'Gamification' Still a Mystery to Majority of UK Marketers
A poll aimed at discovering to what extent the strategy called 'gamification' is employed by UK marketers has found that two-thirds of those surveyed do not fully understand what it means.
Nevertheless, the method, defined as "the integration of game mechanics into non-game material to increase user engagement", has become a mainstream technique that marketers rely on to drive more traffic to their websites and increase content consumption.
While 'gamification' is not properly understood by the majority of the professionals polled, 78% believe that customers will find appeal from gaming elements within marketing campaigns.
According to marketing agency Upstream, who conducted the poll, the term has come into common usage as a "buzzword", particularly in the social media and mobile sector, however many marketers use gaming elements in their campaigns without making the connection.
Guy Krief, Senior VP of Innovation at Upstream, commented: "With customers being bombarded with promotional messages from brands on a daily basis, we need to help marketers make intelligent use of real-time gamification - moving it from the latest buzzword to the reality of influencing consumer behaviour."