Loyalty Gamification

Gamification is the use of game mechanics to affect behaviour. In Loyalty, game mechanics are often added during the design process to create a program that will A) Appeal to the audience B) Affect behaviour C) Create or Increase Engagement and/or D) Eliminate or Reduce Churn. These are all amazing things to have as a program design, but designs can vary greatly between verticals, as well as audience types (Consumer, Channel/ B2B, Employee). One common mistake of 20 year old loyalty programs in today's world, is that people are motivated by different things.  As a 30-something, having grown up with video games, I understand the concept of levels, count-downs, reward pay-off schedules, free lives, extended plays, secret codes and short-cuts, achievements and more.  It's engrained in my culture.  One of the interesting differences between today's new engagement programs and programs from 20 years ago are the pay-offs. Status, which costs next to nothing, is incredibly valuable to consumers. Access, getting in or being able to buy before someone else-- also very attractive.  Free stuff?  That's everywhere now. Sure it's nice to get free stuff, but I know exactly what that thing is worth when you give it to me, and it's really expensive for you to do it. Everything is backwards compared to 20 years ago. Loyalty evolved from a low-tech and expensive way to reward people to a high-tech, often virtual, status based engagement system. 1800s - Tangible Goods 1930s - Stamps then Points 1981 - Status Today - Virtual The crazy thing about