The Importance of Games for User Retention

How to Gamify Product Engagement and Keep Your Users Coming Back for More Ever felt like life is just one big game? As a Product Manager, I often think about how the elements that make games fun—progress, rewards, competition—can make our products sticky. Gamification isn’t just for gaming apps; it’s a powerful tool to drive user engagement across industries. Let me break it down for you: 1) Tap into Core Human Motivations People love recognition, accomplishment, and even a little healthy competition. Use features like leaderboards, badges, or streaks to appeal to these instincts. Think Duolingo’s daily streaks or LinkedIn’s profile strength meter. Users get hooked on achieving that next milestone. 2) Design Clear Goals and Feedback Loops Ever notice how games make progress visible? That’s no accident. Create a roadmap for users that tracks their journey and celebrates their progress. This could be a progress bar for onboarding, a daily challenge, or personalized feedback. Take inspiration from fitness apps like Strava—those achievements feel personal, meaningful, and motivating. 3) Reward Effort, Not Just Results Not everyone wins, but everyone should feel valued. Gamified systems should reward engagement, not just excellence. For example, incentivize users for exploring features, completing surveys, or returning daily. Starbucks’ Rewards program nails this by turning coffee runs into a game of points and free drinks. 4) Create FOMO with Community Challenges Games are social, and products should be too. Adding community challenges, time-limited events, or collaborative goals can spark engagement. Think of how Peloton gets users hyped for virtual classes or Nike Run Club makes running a group achievement. 5) Iterate, Test, Improve Gamification isn’t a one-and-done deal. Track metrics like session length, feature adoption, and retention rates. Experiment with different gamified features to see what clicks with your audience. Remember: what works for a productivity app might not work for a B2B SaaS product. 📈 Food for Thought: How are you measuring the success of your gamification efforts? What’s YOUR Take on Gamification? Have you used gamification in your product? Which tactics have worked for you? Let’s swap ideas and make the comments section a treasure trove of insights for PMs and innovators alike. Gamifying engagement isn’t just about fun—it’s about creating meaningful, habit-forming user experiences that deliver value. And as Product Managers, it’s one of the most creative tools in our toolkit. Let’s play this game together! Drop your thoughts and stories below 👇. #Gamification #ProductManagement #Innovation #UserEngagement #ProductManagement #Product #PM #PeopleInProduct #PeopleInProductManagement #PMLife #PeopleInPM #PMCommunity #ProductCommunity #ProductManagementCommunity #LifeofaPM #ProductOwner

Let’s be honest, loyalty programs aren't engaging… at all. Maybe 30 years ago, getting points for purchases that could eventually be redeemed for rewards was novel. Today, when every single brand does it, it’s just noise. Sure, getting a reward for interacting with a brand is better than nothing, but after being a part of 20 programs with the same crappy system, customers are totally desensitized. Why join the 21st program when I haven't gotten any value from the first 20? The system itself is broken. No one cares about points, especially not when it may take months to level up. Until you turn points into a reward, you have essentially gotten nothing. Points are too abstract. It would take a special customer to care enough to count up points as they buy products, pull out a calculator, and match the total against what they can redeem them for. In the absence of the reward itself, the points are worthless, which is why over 80% of customers fall out of the loyalty funnel before ever becoming locked into the program. At Hang, we are bottoms-up in our thinking and build programs that we would actually use as customers. We try to limit analogous thinking, which is why our programs look so different from the standard. That said, sometimes it’s okay to take ideas from other categories when it makes sense. Especially categories that are far better at engagement, excitement, and retention than loyalty. Mobile gaming is a category that has inspired much of our thinking around customer experience. In gaming: • You level up in seconds and minutes, not weeks and months • You get dopamine hits through exciting and memorable animations that reinforce actions • You get rewards that are actually valuable and can be used to enhance gameplay I’m a member of Delta Sky Miles, but it’s really just the airline and me. In a game, it’s more communal, with customers competing against each other and cooperatively playing together. Historically, loyalty programs have been capped by margin – a brand can only give so much out in discounts. Yet, games are incredible at providing rewards that have a high perceived value with little-to-no cost. New levels, skins, status, community –things that are fun and incentivizing to the customer but don’t cost the brand anything. McDonald’s Monopoly did an amazing job of this – you get Park Place and feel like you're halfway to a million dollars, and you start imagining what your life will be like once you acquire Boardwalk, yet this costs McDonald’s nothing. These are the types of things we think about every day at Hang, and it’s why we are seeing such record performance within our existing programs, making it more fun and exciting for the customer while increasing their value to the brand.

Let’s face it: traditional marketing is boring. Today’s customers want to play, compete, and win. That’s why gamification is taking the marketing world by storm—and some of the biggest brands are doing it brilliantly. Gamified campaigns are about turning engagement into action. Did you know? Gamified loyalty programs boost customer spending by 34% on average. ✨ 2024’s Best Gamified Campaigns That Nailed It 1️⃣ Duolingo: Streaks and Rewards Their gamified app keeps 15.3 million daily users hooked with streaks, badges, and progress bars. It’s not just about language—it’s about winning your personal growth journey. 2️⃣ Nike: Play for a Purpose Nike’s “Move to Zero” gamified app encouraged users to reduce their carbon footprint by setting fitness challenges. Users earned points that could be redeemed for sustainable Nike products. The result? 80% of users said they felt more loyal to the brand. 3️⃣ Starbucks: Rewards App The app offers a “spin-to-win” feature where customers earn stars for purchases. This simple gamified element contributed to Starbucks hitting $3.6 billion in preloaded card balances in Q1, 2024 (a free loan for them, essentially!). 4️⃣ McDonald’s: Monopoly Campaign McDonald’s revamped its iconic Monopoly game for digital platforms in 2024. With prizes ranging from free meals to luxury vacations, McDonald's saw a 28% increase in foot traffic during the campaign period. Why Does Gamification Work? It taps into our psychology: 🎯 Competition: People love to win, even against themselves. 💰 Rewards: Tangible incentives drive action. ⏳ Progress: Progress bars and streaks create a sense of achievement. So, the question is: Are you making your customers PLAY? Gamification isn’t just a trend—it’s a strategy to turn engagement into loyalty and drive real results. As we move into 2025, the brands that innovate in gamification will own the loyalty game. Which gamified campaign inspired you the most?