The top 5 benefits that esports agency ESTUDIOS gained from using StriveCloud

Gaming is all about connection! Today, 84% of gamers play games to interact with others who have similar interests. So, to successfully connect gamers, you need more than just tournaments. You need a 360° gaming community platform! Unfortunately, most tournament software solutions are only focused on tournaments. Besides, they aren’t white-label and don’t prioritize engagement. That’s exactly what brought the swiss esports marketing agency ESTUDIOS to StriveCloud.

This article will explore why ESTUDIOS chose StriveCloud to build their gaming community platform, highlighting the key benefits they experienced.

In this article, we’ll cover why ESTUDIOS choose StriveCloud as a platform to support its strategy, and how we differ from alternatives in the market!

• Who are ESTUDIOS? (And why they came to StriveCloud)
• How StriveCloud helps ESTUDIOS reach their goals
• Top 5 benefits of using StriveClouds tournament software
• How StriveCloud's Community & Tournament Platform works
• The StriveCloud solution compared to the wider market
• How to get started and connect gamers today
• FAQ

Who are ESTUDIOS? (And why they came to StriveCloud)

ESTUDIOS is a 360-degree esports agency from Switzerland that works on every aspect a brand needs to go into esports and gaming. From consulting to organizing online and offline events, content production, and especially Community Building as a service. They also own GameTurnier, a popular gaming community platform that connects gamers & brands by hosting online tournaments. Some of the brands the agency works with are Sunrise, MySports and Coca-Cola.

Before working with StriveCloud they were mainly focused on hosting offline tournaments for the FIFA scene in Switzerland. Matthias Zander, the head of the agency’s flagship gaming community platform GameTurnier, has worked in esports for over 20 years. That extensive experience put him in the position of knowing exactly how to connect with gamers successfully. So how did he go about finding the right platform, and eventually, why did he pick StriveCloud?

The ESTUDIOS team knew they needed a powerful digital platform to support their "Community-Building as a Service" business model.

Matthias Zander - "At ESTUDIOS, we do Community-Building as a Service. And that’s why we love StriveCloud. It supports our business case."

When looking for a gaming community platform to achieve their goals, they soon found out most platforms lacked a complete white-label solution. While some tournament software solutions came close to what StriveCloud offers, they missed out on features like the loyalty system behind it. Besides, StriveCloud gave them full control over the platform to customize it according to their needs.

Matthias Zander - "It’s not only the possibility to create my own pages with my own designs and banners and so on, but also we can collect 1st party user data and have the possibility to sell advertisements to our clients. With StriveCloud we have almost full control of the platform. "

How StriveCloud helps ESTUDIOS reach their goals

ESTUDIOS works with many different parties ranging from brands or sports organizations to influencers and streamers. They use our platform as a sandbox environment to connect gamers with brands within their community. So GameTurnier had three main objectives for its tournament software.

1) Bring the GameTurnier community online

To bring their gaming community online they needed a white-label gaming community platform that would allow them to establish their own brand credibility. With our platform, they get a wide array of customization tools as well as social & community features like quizzes or polls to keep gamers engaged.

2) Monetize through unique brand activations & more

As a result of having its own white-label platform, GameTurnier has many ways to monetize its community. With our platform, they can set up unique communities for brands and influencers to create memorable brand activations for their fans or customers. Furthermore, they get complete access to the data, which gives them valuable insights and monetization options.

3) Build long-term engagement with in-app loyalty

Finally, they wanted a loyalty system to keep gamers engaged over the long run. While most platforms rely solely on tournament participation for retention, StriveCloud has a gamified in-app loyalty system in place. That way they can reward gamers based on behavior instead of just purchasing level.

Matthias Zander - " If you're a big streamer and you plan to build your community, you will want to organize community tournaments and engage your community even more. For that, Twitch bots are just not enough. You need more to engage with your community and, StriveCloud brings all these features on one platform. "

Find out how to kickstart your gaming community today! See how the StriveCloud tournament software can help you.

Top 5 benefits of using StriveCloud’s tournament software

Tournament software should be about more than just online competitions. With StriveCloud, ESTUDIOS found that they could maximize fan engagement by taking full advantage of the tools provided:

#1 A fresh user experience every day

Repetitive experiences get old fast! Fortunately, StriveCloud does so much more than just online tournaments. With our gaming community software, you can create a complete experience from start to finish. Starting with the onboarding process, all the way up to earning your first currency and exchanging it in the shop.

Furthermore, our tournament software boasts features like:

• Daily quizzes, which encourage daily activity and act as a flashpoint for rewards
• Leaderboards that reward participation in real-time
• Redeemable in-app currency, which incentivizes users to stick around
• Social feed supercharged with different content creation possibilities

The platform's features, like leaderboards and social feeds, create a dynamic and rewarding daily user experience.

Matthias Zander - "The biggest advantage is that on the platform you can create a place where it's worth coming back to on a daily basis as a user. For example, you can organize daily quizzes."

#2 Customization tools tailored to your goals

Most tools do not offer a sandbox-building environment. But StriveCloud is specifically designed to be customized and flexible. Essentially, this “sandbox” world means that you can better tailor your gaming community platform to meet your vision. Besides establishing your own brand credibility, it also offers interesting sponsorship opportunities. You get to create your own pages, banners and sell personalized advertisements to brands.

Matthias Zander - "I love the sand boxiness of the StriveCloud solution. I am in almost full control of what I want the platform to be."

#3 Loyalty systems keep users engaged for the long haul

Whereas most tournament platforms rely entirely on tournament participation to generate user activity, StriveCloud stands out. Because of its unique social and loyalty features, the platform can connect gamers and boost engagement whether there’s a tournament or not. In fact, research shows that socialization is the best way to create long-term gamer retention!

StriveCloud's loyalty systems are designed to foster long-term engagement by rewarding user activity beyond just winning tournaments.

#4 All engagements centralized in one place

What’s great about our tournament software is that you get everything centralized into one platform! Gamers don’t need to jump platforms to compete in tournaments, interact in the community or win prizes. It also saves a lot of headaches for moderators. Instead of linking a bunch of Discord bots, social media platforms, and tournament platforms you can activate, engage and monetize all in one place!

#5 You own all the data!

Another benefit of owning your own gaming community platform is that you own the data. That means you can set up and manage targeted and personalized campaigns for the maximum ROI! You could even send out an email campaign to a specific audience segment.

How StriveCloud's Community & Tournament Platform works

As a white-label solution, the StriveCloud tournament software works to match your strategy and branding. It’s simple - StriveCloud provides the back-office solution and you can customize the platform to your needs! That means easily creating personalized landing pages to promote your events, allowing users to sign up, and hosting community news.

Owing to the fact that tournaments can be fully automated, you are free to focus your attention on more important things. In other words, you don’t need to make each tournament from scratch!

The platform's back-office allows for easy customization and automation of tournaments, freeing up administrators to focus on community management.

Our solution compared to the wider market

With the emergence of esports and gaming, there are many tournament software opportunities available on the market. But they don’t all do the same job. So how do you find a gaming community platform that suits your needs?

Let’s compare StriveCloud to the well-known alternatives:

StriveCloud vs ChallengerMode

ChallengerMode is a popular name in the esports community, having been around since 2014. The Swedish company excels at tournament organization, but the features don’t extend far beyond that. While there is an in-game currency and marketplace where fans can buy items, the experience as a whole is less gamified - and as such less targeted at improving engagement.

While ChallengerMode is a popular option, its focus is primarily on tournament organization, with fewer features for daily community engagement.

StriveCloud vs FACEIT

FACEIT are Counter-Strike (CS:GO) experts. In fact, the platform hosts one of the biggest tournaments for CS:GO, the Esports Championship Series. Zander says that tournaments are easy to set up on the platform, and you can also reward users with fully integrated cryptocurrency prizes.

So what’s the downside? For gamers, the platform costs €9.99 to subscribe and access the full package. In short, free users cannot take part in leagues and are limited to reaching Level 6 out of 10. On the other hand, GameTurnier, powered by StriveCloud, is free for gamers and offers total accessibility for its registered users.

FACEIT, while strong in the CS:GO scene, presents a subscription model that can be a barrier for free users, unlike the accessible model powered by StriveCloud.

How to get started and connect gamers today

Our team promises to get any new gaming community platform up and going in as fast as 2 weeks. But how? Through experience, StriveCloud has developed a reliable plan to achieve success.

Step #1 - Book a demo. It’s quick and easy. Take a tour with our in-house experts and learn the ins and outs of our white-label tournament platform.

Step #2 - Together, we set up the platform & customize it. This is the creative part! During this step, we will make your gaming community space unique and special to you and your fans. As well, this is where we decide how best to gamify your platform to meet your goals.

Step #3 - Onboard your team and launch! Our team will work side-by-side with yours, making sure the process is smooth and your team is confident using our software. In the past, we have reached this step and created an amazing esports platform in just 2 weeks!

Create and monetize a gaming community in no time! Book a free demo & see how you can start connecting with gamers today.

FAQ

Why did ESTUDIOS pick the StriveCloud tournament software?

ESTUDIOS wanted to focus on building communities. In contrast to other software, the StriveCloud platform offers more extensive social features and a gamified loyalty system.

What are the benefits of white-label tournament software?

Our white-label tournament software enables you to easily build a platform with your own branding. In addition, StriveCloud allows you to keep all your user data! In short, that boosts your marketing and lets you sell personalized advertisements to create better sponsorship opportunities.

How to create an engaging gaming community platform?

Tournaments excite gaming communities - but many platforms rely entirely on tournament participation for their engagement. To engage fans all year round, StriveCloud’s software lets you build a social feed and issue daily challenges to keep the fan experience fresh.

```html

How KNVB attracts young gamers to football using the tournament platform from StriveCloud

If sports organizations want to attract a younger audience and grow, then they cannot ignore esports. And this is especially the case in football! According to Steam, FIFA 2022 currently engages as many as 80,000 players at any one time. To get in on this action, the Dutch Football Association (KNVB) decided to launch an ‘E-Football’ strategy to bring them closer to their fans. And that brought them to StriveCloud! Using our tournament tool, KNVB built its own esports platform to engage FIFA players in The Netherlands.

This article explores how the Dutch Football Association, KNVB, partners with StriveCloud to engage a new generation of FIFA players through their Jantje.gg esports platform.

Read on to find out exactly what KNVB wanted to achieve, and how we at StriveCloud were there to make it happen:

• How Jantje.gg started (and where they are heading)
• How KNVB offers a complete e-football experience to fans on Jantje.gg with StriveCloud
• 4 benefits Jantje.gg sees in using StriveCloud
• How StriveCloud's community & tournament tool works
• Why KNVB chose StriveCloud to launch their esports platform
• How you can get started too
• FAQs

How Jantje.gg started (and where they are heading)

When you look at the continent as a whole, Europe sends more players to esports tournaments than any other. Simply put, the enthusiasm is there. And Nick Hoogebeen recognized this opportunity! As the E-Football Partnership Manager for KNVB, Nick saw that the Netherlands was lacking an esports platform that could help grow and support amateur Dutch FIFA talent. And so in 2021, KNVB launched Jantje.gg.

Nick Hoogebeen, E-Football Partnership Manager @KNVB - "Jantje.gg is our E-Football platform on which we would like to create the go-to an environment for grassroots amateur FIFA players in the Netherlands. By organizing online FIFA tournaments players can develop themselves, learn from each other, and get in touch with the real football game. "

So far, the esports platform has succeeded in building an audience of early adopters. Next up, Nick hopes that Jantje.gg will host more tournaments, and in turn, this will snowball into a greater reach across the country. To find the best FIFA talent, Jantje looks to attract users aged 12-25, who they believe have the potential to become the “best FIFA player of their region or high school”. And with our tournament tool, they found the perfect fit between organizing online tournament events and growing the community!

The platform features a clear tournament bracket system, which is essential for organizing competitive FIFA events and tracking player progress.

How KNVB offers a complete e-football experience to fans on Jantje.gg with StriveCloud

Without a doubt, Jantje.gg is in it to win it. “We aim to create the biggest E-football platform in the Netherlands”, Nick says. Eventually, the goal is that the young FIFA players will be motivated to connect with the real football game. But to make that reality, Jantje.gg needs to create excitement - and that’s where our team at StriveCloud can help.

StriveCloud’s tournament tool is more than a simple bracket maker. Instead, our software focuses on creating a complete gamer experience. For one, our software comes with a wide range of community and gamification features that are designed to keep gamers engaged for the long haul.

And that’s especially true for young gamers like those Jantje.gg aims to reach! For example, think of gamification features like points, leveling systems, and rewards. These will feel familiar to a gaming audience. And with this familiarity, users are more likely to respond positively to any gamified triggers! In turn, players leave the platform satisfied and motivated to return for more.

Nick Hoogebeen, E-Football Partnership Manager @KNVB - "With StriveCloud’s help, we want our users to have a comfortable environment to play FIFA on. The user cycle of the platform is elegant, efficient, usable, and good to play FIFA on. That's the most important thing."

This screenshot of the Jantje.gg landing page highlights the clean user interface designed to attract and onboard young gamers.

4 Benefits Jantje.gg sees in using StriveCloud

#1 Community features made to boost engagement & retention

Unlike other gaming tournament tools, our software emphasizes social interaction. Allowing gamers to connect with friends or other community members brings more activity to your platform. Furthermore, the sense of connection drives long-term retention.

To encourage that sense of social relatedness, our software enables you to implement leaderboards, community feeds and comments sections, just to name a few features.

Features like leaderboards and community feeds are built-in, fostering social interaction that drives long-term player retention.

#2 The tech is already built for you

Nick Hoogebeen, E-Football Partnership Manager @KNVB - "With other platforms, we checked we really had to build a new platform from scratch, including the technology."

When you use our tournament tool, you don’t start from square one. Instead, you’re getting an all-in-one solution that’s ready for you to make your own! To be sure, this advantage can help you along your journey without sacrificing quality and security.

#3 You have full control over the gamer experience

It’s crucial to make your esports platform your own, not just to boost your own branding, but also to keep your gamers engaged. Essentially, customization means control over the user experience! And with our white-label tournament tool, you can create a holistic and impressive fan experience across the whole platform.

StriveCloud's white-label solution allows KNVB to fully customize the platform's look and feel, creating a unique and branded experience for Jantje.gg users.

Furthermore, it integrates with the tools you already have such as your CRM or webshop. For example, Jantje.gg’s webshop integration allows users to exchange coins for real-life prizes.

Nick Hoogebeen, E-Football Partnership Manager @KNVB - "For us, it was important that we could bring our own look and feel to the platform. And that was all possible on StriveCloud."

The integrated webshop allows players to exchange coins earned through gameplay for real-life prizes, adding a tangible reward system.

#4 You keep all the data!

With us, building your own esports platform means keeping your own data. Why is that so crucial? Well, it means you can use the data generated through your platform and leverage it to benefit your whole business strategy.

Nick Hoogebeen, E-Football Partnership Manager @KNVB - "It is important for us to integrate our own data from our own association with the Jantje.gg data, so that we can bundle them for one corporate online marketing strategy."

How StriveCloud's community & tournament tool works

StriveCloud is a 360° white-label tournament solution to build active and loyal gaming communities. Our solution allows you to control the full gamer experience by connecting tournaments, community, and content sharing in one place. Essentially, we try to build & provide the tools so you can build your own “Facebook for gamers”.

But how does our community & tournament tool really work? Let’s run down the features in the StriveCloud toolkit:

Tournament engine. You can organize events for every type of game! Need a league, a knock-out tournament, or something else entirely? The choice is yours.

Community features. User profiles are just where StriveCloud communities start. To foster deeper social relations, you can implement social feeds and comment sections.

Gamification & loyalty features. Gamification supercharges motivation - and gamers are a great audience for that! With features like points, challenges, and levels, your fans will become more engaged, and in turn, more loyal.

Advertising functionality. Our tournament tool empowers your esports platform to go further and be truly unique with custom brand pages and branded tournaments.

Monetization possibilities. Think premium packages, sponsorships, and customized advertisements. Esports is a notoriously under-monetized industry compared to other sports, and we want to help turn that around and make your esports platform profitable!

Get control over the full gamer experience. Discover our tournament tool & how it can help you!

This visual gives a glimpse into the StriveCloud dashboard, demonstrating the interface for managing tournaments, communities, and content.

Why Jantje.gg chose StriveCloud to launch their esports platform

When KNVB searched for a partner to help create Jantje.gg, multiple companies reached out. But when it came to Nick’s priorities, the choice was clear:

Nick Hoogebeen, E-Football Partnership Manager @KNVB - "For me personally, StriveCloud means that I can reach my marketing goals, make my own marketing strategy, and have control over my own marketing campaign implementation...StriveCloud offers a very good system, that I would for sure recommend."

In the end, KNVB chose StriveCloud because our platform offers more control, more customization, and more overall capabilities.

How you can get started too

After years of experience in esports, we’ve developed a three-step plan to getting any esports platform off the ground and into the world:

1. Book a demo. - It’s quick and easy. Take a tour with our in-house experts and learn exactly what our tournament tool can do for you.
2. Together, we set up the platform & customize it. - Are you convinced StriveCloud is the right move for you? We’ll help you set up the platform, add your own unique brand content & establish the necessary integrations to support your growth strategy!
3. Onboard your team and launch! - Our team will work side-by-side with yours, making sure the process is smooth and that your team is confident using our software.

Power up your esports marketing strategy like KNVB! Book a free demo to find out how our tournament platform can support your strategy!

FAQs

Why do esports tournament tools need gamification?

To create long-term engagement, look no further than gamification. This is especially true for esports platforms aiming to reach young gamers! Because features like points and levels will feel familiar to gamers, users are more likely to respond positively to gamified triggers.

How can sports organizations build a successful esports platform?

Community is at the heart of every esports platform. Time after time, studies show that community building is key to building long-lasting and engaged relationships with your fans. Sports organizations can leverage their data to connect fans and boost digital fan engagement through online tournaments.

What are the benefits of using StriveCloud?

Our white-label tournament tool allows you to customize & control the complete gamer experience from tournaments to community and content sharing. Furthermore, all the data on your esports platform is yours. That means you could use it to fuel your entire business and marketing strategy!

```

Top 10 challenges that 2023 will bring to micromobility operators

Micromobility is set to expand in 2023, but the year will add extra challenges for mobility operators. Before, the market was all about growth. But as the market matures, profitability is becoming more important. Despite this shift, there are still many growth opportunities for mid-sized shared mobility companies!

In this article, let’s explore the top 10 challenges in micromobility today - and how you can overcome them to achieve sustainable growth.

• A quick look at micromobility in 2023
• Top 10 challenges for micromobility operators (and where to find growth)
• 3 tools to combat the challenges in micromobility
• FAQs

A quick look at micromobility in 2023

Over the past few years, micromobility has experienced incredible growth. In 2020, the global e-scooter mobility market was valued at $1.17 billion. In 2022, that number rose to $1.5 billion. But 2023 will bring some significant challenges.

What’s different in 2023?

Many mobility operators have been growing at the expense of their profitability. But now that economic conditions are changing, that’s a big problem. In short, the easy money has vanished. Post-pandemic, venture funds now want to see operators with a reliable cash flow.

From the pandemic to an economic downturn

Take market-leading e-scooter operator Bird for example. Last year, in an effort to become more profitable, the mobility operator laid off 23% of their staff and pulled out of Sweden, Germany, and Norway. On the other side of that, companies that aren’t scaling down are simply being bought out. In March 2022, Berlin-based Tier Mobility bought e-scooter operator Spin.

Top 10 challenges for micromobility operators (and where to find growth)

#1 City authorities are getting more involved

Why are cities interested in micromobility? Well, cities want to reduce traffic and meet climate change goals. But authorities are also finding that micromobility makes economic sense too. In 2019, Copenhagen officials reported that the city earns €0.64 for every kilometer traveled by micromobility, yet it loses €0.71 for those traveling by car.

As a result, authorities are regulating micromobility to meet their needs. For instance, Paris allows only 3 mobility operators. And because Paris is such a lucrative market - home to 1.2 million e-scooter riders in 2022 - this gives the city the power to implement rules like speed limits and mandatory parking bays without mobility operators leaving.

But working with city authorities can also create opportunities for a successful partnership. Research shows that when cities build new infrastructure such as bike lanes, micromobility ridership jumps by as much as 48%.

#2 Stiff competition makes it hard to differentiate your brand

Not every city is as regulated as Paris. Indeed, Brussels is home to 7 e-scooter mobility operators. This makes it extra hard to differentiate your brand. To an average consumer, the only thing that seems to separate these companies is the color of the scooter!

To set your product apart in a profitable way, you must create a unique brand identity and customer experience. When you look at Lime, they play on their innovation. But Voi prefers to lead with convenience, offering a way to travel “conveniently without compromising the environment”.

#3 Age restrictions can keep young people away

Young people are a valuable target market. A Dutch study found that young consumers are more likely to adapt to new mobility habits and are less likely to already own a car. But many lawmakers have introduced age restrictions on riding e-scooters. In places like The Netherlands and Spain, you must be at least 16 to ride an e-scooter.

For mobility operators, this can mean performing a balancing act. While you must prevent young people from accessing a scooter, you don’t want to tarnish your brand in the process and appear inaccessible. After all, these young consumers will eventually become of age. To be sure, solving this challenge can help you lock in a future audience.

#4 Keeping customers engaged over a longer time period

In micromobility, the extent of a customer’s relationship with you often stops when they park up. But you can go further than that. You want to stay top-of-mind whenever customers need a way to get around. One way to do that is through a gamified loyalty system. Voi for instance promises riders they can “ride more, pay less”.

#5 It’s tough to stay top of mind

When cities offer so many mobility options, how can mobility operators remain both a viable and prominent choice? Clearly, it’s not feasible to put a scooter on every corner. One way to stay top of mind is with a powerful, holistic brand message like HumanForest. The app is all about sustainability, and it gets this across with things like gamified in-app coins that represent how many trees worth of CO2 you have saved. Now that’s a positive feeling that customers can take away with them!

#6 Fleet management eats into your time and budget

When your scooters are scattered randomly all over the city, that’s a recipe for low rates of vehicle utilization. In the end, this brings down your profit and perceived availability. Market studies find that for a typical ride costing €3.50, around €1.70 of that total goes to operations and charging.

How do you solve this? Some mobility operators, like Streetcrowd, are overcoming the problem by rewarding customers for parking vehicles in more optimal locations.

This graph illustrates how a significant portion of revenue is consumed by operational costs, highlighting the industry's profitability challenges.

#7 The struggle for profitability

According to a 2021 report by North American transport officials, the price of a micromobility trip has more than doubled since 2018. Despite this, profit margins have actually gone down. The expensive nature of this market along with the steep competition makes it nearly impossible for mobility operators to compete on price.

Naturally, this drives the push for profitability. Luckily, a great customer uexperience can help you both attract new (and younger) audiences, but also build a loyal customer base. After all, loyal customers spend more and more often!

How to drive profitability? Boost total revenue per customer with your own gamified loyalty program! Get inspired by these real-life examples!

#8 People are buying their own vehicles

Cheaper and better scooters are great for everyone. But it presents another challenge for mobility operators. People across Europe are buying their own private vehicles. In France, private scooter ownership shot up 42% between 2020 and 2021. Your marketing could play on the challenges that come with owning or using your own vehicle. Such as parking, insurance, or maintenance.

#9 Getting people to change their mobility habits

At the end of the day, people just want a safe, fast, and convenient way to get from A to B. As a result, people are unlikely to choose you if their destination is too far, public transit is faster - or worse if a competitor has a vehicle closer by.

To incentivize people to change habits, you need to do some habit-forming of your own! By rewarding customers whenever they use your mobility service, you create a positive reinforcement loop, leaving them wanting more. You basically incentivize people to take more rides. For example, by rewarding customers through points that they can exchange for free riding minutes. Why would they not use their free-riding minutes the next time?

With gamification, that goes beyond just discounts! You can introduce elements such as leaderboards, challenges, and leveling systems to build an active customer base. HumanForest for instance has built a community of CO2 savers using gamification.

#10 Providing direct and instant customer support

The past few years have changed customer support drastically:

• 75% of consumers plan to keep using new channels like live chat since trying them for the first time during the pandemic
• 76% of consumers want phone support when dealing with complex issues like product malfunctions
• 54% of high-performing companies have seamless omnichannel support, compared to just 20% of low-performing companies

What does this mean for mobility operators? While customer support can be costly - by some estimates it can set you back 10-15% of revenue - it is a crucial part of your service. Learning to be proactive, for example by spotting faulty scooters before they crop up during a customer’s journey, can both reduce costs and foster customer loyalty.

3 tools to combat the challenges in micromobility

StriveCloud

StriveCloud is a gamified loyalty platform designed to help mobility operators sell more trips. Differentiate yourself from competitors with in-app rewards that incentivize customers to keep coming back. The variety of fun features like challenges, leaderboards, or levels will improve the experience and help you to stay top-of-mind whenever customers need a ride!

Michael Stewart @HumanForest - "What’s really unique about StriveCloud compared to a regular loyalty program or customer marketing is that your customer’s experience is inside the app, at the moment they are using it. That really helped us fulfil our brand message, in a fun and engaging way."

The StriveCloud platform provides an array of gamified features designed to enhance user engagement within a mobility app.

Use in-app rewards to boost the number of trips per customer! Discover how our gamified loyalty software helps mobility operators achieve sustainable growth.

ElectricFeel

Based in Switzerland, ElectricFeel lets you run everything you need for your business from one dashboard. With the ability to control your fleets in real-time, issues like fleet rebalancing become less of a snag.

Wunder Mobility

Wunder Mobility is a complete white-label solution to help vehicle-sharing companies, launch, manage, and scale their operations. Whether you’re using scooters, mopeds, bikes, or cars, Wunder has got you covered! To this day, over 40 million rides have been shared in 200+ cities!

What makes Wunder Mobility even better is its library of integrations & add-ons designed to improve your vehicle-sharing service! We should know, check out our integration with Wunder here!

FAQs

Why will 2023 bring up challenges for mobility operators?

Many mobility operators have historically focused more on growth than profitability. Now that economic conditions are changing, that’s a problem. In short, the easy money has vanished. Post-pandemic, venture funds now want to see operators with a reliable cash flow.

How can mobility operators work with city authorities to grow?

City officials know that micromobility journeys actually make them more money, especially compared to car journeys. Given this, mobility operators should be partnering with cities to encourage the building of new infrastructure which can boost micromobility ridership by as much as 48%.

How can micromobility platforms make using their app a habit?

To promote habit formation, use the power of gamification. Features like points, levels, and leaderboards can create ‘intrinsic motivation’. This is when customers want to use your app because they feel rewarded and satisfied. Studies show that this promotes habit formation!

5 best ways to build brand loyalty as a mobility app in 2023

2023 is shaping up to be another challenging year for shared mobility operators. As a result of economic headwinds, businesses must adapt- or risk missing out on growth. One way to do this is by adapting to the changing customer behavior. What does the future have to offer? And how does brand loyalty fuel growth for shared mobility?

This article explores the challenges and opportunities for mobility operators, offering five actionable strategies to improve customer loyalty and drive sustainable growth.

• How 2023 will challenge micromobility
• Why brand loyalty matters in times of crisis (and why you should invest in it)
• 5 ways to increase brand loyalty in mobility
• FAQs

How 2023 will challenge micromobility

Another year, another crisis. But there are some silver linings! Mobility will be affected very differently by this economic downturn compared to the Covid-19 crisis. During the pandemic, millions were stuck at home. This time around though, people will still be traveling and commuting. But 2023 is changing consumer behavior in significant ways:

• Tighter household budgets will ultimately result in fewer short trips to leisure destinations like restaurants and cinemas (i.e. those ideal for micromobility)
• As a result, consumers are projected to purchase fewer cars
• Spending on expensive taxis and ride-hailing services will also decrease

In the end, this creates the risk that micromobility could face a downturn. But the good news is that would go against current predictions. In 2023, the global micromobility market is still set to grow at a rate of 17%. Even when e-scooter operators are quitting markets and laying off staff, experts expect the e-scooter market will see 10.5% growth.

Some trends and changing consumer behavior are favorable to micromiblity in particular. Cities are looking for ways to lower emissions and solve mobility challenges such as traffic congestion or high parking costs. Smaller, electric scooters for example could be a great solution!

This graph illustrates the projected growth and favorable market trends for micromobility, showcasing the industry's resilience despite economic challenges.

Timo Buetefisch @Cooltra - "Mobility will suffer, but it’s still a necessity. As an organization, you have to get through the challenges that are coming."

What is the solution to these challenges? The answer for mobility is brand loyalty.

Why brand loyalty matters in times of crisis (and why you should invest in it)

Brand loyalty is one of the best ways to provide stability to your business - and make it more resilient to external shocks like economic malaise. The reality is that, during turbulent times, customers are more likely to stick with brands they already know and trust. The evidence of this can be seen in previous downturns. In the Great Recession that started in 2007, loyalty programs actually boomed, growing 19% between 2007 and 2009.

This story tells us what mobility operators need to succeed in 2023. To grow brand loyalty, mobility should focus less on expansion and acquisition, and more on repeat customers. This can be lucrative - studies show that 61% of small to mid-size firms report that more than half of their revenue comes from repeat customers. What’s more, mobility operators have a potentially large reservoir of local, existing customers. In Paris, for example, 85% of the city’s 1.2 million riders are Parisian residents.

Unlock growth during crisis: How to create a brand loyalty program in shared mobility!

5 ways to increase brand loyalty in mobility

#1 Build a gamified loyalty program to reward behavior change

The best way to drive growth as a mobility operator is through brand loyalty. Think about it. Many people might have to move around two, four, or even ten times a day! That’s a massive opportunity to take advantage of! One way to do that is by launching a gamified loyalty program.

Here’s why! A gamified loyalty program will:

• Incentivize customers to book more trips! Well-timed rewards will reinforce a positive feeling whenever a customer engages with your mobility service.
• Compel customers to come back to your app. (And book more trips!) Features such as outstanding loyalty points will help you stay top-of-mind.
• Create a fun and unique experience to stay top-of-mind. Build a sense of purpose and community with fun features like leaderboards, levels, and more!
• Help you differentiate on more than just pricing. Loyal customers will stay engaged for a long time and prefer you over competitors every time!

How does gamification improve brand loyalty for mobility operators?

Gamification is essentially the use of game elements and psychology in a non-game context to make the overall experience more fun and enjoyable. It makes your brand message come to life. Take HumanForest for instance. They turn taking your e-bike into becoming a CO2 saver, or a literal human forest!

They’ve built a community of loyal customers by introducing gamification inside their app. Here’s how it works in a nutshell:

• Every mile on an e-bike represents one tree saved
• For every 5 miles customers earn one TreeCoin
• You can exchange these TreeCoins for free riding minutes
• Collecting TreeCoins makes you level up from a tiny bonsai tree all the way up to a giant sequoia tree
• They even rank you on the CO2-reduced leaderboard to see who has saved the most trees

Michael Stewart, Co-founder @HumanForest - "StriveCloud helped us fulfil our brand message, in a fun and engaging way."

Accelerate your vehicle-sharing business with StriveCloud Build a custom gamified loyalty program inside your own app & sell more trips!

After all, shared mobility is very suitable for gamification. You can easily create rewards or challenges around the available customer data. EVO Sharing used this opportunity to boost the number of trips and in-app purchases.

Jennifer Dittmar @EVO Sharing - "Our business model is also very suitable for gamification. Receiving rewards based on distance, kilometers, or minutes driven makes a lot of sense to use and goes well together."

EVO Sharing's achievement system is a great example of gamification driving user engagement and loyalty by rewarding frequent usage with tangible benefits.

#2 Hook customers with an engaging app experience

The first step to brand loyalty for mobility is a great app experience. In fact, your app determines how a customer interacts with your brand outside of just using your vehicle. Besides, contextual notifications help to keep customers engaged and stay top-of-mind. Which allows them to become a part of your rider community.

Timo Buetefisch @Cooltra - "Technology is essential for the user experience in mobility. The app is absolutely everything, from the way you sign up, the way you pay, the way you unlock the vehicle, to where you can find your invoice. It’s 100% app-based. "

Uber’s driver app for instance uses gamification to enhance the driver experience. With features such as quests, badges, and earnings trackers drivers stay motivated and engaged. They can even earn extra points and money for maintaining a high feedback rating!

#3 Focus on providing great customer service

Of course, the most important need for consumers when it comes to customer service is to resolve an issue quickly. But this matters even more in mobility, where an issue could mean your customer is late for work - or worse, that their safety is at risk.

Mischa Schirris, Head of Partnerships at Mavenoid - "Many aspects of an enjoyable ride are outside of your control—weather, infrastructure, policies, and other external factors. Seamless customer support, on the other hand, is one of the few things that’s actually within your control. Give it the attention it deserves as you build out your company in the space."

Experts recommend an in-app support channel where customers can solve their problems either through troubleshooting, cashback, or human intervention. At the end of the day, your users want to feel valued and appreciated, so a quick and helpful solution will create that necessary trust, and in turn, build brand loyalty.

This chart highlights key market trends that influence user expectations and the importance of responsive and effective customer support in the mobility sector.

#4 Make sure your vehicles are there when needed - optimize your fleet!

One of the main customer motivations for shared mobility is convenience. In other words, customers like the ease of getting a vehicle whenever they need it, and leaving it wherever they want. This however is a major challenge for mobility operators, as it causes low fleet utilization rates which eat into profitability.

One way to solve this is through fleet management. This helps you track the location and status of different vehicles. You can also improve this experience within your app. For example, by creating a reservation system, or making it easy to report problems with vehicles.

Finally, you can use gamified rewards that incentivize customers to leave vehicles at specific places such as charging stations. Electric scooter company Bird for instance hands out monetary rewards for bringing the “birds” back to their “nest”.

#5 Boost your user referral program

Another benefit of keeping your customers close is that they’re 4 times more likely to refer friends! In a market where 88% of people rely on word-of-mouth as their source of information, that counts! In fact, referred customers are 18% more likely to become loyal users. Want to boost your referral program? Try adding some gamified rewards!

FAQs

How is consumer behavior changing in mobility in 2023?

With new trends such as working-from-home and delivery services, consumers are going out less, and therefore don’t have the need to own their own vehicle. This is a major opportunity for shared mobility operators, especially micromobility.

Why does brand loyalty matter in times of crisis?

Brand loyalty matters during turbulent times because people stick with brands they know and trust. This has been seen many times before. In the Great Recession that started in 2007, loyalty programs boomed, growing 19% between 2007 and 2009.

How can mobility operators increase brand loyalty?

The best way to drive growth as a mobility operator is through brand loyalty. Think about it. Many people might have to move around two, four, or even ten times a day! That’s a massive opportunity to take advantage of! One way to do that is by launching a gamified loyalty program.

How to increase ARPU as a mobility operator in 2023 (and 3 ways to do it)

It can be hard for even the biggest micromobility operators to turn a profit. The expensive & highly competitive nature of the market lowers the margins. But there’s one thing that all operators should be doing to grow - and that is to increase ARPU!

This article will explain what ARPU is, why it's critical for profitability, and how mobility operators can boost this all-important metric.

• What is ARPU? (And why it is so important for micromobility)
• How micromobility operators increase ARPU today
• Why increase ARPU? Benefits for micromobility operators and investors
• 3 strategies to increase ARPU and enter the shared mobility market
• FAQs

What is ARPU? (And why it is so important for micromobility)

ARPU is an essential metric to track your financial progress. In full, ARPU stands for ‘Average Revenue Per User’, and it shows the average revenue that each customer generates. An increased ARPU boosts your bottom line, all without spending a cent on customer acquisition. In short, a higher ARPU means greater profitability!

What’s more, ARPU is super easy to work out. Use it to track your average revenue per customer over any time period, from just one month to as far back as you like:

ARPU = Total revenue in time period / total customers in time period

So why should micromobility operators increase ARPU? Simply put, mobility needs it!

• Competition is tough, so you need to make the most of existing customers.
• Customer acquisition is 500% more expensive than retaining a customer!
• Profit margins in mobility are low at 20% when it should be closer to 50%.

As micromobility matures and operators focus less on aggressive expansion, it is only going to be more important to increase ARPU. In 2020, the average ARPU in shared mobility was $92. But by 2030, that number is set to hit $107!

So what are micromobility operators doing to increase ARPU today?

How micromobility operators increase ARPU today

Partnering with city authorities

It’s possible for your relationship with city authorities to be mutually beneficial! While micromobility can help city authorities meet climate goals and reduce traffic, cities can help micromobility operators by building more bike lanes and parking zones.

According to McKinsey, more than 90 cities have adopted policies that support micromobility. And the strategy is paying off! Research shows that new infrastructure can increase the number of journeys taken using micromobility by as much as 48%!

Operating in well-regulated markets

When it comes to regulation, there is a sweet spot. Some cities overregulate, and this is an issue when compliance can increase costs by 7%! But many cities underregulate and research shows this also makes turning a profit harder. That’s partly because unregulated cities led big micromobility operators come and offer rock-bottom prices.

To avoid price competition reducing your ARPU, operate in smaller, well-regulated markets. To provide some examples, check out mobility app loyalty successes. Another example is Swift, which operates in smaller cities across Portugal and ensures compliance with regulations such as mandatory parking bays. They even incorporated features that incentivize responsible parking into their app. As a result, Swift has even been invited by a city that previously banned electric scooters!

Using different pricing models

Dynamic pricing

Given that usage fluctuates throughout the day, dynamic pricing works well in mobility. For sure, charging less during quiet periods helps increase ARPU by maximizing fleet utilization. On the other side of that, charging more during busy periods can help make the most out of the customers using your limited fleet.

Subscriptions

Subscriptions are shown to drive “greater average spend”. In short, increased ARPU! Subscriptions are a trend that will continue to grow in mobility. Why? When customers subscribe to your mobility service, you create a deeper relationship with them. As a result, you build customer loyalty and generate a more predictable revenue stream.

Usage-based pricing

Usage-based pricing simply means charging the customer a fixed fee per minute. This is the way to go when competition is strong and prices are low. Think about it - customers have less reason to commit to your service if there are other operators in the area offering a similar price. Indeed, a big advantage of usage-based pricing is that customers can easily evaluate your service and potentially become paying subscribers.

Why increase ARPU? Benefits for micromobility operators and investors

Until very recently, micromobility operators focused more on expansion than profit. Even a market leader like Lime never made a profit until 2022! But things are different now. More than ever, there’s one big thing investors want to see: profitability.

And when it comes to making a profit, the benefits of increased ARPU are clear. To investors, a higher ARPU signals that you are maximizing profit while keeping costs stable. Crucially, that means greater profitability and potential for growth!

As a bonus, a higher ARPU indicates more positives about your service:

• Can compete in already competitive regions
• Increased customer lifetime value
• Leeway to experiment and innovate, such as with pricing strategies
• More revenue to invest in marketing and product development
• Shows that your service can generate more value from its customers

Simply put, when investors see a higher ARPU, they see a successful micromobility operator capable of growth and profitability!

3 strategies to increase ARPU and enter the shared mobility market

If you’re a new player in mobility, there are multiple strategies to increase ARPU that you can use to overcome the challenges that face your service:

#1 Optimize maintenance and fleet rebalancing

For a typical ride on an e-scooter costing $3.50, market research estimates that around $1.70 of the total goes to operations and charging. That’s nearly half of your revenue! To take the bite out of this sting, you improve fleet rebalancing and increase your ARPU.

Essentially, you need to charge your vehicles when they’re least likely to be used and make sure they’re in the right place at the right time! After all, when more of your fleet is being utilized, you maximize your revenue and increase ARPU.

This graph illustrates how a significant portion of revenue is consumed by operational costs, highlighting the importance of optimizing fleet management to boost ARPU.

#2 Loyalty programs

Loyal customers spend more and more often. Shouldn’t you reward them for that? Your customers think so! This is called the “Lucky Loyalty effect”, which says that loyal customers feel entitled to better treatment. And when you reward your loyal customers, you extend their loyalty and lifetime value. In other words, you increase ARPU!

For a great example from a micromobility operator, look at Germany’s EVO Sharing. They reward riders with in-app coins for every kilometer traveled. The more you ride, the more you earn! These coins can then be exchanged for free riding minutes. Not only does this incentivize riders to take more trips, but the reward also extends customer loyalty. In turn, this boosts customer lifetime value and increases ARPU!

#3 Implement app gamification and make your app more fun

Gamification is a great way to engage customers and increase ARPU. In essence, gamifying your app means adding game-like features to make the overall customer experience more fun. What’s great about gamification is that you can customize the features to match your goals!

For example, micromobility operators can use features in the following ways:

• Challenges - Send your customers on a quest to complete certain routes.
• Badges & milestones - Reward customers with badges for their achievements.
• Points - Incentivize behaviors with points that can be redeemed for perks.
• Streaks - Reward customers for riding daily or weekly!
• Leaderboards - Create a sense of competition & social status by ranking customers based on how far they travel.

Increase your ARPU today! Discover how our gamification software can get your customers to take 300% more trips!

In fact, many cities prefer mobility apps with gamification. For example, Finland’s capital Helsinki is clear about how gamification can incentivize micromobility usage.

Forum Virium / Helsinki - "Gamification must be integrated in mobility... micromobility operators & cities must work together to launch & manage incentives to make these innovative models of transport more attractive."

How does it work? Let’s look at an example from HumanForest! When HumanForest partnered with our team at StriveCloud to gamify their app, we created ‘TreeCoins’. It’s simple – the more you ride, the more TreeCoins you earn. And these TreeCoins form the basis for the app’s levels, rewards, and leaderboards. In addition, customers can redeem the coins for free riding minutes or discounts at green retailers! In short, together we turned the usually boring daily commute into an enjoyable game-like experience! Who wouldn’t come back for that?

The HumanForest app demonstrates how gamified elements like 'TreeCoins' can create an engaging user experience, reward sustainable behavior, and ultimately drive repeat usage.

Michael Stewart @HumanForest - "StriveCloud really helped us fulfil our brand message. The TreeCoins explain our mission perfectly…the progress visualization mechanic prompts customers to keep using HumanForest and rewards sustainable behavior with free riding minutes!"

Since implementing gamification, HumanForest e-bikes now make over 150,000 trips monthly across London. What’s more, 70% of those trips are made by repeat customers! This shows how gamification can keep your customers riding and increase ARPU.

Increase your ARPU today! Discover how our gamification software can get your customers to take 300% more trips!

FAQs

What is ARPU?

ARPU is ‘Average Revenue Per User’ and it shows the average revenue each customer generates. An increase in ARPU means higher profitability and potential for growth, without increasing costs or spending on customer acquisition! In short, a higher ARPU means greater profitability!

Why increase ARPU? Benefits for micromobility operators:

• Shows that you generate more value from your customers (in short, higher profitability and growth!);
• Increased customer lifetime value;
• Leeway to experiment and innovate, like with pricing strategies;
• More revenue to invest in marketing and product development.

How can new micromobility operators increase ARPU?

Smaller micromobility operators can increase ARPU by improving fleet rebalancing to maximize usage during both quiet and busy periods. You can also implement gamification to make the customer experience fun and rewarding. This incentivizes the customer to return and complete more trips!

How GameTurnier solved decentralized engagement with a complete esports platform

This header image represents GameTurnier's success in establishing itself as a leading esports platform in Switzerland.

Gaming is a highly disruptive market - and that’s what makes it so exciting! But this can also make it an uphill climb to develop an engaged and long-lasting gaming community. When GameTurnier had the goal of becoming Switzerland’s leading esports platform, they needed the right tools to face up to the challenge. Most importantly, they needed a platform that went beyond just tournaments, but an A-Z tool to build an active gaming community. To achieve that goal, GameTurnier found the perfect solution in our whitelabel tournament & community platform at StriveCloud.

In this article, we’ll cover GameTurnier’s journey to success:

• GameTurniers' challenges in building a successful esports platform
• How we helped GameTurnier overcome the engagement challenge
• 3 ways our whitelabel tournament & community platform keeps gamers engaged daily
• How you can get started with StriveCloud!
• FAQ

GameTurnier’s challenges in building a successful esports platform

ESTUDIOS is a 360-degree esports agency from Switzerland that works on every aspect a brand needs to go into esports and gaming. From consulting to organizing online and offline events, content production, and especially Community Building as a service. They also manage their own esports platform: GameTurnier!

For GameTurnier, they were looking for a platform that centralized all engagement in one place. They needed a whitelabel tournament & community platform that brings community, tournaments, loyalty, and content-sharing features into one place.

Matthias Zander, Executive Board and Head of Platform at ESTUDIOS and GameTurnier - "If you're a big streamer and you plan to build your community, you will want to organize community tournaments and engage your community even more. For that, Twitch bots are just not enough. You need more to engage with your community and, StriveCloud brings all these features on one platform."

However, growing your own esports platform isn’t easy. For one, you have to generate enough awareness to get users to sign up for your platform. But then activating gamers and retaining them is another question entirely! These days just hosting online tournaments is simply not enough. You also need to build a place where gamers want to come back every day.

Matthias Zander, Executive Board and Head of Platform at ESTUDIOS and GameTurnier - "If you look at other tournament hosting platforms, they don't have, a loyalty system in place like StriveCloud has. So the retention process on these other tournament platforms relies 100% on participation in tournaments. And, this is the unique thing of StriveCloud and therefore in the esports industry."

How we helped GameTurnier overcome the engagement challenge

Our platform

At StriveCloud we built a complete whitelabel tournament & community platform that centralizes all gamer engagement in one place! Besides a bespoke tournament engine, we have a range of community and gamification features to keep gamers engaged & loyal. With our solution, you don’t have to struggle with a thousand different tools, you simply get to build your very own esports platform!

The GameTurnier platform, powered by StriveCloud, provides a centralized hub for all gamer activities and engagement.

How are we different from alternative solutions?

Our whitelabel tournament & community platform centralizes engagement in one place. We combine community, tournament, loyalty, and content-sharing to provide the full gaming experience. In other words, our platform is about more than organizing online tournaments! With built-in community features like the social feed, commenting or upvotes gamers are encouraged to connect and interact with each other!

Matthias Zander, Executive Board and Head of Platform at ESTUDIOS and GameTurnier - "To be fair, other platforms miss the social component. The only things they have is a friend list and a user profile. Of course, they can have some kind of achievements, level systems, and so on, but they don't have, for example, the social feed functionality. They don't have the full news commentary functionality. They don't have, the loyalty system StriveCloud has."

You can use our gamification features like challenges, quizzes, and polls to keep gamers engaged on a daily basis. Then, you hook them in with a wide range of loyalty features such as points collection, shop integration, leveling systems, and hotzones.

As a whitelabel esports platform, you have complete control over everything. That means you can customize the full gaming experience. Additionally, you have access to all the data! You can use this to keep improving your platform and to attract sponsors and advertisers.

Matthias Zander, Executive Board and Head of Platform at ESTUDIOS - "It’s not only the possibility to create my own pages with my own designs and banners and so on, but also we can collect 1st party user data and have the possibility to sell advertisements to our clients. With StriveCloud we have almost full control of the platform.“

How to centralize gamer engagement into one esports platform? Discover how our whitelabel tournament & community platform can make it happen!

3 ways our whitelabel tournament & community platform keeps gamers engaged daily

#1 Gamification features that boost activation

What better audience is there for a gamified esports platform than gamers themselves? GameTurnier took advantage of gamification by using features such as polls, quizzes, and challenges to keep gamers engaged. That way they are incentivized to come back to the platform every day!

#2 Social features that fuel a sense of community

Lastly, of course, we cannot ignore the huge effect that social features have on long-term engagement. Research shows that a tight community brings users back for more! Whereas most gaming platforms only offer friend lists and user profiles, we enable you to go beyond. From integrated social feeds and news outlets to commenting systems and more!

#3 Loyalty features drive long-term engagement

To grow its gaming community, GameTurnier knew it needed an effective loyalty system. Not just to keep existing fans on the platform, but also to hook new ones in! Using our esports platform, they found a set of features they could use to create a compelling gamer experience:

• Points collection - which can be redeemed for rewards
• Levels that track gamer progress and reward their efforts
• Leaderboards, which help boost community spirit and competition

How GameTurnier scaled engagement with loyalty & gamification - Check out the case study here!

How you can get started with StriveCloud!

After years of experience in gaming & esports, we’ve developed a three-step plan to getting your esports platform off the ground and into the world:

1. Book a demo. - It’s quick and easy. Take a tour with our in-house experts and see our platform in action.
2. Like what you see? Then we can get started! - If you decide to work with us, we help you set up the platform & customize it.
3. Onboard & train your team - Our team will work side-by-side with yours, making sure the process is smooth and your team is confident using our platform!

Matthias Zander, Executive Board and Head of Platform at ESTUDIOS and GameTurnier - "I'm working in esports and gaming industry for more than 20 years now. So I came across many solutions from Discord bots to platforms that came & went away again. I was always searching for that one platform that would deliver more than tournaments and StriveCloud is finally the platform I was looking for."

Start your journey today! Book a free demo & put your esports platform on the path to success.

FAQ

Why do I need a whitelabel tournament & community platform?

With a whitelabel solution, you have full control of how the platform looks & feels. Your own branding can foster community spirit and keep gamers around for longer! Furthermore, having your own esports platform gives you the credibility and data to close sponsor deals & create awesome brand activations!

How can esports platforms build a community?

The research is clear, a tight community brings users back for more! Social features like a newsfeed and comment section can massively increase participation on your esports platform. Also, regular activations with quizzes, polls, and challenges keep them engaged.

How is the StriveCloud esports platform different from other tournament platforms?

StriveCloud is designed to centralize gamer engagement in one esports platform. Beyond our tournament engine, we have a variety of social & gamification features to build an engaged community. Unlike other software, our whitelabel tournament & community platform is advertiser-friendly. With full control over 1st party data!

How did Lime become profitable? 4 tried and proven ways!

The race to turn a profit is on - and the winner is Lime! In 2022, Lime became the first micromobility operator to report a profitable year. In this article, we showed how the key to sustainable growth is to maximize rides per customer. For Lime, mobility gamification is what’s driving their customers to ride. So don’t delay, the time to gamify is now!

This article explores the gamification and loyalty features that helped Lime achieve profitability in the competitive micromobility market.

• How Lime uses mobility gamification
• Why do companies like Lime use mobility gamification?
• 4 examples of gamification features available on Lime app
• The impact of the gamification & loyalty features available on Lime app
• How to increase profitability with StriveCloud
• FAQs

How Lime uses mobility gamification

You’ve probably heard of points systems, levels, and leaderboards. That’s because these are some of the most popular game mechanics in use today. And for good reason! When you use one or a combination of these game mechanics, you build a playful and addictive experience that hooks your customers in.

But Lime uses mobility gamification to do more than create a fun experience. In reality, gamified features can reward and drive the behaviors that support your business goals! For example, to maximize rides per customer. Naturally, Lime wants customers to ride more - that gets them more bang for their buck! Well, to drive your customers into action, you need a customer-centric approach. That’s what gamification offers!

The strategy has paid off - in Lime’s 2020 report, they revealed that customers are riding scooters longer and farther than before. As a result of growth like this, Lime hit a huge milestone - they became the first micromobility company to turn a profit! Even more impressive, Lime’s profit was $466 million, nearly double that of their biggest competitor, Bird!

The chart above visualizes the positive trends in Lime's usage, a direct result of their effective customer engagement strategies.

Why do companies like Lime use mobility gamification?

Research shows how gamification taps into human psychology. In further detail, what makes gamification so powerful is that it plays on our common needs and desires. For example, here are just 3 ways gamification can help mobility operators:

1. Competitive elements motivate customers

Win or lose, competition is hugely motivating! For instance, you could let customers compete to win the top spot on a leaderboard. This competition leads to several benefits:

• Competing is a social activity and socialization boosts engagement
• Competitions can be used as a benchmark for growth, and this positively reinforces customer activity
• Creates goal-driven behavior, which encourages continued engagement

What’s more, researchers report that competition is so effective that customers are still motivated even when there’s no real-world prize!

2. Maximize trips per customer

It’s all about fun! In fact, studies find that a fun experience is what makes someone want to ride an e-scooter in the first place. Knowing this, you can see how gamification comes in useful! Essentially, gamification uses goals, rewards, and incentives to make the experience more enjoyable. In turn, this creates ‘intrinsic motivation’. In other words, your customer is more motivated to use your service simply because they enjoy it!

3. Reward customer loyalty

Put simply, give rewards for actions that you want to encourage. Of course, that includes loyalty! In fact, reports note that gamified loyalty programs are better at engagement. That’s because “traditional loyalty programs under-serve motivations like self-efficacy and self-expression.” In short, they don’t empower the customer!

Whilst traditional loyalty programs focus on extrinsic rewards like discounts and VIP experiences, the gamified Lime loyalty features rewards on a deeper, more intrinsic level. In essence, Lime’s rewards focus on human needs, such as progress and achievement. And when you fulfill these needs, you create value. In turn, this fosters loyalty! In practice, apps get a 22% rise in brand loyalty after introducing gamification!

4 examples of gamification features available on Lime app

Celebrating milestones

Milestones are a great marker of progress. In brief, they can be used to provide feedback and positive reinforcement. As a result, this motivates the rider! For example, when you finish your first ride with Lime, Lime congratulates you. All in all, this is an easy way to personalize the feedback and strengthen your relationship with the customer.

This example demonstrates how celebrating a user's first ride with a milestone notification creates a positive and encouraging first impression.

Gamified referral program

By far, the best way to create loyal customers is to use your existing ones! In fact, referred customers are 37% more likely to stick around! Given this, Lime gamification & loyalty features incentivize referrals. It does this by rewarding both parties with €3 in riding credit. And according to science, equal-split rewards are the best option.

Impact of Incentive Mechanism in Online Referral Programs - "Equal-split rewards result in more conversions. It increases the invitee’s likelihood to accept a referral, due to selective and better targeted referrals."

Lime's referral program effectively uses gamification by offering a clear, equal-split reward, which encourages both existing and new users to participate.

Planting trees for pennies

50% of people ride e-scooters to reduce their emissions. Given this, Lime is smart to partner with the green fintech company Aspiration. Essentially, Lime riders with an Aspiration debit card can round up their spending to the nearest Euro. In turn, these pennies go towards planting trees!

What’s more, Aspiration users get 12 months of the LimePass for free! That’s a whopping 365 days of no unlock fees. This exclusive access recognizes and rewards Lime’s loyal customers. Not to mention, it satisfies the human need for a higher status.

This feature illustrates a partnership that aligns with user values, connecting ride-sharing with environmental sustainability and exclusive rewards.

Rewards for “Juicers”

To be sure, fleet rebalancing can be a huge headache for mobility operators. If your scooters aren’t charged, or they aren’t in the right location at the right time, then you are losing customers. But Lime found a solution! As a part of the Juicer program, people can sign up and get paid to charge Lime’s scooters.

As a result, this program sets off a positive feedback loop:

1. Creates a community of loyal customers who care for Lime scooters.
2. This results in better fleet rebalancing.
3. Which improves availability and reliability, facilitating customer engagement!

Like the sound of Lime’s gamification features? Start your own gamification journey with StriveCloud! Find out how!

The "Juicer" program screen showcases how gamification can solve operational challenges by rewarding users for charging and rebalancing the scooter fleet.

The impact of the gamification & loyalty features available on Lime app

Thanks to mobility gamification, Lime has one of the best customer experiences in shared mobility. Take the Juicer program. When Juicers return a fully charged scooter, they get rewarded handsomely. Naturally, this incentivizes the Juicers to do a great job! And Lime’s CEO spells out just how important this is:

Toby Sun, CEO @Lime - "The Juicer program is very important for us to maintain a higher quality operation, so that people see less mis-parking, vandalism, or problematic scooters in the market versus our competitors... it’s very, very scalable and very, very efficient."

Essentially, Juicers make Lime a more reliable mobility operator. As a result, Lime increases their customer engagement and loyalty! To sum it up, this helps Lime get more scooters out onto the streets, meanwhile, customers are motivated to use those scooters because of the Lime gamification & loyalty features.

And thanks to that improved unit economics, Lime results from 2022 are impressive:

• Rides up 20% year-on-year in every single quarter
• 1.5 million new riders (bringing the total to 4 million active riders)
• 33% increase in gross revenue
• 120 million trips taken, which comes to 4 rides every second in 2022

But the Lime gamification & loyalty features don’t stop there. Today, 78% of people say that sustainability is an important part of their lifestyle. That’s why Lime partnered with Aspiration to plant 5 million trees! No doubt, this partnership helps fuel Lime’s success. When companies become more sustainable, the boost to customer satisfaction is huge!

This graph shows the positive correlation between corporate sustainability efforts and customer satisfaction, a principle Lime has successfully leveraged.

How to increase profitability with StriveCloud

The Lime gamification & loyalty features are specifically designed for their app and business goals. However, what works great for Lime might not work for you! Indeed, if you want to properly differentiate your service you need your own gamification strategy.

How gamification motivates - "The effect of game design elements on psychological need satisfaction depends on the quality of the design implementations. In other words, the whole process of implementing gamification plays a crucial role."

In short, you can’t just copy Lime’s gamification & loyalty features! Instead, you need to understand how your audience thinks. What do they want? What rewards will motivate them? To guide you through this process, StriveCloud can help. On average, our clients see a 300% increase in trips booked by active customers!

Here’s how it works: we provide you with a range of gamification & loyalty features that you can customize. This way, you can make your customer experience truly unique and set yourself apart from other mobility operators! What’s more, getting started is easy. We have 3 simple steps to put you on your way to success:

1. First, we kickstart our collaboration with a gamification workshop. During this, we’ll identify the best way forward given your goals and target audience.
2. Second, we will set up our software to integrate the new features straight into your mobility app! What’s more, you’ll gain access to a central control panel that lets you make changes and interactions to the gamified experience live into your app.
3. Finally, we have a personal approach to onboard and train your team to use our software, so you can work the way you want! Of course, our team will be there to help at every step.

Want to increase profitability? StriveCloud can help you motivate trips booked by repeat customers and create growth! Find out more!

FAQs

How does Lime use mobility gamification?

Lime uses several gamification features, such as celebrating customer milestones, rewarding referrals, and even paying customers to charge their scooters. As a result, Lime’s fun and rewarding features keep customers engaged and incentivize them to keep riding!

Why should mobility apps like Lime use gamification features?

Gamification features result in 3 main benefits. Firstly, competition. Research finds that competition motivates, even without a prize! Second, gamification fulfills psychological needs like belonging and increases customer motivation. Finally, studies find that gamified loyalty features are better at creating loyalty!

What is the result of Lime’s mobility gamification?

Lime’s gamification & loyalty features helped them become the first profitable micromobility company! Take the Juicer program. This rewards scheme pays customers to charge scooters and improve reliability. Toby Sun, Lime’s CEO, said the Juicer program was important to maintain Lime’s top-quality operation.

How to maximize rides per user (and grow your mobility service)

This visual intro sets the stage for our discussion on strategies mobility services can use to increase user engagement and ride frequency.

Customer acquisition is simply too expensive. If mobility operators want to create growth and profitability, they need to focus on their existing customers! That means finding a way to maximize rides per user. Gamification can help! Gamification makes your customer experience more fun, among many other benefits. Today, let’s focus on how gamification can incentivize your customers to take more rides.

• 3 strategies that fuel customer loyalty and engagement
• Why customer experience should be your top priority
• How technology can help mobility improve operational efficiency & the customer experience
• What insights your data can deliver on consumer behavior
• How StriveCloud helps mobility operators maximize rides per user with gamification
• FAQs

3 strategies that fuel customer loyalty and engagement

Loyalty programs

A loyalty program is essential to boost customer loyalty and maximize rides per user. That’s especially true in times of economic uncertainty like 2023. For example, during the 2007 downturn, loyalty program participation grew 19% in just 2 years. It’s not just that people look for discounts in tough times - they also want someone to take care of their needs. And doing so will earn you their loyalty!

These days, consumers expect your loyalty program to be fun as well. No more is this the case than among young people, an important audience for mobility operators. In a study on loyalty programs, Deloitte found that 18-24 year olds consistently preferred loyalty programs with game elements.

This Deloitte study highlights a key demographic insight: younger users are significantly more drawn to loyalty programs that incorporate game-like elements, a crucial factor for modern mobility operators.

Rewards schemes and discounts

For new mobility operators and city launches, hard rewards like discounts are useful to attract new customers. But there are potential drawbacks. A 2021 study found that discounts are most powerful in the first 130 days after product launch. After that, you’ll create what is called the overjustification effect and actually demotivate customers!

Gamification

Gamification is the use of game-like elements such as challenges, levels, and leaderboards and rewarding customers for their achievements with virtual currency badges or free-riding minutes to make their experience more fun and engaging. These gamification features trigger what’s called intrinsic motivation. This is when customers use your mobility service simply because they enjoy it that much! For example, here are 3 gamification features you could introduce in your mobility app to incentivize rides booked by repeat customers:

• Badges & virtual currency. Rewarding customers with virtual currency and badges give them instant feedback on what behaviors are encouraged on your app. What’s more, points are perfect for shared mobility as they can be exchanged for free riding minutes or items in your shop!
• Leaderboards. Ranking customers inspires competition and creates a highly motivating social experience.
• Challenges. Setting a clear goal can trigger customers to take action. For instance, to cover more distance. You can even link it to other game mechanics such as rewarding customers for their achievements with badges or virtual currency, or make them compete against each other in a public in-app leaderboard!

On average, apps see an impressive 22% rise in brand loyalty after introducing gamification! And of course, this helps you maximize rides per user!

Why customer experience should be your top priority

To many consumers today, the only difference between mobility operators is the color of your vehicle! So if you really want to stand out, you need a great customer experience. Research by McKinsey supports this. They found that consumers named availability and reliability as 2 of the most important things that mobility apps should offer.

As this McKinsey graph shows, the core user experience fundamentals of vehicle availability and reliability are paramount for customer satisfaction in shared mobility.

In other words, a working vehicle where and when the customer wants it. Of course, putting a vehicle on every corner is not a solution to maximize rides per user. That’s neither possible nor profitable! Instead, what you need to do is leverage the right technology to achieve your operational & growth goals!

How technology can help mobility improve operational efficiency & the customer experience

Your goal as a mobility operator is to offer a seamless, efficient, and personalized service. For that, you need the right tools:

Chatbots and customer service

Customer service costs around 10-15% of your revenue. However, a good chatbot reduces those costs without sacrificing the quality of your customer service. Given that consumers today expect a response in 10 minutes or less, it’s no wonder that 70% of consumers now prefer chatbots for fast support. Remember, the faster the support, the faster the customer can get back on your vehicle!

And because competition is so strong in mobility, your customer service is extra crucial. Today, 33% of people would leave a brand after just one bad experience!

Fleet rebalancing

You must have accurate and up-to-date data for your fleet. Knowing where your vehicles are, where they need to be, and which need charging, is important for multiple reasons:

1. Customers are more likely to find a vehicle when they need it, which helps to maximize rides per user
2. Increased profitability, as supply is matched to demand - when your fleet is elsewhere, you lose money
3. Rebalancing is often required by city regulators to avoid improperly parked vehicles

Partnerships & integrated apps

Partnerships can be mutually beneficial. Especially when the end-user wants to combine multiple modes of transportation. For example, e-scooter operator Circ joined Spanish train operator Renfe and taxi app Cabify to create an integrated mobility app that benefits all three companies - but most importantly, the customer!

The iomob app, integrating various services, illustrates how partnerships can create a seamless user journey, which in turn generates valuable cross-platform data.

What insights your data can deliver on consumer behavior

They say that knowledge is power. But when it comes to data, it really is true. Hidden in the data that all mobility apps collect are insights into customer behavior and preferences. In fact, a recent study showed how data can be used to enhance customer satisfaction:

Transport Policy, Volume 100 - "An app, called ‘Metropia,’ incorporated personalized rewards with predicted travel time, and showed that users change both departure time and route for 35% of their trips... this helps mobility apps get positive feedback and gain more customers."

Now, many mobility operators already use customer data to manage their fleets, but some also use it to optimize pricing strategies.

Improved dynamic pricing

The more you know about your customers, the better your dynamic pricing will be. This means higher fees in peak times and lower fees in quiet periods, which maximizes rides per user and ensures full fleet utilization. But you can’t do that if you don’t know when those times are, and what the limits are that customers will pay!

Personalized pricing strategies that lead to loyalty

Take Lime for instance. Their monthly subscribers pay zero fees to unlock an e-scooter. Even better, some mobility operators offer prices that depend on the distance traveled and trip duration. This feeds into the ‘Lucky Loyalty effect’, which says that the more loyal a customer is, the better they expect to be treated!

How StriveCloud helps mobility operators maximize rides per user with gamification

If you want to maximize rides per user, you need a great app experience. That’s because your app is the center of everything - it’s where customers sign up, pay, and hitch a ride. StriveCloud helps mobility operators create a fun and unique experience by introducing gamification & loyalty features inside the app.

Here are three main ways we achieve that:

1. Incentivize behaviors with in-app rewards to maximize rides per user - On average we’ve helped mobility operators double rides per user.
2. Build a loyal & engaged customer base - Our customers see an average increase of 300% in trips booked by active customers.
3. Create an engaging experience around your mobility service - Empower your brand narratives with fun gamification features such as challenges, levels & achievements!

Our software makes it easy for you to add all types of features from points & badge reward systems to daily quizzes, lotteries, in-app currencies, leaderboards, and more! We have over 20 powerful interactive features you can use to engage your customers.

Michael Stewart @HumanForest - "What’s unique about StriveCloud compared to a regular loyalty program or customer marketing is that your customer’s experience is inside the app, at the moment they are using it."

So why does it work? Well, first of all, the shared mobility model is well-suited for gamification. That’s because reward systems are in line with business goals and such as maximizing rides per user. Additionally, the target audience for mobility responds very well to gamification.

Furthermore, our experience and expertise in the area of gamification allows us to easily create a winning strategy! By combining extrinsic motivation, (from things like rewards and discounts), with intrinsic motivation, (leveraging progress, achievement, and empowerment), we manage to fuel long-term engagement and loyalty. In fact, our clients see an average 300% increase in trips completed by active customers!

Don’t believe it? See for yourself! Find out how StriveCloud helps you maximize rides per user!

FAQs

How to maximize rides per user in shared mobility?

Gamification uses game-like elements to make apps more fun. This leads to intrinsic motivation. That’s when customers use your app just because they enjoy it! On average, gamification results in a 22% rise in brand loyalty. And this maximizes rides per user!

Why is the customer experience is important for shared mobility?

To many people, the only difference between mobility operators is the brand’s color! Today, you need a great customer experience to stand out. McKinsey research supports this - consumers name availability & reliability as 2 things that mobility apps must offer.

How can data insights help shared mobility apps understand consumer behavior?

Dynamic pricing is a great way to maximize rides per user. This means higher fees in peak times and lower fees in quiet periods. To use dynamic pricing effectively, analyze your vehicle usage patterns and the limit that your customers will pay!

Why gamify? 3 mobility apps unlocking the benefits of mobility app gamification

Leveraging gamification in your mobility service leads to many benefits. But to get the advantages, you also need to avoid the potential pitfalls! What makes or breaks an effective gamification strategy? And how do you set up a working plan?

In this article, we'll explore successful examples of mobility app gamification and what can be learned from them.

• What are the benefits of mobility app gamification?
• 3 successful examples of gamification in mobility services
• When gamification of your mobility service can backfire (and how to avoid that!)
• FAQs

What are the benefits of mobility app gamification?

#1 Increased customer engagement

It’s simple - when your app is fun to use, customers are more motivated to come back. In short, that means your customers will complete more trips! This fact is supported by the results of a recent study that tested mobility app gamification in cities across Europe.

Innovation for Sustainable Cities - "When using a mobility app that incorporates gamified elements, citizens are motivated to cycle more and to explore more points of interest in the city."

#2 Enhanced customer loyalty

Customers become loyal to you when you recognize and reward their participation. To do that, most loyalty programs use extrinsic rewards like discounts. But that also comes with some drawbacks. When people are only motivated by the reward, eventually motivation will dry up. You can either increase your spending on discounts or leverage gamification!

Gamification re-introduces unpredictability and fun into the experience! It helps you get passed the point of diminishing returns. Instead of a tangible prize, gamification plays on what we call ‘intrinsic rewards’. That means fulfilling psychological needs such as the desire for status, connection, or achievement. In fact, research from the University of Louvain finds that intrinsic rewards like those used in gamification are more effective at fostering long-term loyalty!

What drives customer participation in loyalty programs? - "Extrinsic rewards decrease customer loyalty as they draw the attention from the brand to the reward, and thereby, lower customers’ intrinsic motivation... but intrinsic rewards are particularly effective at enhancing brand loyalty."

#3 Higher customer satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is the ultimate prize! Mobility app gamification helps you stand out and be remembered. It gives customers a reason to choose you over competitors. Additionally, a happy customer is one that spreads the word - and referred customers are 16% more valuable than average!

The role of gamification in mobile apps - "Gamification increases customer engagement through satisfaction of the needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness. In turn, engagement leads to greater intention to use and positively rate the app."

#4 Elevated ARPU

Besides being great for branding, mobility app gamification also boosts the average revenue per customer! Customers are likely to spend more, and more often! This allows you to improve overall profitability.

Given the competitiveness of the industry, it’s no surprise that mobility services use gamification to increase ARPU.

The power to boost ARPU comes from how gamification makes your mobility app more engaging. An analysis by Gallup finds that disengaged customers generate 13% less revenue than average, whereas fully engaged customers are 23% more profitable!

Get started with gamification today & sell up to 3X more trips!

3 successful examples of gamification in mobility services

When we say mobility app gamification works, we’re talking from experience. In fact, our customers in shared mobility see an average return of 200% more trips after the gamification of their mobility service.

HumanForest

How did HumanForest stop 220 tons of CO2 from entering London’s air? With their mobility service powered by gamification! When HumanForest wanted to encourage more customers on their e-bikes, we created a gamified loyalty program together. To achieve the desired results, we used multiple elements of mobility app gamification:

• Earn TreeCoins based on the distance covered & exchange them for free-riding minutes!
• Complete challenges to earn more TreeCoins! (And save more CO2!)
• Use your TreeCoins to enter a lottery system & win awesome prizes!
• Rank on a CO2 leaderboard based on the amount of CO2 you saved!
• Level up from a tiny Bonzai tree all the way up to a Sequoia tree!

Michael Stewart @Human Forest - "On one hand, we wanted to create a fun and engaging experience around the concept of HumanForest. On the other hand, we wanted to show our customers the impact they were having on the planet."

Since implementing gamification, HumanForest e-bikes now make over 150,000 trips monthly across London. Even better, 70% of those trips are made by repeat customers!

Want to grow your service like HumanForest? Discover how our mobility app gamification experts can help you!

HumanForest uses a challenge system to encourage specific user actions, directly tying engagement to CO2 savings and tangible rewards.

EVO Sharing

One of the first things that new customers of EVO Sharing see is an empty state: they’re a rookie with 0 minutes, 0 EVOCoins, and 0 kilometers to their name. But getting started is easy! To spur customers on, the screen shows what newbies need to earn and how to do it. For example, customers see that they only need 602xp to level up. Seems doable, right?

Once you start using EVO Sharing, you’re motivated to come back. Each action leads to a progress driver and eventually builds up to a reward. This creates an inherent loop of positive reinforcement. In other words, customers return to EVO Sharing because they want to experience that same rush again!

EVOCoins are a great example of this positive feedback loop:

1. EVOCoins rewards customers for the number of kilometers they ride.
2. Customers can use EVOCoins to buy extra riding minute packages.
3. Finally, this reinforces loyalty and increases buying frequency!

Jennifer Dittmar @EVO Sharing - "Our business model is very suitable for gamification. Receiving rewards based on distance, kilometers, or minutes driven makes a lot of sense to use and goes well together."

EVO Sharing's achievement system clearly visualizes user progress and rewards, motivating customers to continue using the service to unlock the next level.

Felyx

Competition is tough and bigger operators will always have lower prices than you. That’s unfortunate because consumers name “competitive price” as the No. 2 most important feature of a mobility service - second only to safety.

Luckily mobility app gamification can help you overcome this challenge! To encourage customer loyalty, Felyx customers pay less the more they ride! To get an upgrade, customers must earn points by riding more. Why is this so effective? Because loyal customers expect this better treatment! This is called the “Lucky Loyalty effect”, which says that customers feel that perks and discounts should scale with their loyalty.

In short, by rewarding your loyal customers, you extend their loyalty and lifetime value!

Felyx implements a tiered loyalty system where increased usage unlocks better pricing, demonstrating the "Lucky Loyalty effect" in action.

When gamification of your mobility service can backfire (and how to avoid that!)

All in all, it’s important to remember that the gamification of your mobility service is about more than handing out rewards. You need to create a strategy that keeps customers engaged in the long term.

Given this, here are some drawbacks to look out for:

Too complex, with no clear path of action

Part of what makes gamification so useful is how it guides the customer journey. When done right, you can set up a clear path of actions linked to rewards to get customers to do exactly what you want. It works best when you keep it simple. Think of a “do this to get that” mechanism, for instance: fill out your profile to level up.

It’s tempting to keep adding new features to your experience, however, this will only lead to overwhelm. A great gamified experience combines different gamified elements into one coherent experience and narrative.

Rewards are too plentiful or too easy to get

If rewards are too easy, they lose their purpose! Think about it - if customers are rewarded for putting in zero effort, why should they try to earn the next one? On that note, overusing rewards can also cause customers to quit.

What drives customer participation in loyalty programs? - "Customers can become annoyed by an excessive amount of rewards to the extent that they consider unsubscribing."

Rewards are too difficult to get

On the other hand, your rewards shouldn’t be too difficult to achieve! For customers, impossible rewards result in a lack of progress and growth which can be super frustrating.

The power lies in finding the right balance between challenge and motivation.

This visual represents the Fogg Behavior Model, which highlights the importance of balancing user motivation, ability, and prompts to drive desired actions.

You put customers in a losing state

When done right gamification fuels motivation by creating “win states”. However, the opposite can also be true! For instance, when customers fail to complete a challenge, drop on the leaderboard ranking, or lose their daily streak. It gives a feeling of having lost all previous progress and built-up benefits which actually works demotivating.

There are workarounds though! For instance, you can segment people into different leaderboard levels so it always feels like they’re part of the top people!

Create a proven gamification strategy in an expert-led workshop & learn how to sell 3X more trips with mobility app gamification!

FAQs

What are the benefits of mobility app gamification?

Mobility services with gamification benefit from higher customer engagement. It's simple - gamification makes your app more fun to use! And higher engagement increases customer satisfaction and the average revenue per user. In fact, fully engaged customers are 23% more profitable than average!

How does mobility service gamification boost customer loyalty?

Instead of hard rewards like discounts, gamification offers intrinsic rewards. That means psychological benefits like fulfilling the need for personal growth. And research finds that intrinsic rewards like those used in gamification are more effective at fostering loyalty than hard rewards!

How does mobility app gamification improve customer engagement?

When your app is more fun to use, customers are more motivated to use it. In short, that means your customers will take more trips! Indeed, a recent study found that mobility service gamification made people significantly more motivated to cycle.

What is an engaged user? Everything you need to know to boost user engagement.

Understanding the concept of an engaged user is the first step toward improving customer retention and app performance. This article will explore what it means to have engaged users and how to cultivate them.

These days, everything is getting more expensive. That includes customer acquisition! In 2022, it cost $2.24 to acquire a new user. But in December 2019, apps spent just $0.97. To reduce your spend on customer acquisition, focus on creating engaged users! Users who engage stick around for longer - and spend more too. In this article, find out what being an engaged user means and how it helps you improve your user engagement strategy and gain loyal customers.

• Who is an engaged user?
• 4 types of user engagement (with examples)
• Why is an engaged user so valuable?
• The difference between user & customer engagement
• How to create an engaged user
• What affects user engagement?
• How to measure user engagement
• 4 actions that indicate an engaged user
• What is a good percentage of engaged users?
• How to improve user engagement?
• 4 common mistakes in user engagement
• FAQs

Who is an engaged user?

Put simply, engaged users have a deeper relationship with your product. In general, that means they are more active, and also more likely to stay loyal! An engaged user gets more value from your app but also reciprocates that value. For instance, by spending more money, and more often, referring friends or even partaking in social media campaigns!

4 types of user engagement (with examples)

User engagement is a wide umbrella. However, there are 4 key ways how users engage:

Contextual engagement: right place, right time

If a user is contextually engaged, that’s because your product is relevant to them. And you can easily achieve this through personalization. For example, a push notification with an offer based on their purchase history. In fact, 70% of consumers are more likely to engage with a company that better understands them!

Ease-of-use: a requirement for every engaged user

Before you even think about user engagement, your app experience should be smooth, and simple to understand. Don’t make your user jump through hoops! The best apps are easy to sign-up and engage with. In fact, you should be able to engage in 3 clicks or less!

Emotional engagement: here’s why I love this app!

When your content induces good feelings, people engage emotionally. They are chasing the next good feeling! To inspire this kind of user engagement, create a strong story or visuals to wow your users or make them laugh.

Social engagement: who’s with me?

A socially engaged user uses your product because it lets them connect with others. For instance, through a comments section. No doubt, social engagement is hugely powerful. In 2020, social apps attracted more weekly user engagement than any other category!

Why is an engaged user so valuable?

A high engagement score means that the user will stick around. And retention leads to financial success! Case in point – 90% of new users who engage weekly are retained on Day 30. The alternative, those who don’t engage weekly, see a mere 23% retention rate. Moreover, an engaged user generates more revenue. Research finds that the top 10% of app users spend 3x more!

The difference between user & customer engagement

In brief, customers are engaged users who have already made a commitment, such as a purchase, to your product. Whereas users can simply be casual visitors. So every customer is a user, but not every user is a customer.

User engagement measures how often people actively engage & interact with your app. On the other hand, customer engagement focuses more on the entire customer lifecycle. How often do they buy? What is their lifetime value? How loyal are they?

How to create an engaged user

User engagement requires big-picture thinking. That’s because it analyzes every action your users make! Starting from onboarding, users have hundreds of ways to interact with your app. For example: by following a call-to-action, clicking a share button, downloading content, or using certain features!

What affects user engagement?

Since user engagement encompasses everything, it can be challenging to narrow down what affects it. However, there’s one thing that always creates engaged users. And that’s a great user experience! In practice, you can facilitate user engagement with an intuitive user interface, a user journey that flows well, and simply by providing value.

How to measure user engagement

How do you distinguish an engaged user? Ultimately, that’s down to you and your goals! But these tried and tested user engagement metrics will come in useful:

#1 Daily/Monthly Active Users (DAU/MAU rate)

Daily active users / Monthly active users = DAU/MAU rate

Comparing your daily (DAU) and monthly active users (MAU) indicates how engaging your product is. For example, if you have 100 DAU, and 1000 MAU, your DAU/MAU rate is 0.1. In other words, 1 in 10 monthly users also engages daily.

#2 Stickiness ratio

DAU/MAU rate * 100 = %

Take the DAU/MAU Ratio one step further! The stickiness ratio reveals how much-repeated user engagement you generate. In general, a score of 20% is good. Still, the sky is the limit! The world’s top apps like Instagram have a stickiness ratio of 50%.

This chart visualizes daily active user benchmarks, a key metric for determining how "sticky" an application is and how frequently users return to it.

#3 Session duration

Duration of all sessions / Number of sessions = Average session duration

This calculates the time a user spends on your app. A related metric - and one you want to keep as low as possible - is bounce rate, when users quit fast after opening.

#4 Churn Rate

(Customers who left in time period / Total number of customers) * 100 = %

More than anything else, a high churn rate indicates your user engagement strategy isn’t working. Conversely, a low churn rate is a sign of engaged users and a profitable business! Even a modest 5% reduction in churn can boost profits by as much as 25-95%!

4 actions that indicate an engaged user

How users engage depends on their place in the customer journey. In short, that means you should personalize your user engagement strategy depending on the actions users take. Starting from the top, here are 4 ways users can engage:

• Discovery. This is the first stage of an engaged user. In practice, users might scroll through your app’s dashboard or trawl through reviews of your product.
• Trial. In short, users are trying your product out. This is an extension of discovery, although here the user has made a conscious choice to engage.
• Frequency. In other words, repeated use! This shows the user is getting value from the product, giving them a reason to engage.
• Advocacy. Users who advocate for your product are your most valuable! Some examples of user engagement here include user referrals and writing a review.

What is a good percentage of engaged users?

A user engagement rate between 1-5% is considered good. Of course, not every user will become an engaged user. Indeed, nearly 95% of your users churn by Day 30. Ideally, you want your engaged users to at least cover the costs of acquiring those who churn!

How to improve user engagement?

Gamification can build that great user experience! In fact, studies show that gamified apps enjoy a 54% rise in free trial usage. Basically, gamification creates engaged users by incentivizing user engagement with fun features like badges, points, and rewards. Based on behavioral science, there are 4 powerful gamification mechanics:

1. A competitive and social UX. People are highly motivated by social influences!
2. Progress that is clear and visible. This fulfills the user’s need for growth and achievement.
3. Rewards for participation. Studies show this triggers activity & leads to long-term user engagement.
4. Winning is easy to understand. Simplicity is engaging. A great story that adds all these elements into one cohesive user journey will help you stand out!

For instance, when Fitbit implemented a leaderboard, average daily steps jumped 15%!

Create more engaged users! Check out how StriveCloud’s app gamification software can grow your active user base by 350%!

Fitbit's leaderboard is a prime example of gamification in action, using social competition to directly influence user behavior and increase daily engagement.

4 common mistakes in user engagement

#1 Long loading times

53% of users will abandon an app if it takes longer than 3 seconds too to load. But waiting can be fun! Good loading screens have something called “operational transparency”. In short, show your users what’s taking so long! While bad loading screens make a user churn in just 25 seconds, studies show that good loading screens can engage users for 55 seconds!

This animated loading screen is a great example of keeping users engaged during wait times by providing visual feedback and a sense of progress.

#2 Ineffective onboarding

Bad onboarding can instantly kill user engagement. After all, it’s your first impression! Most apps fail at onboarding, that’s why 75% of users quit on Day 1 after installation. To build better onboarding, incentivize user engagement with gamified progress bars, rewards, and checklists.

#3 Intrusive ads or pop-ups

Ads are a common way to monetize your app. But there’s a limit! In fact, 50% of users uninstall apps due to intrusive advertising. Essentially, ads themselves aren’t the problem - just avoid them getting in the way of your app’s ease of use.

#4 Lack of rewards

Your users want to be recognized for their engagement. So why not use rewards? Every time users complete a certain action, give them some sort of reward! It creates a positive feedback loop that keeps them coming back! Studies show that you can create an engaged user by making them earn status, rewards & achievements.

FAQs

Who is an engaged user?

Put simply, engaged users have a deeper relationship with your product. In general, that means they are more active, and also more likely to stay loyal! An engaged user gets more value from your app but also reciprocates that value. For instance, by spending more money, and more often, referring friends or even partaking in social media campaigns!

What’s the difference between user & customer engagement?

User engagement measures how often people interact with your app. In contrast, customer engagement focuses on the entire customer lifecycle, starting from the first purchase. So, every customer is a user, but not every user is a customer.

How to improve user engagement?

Studies show that gamified apps enjoy a 54% rise in free trial usage. Basically, gamification creates engaged users by incentivizing user engagement with fun features like badges and rewards. For instance, when Fitbit implemented a leaderboard, average daily steps jumped 15%!

5 gamification & loyalty features that make Bird a better business

Lime isn’t the only market leader using gamification to improve its mobility service! Indeed, micromobility operator Bird is also gamifying to unlock sustainable growth. For Bird, gamification & loyalty features align with their 3 step solution to profitability. In practice, this means rewarding loyalty and incentivizing customers to take more rides.

This article explores how micromobility leader Bird leverages gamification to enhance user engagement and drive its business towards profitability.

• Why Bird uses gamification features
• 5 examples of Bird gamification & loyalty features
• How Bird’s gamification features increase engagement & loyalty
• The success of Bird’s gamification & loyalty features
• How you can meet your business goals with StriveCloud
• FAQs

Why Bird uses gamification features

Today, Bird’s e-scooters and bikes can be found in an impressive 450 cities worldwide. But the company is undergoing a transformation. Moving on from years of expansion, Bird is prioritizing profitability by exiting markets like Norway and Sweden. And for Bird, gamification & loyalty features are key to making profitability a reality!

It’s all a part of Bird’s 3 step solution to success:

1. Collaboration.
2. Communication.
3. Operations.

Basically, Bird uses rewards, discounts, and other game-like elements to achieve both their own goals and those of their collaborators, like city authorities for instance. In addition, the Bird gamification & loyalty features will help optimize operations by improving fleet management and making parking in mandatory bays easier. In turn, this increases loyalty and engagement - and makes Bird more profitable!

The strategy seems to be working. In Q2 of 2022, Bird’s YoY revenue increased by 28%!

5 examples of Bird gamification & loyalty features

Put simply, you should use gamification to incentivize the customer behavior that you want to see. This way, you drive customers to achieve your goals! Here’s how Bird’s gamification & loyalty features motivate their customers:

Charging a Bird is more than work, it’s play

Anyone can become a Bird Charger. Once you sign up, Bird sends you a handful of chargers. Following that, you’re free to get paid to collect Bird’s e-scooters! Yet Chargers get more than just a financial reward. In fact, the whole experience is gamified.

• Competition. Chargers are encouraged to reserve a scooter ahead of time. This is because there are other Chargers on the hunt! By emphasizing the scarcity of the scooters, Bird introduces competition and motivates the Chargers. As a result, the scooters are more likely to get picked up and charged!
• Goal-driven. To get paid, you must pick up at least 3 scooters. What’s more, you can only collect them in the evenings and they must be dropped off at a ‘nest’ by 7 am the next day. This clear goal makes the task more meaningful!
• Levels. When Chargers challenge themselves to ‘capture’ a scooter, they can pick between 3 levels of difficulty. Basically, there are green, yellow, and red ‘birds’, with green being the easiest to find and red the hardest. Of course, harder to find scooters pay more!

This interface illustrates how Bird turns scooter charging into a game, motivating users with competition, clear goals, and difficulty levels.

Frequent Flyers program

Bird’s loyal customers pay just €1 for a 15 minute ride! The centerpiece of Bird’s loyalty features, customers are encouraged to ride more with incentives like bigger discounts and better perks. In other words, the more you ride, the more you get! This fulfills the ‘Lucky Loyalty effect’, where customers feel that their rewards should scale with loyalty.

Free rides to the polls/polluted days

At the end of the day, you need to provide customer value. That’s why Bird offers free rides on election days, and even on days when air pollution is at a hazardous level. On the one hand, this is a clever way to maintain demand on polluted days when people might be tempted to stay in. But you can also consider it one of Bird’s loyalty features. After all, this is Bird helping customers in their time of need, or when they need to travel the most!

Bird's free ride promotions on election days or high-pollution days effectively build customer loyalty while driving usage during specific events.

Helmet selfies!

Regulators take safety seriously. In fact, in Greece, Denmark, Finland, and Spain, riders must wear helmets by law. Other countries may follow suit. Given this, Bird is ahead of the curve because they reward customers who wear a helmet. It’s simple - send Bird a selfie of you wearing a helmet, and you’ll get free minutes off your next ride!

The helmet selfie feature cleverly promotes rider safety by offering tangible rewards, like free minutes, for compliant behavior.

Parking can be rewarding too

Here’s a great example of how Bird’s gamification features get city authorities on their side. While all cities want to promote safe parking, Helsinki thinks gamification is the best solution. That’s why Bird offers Helsinki’s riders a unique incentive. If you park your e-scooter in a green zone marked with a ‘P’, you get a discount on your ride!

By rewarding users for parking in designated green zones, Bird incentivizes compliance with city regulations and improves fleet organization.

How Bird’s gamification features increase engagement & loyalty

It’s clear that the Bird gamification & loyalty features are showing their worth. Of course, this is important when the competition in micromobility is so tough! Here‘s how Bird boosted engagement & loyalty using gamification:

Bird Chargers. The Charger program creates a buzz! For instance, many Bird Chargers publicly praise the program’s gamification. As a result of this free word-of-mouth advertising, Bird is more likely to gain loyal customers. In fact, customers acquired through word-of-mouth are up to 24% more likely to stay loyal!

Free rides to the polls. On days that Bird offered free rides to vote, some cities saw a 390% increase in ridership!

Frequent Flyers program. In a 2022 study, 16% of American e-scooter riders said they would use Bird again. Of that select group, 81% considered themselves loyal. However, in Germany, where Bird trialed their Frequent Flyers loyalty program, 85% of customers said they were loyal! (Since then, Bird has exited Germany, but the Frequent Flyer program continues elsewhere).

Helmets. First, Bird gifted 75,000 helmets for free to boost adoption. Unfortunately, that strategy didn’t work. It lacked gamification! To incentivize the use of helmets, Bird now rewards helmet-wearers with discounts. For one, this is more affordable. In addition, it keeps cities happy, not to mention the customers are rewarded with free riding minutes!

Finally, Bird’s gamification features simplify the customer experience. Essentially, you perform a task, and you get rewarded for it. It doesn’t get clearer than that! And this simple story makes the app easier to use.

The (digital) medium of mobility is the message - "E-scooter use intent is positively related to the perception of mobile applications. Being fun & easy-to-use is important."

How to increase rides? Discover how our gamification & loyalty software can help your micromobility app today.

The success of Bird’s gamification & loyalty features

It’s clear that Bird’s gamification & loyalty features work. In 2022, Bird generated 16% more rides than in 2021! In short, gamification got customers to book more rides. But this is just one part of the success story. In addition to boosting engagement and loyalty for Bird, gamification & loyalty features also helped them overcome their challenges:

• Lower charging costs. In 2020, Bird’s charging made up 40% of operational costs! The Charger program tackles this, plus it builds a base of loyal customers. In 2022, Bird’s operating costs were down 29% year-on-year!
• Optimized operations. Convenience is the main reason people use shared mobility. That’s why the Charger program is so effective - it makes Bird’s e-scooters more available and reliable. In turn, the great service ups loyalty!
• Safer parking. To successfully collaborate with city authorities, Bird’s app highlights parking zones and rewards safe riding & parking with discounts.

How you can meet your business goals with StriveCloud

Bird’s gamification & loyalty features are specifically designed to improve their app. However, what works great for Bird might not work for you! In reality, gamification needs to align with your own audience and goals. When you do this, you can achieve great things! Like our clients, who see an average increase trips from active riders by 300% after implementing gamification.

Getting started is easy. We have 3 simple steps to put you on your way to success:

1. First, we kickstart our collaboration with a workshop. During this, we’ll identify the best way forward given your goals and target audience.
2. Second, we will set up our software to integrate the new features straight into your mobility app! What’s more, you’ll gain access to a central control panel that lets you make live changes to your app.
3. Finally, we onboard and train your team to use our software, so you can work the way you want! Of course, our team will be there to help at every step.

Smash your business goals! StriveCloud can help you motivate your customers and create growth. Find out more!

FAQs

Why does Bird use gamification & loyalty features?

Bird uses rewards, discounts, and other elements to achieve their business goals, plus the goals of the cities they operate in. Moreover, the Bird gamification & loyalty features optimize operations. In turn, this increases loyalty and engagement — and makes Bird more profitable!

How does Bird create customer loyalty?

As a part of Bird’s loyal features, riders could pay just €1 for 15 minute riding! This discount grows with the customer’s loyalty. This fulfills the ‘Lucky Loyalty effect’, where customers feel that their rewards should scale with loyalty.

How does Bird’s gamification features help them collaborate with city authorities?

City authorities hate it when e-scooters are parked badly. To promote better parking, Bird offers riders a unique incentive. If you park your e-scooter in a green zone marked with a ‘P’, you get a discount on your ride!

How to increase mobile app user engagement? Here are 7 ways how!

In 2022, consumer spending on apps fell for the first time ever. However, this news does not spell doom for apps. Instead, it shows how important mobile user engagement is! Research shows a direct link between user engagement and revenue growth. In other words, mobile app user engagement is the key to success! Find out 7 ways how to boost engagement in 2023.

Understanding and improving mobile app user engagement is crucial for growth and profitability, as the following strategies illustrate.

• What exactly is mobile app user engagement?
• What is the role of user engagement in mobile apps?
• 3 mobile app user engagement channels
• How to measure your mobile user engagement
• How do you drive mobile user engagement?
• 7 ways to increase mobile app user engagement
• FAQs

What exactly is mobile app user engagement?

In reality, mobile app user engagement encompasses everything. Every click, view, and download a user performs is user engagement. Essentially, user engagement is a way to track the frequency, duration, and quality of user interactions with your app. The more users engage, the more they get from you, and the more profitable your app will be!

All in all, there are 4 key types of mobile user engagement:

• Contextual. Your app is personalized to the user’s wants and needs.
• Ease-of-use. When engaging is easy! This requires a great UX.
• Emotional. People love to chase the next good feeling.
• Social. The most powerful type of mobile app user engagement!

What is the role of user engagement in mobile apps?

When 1 in 4 mobile app downloaders churn after just one use, increasing your mobile user engagement can result in a serious competitive advantage. That’s because engaged users stick around! In fact, just 10% of new users who engage weekly, churn by Day 30. On the other hand, less engaged users churn at a shocking rate of 77%!

In short, user engagement indicates the health of your business. Apps with a high rate of mobile app user engagement kickstart a positive feedback loop:

• Higher engagement boosts retention.
• Which reduces acquisition costs spending.
• Higher retention increases user lifetime value.
• Retained users are more likely to develop loyalty.
• More loyal users means more advocates for your app.
• And finally, this improves acquisition by creating higher-quality leads!

3 mobile app user engagement channels

While mobile user engagement primarily relies on your app, there are other ways to bring users into the fold. Here are the 3 main channels you can leverage:

1) In-app messaging

With a 40% interaction rate, in-app messages are the most effective channel for mobile user engagement! In brief, in-app messages include things like ‘interstitial’ overlays, headers, footers, and inline notifications that blend in with the user interface. In effect, in-app messages can reach your active users quickly and get them to take target actions.

2) Message centers

Although it is similar to in-app messaging, message centers are unique because they combine all messages into a single space. For one, this avoids intruding on the user experience with potentially unwanted notifications. In addition, unread messages in the center can incentivize users to return to your app.

3) Push notifications

Push notifications are delivered with an onscreen banner alert. Given that, it’s no wonder that the average push notifications opening rate is 50% higher than an email! Ideally, push notifications should be personalized and contain contextual or timely information. Otherwise, you risk being treated like spam!

How to measure your mobile user engagement

Learning how to measure your mobile app user engagement is key to creating growth. But when there are dozens of different metrics, how do you know which to use and when? In effect, each metric shows something different about your app.

Let’s sum up 6 essential metrics and what they reveal:

#1 Daily/Monthly Active Users (DAU/MAU rate)

Daily active users / Monthly active users = DAU/MAU rate

Briefly, the DAU/MAU rate shows how sticky your app is. The more daily users you have, the more engaging your app is!

#2 Stickiness Ratio

DAU/MAU rate * 100 = %

Take the DAU/MAU Ratio one step further! The stickiness ratio reveals how much repeated mobile user engagement you generate. In general, a score of 20% is good. Still, the sky is the limit! The world’s top apps like Instagram have a stickiness ratio of 50%.

#3 Churn Rate

(Users who left in time period / Total users) * 100 = %

A churned user is a user who can no longer engage! In short, high churn could mean that you are acquiring poor-quality leads or even that your app experience is off-putting. Keep track of this metric to ensure that you are heading in the right direction.

#4 Session Duration

Duration of all sessions / Number of sessions = Average session duration

This calculates the time a user spends on your app. But what’s a good result? That depends on what kind of app you operate. For example, functional apps like those in banking report an average session duration of 5.5 minutes, whereas ecommerce apps can hit up to 11 minutes.

#5 Session Intervals

This one is easy - it’s simply the amount of time between consecutive app sessions. The shorter the interval, the more hooked your user is!

#6 Feature Usage

(Feature users / Total users) * 100 = %

You might want to increase mobile app user engagement on certain features. For this, you can also work out the DAU/MAU rate of a feature, and the time intervals between feature usage. To be sure, these metrics will produce actionable data for you to optimize!

How do you drive mobile user engagement?

Since user engagement encompasses everything, it can be challenging to narrow down what affects it. However, there’s one thing that always creates engaged users. And that’s a great user experience! In practice, you can facilitate user engagement with an intuitive user interface, a user journey that flows well, and simply by providing value.

But more than that, you can drive mobile app user engagement with these 7 strategies:

7 ways to increase mobile app user engagement

#1 App Gamification

People engage for longer with games than any other app vertical. Simply put, that’s because games are fun! Of course, that doesn’t mean you should make your app a game. Instead, app gamification is a way to borrow the exciting features of a game and make it apply to your audience and goals. In essence, gamification relies on 4 simple mechanics:

• Achievement. Badges and levels celebrate user engagement!
• Competition. People are naturally social and competitive.
• Feedback. Instant feedback positively reinforces the user.
• Reward. Points, perks, and bonuses! Whatever you want to call it, rewards are extremely motivating and help give tasks purpose.

Perhaps the most famous instance of app gamification is Duolingo. By using game-like features, the language learning app engages 42 million monthly active users! To provide an example, take the badge reward system. For users, badges are a visual way to review progress and validate their skills. Not to mention, they can be used to brag to friends. Maybe that’s why, after Duolingo implemented badges, user referrals jumped by 116%!

Sounds great, right? But to be effective, you can’t simply tack on a badge reward system. Rather, you need a gamification strategy built from the ground up for your app.

Gamify your app! Our App Gamification Software can kickstart your user experience today. Discover how!

Duolingo's badge system is a prime example of how gamification celebrates user achievement and drives engagement.

#2 Build a community with social features

Social relatedness is arguably the most powerful motivation there is. Basically, when you satisfy what psychologists call ‘the need to belong’, you foster intrinsic motivation. In other words, users enjoy the experience! That’s because forming social attachments “produces positive emotions”. And you can harness this power with an app community! In fact, the results of in-app communities are amazing:

• 500% return on investment for apps that build an in-app community
• Users who join in-app communities spend 19% more
• B2B companies see a 54% uplift in user retention

For a great example, take SWEAT. In 2 short years, SWEAT became the world’s most profitable fitness app! So what did they do right? After a workout, SWEAT users are encouraged to share a selfie with their friends. What’s more, the app has forums where users can discuss recipes, and exercises, and even find a workout buddy!

The SWEAT app leverages community features, like sharing post-workout selfies, to foster a sense of belonging and motivate users.

#3 Make the most of push notifications

Push notifications are powerful, but they can backfire. If your copy is boring or simply not valuable to the user, you can drive them away. So what’s the right way to use a push notification? Look at the example of Songkick.

This Songkick push notification effectively combines personalization, urgency, and a clear call-to-action, which are key elements for success.

• Clear CTA to return to the app
• Contextual info, such as user location
• Emoji makes the message fun and visual
• Personalized offer with the user’s favorite artists
• Time-limited pressure of “this month” incentivizes action

With this, Songkick ensures that its message delivers value and justifies its use as an intrusive push notification. All that in just two short sentences!

#4 A loyalty system incentivizes continued engagement

Loyalty is the ultimate goal! Indeed, loyal users spend more and are more likely to refer others to your app. But to create loyalty, you first need your users to engage. That’s why events app Fever makes mobile user engagement the bedrock of their loyalty system. Essentially, the more often a user engages, the bigger the discount that Fever users get!

The Fever app's loyalty system directly ties user engagement to tangible rewards, encouraging repeat use and deeper interaction.

#5 Boost user referrals to create the “Network Effect”

Maximizing engagement requires more than engaging just your existing users. Indeed, you also need to acquire better quality leads - and referred users are 5 times more likely to engage! What’s more, users that refer others are also more likely to engage. That’s due to the ‘Network Effect’. In other words, an app is more useful with more users on it!

For instance, take neobank app Revolut. Of course, features like bill splitting or shared saving vaults are more useful if you have friends that also use the app. So, to incentivize referrals, Revolut rewards each user with €10! In fact, the science endorses this method:

Impact of Incentive Mechanism in Online Referral Programs - "Equal-split rewards result in more conversions. It increases the invitee’s likelihood to accept a referral, due to selective and better targeted referrals."

Revolut's referral program uses a mutual reward system to great effect, leveraging the Network Effect to grow its user base.

#6 Make your onboarding interactive

When it comes to establishing mobile user engagement and retention, no stage is more important than onboarding! Indeed, reports show that just 17% of people engage with an app 24 hours after installation. That could be because the process fails to set up the app’s value - or it’s simply long and boring. In fact, each onboarding step churns 20% of users.

To reduce onboarding churn, make the experience interactive! Interactive onboarding compels users to engage, rather than to passively skip through screens. In short, it gives each step meaning! For example, wellness app Calm asks users to pick their personal goals. As well, this sets up the promise of “personalized recommendations” which entices users to continue engaging!

The Calm app makes its onboarding process interactive by asking users about their goals, which immediately personalizes the experience and increases buy-in.

#7 Use progressive profiling to know your users better

The more you know about your user, the more you can personalize their experience. In turn, this boosts their mobile app user engagement! But you can’t ask new users for their information all at once. Indeed, research shows how this creates harmful friction:

Okta - "86% of users say overly long forms make them quit on registrations."

To effectively build a user profile, you need to use progressive profiling. Essentially, this means learning the user’s details over time. This can improve conversion rates by 20%! For instance, the H&M app does not require tons of information to sign up. Instead, H&M gives new users a checklist of tasks. One of these tasks is to complete the profile set-up, where users share details like their gender, location, and birthday. In the end, users who complete this task earn points which can be used to spend in the store!

As a result, users are more likely to give away their details. In turn, this lets H&M better personalize its offers and incentivize further mobile user engagement. For example, they give users an exclusive 25% discount on their birthday! Now that’s a win-win!

H&M's app uses progressive profiling, rewarding users with points for completing their profile, which in turn allows for better personalization and engagement.

FAQs

How do you define mobile user engagement?

Essentially, user engagement tracks the frequency, duration, and quality of your app’s user interactions. In fact, every click, view, and download counts as user engagement! And the more users that engage, the more profitable your app will be!

What is the role of user engagement in mobile apps?

In short, mobile user engagement indicates the health of your business. It shows that you can create profitable, loyal users. That’s because engaged users have a higher rate of retention, generate more data you can leverage, and spend up to 3x more!

How do you increase mobile app user engagement?

Games garner more engagement than any other app vertical — and that’s something all apps can learn from. To boost engagement and improve the user experience, you can use gamification. For example, after Duolingo implemented badges their user referrals jumped by 116%!