Gamification in Marketing: Stats and Trends for 2023

Gamification isn't just about turning all the files in your office into a huge game of Jenga. Or maybe it is, I won't tell you how to live your life.

violence board games GIF

So, we're thinking beyond the buzzword. Gamification is beyond just a technology; it's psychology. In fact, it's become a marketing darling, with 93% of marketers claiming they love gamification. Nwah. 

And as an industry, it's grown significantly over the last few years, and is predicted to grow even further. With a (cough cough) certain pandemic, we've all had to adapt to an increasingly digital, no-contact world. Gamification has thrived in this space, and proved itself as an effective technology, offering engagement and entertainment for distant-event-goers, students, and workshop attendees alike. 

It's no surprise then that the gamification market is estimated to grow by 30.1% by 2024

With companies such as Snipp making big moves into the gaming space, marketers are realising the potential of the technology. So, let's have a look at some tangible proof of this, shall we?

What does the gamification landscape look like? 

Like we've mentioned, gamification is currently an unstoppable industry. From large companies, to small, many businesses are seeing the benefits of engaging both their customers and employees with interactive technologies. And this is shown in the numbers: 

  • By 2025, the global gamification sales revenue is estimated to reach $32B.
  • Gamified learning is expected to be valued at $25.7B by 2025
  • In 2016, the international gamification market was valued at $4.91B. Recent numbers suggest a 142% increase, with the market now being valued at $11.94B.
  • 70% of global 2000 companies use gamification in some way.
  • 50% of start ups use gamification
  • 80% of American households own at least one gaming device - because of this, people are approaching this technology with pre-grown skills and knowledge related to gaming, and may be more susceptible and adaptive to the system.
  • Companies that use gamification can see up to 7X higher conversion rate

Gamification and...Upskilling 

One of the most popular ways of using gamification is for training and upskilling. With the skills gap becoming an increasing issue in a number of industries, training is becoming more important than ever.

Gamification offers a way for engaging and interactive education; plus, gamification actually aids in memory. According to Foerde and Shohamy, during gamification learning, a strong hippocampal activation makes the content easier to remember and recall. 

  • The largest user of gamified learning solutions is the corporate sector. The industry has seen a whopping 47.5% growth rate in the last few years alone. 
  • Game-based learning and education have been predicted to generate a revenue of more than $24M by 2024.
  • 78% of people say that a gamified recruiting process makes them more eager to work for the company providing the training. 
  • Gamification in education is likely to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 14% by 2025. If this occurs, the market will be worth $25.7B in 2025, $12.3B more than the current market value.
  • 61% of U.S employees currently receive training with gamification at work.
  • Adult learners benefit from gamified environments. In fact, gamification results in 14% higher scores on skill-based tests, and 11% on factual knowledge tests. 
  • 85% of employees show more engagement when gamification solutions are applied in their workplace training programmes. 
  • Large companies, like Microsoft, Google, and Coca-Cola, have invested recently in gamified training programmes.
  • Learners tend to only recall 10% of what they read, and 20% from what they hear. But they can remember up to 90% of an interactive gamified task. 
  • Only 3% of people remain unproductive during a gamified training.

Gamification and...Employee Motivation and Productivity

Gamification elements don't have to be stopped as soon as your employees are out of training. Gamified tasks have the ability to motivate, engage, and direct employees in their day-to-day tasks, outlining strategies and encouraging productivity at a higher rate than standard activities. 

Gamification and...User Activity

81% of respondents claim that gamified activities boosted their sense of belonging. So, just like with your employees, gamification can increase engagement, but with users there's the added benefit of community building.
 
  • Gamifying your website can boots browsing time by up to 30%
  • Game-based motivation increases user-engagement by 48%
  • A fully engaged customer tends to net an average of 23% premium in terms of profitability. Actively disengaged customers represent a 13% discount. 
  • In retail banking, fully engaged customers bring 37% more annual revenue than disengaged customers.
  • In consumer electronics, engaged shoppers showed 44% more visits per year. They also spent 29% more per visit than unengaged customers. 
  • Highly engaged users are more likely to return and share an app with friends. 
  • Gamifying a website boosts comments by 13%, social sharing by 22%, and content discovery by 68%.
  • This also can lead to a 100-150% increase in engagement metrics including unique views, page views, community activities, and time on site. 
  • Using gamification for customer engagement strategies resulted in a 54% increase in trial usage and a 15% increase in buy clicks. 

Gamification and...Events 

  • 86% of event attendees rated an event app as a top three aspect that made their time at an event more enjoyable.
  • AR can be a good way to engage your audience. On top of this, it can actually increase the adoption rate of your event app. 
  • 49% of businesses say that clients interact the most with engagement elements, such as gamification, live polls, and feedback.

Gamification and...Sales

  • Gamification of the 'free trial' increased trial usage by 54%, buy clicks by 15%, and channel revenue by 29%.
  • Participation in a sales event can be increased by 10% by creating a participation-based point economy.
  • Using gaming strategies, sales meetings and call centres can reduce call time by 15% and improve sales by around 10%.
  • Using games to personalise mobile advertising saw Popchip's sales rise 40%, leading to $100M in sales.
  • 30% of Americans aged 16-24 had a more positive impression towards gamification in sales. 
  • Customer acquisition can be raised by 700% through a gamified system.
  • With a 2-week contest, Lawley Insurance closed more sales than the previous 7 months combined.
  • A gamified system can increase website visits by 108.5%, and can see a conversion rate of 9.38%.

This post is part of our Martech stats series, which compiles key data and trends. Others include: