In a hyper-online world where users have limited attention spans and a huge range of options for where they choose to shop online, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for eCommerce sites to effectively capture potential customers’ attention. Because of this, eCommerce sites are having to find new ways to engage with users and more effectively convert their purchase intent into an actual purchase.
One method that many eCommerce sites have begun to adopt is gamification. Gamification uses game-like reward concepts to further incentivise users to make purchases on eCommerce stores, and for many sites, it has proven a huge success.
But where should eCommerce businesses start with gamification? This guide will cover everything you need to know about implementing a reward system in your WooCommerce site.
What Is Gamification?
Gamification is the application of game-like mechanics and concepts in non-game systems. It’s not just used in eCommerce – it has also seen use in education, business, marketing, and many other sectors.
The idea behind gamification is that it adds further incentives to users through the use of game-like reward mechanics such as progress bars, leaderboards, and achievements or badges. These gamified elements add further value to user actions – in the case of eCommerce, completing purchases.
As such, gamification encourages customers to make more purchases, at the same time as encouraging customer loyalty to your brand by tying their purchases on your eCommerce site to concepts of progression and additional value.
Examples Of Gamification In eCommerce
There are many different ways that gamification can be applied in eCommerce. Progress bars and leaderboards are two of the simplest ways of achieving gamification; however, eCommerce also offers the opportunity to use gamification in more innovative ways by tying added value to gamified purchases.
For example, gamification can be applied in eCommerce through:
- Loyalty or reward points: when they make a purchase, customers are rewarded with points that can be exchanged for discounts on future purchases, both giving them a points “score” to improve and extra incentive to keep buying from you.
- Badges and achievements: Many platforms enable users to earn badges or achievements that they can display on their user profile for completing certain objectives, keeping them engaged to return to your site repeatedly and earn more. These badges can also be combined with community features to add a social element to badge-collecting, adding further incentive by making badges a status symbol.
- Customer hierarchies: Separating customers into different categories based on how many purchases they’ve made or points they have accrued to create a distinct hierarchy can create the urge for customers to buy more to reach the next level.
- Exclusive rank-based discounts: This can be tied in with hierarchies to add further incentive – offering customers a discount or other benefits for reaching higher ranks makes them even more determined to increase their rank through purchases.
- Randomized daily deals: Using a spin-the-wheel function or similar activity to give a daily deal or discount can incentivize customers to check your eCommerce every day and make impulse purchases with their randomized, time-limited offer.
All of these methods share the same principle of adding gamified elements to an eCommerce site in order to incentivize certain actions – mainly purchases and daily site visits, although gamification can be used creatively for all manner of other purposes as well.
Building A Reward System For Your WooCommerce Store
Now that you know how gamification works, how do you actually go about setting up a WooCommerce reward system? Some platforms may come with gamification features built-in, but in most cases, your best option will be to use plugins, extensions, and custom add-ons to enable the gamification features you want on your site.
This will be much easier with some eCommerce platforms compared to others – customizability is a key factor to consider if you’re choosing a platform with gamification in mind. WooCommerce has the advantage of being almost endlessly customizable and having a huge library of extensions and add-ons including plenty of gamification options.
One such option is BadgeOS, a gamification plugin designed specifically for use with WordPress sites. This makes it an ideal option as a WooCommerce reward system, as well as for other WordPress-based eCommerce sites.
BadgeOS enables you to quickly and easily add achievements, ranks, points and more to your eCommerce site. What’s more, it also offers its own library of extensions and integrations, meaning its highly adaptable for a variety of purposes.
BadgeOS Features
On top of its achievements, ranks, and points systems, BadgeOS also offers a variety of other helpful features. You can design badges from scratch using the in-built badge creator, then set a variety of different conditions and steps for earning them with an intuitive admin interface.
You can also enable users to nominate each other for particular awards and achievements, which is great if you want to implement social elements into your gamification system. Social media integration also allows users to easily share their achievements on their social profiles, earning your site additional exposure.
BadgeOS also has an extensive library of additional plug-ins and extensions, which can add further features. These add-ons can add all sorts of new functions to your gamification system: paid membership options, rewards for sharing content, interactive progress maps, referral links, automated messages and more can all be enabled through BadgeOS add-ons.
Finally, BadgeOS can integrate with a number of other eCommerce platforms and plugins. With the BadgeOS WooCommerce integration to enable achievements, redeemable points and more on your online store.
How To Get Started With BadgeOS
Setting up your WooCommerce reward system, with BadgeOS is a fairly quick and simple process. First, download the BadgeOS plugin itself as well as the BadgeOS WooCommerce integration. Once downloaded, you can then install them on your WordPress eCommerce site.
You’re then free to start using BadgeOS to set up your new WooCommerce reward system. Your first step should be to check out the BadgeOS menu and familiarizing yourself with its badge creation systems. Start by setting up a set of test achievements, points, and rank types, then try testing them out.
You can use the BadgeOS Shortcode button available from any content editor on your site to turn a page or post into part of your new gamification system. For example, you can select a product page and assign a particular badge for users who purchase this product.
The easiest way to get to grips with your new BadgeOS system is simply to play around with it and see what it has to offer. However, if you ever need extra support setting it up our BadgeOS developers can help. What’s more, we can also customize BadgeOS specifically for your needs, helping you to implement any sort of functionality you need from your new gamification system, and even help you design your entire WooCommerce reward system..
WooCommerce Reward System
Gamification is a powerful method for creating better engagement with your customers, helping to build a loyal customer base who are incentivized to keep coming back to your eCommerce site again and again. Implementing a gamification system into your eCommerce site can therefore give you a powerful advantage over your competitors.
If you’d like to get started with gamification for your eCommerce site, then one of the best options is BadgeOS. It’s simple to install and you can easily begin creating badges, achievements and points systems right away. It also offers a variety of additional features and functions via its library of extensions – and if you can’t find the feature you need, you can always enlist the help of our gamification experts to configure and customize your WooCommerce reward system.
