Intrigued by the new Starbucks Rewards Policy and how it has baffled other coffee connoisseurs like me, I was certain to take the 10-meter deep Olympic dive into the topic of gamification and how it affects consumer decision-making. Perusing through several articles pertaining to customer path, the article titled ‘Do Gamification Features Influence Purchasing Decisions?’ (Source:http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Do-Gamification-Features-Influence-Purchasing-Decisions/1013659) caught my complete attention. The article, published by eMarketer, categorically states that 10% of the respondents said they find the awarding of badges annoying. In addition, only 17% of the 3500 surveyed internet users said they are more likely to buy products from the company and that the gamification features have captured their attention.

I found these statistics rather puzzling. However, being a marketer, and realizing that more than 64% of online purchases take place on the mobile phone, I take majority of the bar graphs as an opportunity to make the customer path more interactive and engaging with the help of these game mechanics. Super Mario provides the perfect parallelism, where each point earned provided a competitive edge and instant gratification. The scores help unlock the next game and incentivize the player to continue playing and maintain the high adrenaline rush. This is exactly what many apps such as Foursquare, Starucks, Nike, FitBit, Mint.com and the alike are using – providing stickers/points/awards with purchases or check-ins, which provide badges/statuses/rewards that can be shared (via social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook).

My friend is an obsessive Foursquare user. The App has a feature called Swarm, this feature provides ranks among friends, incentivizes him by providing stickers and giving designations based on the responses achieved by his tips on places to eat and travel. This makes the whole process of sharing information of food and travel very exciting for him and hence the app evolves as a meaningful platform to share information. However, for a mystical person like me , this gamification feature may be a little too intrusive. Having said that, I am an ardent user of the Starbucks App, which helps me graduate to the next level with every purchase I make at the store, thereby offering me more discount and a couple of freebies. This app keeps me away from La Colombe or Stumptown, because of its gamification feature and makes me a loyal customer of Starbucks Coffee, even if I have to walk an extra mile.

Hence, I believe, gamification is an excellent tool to encourage customer loyalty and can have a great influence on customer buying process provided the user is already embedded in the ecosystem of the brand and of course the App. The gaming feature cannot pull customers that lack interest or an inclination towards the brand , however, it can surely retain customer loyalty , which is an important subset of marketing.