A new breed of consultants, working for the likes of NBC and Playboy, promises to boost business by adding game elements to humdrum sites. Video game designers have spent the last few decades perfecting the art of making their products addictive. Now traditional companies are building loyalty for their websites using so-called gamification techniques. Tactics such as leader boards, which encourage users to compete against one another for points, are becoming common across the Web.
The business of engendering online loyalty through gaming techniques is fast becoming as significant as the real-world loyalty industry, which builds rewards programs for airlines, hotels, and credit cards. The difference is that real rewards, like free hotel rooms and airfare, cost businesses real money.
It's a neat trick—if it lasts. "People move in herd mentality," says Tim Chang, partner at venture capital firm Norwest Ventures. "The backlash is going to come from people who try to slap [game features on a site] without any understanding of how to bake it into the full experience."
The techniques behind gamification are known in the business as "game mechanics," and they're everywhere. Countdown clocks on Gilt Groupe, a discount luxury goods site, impel shoppers to nab deals before time runs out. Colorful virtual badges, such as those on Foursquare. Moxsie, a website that sells clothing from independent fashion designers, uses game mechanics to encourage customer feedback. It awards virtual ranks—such as "senior buyer" or "guru"—to users who help the company's clothing buyers decide which items to stock.
The bottom line: "Gamification," a trendy technique for building addictive Web destinations, has raised the number of return visitors at some sites by 20 percent.
Read more at Business Week
