A brand that can maintain its profitability over the long term is a brand that knows how to engage its customers. Notably by optimising the customer buying process. Indeed, engagement (the depth, quality and frequency of interactions) is the indicator of commercial performance.

In fact, engagement boosts a brand’s visibility, converts prospects into customers and builds loyalty. Engaged customers are more likely to buy regularly from the same brand and to recommend it.

To activate the neurons and engage their customers effectively, brands can rely on Playable Marketing. By taking up the elements traditionally associated with games (points, competition, level progression), brands can optimise the purchasing journey and boost their revenue.

In this article, we explain how you can make the most of the advantages of playable marketing at every stage of your customer journey!

SUMMARY

• What is playable marketing and what impact does it have on consumers’ buying process?
• Creating an engagement loop through gamification for your consumer buying process
• Best practices for designing a gamified shopping experience for your consumer buying process
  

Whether in education, healthcare or marketing, organisations are looking for tools to capture and maintain the attention. Gamifying the way they speak to their audiences is a relevant strategy for achieving this objective.

Why ? It’s all in our brains. During the discovery phase, when a consumer starts to become familiar with a brand, the elements borrowed from the game can, improve information retention.

Neuroscience has shown that gamification acts as a catalyst, which encourages the store of new data in long-term memory. We also know that our brains are likely to retain information when it is associated with positive experiences.

During the consideration phase, when consumers are comparing an offer with that of its competitors, gamification can be a a differentiating element. The fun aspect, as well as the opportunity to unlock rewards, strengthens customer commitment.

In fact, Gamification releases dopamine, a neurotransmitter that creates positive associations when we win something or achieve a goal. The feeling of happiness and satisfaction increases. We are therefore more motivated to buy from a brand that offers a gamified experience. Playable marketing is therefore a powerful loyalty-building lever.

By increasing the number of interactions, gamified campaigns enable comprehensive data to be collected. This information gives a detailed understanding of the needs, preferences and motivations. The brand can use this information to optimise the purchasing journey, improve customer experience and even perfect products.

One of the key mechanisms in gamification is the engagement loop. Users are motivated to carry out an action (e.g subscribing to a newsletter, buying a new product or leaving a review) because this action unlocks a reward. With each new action, customers can access even more interesting prizes. This strengthens their bond with the brand and their sense of belonging. Gamification also activates the reward circuit. Indeed, it makes customers prolong their interaction with the brand (by continuing to consume) to continue to reap the benefits.

The reward, but also the recognition offered by the brand (via a badge or access to a VIP club) becomes a motivating factor in itself. And the commitment loop starts all over again.

This is why Playable marketing is not just about converting new customers. More importantly, it builds loyalty among customers who have already bought from the brand and boosts their Lifetime Value. Brands that use gamification to optimise customer experience and their purchasing journey will see their incomes increase.

For example, with its gamified application Run Club, Nike has increased its customers’ sense of belonging. It encourages more frequent interactions and a higher re-pruchase rate. The same goes for Starbucks, whose loyalty program consists of accumulating points to move up to higher levels. This program has generated 40% of the company’s revenues and a 7% increase in sales in 2019.

Interactive marketing formats and the gamification of marketing content enable companies to optimise their purchasing journey. However, simply introducing game elements is not enough to move a prospect up the conversion funnel.

Here are the best practices to keep in mind to maximise conversions thanks to Playable marketing.

Getting to know your customers

The first step in designing a gamified experience is to understand your target audience. This knowledge is facilitated by gamification as a tool for data collection and enrichment. Brands can collect qualified data from forms or by asking their audience to choose their favorite product.

Using the data at its disposal, the company will be able to adapt its interactive animations. It’s also a good time to segment the data collected in order to personalise and boost the performance of its campaigns.

Setting clear objectives

The brand will then need to determine which stage of the purchasing journey it wishes to reinforce. It is more relevant and affordable to determine the strategic contact points where gamification will enable the company to boost its results.

Depending on which part of the conversion funnel is most problematic (awareness, consideration, purchase, loyalty), the company can determine which marketing games to offer and when.

Incorporate relevant game elements for each stage of the customer journey

When a brand adds gamified elements to its purchasing journey, it is crucial that they make sense in the context of the customer experience. For example, introducing a points and reward system is relevant in the post-purchase phase to build consumer loyalty.

On the other hand, interactive formats such as competitions and instant wins are effective at the moment of discovery and consideration. They will help to boost brand visibility and convert new prospects.

Enhancing the added value of gamified elements

The final step is to regularly evaluate the effectiveness of gamification of the purchasing journey. Tracking precise metrics (conversion, lead generation, retetention) will enable the company to optimise its shopping experience and achieve its objectives.

Conclusion

By following these best practices, you can create a gamified customer experience that is engaging for your customers and effective for your brand. We provide a complete catalogue of interactive formats to target buyers at every stage of your customer journey. Whether you want to engage your audience, convert prospects or build customer loyalty you’ll find a gamified animation to meet your needs!

Consumer habits have changed, particularly with e-commerce and the increase in online sales. The way in which brands reach, engage and retain customers must adapt to these practices. One of the crucial challenges for companies is to increase in-store traffic, through drive to store campaigns.

These are an integral part of the harmonisation of the shopping journeys. In an increasingly omnichannel world, brands need to be able to engage and convert customers both in-store and online.

In this article, we present the 4 most effective strategies for attracting consumers to your shops and converting them into loyal customers.

SUMMARY

• What is drive to store in marketing?
• What are the most effective strategies for a drive-to-store campaign?
• Best practice for a successful drive to store campaign

Drive-to-store is a set of strategies designed to attract online customers to physical shops. It’s an omnichannel approach that combines consumer geolocation, recommendation and optimisation of the experience.

While consumer habits have tended to go digital during the pandemic, in-store shopping is not a thing of the past. Customers continue to embrace retail experience, whether to discover the world of a brand, test its products, return or exchange an order placed online.

Drive to store is a central element of modern marketing, despite the fact that 62% of consumers say they will refuse to buy from a brand if it has no online presence. The discovery stage is carried out via digital channels, but physical purchasing has not said its last word.

A recent study shows that 72% of people who carry out a local search online will go to a shop located less than 8 kilometres away of their location. This underlines the importance of an online presence in redirecting prospects to points of sale.

What’s more, 28% of local searches result in a purchase. An omnichannel promotional campaign – one that harnesses the power of multiple channels – can help businesses attract visitors to their physical shops and generate retail conversions.

An effective drive-in-store campaign involves using digital and physical tools to attract and convert customers in-store. Here are the most effective ways of achieving this.

1. Localised advertising campaigns

The particularity of Drive to Store is that, to be effective, it needs to target consumers who live or are located close to a point of sale. Qualifying prospects is a crucial element in maximising the ROI of your budget.

A good way of achieving this is to display your ads to a geolocalised audience near a physical shop. Social networks such as Facebook, have developed advertising targeting tools specifically for Drive to store. This is the case with Meta’s Store Traffic objective, which redirects users from an advertising insert to a physical point of sale.

Referencing your shops on Google Maps is another lever in any successful drive-to-store strategy. 86% of consumers use Google Maps to find local businesses.

2. Offer Click & Collect

The Click&Collect principle is simple. It consists of offering customers collect their online order from the nearest shop. The advantage of this strategy is that it offers an alternative to home deliveries, which can occur when the customer is not at home. It is also a way for consumers to save on postage costs.

For the brand, encouraging a customer who has already been won over (because they have just bought from the brand) in-store is beneficial in a number of ways. It’s an opportunity to strengthen its links with the company by immersing them in their world. This approach can play a part in the post-purchase conversion strategy by recommending complementary offers to customers in shop.

3. Offer exceptional discounts to in-store customers

Offering exclusive discounts to consumers in-store is an effective way of boosting your drive-to-store strategy. Sales available only in retail outlets, as well as clearance sales, are ways of attracting customers to a physical point of sale.

4. Gamification to maximise in-store conversions

Playable marketing is another way of attracting consumers to the shop, but also to convert them. Broadcast online, an interactive game can enable participants to win discount or purchase vouchers that are valid in-store.

But gamification can also be used as a lever for visibility and conversion. Whether in the form of a digital interactive terminal or tablets available at the checkout, these phygital devices make the experience attractive and fun.

Here again, it’s the opportunity to win rewards via an in-store competition that will encourage consumers to enter the point of sale and interact with the brand. Not to mention that, for the brand, it’s a way of collect qualified data. It will then be able to use this data to optimise its future drive-to-store campaigns.

Let’s move on to the practical side. To boost the impact of a Drive to Store strategy, here’s some advice to apply before, during and after the campaign.

Before the campaign

• Targeting the right audiences based on their geolocation to boost its conversion rate. Brands should start by drawing up a list of their points of sale so that they can target the right audience. Note that it is important to consider a radius that encompasses a reasonable walking or driving time.
• Use attractive creative formats to capture consumers’ attention. Providing relevant information from the nearest shop also boosts the impact of the Drive to store campaign.
• Define the right attribution window (i.e. the length of the period taken into account before conversion, during which the contribution of marketing contact points is collected and analysed). A window of between 15 and 30 days enables you to monitor footfall in your shops and focus on the effective advertising channels.

During the campaign

Dive into granular reports. The success of a Drive to Store campaign can mean different things to advertisers. Granular reporting tools make it possible to drill down into the data that is relevant, depending on whether it just wants to increase traffic, convert new customers, increase its re-purchase rate and build customer loyalty

After the campaign

Measure conversions in real time. This makes it possible to focus on 3 key KPIs: the improvement factor (i.e. the probability that a visit to a shop is motivated by the Drive to store campaign), the percentage of exposure and the percentage of visits.

Conclusion

The Drive to Store strategy is therefore the cornerstone for brands wishing to activate their prospects and customers across all their channels, both digital and physical. One of the most effective tools for strengthening the omnichannel customer journey is gamification. Discover our interactive mechanisms to increase the visibility and appeal of your points of sale.

Despite the popularity of e-commerce, consumers continue to visit shops. They were 71% to have made purchases in physical shops. As with digital channels, point-of-sale marketing, and the organisation of in-store competitions, is a lever for attracting buyers, offering them a shopping experience.

If you’re thinking of organising an in-store competition, here’s everything you need to know to boost results and ideas to inspire you.

A competition is a form of entertainment organised by a company or organisation. With the aim of attracting attention to your products or services. Online competitions take place on digital communication channels. Interactive animation can be adapted to retail and organised at physical points of sale.

Grab customers’ attention with an in-store competition

In a competitive environment and in the face of demanding consumers, shops need be inventive to stand out from the crowd and win consumer loyalty.

When a chain sets up an in-store competition, it has a chance of attracting customers and prospects. If only because consumers rarely say no to the chance to win a gift or discounts on their purchases. This is true in times of inflation, when buyers are careful about what they spend.

Organising an in-store competition is also a way to create excitement in its points of sale. Those who haven’t heard of the brand will be curious to know what’s going on and will push open the boutique’s doors.

Boosting buyer engagement and retention through point-of-sale marketing

There’s nothing more frustrating than a prospect walking into your shop, browsing the shelves and leaving without anything. It’s difficult to interact with consumers without falling into tricks such as asking them if they need help or advice.

In-store competitions are a way of creating positive interactions with customers. Shoppers do not feel that you are trying to make them consume, since the aim of a game is to win gifts. The link that is created with the buyer is not a transactional one, but one that establishes an authentic and lasting relationship.

By using game-based mechanisms (such as collecting points, searching for an item in shop or discovering a discount on their receipt), retail competitions encourage customers to return to the shop. They also continue interacting with the brand on its digital channels.

The competition can be launched online (on social networks), but participants can be invited to visit the shop to claim their price. This leverage enables you to consolidate your customers’ purchasing journey and to strengthen the brand-consumer relationship.

Getting to know your customers better

A brand’s growth and performance depend on its ability to meet its customers’ expectations. And that means gathering first-party data on its target in order to understand its desires. In-store competitions are a way of gathering this data.

Motivate your sales teams with an internal competition

In-store competitions can be part of a company’s strategy, helping to motivate its sales force. Some brands organise them for employees in order to create a healthy competition between different sales outlets. The shop with the best sales will be rewarded with bonuses or gifts.

Depending on the target and budget, companies organising an in-store competition can choose from different approaches. Here are ideas for in-store competitions to inspire you.

Random drawing at the checkout or at the point of purchase

An in-store competition is a random drawing in-store. Once they made an in-store purchase, customers will be entered into a random drawing and will find out if they have won on their receipt.

The brand can integrate a marketing game application (such as a wheel of fortune or a one-armed bandit) directly into its shopping terminals.

This mechanism is simple to put in place. It encourages consumers to return to the shop to maximise their chances of winning.

In-store interactive games

In-store interactive marketing is a way of engaging customers, as it invites them to take part in a game based around the brand’s products or services.

The participation conditions are not limited to making a purchase in the shop. They involve taking part in a contest (makeover, drawing), searching for a mystery item or answering the questions in a quiz on the brand’s history.

Omnichannel competitions

The marketing game makes it easy to build bridges between your communication and distribution channels. It’s easy to attract your community or e-commerce customers to your shop.

The brand shares the rules of its competition via a publication on socials, but the conditions for taking part are to visit the shop.

Conversely, an in-store interactive game (a photo contest using the brand’s products) can enable the company to grow its online audience and generate UGC. To do this, invite participants to share photos on socials using a hashtag created for the occasion.

In-store competitions are a way of attracting, engaging and retaining shoppers. Discover all the Adictiz interactive formats that can be integrated into your in-store shopping experience!