they already possess.
You have a marketing funnel which is usually designed to capture lead information from unknown visitors. Introducing a game with prizes could be a way of capturing valuable and targeted data.
If you understand your target audience well, you could create a game relevant to their interests with a form at the end to capture their contact information.
These types of games are great for providing to attendees at trade shows and beyond, where they can play on a tablet, and this can create a buzz around your stand.
A hosting company called 24SP actually built a classic arcade unit around their game at an event we attended a while back (see Martin below).
So no prizes in the PlusNet game, but the concept is what you can take onboard. Could a game be introduced to your website? Made with your audience in mind, to make it engaging and to either further existing customer relationships or to capture new lead data.
The game doesn’t need to be time-sensitive, once created you could use it as a lead generation tool for many years. For example, 24SP’s brought their arcade machine to every WordCamp (WordPress Conference) that they sponsored. The game on the website can remain active for users to play.
PlusNet’s game is still visible, although still no prizes. I did however come across another one yesterday by chance, which can be played for prizes and works in a very similar way. You can kill some time and maybe gain some rewards tied to the brand.
Existing games can also be customised and branded, so you don’t need to make a groundbreaking effort to create some engagement if you want to dip your toe.
Impact customised Connect Four a few years ago to send along with our Christmas closing times email to clients. It’s still active and you can play it here.
If you’d like to add a game to your website, then get in touch. We’ve been designing and building websites for 20 years, and our team of full-stack WordPress Developers and UX Designers can help to evolve your website with new features and functionality.
That’s a wrap for Swipe & Deploy #8. Join me next week when I’ll share another insight or piece of inspiration from around the web.
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