May 5, 2025 • 8 mins
🚀 Want your community buzzing and bringing in more revenue? Snag my free mini course with 3 killer gamification hacks: professorgame.com/freebie-3-gamification-hacks
Tired of watching great customers walk away?
We reveal how gamification can transform retention, skyrocket engagement, and massively increase your customer lifetime value—without resorting to gimmicky rewards.
Rob is a host and consultant at Professor Game as well as an expert, international speaker and advocate for the use of gamification and games-based solutions, especially in education and learning. He's also a professor and workshop facilitator for the topics of the podcast and LEGO SERIOUS PLAY (LSP) for top higher education institutions that include EFMD, IE Business School and EBS among others in Europe, America and Asia.
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Episode Links:
3 Gamification Hacks To Boost Your Community's Revenue
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Have you ever watched a great customer just leave and thought, what did I miss?
What if you could make your customers not just be okay staying with you, but actually loveit?
I've seen businesses double their customer lifetime value by implementing one oftenoverlooked simple strategy.
(00:21):
In this video, I'll show you how to use gamification to create insanely loyal customersand dramatically increase your customer lifetime value.
We'll cover the most common retention mistakes, a top gamification solution and how toimplement it so that you can crush your churn.
I don't know where you live, but I've been living in Spain for the past over a decade atthis point.
(00:45):
And very early on, I caught on this sort of game that the phone providers are playing inthis country.
They are in this, you know, knives out, full out teeth competition over grabbing eachother's customers.
It's kind of understandable.
You know, the customer base is limited.
It's just the population of that country.
And most people already have their cell phones and their internet providers.
(01:07):
So they're fighting with their teeth.
to grab and acquire those customers from other companies.
Big problem is that they forget that what they are doing, the other companies are doing aswell to take their customers.
And guess what?
Acquiring those customers, stealing a customer from the competition costs money.
And every person that you lose means that you have to acquire yet another customer to beable to just stay level.
(01:35):
In marketing, they even have a term for this.
It's the customer.
acquisition cost.
And guess what?
Keeping people loyal, keeping people within your customer base, if not always, pretty muchmost of the time is going to be a lot cheaper than acquiring a new customer.
in such a competitive market that we are.
Many businesses struggle with customer churn.
(01:58):
They invest in this whole acquisition game, but people who are within quickly loseinterest, whether to the competition or even in the solution at all.
In a market like this one, just providing a great product or service is just not enough.
Your customers are expecting engagement and great experiences, especially if what you areselling is a community experience.
(02:21):
ignoring customer retention, let me tell you, it is about leaving money on the table.
If you're not worried about money, I don't know what country or what world that you'reliving in, but that customer lifetime value is crucial for the sustainable growth of your
business.
And let's take just another example, another story that I can tell you from my personalexperience, and I'm sure you've experienced something similar.
(02:45):
Do you know these airline quote unquote loyalty programs?
Well, they are flawed from almost every single point of view.
Not all of them.
There are definitely exceptions, but most of them, they are simply a thing where everytime you travel, you get a certain amount of points or miles, however it is you call them,
which you can then exchange for traveling more.
(03:07):
Some of them might have something a bit more sophisticated like those levels and you get alittle bit of extra features and perks once you reach those levels.
Other than that, it is basically a transactional business.
You're turning these points, which are costing the business money, right?
So you're turning them into part of your costs, which are then transferring back to someof your customers.
(03:29):
That is just the deep thought behind all of that.
But you and your experience as a customer, when you are deciding how to travel,
and which airline to choose.
Of course, you're going to be looking, usually people are looking at least at price or,and or they're looking at the experience that they receive from that airline.
If the only thing that you're looking at is your airline, because you have those customerpoints and that loyalty, that means the loyalty program is working.
(03:52):
But you know, in my experience and what I've seen 99.9 % of the cases, that is not thecase.
You're looking at whether it is the cheapest or the one that provides you the best inflight, especially for long.
longer flights or for more expensive flights, you're looking for something that goesbeyond whether they're going to give you these miles or these points for traveling once
again.
(04:13):
So these programs are not really generating any kind of loyalty because the customers, notonly in airlines, but in general, start becoming desensitized to these generic rewards.
They are craving for interaction, a sense of accomplishment as well.
That is something that motivates people a lot more.
A common mistake
(04:33):
is relying solely on those traditional loyalty programs with simple discounts or points.
These failed to generate authentic, genuine loyalty.
The key here is to introduce gamification.
This means adding game-like elements.
Amongst many things, they could mean things like challenges, a seamless onboarding, earlywins, and progress tracking.
(04:57):
Gamification taps into our natural desires.
What our brains are already craving and motivations, making customer interactions a lotmore engaging and sometimes even a lot more fun.
By using a progress bar like in games for profile completeness, LinkedIn was able toincrease well above 50 % of the completion of profiles within their existing user base.
(05:23):
And this makes everybody win.
If you think about it, you as a user of the platform, you most benefit when your profileis complete because that way you are able to showcase all of the things you're able to
achieve.
LinkedIn definitely wins because the more information they have about you, the better theycan say that they have all of these things and they can sell data and they can sell you
(05:45):
ads and all of this and that.
And companies are definitely winning.
The more information they have about you, the more informed decision they can make onwhether to hire you or hire your services or whatnot that can be.
Take this further and adapt it to your community's situation.
Do your members know where they stand?
What are they missing?
(06:06):
What are the next steps?
get this right and they can have a personalized experience.
that feels just right for them.
This creates a sense of exclusivity.
This makes customers feel valued.
And this of course further boosts your retention.
There's this very smart, thoughtful academic called Ian Bogos.
(06:28):
He's written multiple books, super smart guy, and he quite honestly just hatesgamification.
And that's fine, I understand.
I understand where he comes from.
He's a video game designer, he talks about video games, video game developer as well, andhe has his reasons.
And that's all fine and dandy.
But one day, one of the things he wanted to sort of demonstrate is how it does not work.
So he created something called the cow clicker.
(06:50):
It was literally a cow you clicked on and you got points for it.
and he was trying to demonstrate that this was not a meaningful reward to keep peopleengaged.
The problem was that initially people started clicking because it just looked quirky andfun.
So a small principle, a very misapplied gamification used, he demonstrated how people wereactually engaging.
However, it is true that he did demonstrate that nobody, I think he eventually threw thatpage down because too many people were sort of clicking on it.
(07:17):
But the main point here is that nobody stood there for the medium or the long run.
You click the cow a few times, it might've been fun, but then eventually you just left.
It was not interesting anymore.
He did prove his point of gamification when you apply it in that short term sense and youforget about your long term objectives.
It just does not work.
(07:38):
So ensure your gamification strategy focuses on genuine value, not just empty rewards orcow clickers, Avoid manipulative tactics that prioritize the short term.
well above those long-term benefits that you're able to offer.
The steps that your customers embark on within your community, make sure they have realdeep down value.
(08:02):
They're not just virtual rewards that have no real world application.
When your customers feel genuinely rewarded and engaged, they are well more likely to beloyal to your community, to your solution, and even become your advocates.
They're gonna talk about it to other people and bring in new clients.
(08:23):
Gamification is a powerful tool for increasing your customer lifetime value by creatingengaging experiences and rewarding loyalty.
You can build a thriving customer base.
Start implementing gamification so that you can insanely grow your loyal customer base anddramatically increase your customer lifetime value.
(08:45):
You can get my three gamification hacks to boost your community's revenue step by stepguide.
It's completely free.
Just click on the link below in the description and get it right away.
Have you ever watched a great customer just leave and thought, what did I miss?
What if you could make your customers not just be okay staying with you, but actually loveit?
I've seen businesses double their customer lifetime value by implementing one oftenoverlooked simple strategy.
(00:21):
In this video, I'll show you how to use gamification to create insanely loyal customersand dramatically increase your customer lifetime value.
We'll cover the most common retention mistakes, a top gamification solution and how toimplement it so that you can crush your churn.
I don't know where you live, but I've been living in Spain for the past over a decade atthis point.
(00:45):
And very early on, I caught on this sort of game that the phone providers are playing inthis country.
They are in this, you know, knives out, full out teeth competition over grabbing eachother's customers.
It's kind of understandable.
You know, the customer base is limited.
It's just the population of that country.
And most people already have their cell phones and their internet providers.
(01:07):
So they're fighting with their teeth.
to grab and acquire those customers from other companies.
Big problem is that they forget that what they are doing, the other companies are doing aswell to take their customers.
And guess what?
Acquiring those customers, stealing a customer from the competition costs money.
And every person that you lose means that you have to acquire yet another customer to beable to just stay level.
(01:35):
In marketing, they even have a term for this.
It's the customer.
acquisition cost.
And guess what?
Keeping people loyal, keeping people within your customer base, if not always, pretty muchmost of the time is going to be a lot cheaper than acquiring a new customer.
in such a competitive market that we are.
Many businesses struggle with customer churn.
(01:58):
They invest in this whole acquisition game, but people who are within quickly loseinterest, whether to the competition or even in the solution at all.
In a market like this one, just providing a great product or service is just not enough.
Your customers are expecting engagement and great experiences, especially if what you areselling is a community experience.
(02:21):
ignoring customer retention, let me tell you, it is about leaving money on the table.
If you're not worried about money, I don't know what country or what world that you'reliving in, but that customer lifetime value is crucial for the sustainable growth of your
business.
And let's take just another example, another story that I can tell you from my personalexperience, and I'm sure you've experienced something similar.
(02:45):
Do you know these airline quote unquote loyalty programs?
Well, they are flawed from almost every single point of view.
Not all of them.
There are definitely exceptions, but most of them, they are simply a thing where everytime you travel, you get a certain amount of points or miles, however it is you call them,
which you can then exchange for traveling more.
(03:07):
Some of them might have something a bit more sophisticated like those levels and you get alittle bit of extra features and perks once you reach those levels.
Other than that, it is basically a transactional business.
You're turning these points, which are costing the business money, right?
So you're turning them into part of your costs, which are then transferring back to someof your customers.
(03:29):
That is just the deep thought behind all of that.
But you and your experience as a customer, when you are deciding how to travel,
and which airline to choose.
Of course, you're going to be looking, usually people are looking at least at price or,and or they're looking at the experience that they receive from that airline.
If the only thing that you're looking at is your airline, because you have those customerpoints and that loyalty, that means the loyalty program is working.
(03:52):
But you know, in my experience and what I've seen 99.9 % of the cases, that is not thecase.
You're looking at whether it is the cheapest or the one that provides you the best inflight, especially for long.
longer flights or for more expensive flights, you're looking for something that goesbeyond whether they're going to give you these miles or these points for traveling once
again.
(04:13):
So these programs are not really generating any kind of loyalty because the customers, notonly in airlines, but in general, start becoming desensitized to these generic rewards.
They are craving for interaction, a sense of accomplishment as well.
That is something that motivates people a lot more.
A common mistake
(04:33):
is relying solely on those traditional loyalty programs with simple discounts or points.
These failed to generate authentic, genuine loyalty.
The key here is to introduce gamification.
This means adding game-like elements.
Amongst many things, they could mean things like challenges, a seamless onboarding, earlywins, and progress tracking.
(04:57):
Gamification taps into our natural desires.
What our brains are already craving and motivations, making customer interactions a lotmore engaging and sometimes even a lot more fun.
By using a progress bar like in games for profile completeness, LinkedIn was able toincrease well above 50 % of the completion of profiles within their existing user base.
(05:23):
And this makes everybody win.
If you think about it, you as a user of the platform, you most benefit when your profileis complete because that way you are able to showcase all of the things you're able to
achieve.
LinkedIn definitely wins because the more information they have about you, the better theycan say that they have all of these things and they can sell data and they can sell you
(05:45):
ads and all of this and that.
And companies are definitely winning.
The more information they have about you, the more informed decision they can make onwhether to hire you or hire your services or whatnot that can be.
Take this further and adapt it to your community's situation.
Do your members know where they stand?
What are they missing?
(06:06):
What are the next steps?
get this right and they can have a personalized experience.
that feels just right for them.
This creates a sense of exclusivity.
This makes customers feel valued.
And this of course further boosts your retention.
There's this very smart, thoughtful academic called Ian Bogos.
(06:28):
He's written multiple books, super smart guy, and he quite honestly just hatesgamification.
And that's fine, I understand.
I understand where he comes from.
He's a video game designer, he talks about video games, video game developer as well, andhe has his reasons.
And that's all fine and dandy.
But one day, one of the things he wanted to sort of demonstrate is how it does not work.
So he created something called the cow clicker.
(06:50):
It was literally a cow you clicked on and you got points for it.
and he was trying to demonstrate that this was not a meaningful reward to keep peopleengaged.
The problem was that initially people started clicking because it just looked quirky andfun.
So a small principle, a very misapplied gamification used, he demonstrated how people wereactually engaging.
However, it is true that he did demonstrate that nobody, I think he eventually threw thatpage down because too many people were sort of clicking on it.
(07:17):
But the main point here is that nobody stood there for the medium or the long run.
You click the cow a few times, it might've been fun, but then eventually you just left.
It was not interesting anymore.
He did prove his point of gamification when you apply it in that short term sense and youforget about your long term objectives.
It just does not work.
(07:38):
So ensure your gamification strategy focuses on genuine value, not just empty rewards orcow clickers, Avoid manipulative tactics that prioritize the short term.
well above those long-term benefits that you're able to offer.
The steps that your customers embark on within your community, make sure they have realdeep down value.
(08:02):
They're not just virtual rewards that have no real world application.
When your customers feel genuinely rewarded and engaged, they are well more likely to beloyal to your community, to your solution, and even become your advocates.
They're gonna talk about it to other people and bring in new clients.
(08:23):
Gamification is a powerful tool for increasing your customer lifetime value by creatingengaging experiences and rewarding loyalty.
You can build a thriving customer base.
Start implementing gamification so that you can insanely grow your loyal customer base anddramatically increase your customer lifetime value.
(08:45):
You can get my three gamification hacks to boost your community's revenue step by stepguide.
It's completely free.
Just click on the link below in the description and get it right away.
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