Customers have always loved to play games used by retailers as sales promotions. Scratch-off discounts. Sweepstakes. “Design our new logo” or “Name our new service” or, decades ago, “Tell us in 25 words or less why you shop at our store.”
Retailers and manufacturers learned that there needed to be real, tangible prizes for maximum participant involvement, but the value of the prizes often could be quite modest. People got involved for the joy of the contest.
This love of the game has blossomed further as a side effect of the popularity of ecommerce and the mobile and desktop devices shoppers use for ecommerce. The word “gaming” has morphed from serving as a euphemism for “gambling” into a shorthand for “playing games on a computerized gadget.”
The problem with this for retailers is the increased chance that the promotions themselves will be gamed. Retailing consultant Bob Phibbs is currently ranting that social couponing is, “killing the freedom of private businesses to operate competitively for profit.” Bob argues that social couponing—where a retailer offers a substantial discount to consumers who are told the offer is activated only when a certain number of people sign up for it—will draw hoards of hit-and-run bargain hunters unconcerned about gaming the retailer into bankruptcy.
Other retailing consultants are concerned about the value of mobile device check-ins—in which a consumer earns points by using their location-sensitive mobile device to confirm they’ve visited a brick-and-mortar sales location. Last week, Mashable reported that Virgin America will be giving frequent flier points to people who check in at the airline’s baggage claim or ticketing areas.
The concern about all this? Mashable says the Virgin America program signals a trend that could result in “dummy check-ins,” which verify foot traffic, but are no more than a game to collect points without the consumer even thinking about buying something.
To head off being gamed, know the rules of the game, and recognize how those rules compare to those from the past. What’s different? The ecommerce brain is more open to satisfaction from virtual rewards. For Starbucks, if you check in with your mobile device at five different store locations, you earn a virtual Barista Badge. Get a virtual Red Cup just for loading the app.
What’s the same? Shoppers still can be quite happy to get involved just for the joy of the contest.
Click below for more:
Fine-Tune Your Social Couponing
Design Store Operations for Ecommerce Brains
Earn Good Will in Giving Discounts
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