Expert advice on how to get users excited about your health app

Roughly 50% of all prescribed medications are not taken correctly. In the US alone this leads to at least $100 billion in avoidable healthcare costs, including hospitalizations. Some medication health apps have over 60 million downloads and manage billions of doses. Unfortunately, user app engagement on these apps is very low which causes a lot of people to lose track of their medication schedules.

As it turns out less than 5% of users are actively engaged on these apps. The reminders and push notifications don’t seem to be good enough for patients to settle. Mobile health apps will have to step up their game if they want to be more than a “reminder app” for medication or other health purposes. They need to create an experience that patients want to have as part of their everyday life.

Here’s what we’ll discuss:

• The engagement killer of your mHealth app
• How gamification for apps can help
• Gamify your user journey with a plug-in gamification tool
• Gamification for health - the future of mobile health apps

The engagement killer of your mHealth app

Mobile health apps collect data for a variety of reasons. Most apps actually need some sort of personal health data in order to function properly. The best-known example of mHealth apps that use data is probably trackers. These can be calorie trackers, fitness trackers, or even sleep trackers. By collecting data on either of these subjects, the apps can give recommendations to improve your diet, sleep, or exercising routine.

However, once you take away the data the app instantly loses value. Unfortunately, that’s what happens the majority of the time. Only 20% of users are still engaged with their mHealth app one day after the installation. Think that’s low? Well, after seven days it drops to 8%. After a total of 30 days, the retention rate is as low as 3.3%.

This graph vividly illustrates the dramatic drop-off in user engagement for mobile health apps, highlighting the need for more effective retention strategies.

With retention rates this low, how can you build an app that helps your patients? Well, you don’t want the experience to feel like a chore. This makes it boring and uninteresting for users.

Instead, you need to create an experience where users want to come back every day. Additionally, your users need the motivation to fill in their data and see the return of their investment almost immediately.

So how can you get started?

How gamification for apps can help

Gamification is the use of game elements & psychology in a non-game context. It’s used to increase user app engagement by making the experience more fun and rewarding. The motivational theory behind gamification relies on certain mechanics that trigger the user behavior. These are also called extrinsic motivators.

In order for these mechanics to work, however, there needs to be an underlying set of emotions to move the user towards action, and more importantly, keep them actively engaged. We call these intrinsic motivators. These could be desires such as a sense of accomplishment, connectivity & autonomy. But they could also be fears like unpredictability, fear of missing out, and avoidance.

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Want to get a full breakdown on gamification? Check out our ‘What is Gamification’ page!

Think about it. What are the most popular types of apps? You guessed it! Gaming apps. These apps use a variety of game elements such as leveling systems, experience points, and badge reward systems to keep their users engaged.

So what happens when you take the psychology and elements from a game, inside of another digital experience? You can boost user motivation and drive them to carry out the desired user behaviors. Gamification for apps can help you collect reliable patient data, without being a drag on your users' life.

Gamify your user journey with a plug-in gamification tool

If you go with StriveCloud’s plug-in gamification tool you take already existing user data and turns it into a gamified experience. You can easily add game elements across the user journey, without having to spend tons of time and high-value resources developing them yourself. In fact, you can gamify the entire user journey from one simple control panel!

So how does this gamification tool work?

This diagram shows how a plug-in gamification tool like StriveCloud can overlay game mechanics onto an existing user journey to boost engagement.

Set milestones to drive the user journey forward

You want your user to take action. By setting clear goals you help them complete the actions you need. A milestone could be something as simple as logging in data for 100 days in a row. When users achieve it they can get rewards, badges, or up their level!

Reward users for daily participation

You can reward users for carrying out the behaviors you want from them. For health apps, this can be logging patient data every day. To keep patients engaged enough to log their data on a daily basis, you can reward users to reinforce those behaviors. You can reward them with in-app virtual currencies and badges. They can even redeem their points in a lottery and have a chance of winning exclusive prizes.

Always give the right context with personalized notifications

With the help of notifications and visual reminders, you can always keep your users engaged. It shows them which actions are rewarded, and what next steps they should take. Notifications are a way of giving feedback to the user.

You can give positive feedback to reinforce good behavior, or negative feedback to enable users to adjust quickly. For instance, you can notify users with a ‘good job!’ every time they log their data or give them reminders when they’ll miss their daily goal. It’s a great way of boosting user participation and getting the right data.

Learn everything StriveCloud’s plug-in gamification tool could do for your app!

Gamification for health – the future of mobile health apps

So how can gamification for health help to collect more user data? It all depends on the user’s motivation. If logging their data is boring, and it feels like a chore they will neglect it and leave your app for what it is. With gamification, however, you can shift the tides and make things like logging data more fun!

p>Here are some features you could use for your health app:

Challenges

A challenge can be a powerful game element for user action. By setting a clear goal you trigger the natural desire for achievement. You can use it to guide users towards the next step linked to your app’s goals.

For instance, you can set a challenge where users need to log their data for 30 days in a row! Once they complete that challenge they get rewards. Simply setting the goal and linking rewards to it boosts user motivation.

Badge reward system

When users achieve a milestone in your app or they complete a challenge, you can reward them with badges. The badge is a status symbol that represents the users' achievements and creates positive reinforcement for the behaviors that led to it.

Collecting more badges will motivate users to keep logging their data, as they will unlock more badges for every milestone. Reward your users for milestones like 5, 10, or 100 consecutive days of logging in data to keep them anticipating the next badge!

Points collection & leveling system

Reward your users with points or in-app currencies to indicate their progress and keep them engaged. Use these points to evolve the user to the next level. With points, you can easily reinforce the behaviors you want to see happening. It plays on the users' desire for achievement and progress.

Allow the user to level up by being actively engaged on your mHealth app. Visualizing the progress, and unlocking new capabilities keeps the journey to better health interesting and fun!

Recap

Retention rates on health apps are as low as 3.3%. That’s unfortunate, knowing that most health apps need some form of patient data to generate value for their patients. Whether you are a tracking app, a reminder app, or any other type of health app, chances are you need to boost app engagement. Gamification for health can help to elevate the chore of health, to a fun and rewarding experience.

You’ll get to collect more user data with every interaction and set clear user goals to boost app engagement and retention. Gamification for apps can make a healthy lifestyle, prevention, and treatment enjoyable and accelerate mHealth’s revolution in healthcare.

Need some help setting up your own gamification strategy? Get a free consultation with one of our experts!

How the greatest health apps use communities to boost user engagement

It’s no secret mhealth apps have the power to change healthcare forever. These apps can deliver highly personalized treatments at a massive scale, and lower cost. Solutions for blood-testing, fitness and even elderly care are being used to promote self-health management as we speak. Unfortunately, research by the Commonwealth Fund shows the majority of mhealth apps fail in boosting user app engagement.

In fact, the average retention rate for mobile health apps is only 3 months. With adoption this low, it’s hard to help users reach their health goals. Marc Van Mael, co-founder of Care4C says the main reason for low user app engagement is simply because the apps are too boring and undynamic to look at.

Luckily, this can be fixed with a little bit of creativity and data. How? Through gamification for health, you can make the user experience fun and engaging so your users will want to keep coming back!

Here’s what we’ll cover in this article:

• What is gamification for health?
• How to create peer communities with gamification for health apps?
• These mhealth apps are crushing it with gamification!

What is gamification for health?

In today's world it’s hard to catch someone’s attention, and even harder to keep it. Gamification does two things. First, it leverages data to motivate your user and keep them moving forward. Secondly, it sets you apart from other apps that have a boring and uninteresting user experience. Think about it, what types of apps are best at captivating your attention? That’s right, games!

Gamification for apps 101

Gamification for apps doesn’t mean you have to turn your app into a game. What it actually means is you use game elements like rewards or leveling systems in a non-game context to boost user motivation and app engagement.

At first, you get users to take action by promising a big fat reward. They need to have a reason to participate in the first place. We call these rewards extrinsic motivators. These often refer to points or badges users get for completing an action. Rewarding users for certain actions create positive reinforcement, which helps to shape users' behaviors and habits in a fun and engaging way.

Initially, we might be doing it for the reward, but after enough repetitions, the underlying emotions will come into play. We call this intrinsic motivation, either to gain something or avoid losing it. Let’s say you have been hitting your fitness targets for over 90 days in a row, you wouldn’t want to ruin that on day 91, right?

Want to learn more about the motivational science behind gamification? Check out our ‘What is Gamification’ page!

Why your mhealth app needs a peer community

People naturally are social animals. We’re driven by a sense of community or belonging. Whether it is to compete, or to collaborate, having a peer community can increase user and app engagement immensely.

In fact, research from over 300 mhealth apps confirms social networks give that needed extra boost of user motivation. Users start supporting or challenging each other to reach their goals. Some apps take advantage of gamification for apps to boost their community participation and interaction.

How to create peer communities with gamification for health apps?

So how do you go about building your own peer community? Well, there are lots of features you can use in gamification for apps. We’ll stick to those that are most relevant in building your health-focused community.

Leaderboard

Leaderboards quite literally visualize your ranking within the community. This is often based on the number of points you have already collected or specific actions you’re competing for. A leaderboard can motivate users to try and rank higher, or stay at the top.

This leaderboard shows how competition drives user retention and engagement within a community.

Badges

Badges are virtual representations of achievements and reflect the progress that has been made since first getting on the app. It’s a form of positive reinforcement that also carries out in the community. You can connect with other users over the badges you have already collected, and the ones you have yet to collect.

This example demonstrates how earning badges provides a sense of accomplishment and encourages continued participation.

Points & leveling system

Allowing your users to keep moving forward is essential to keeping them motivated. When users collect points for completing certain actions, these points often lead to a level up. Levels bring a social status with them. The higher your level is, the greater your status within the community. Oftentimes users with a higher level got there because they’re more engaged or have been active for longer.

Challenges

A challenge can serve as the initiating spark for user action. It’s often what gives the grunt work meaning. Once you’ve set a challenge in your community, users will want to achieve that goal. Seeing your peers start or complete these challenges gets you hyped up to participate yourself. Some apps even allow you to complete challenges in groups, so you collaborate or compete in teams!

What’s the easiest way to differentiate through gamification? Check out our app gamification platform!

These mhealth apps are crushing it with gamification!

The true power in gamification comes of course from combining all these elements into one fun user experience. It’s more than just a way of increasing user and app engagement. When done correctly it helps users stay motivated and on track of their health goals.

Here are two awesome examples:

How 7 Cups of Tea uses gamification for apps to motivate its community of listeners

7 Cups of Tea is a mental health app that works with a community of active listeners. The app has over 300,000 active listeners and has helped over 25 million mental health patients.

These listeners aren’t paid, however, they are rewarded through gamification for apps. Listeners can earn points for having conversations and level up when they have enough points. They can even collect badges for achievements such as having an extra-long conversation or meeting with a person for the second time.

The 7 Cups of Tea app effectively uses points and badges to motivate its community of volunteer listeners.

How gamification for health helps the Fitbit community reach its goals better

Fitbit is a popular fitness tracker that comes with an app where you can measure your physical activity, heart rate, and sleep. It basically serves as your health assistant with tips and guides to help you reach health goals. On Fitbit, you have challenges where you can compete with other friends or people from the Fitbit community that have similar goals.

First of all, they have deadline-driven challenges such as a Goal Day, Workweek Hustle, and Weekend Warrior where you need to complete a target goal of steps. As you can see, all challenges get a name and narrative to increase the stakes and fun for participants.

Fitbit's challenge feature illustrates how competition and social interaction can make fitness goals more engaging and achievable.

For those who are a little more competitive, you can also join adventure races. Here you can follow a pre-set trail and compete against up to 30 friends to see who reaches the finish line first. You’ll get to discover new trails, uncover panoramic photos, and have the ability to collect fitness and health tips along the way.

Recap

Unfortunately, many of the mhealth apps that exist today have low retention rates, and user engagement drops significantly after just 30 days. Luckily, some apps have managed to break through the wall of motivation by building communities and using gamification for apps to spice up their normally boring and uninteresting health app.

The reason that gamification for health is such a powerful movement for mhealth apps, is because it tackles the engagement problem at the root. By making the end-user experience fun and exciting, patients are more involved and app engagement rises.

Adding game elements can also fuel a sense of community. For instance, getting the chance to collaborate or compete with peers for a place on the leaderboard, not only initiates user participation but keeps them engaged over time. If you’re a mhealth app it’s definitely worth looking into.

Looking to boost user motivation through community? Get a free consultation with our gamification experts and find out what next steps you should take!

Take the next step in enhancing your app's user engagement by exploring a gamified community approach.

7 proven ways to motivate users on your mhealth app

The average retention time for mhealth app users is only 3 months. Mostly because it’s very boring to look at variables that barely change. For this to change, the experience should feel effortless and provide motivation to the end-user to improve their health.

Professional services market leader Deloitte states that using cognitive or motivational stimulation in the form of gamification for health can promote positive behavioral change. It allows biopharma companies to improve adherence and health care institutions to provide preventative measures that could delay or prevent the onset of chronic diseases.

To overcome this app engagement challenge, mhealth companies have to build a user-friendly app that motivates its users to stick to their health goals. We listed out 7 gamification tactics that will help you achieve just that.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

1. Set challenges to trigger user participation
2. Reward app engagement with points
3. Empower your users through progress bars
4. Boost motivation through competitions and leaderboards
5. Encourage active participation with a badge reward system
6. Drive long term app engagement with a leveling system
7. Nudge the user in the right direction with notifications

How does gamification for apps motivate users?

Gamification for apps is about leveraging the psychology and motivational elements of games in a non-game context. In this case: your mhealth app. We all know it’s hard to get your users to take action. In order for them to participate in your app, they need motivation. So how does gamification for mhealth apps help you overcome that obstacle?

First, you need to activate your user. This happens through an initial trigger. Something that prompts the user to take action. We call this an extrinsic motivator. It’s when users take actions in order to get something in return. These are reflected through rewards such as points, badges, or sometimes monetary rewards. Remember when Dropbox gave you that much-needed free storage space when you went through their onboarding?

However, extrinsic motivators alone won’t keep your users engaged in the long run. Researchers call this the Overjustification effect. It implies motivation drops when we’re too focused on earning rewards.

That’s because true motivation comes from within. It’s the satisfaction of mastering a skill, making progress, gaining social influence, and positive empowerment that’s truly motivating. We call this intrinsic motivation. Here, users are driven to work on something because they enjoy the experience itself.

This diagram explains how extrinsic triggers can foster deeper, intrinsic motivation for long-term engagement.

According to cloud leader Oracle, Gamification for mhealth apps can literally change the lives of people around the world. It increases patient compliance for clinical trials, boosts adherence to treatment and patient retention. Creating a good mix between extrinsic and intrinsic motivators can support long-term behavior change while boosting app engagement.

New to gamification? Get up to speed with our ‘What is Gamification’ page!

7 Gamification for mhealth tactics to try out!

Ready to see what that could look like on your mhealth app? Check out these 7 gamification for health tactics:

1) Set challenges to trigger user participation

Challenges help to move your user forward by setting a clear goal. In order for the trigger to work, it needs to be achievable but still challenging enough to be interesting. To boost motivation a little more, you can tie a reward to obtaining the challenge. Not only is it a fun way to increase app engagement, but it also gives grunt work meaning.

2) Reward app engagement with points

Implementing a point system is a way of giving instant feedback to the user. It triggers multiple motivational drivers. Not only does it triggers users to take action, but it also helps them identify priority tasks. Collecting points can be a way of measuring progress towards a user’s goal. It’s usually the cornerstone of all progress mechanisms in your app.

3) Empower your users through progress bars

One of the greatest tactics in gamification for mhealth apps is visualizing progress. It tells your user that what they’re doing is good and reinforces that behavior.

Additionally, it can help you keep the user involved in their journey. Seeing the progress you’ve already made, makes it harder to quit. It’s a way of avoiding loss. Let’s face it, most of us like to finish what we started because we feel it would be a shame not to.

4) Boost motivation through competition and leaderboards

People are inherently motivated by competing or comparing themselves with their peers. Leaderboards are a great way of introducing a competitive and social element into your app.

With leaderboards, you can compete against friends or just try to beat your own high scores. When implemented correctly, a leaderboard drives a sense of competition, collaboration, or relatedness. You can use this trigger to fuel user motivation and increase goal completion.

5) Encourage active participation with a badge reward system

Badges can be an indicator of social status and trigger the human intrinsic desire for achievement. Gamification for mhealth apps uses badge reward systems to reward certain milestones within the app. For instance, your user completed his first 10,000 steps or checked in 7 days in a row. It’s a pleasant surprise that encourages further participation in the app.

The potential is limitless here, as you can create badges for virtually anything you find important. Adding a fun narrative or creative design makes them even more fun and unexpected!

6) Drive long term app engagement with a leveling system

Levels are a way of indicating users’ progress over time. They trigger a sense of achievement and indicate social status. Every time a user levels up, he or she can get an extra boost of motivation. When they get to a new level they can often unlock new parts of the app, which triggers a desire to explore even further.

Adding a leveling system to your mhealth app reinforces good user behavior and boosts long-term app engagement.

7) Nudge the user in the right direction with notifications

Notifications are a way of providing instant feedback to users. In gamification for mhealth apps, you can use them to reinforce good behavior and correct bad behavior. The great thing about notifications is that they’re based on the context a user is in. That’s why the message doesn’t feel interruptive or irrelevant.

Not only do notifications trigger a participation loop, but they also promote long-term app engagement.

Add a little fun to your mhealth app, without all the development struggles? Check out StriveCloud’s app gamification software!

Recap

The average mhealth app user churns after three months. That’s because it’s uninteresting to look at variables that barely change. Engaging with boring mhealth apps feels like another chore on our already endless to-do list.

Gamification for mhealth can turn a boring app into a fun and engaging experience. It triggers user motivation every step of the journey with fun elements and drives meaningful retention within any app.

First, extrinsic motivation is triggered through rewards. Gamification for apps allows you to reinforce positive behaviors with a variety of rewards such as points, badges, and leaderboard rankings. Intrinsic motivation on the other hand relies on deeper emotional desires. Our need for progress, achievement, and a sense of relatedness can boost app engagement and user retention significantly.

The differentiating key however lies in putting these motivators together into a user-friendly experience. When done correctly gamification for health can enable sustainable behavior change, and make the lives of their users healthier and more fun!

Need help gamifying your own mhealth app? Get a free consultation with our team of experts!

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3 quick & easy ways to improve user retention on your mHealth app

Most mHealth apps currently struggle to retain users past three months. In fact, churn is as high as 71% after only 90 days. This can be changed, though. Studies show that intrinsic motivation leads people to use mHealth apps daily.

mHealth apps that figure out user motivation will be at the top. After all, You don’t want to create an experience that feels just as strenuous as going to the hospital. You want to build an app that is fun and engaging to use! This is where gamification for apps comes in.

In this article, we’ll cover:

• How gamification for apps drives user motivation
• How to bring gamification for mHealth to life
• Fitbit as a prime example of mHealth gamification
• 3 steps to gamify your mHealth app

How gamification for apps drives user motivation

Gamification for apps relies on the science of motivation. Essentially, you leverage game elements and psychology to drive the user behaviors you want to see. It’s the secret behind some of the most engaging apps out there.

In order to get your user to take action, they need to feel motivated. Generally, there are two types of motivations to make this happen.

First, we have intrinsic motivation. This means the experience is enjoyable and satisfying in itself. Intrinsic motivation relies on emotion over rationality. It triggers these emotions through innate human desires or fears such as a need for achievement, desire to explore, and scarcity or avoidance.

On the other hand, you have extrinsic motivation. This is more rational and focuses on the end results rather than the experience itself. Some examples of extrinsic motivators in gamification for apps are points, badge reward systems, leaderboards, badges, and many more.

Extrinsic motivation is great to trigger users to take action, however, it’s not enough for long-term retention. The magic lies in creating the right mix between both motivations to sustain app engagement and drive positive behavior change.

Cover the basics of gamification on our ‘What is Gamification?’ page!

Here’s how to bring gamification for mHealth to life

Activate users through points & in-app currencies

In motivating users to accomplish their goals, points systems and in-app currencies can be invaluable tools. Points can give your users a sense of control, steering them towards their goals. It also triggers a desire to ‘collect’. These are their points, they earned them.

You can use points to level up users or redeem them for prizes. Take Sweatcoin for example. They reward users for their steps with an in-app currency that can be used to purchase anything from audiobooks to TVs.

Use badge reward systems & mini celebrations to reinforce good behavior

Badge reward systems help users track their progress and give them a benchmark to compare to. This provides feedback for the user and triggers a need for achievement and desire to collect. Fitbit for instance rewards its users for reaching milestones like the number of steps or completing pre-determined running tracks.

Research shows that badges and on-screen confetti are actually more effective and cheaper than cash prizes. Badges are a great way to push your users to strive for their goals, and you can grey out unlocked achievements for added motivation.

This example of a badge reward system demonstrates how visual achievements can effectively motivate users.

Turn boring experiences into purposeful work through storytelling & progress tracking

Storytelling can give what often feels like meaningless grunt work meaning. This is your intrinsic motivation: you want to achieve that goal. Measuring the progress towards that goal increases the chances of completion even further.

MySugr for instance, helps diabetes patients track their eating habits and sugar levels. For kids, MySugr Junior features a Tamagotchi-style monster that needs taming. This creativity makes what could be a dull journal into an exciting experience.

Use instant feedback & challenges to sustain long-term app engagement

For the elderly, unlike kids, perceived usefulness has a greater effect on behavior change than enjoyment. It must be clear how your app will help. Studies also show that those 65+ value accessibility, meaning your experience needs to be simple and tailored to your user.

For Fitbit, the perceived complexity of the wearable device is the main barrier to elderly adoption. But it can be done. Research shows 60% of older adults on Fitbit engaged daily with their Fitbit app after onboarding successfully. They even reported significant health benefits in just four weeks! All Fitbit had to do was incrementally add more value to the experience instead of blurring it out all at once.

Looking to drive user motivation on your mHealth app? Check out our app gamification platform!

Fitbit as a prime example of mHealth gamification

Speaking of Fitbit, they’re a model for successful mHealth gamification. If you’re unfamiliar with Fitbit, they’re a wearable fitness tracker that comes with an app. What’s great about the app is that it’s built to keep the Fitbit community motivated to work out and stay healthy.

Fitbit turned fitness into a fun and enjoyable experience! With over 31 million active users we can probably learn a thing or two from them. Here’s what Fitbit does to keep their users motivated:

Provide a clear goal or challenge. Fitbit wants you to walk 10,000 steps every day. Goal-driven design is crucial! It is simple to put a new user in motion and research shows it works. Letting people know the framework of their challenge is critical. Fitbit’s rule is simple: you walk, we count.

Let users track their progress. It’s important to give users perspective. Let them look back, and forth with knowledge as to what they have achieved, and how long until they reach the next goal. Fitbit measures progress through statistics that are updated live. The great thing is users get to see how every little effort adds up over time.

Add an element of exploration. One way Fitbit does this is by ‘scaffolding’. This means they unlock new features one by one. This way you eliminate user confusion and keep the app experience feel exciting and new. You can use notifications to move your users to the next step.

And lastly, reward the users with unexpected elements! Receiving the ‘Serengeti’ badge, which tells you when you’ve walked the length of the Serengeti trail, gives users a feeling of accomplishment. Fitbit also lets you earn points to rank on leaderboards.

Fitbit's interface provides clear progress tracking, which is a key element in successful mHealth gamification.

3 easy steps to gamify your mHealth app

Reaping the benefits of gamification for apps means crafting a short action plan. Remember, your goal is to unlock user motivation. Follow these three easy steps to get started:

Step 1: Identify the key milestones linked to data on your app

Visualize your user journey and its touchpoints. These points are data-based, such as how often someone uses your app or the number of clicks or goals your users achieve. For example, reaching a certain number of steps. Setting a goal is the best way to get your user moving.

Step 2: Add game-like elements to boost user motivation & app engagement

Show a user how they’re progressing towards their goals. Not only will it drive them to complete goals faster, but it will also discourage giving up. Motivational science shows people have a harder time quitting a goal, once they’ve already made substantial progress towards it.

Popular ways to reward app engagement are to reward those who use the app daily with streaks. You can even add wagers like Duolingo, which boosted their user retention by 14%! Additionally, you can allow users to unlock more content like avatar customizations, or create levels and progress trackers.

Step 3 - Send contextual notifications to keep users engaged towards their goals

A crucial word here is contextual. Push and email notifications are interruptive and take place in cluttered environments. However, used correctly, they are extremely powerful. Sending just a single push notification in a user’s first week can boost user retention by 71%.

Notifications show the user whether what they’re doing is good or bad. It triggers the need for feedback and a feeling of empowerment every time you get one.

How to get started with gamification? Get a free consultation today and we’ll show you what steps to take!

Recap

71% of mHealth app users leave after only 90 days. Luckily, it can be stopped! Research shows an uptick in user motivation can boost retention significantly. With gamification for apps, you can turn your mHealth app into an enjoyable experience that helps users achieve their goals!

Two types of motivation

Generally speaking, there are two types of motivations that make users take action. First, you have intrinsic motivation. This relies on emotions and human desires such as a need for achievement, empowerment, and avoidance.

Secondly, you have extrinsic motivation. This is triggered by potential outcomes such as the promise of rewards such as points, badges, and even leaderboard rankings. The real value comes from combining these two motivations to drive sustainable app engagement.

How to motivate users with gamification

Adding game elements to your app boosts user motivation and retention. By using rewards or milestones you trigger users into taking action. It helps you to drive the behaviors that you want to see!

Fitbit for instance uses progress bars to drive the innate desire for progress. It helps them drive up goal completion and motivation.

3 steps to gamify your app

Want to get started with gamification for apps? Here are 3 steps to get moving:

Step 1: Link milestones to important moments in your app - Setting clear goals helps your user to take action. It eliminates confusion and shows them what the next steps are.

Step 2: Add game elements to boost user motivation - You get to reward users for taking action on your app and keep them engaged by visualizing their progress.

Step 3: Keep your user moving in the right direction with contextual notifications - Reinforce good behavior or correct mistakes. By giving the user feedback tailored to them, you empower them to achieve their goals faster!

Following these steps can help turn your mHealth app into a highly engaging and retentive experience for your users.

The 7-step gamification blueprint to change mHealth apps for the better

This visual represents how gamification elements can be integrated into mHealth apps to create an engaging and motivating user experience.

The common goal for mHealth apps is to improve their users' health. However, there are some major challenges in achieving this goal. Some mHealth apps are targetting difficult audiences such as the elderly or children. Others might be troubled with a poor user experience or have a list of boring tasks their user needs to complete before getting any value.

In fact, research shows a whopping 40% of mHealth apps make no revenue at all. So, how can they succeed in retaining users and improving their health, while competing in a market of over 100,000 apps? Gamification for mHealth apps introduces game-like elements into the user experience, to make it fun and motivating for users to reach their goals.

In this article, we will discuss how gamification drives user engagement and how to implement it in your mHealth app!

Here’s what you’ll find out:

• What is gamification?
• Gamification for mHealth apps done right
• How to incorporate gamification for mHealth apps
• The benefits of gamification for mHealth apps

What is gamification?

Gamification is the strategic use of game elements and psychology in a non-game context. Implementing fun in your user experience can motivate users, and eventually drive app engagement and retention.

How does gamification for apps work?

Gamification for apps is mostly recognized through features like badge reward systems, leaderboards, or progress bars. We call these extrinsic motivators. However, true motivation doesn’t come from extrinsic motivation. While they often trigger the initial interactions, research shows it’s not sustainable in the long run.

True motivation comes from within. It’s the underlying emotions behind these features that make a user tick. These are our innate desires for achievement or empowerment. We call these intrinsic motivators. This is what makes the user experience satisfying and worthwhile.

The true power however comes from combining these two. It’s the difference between a gamification strategy that works and one that doesn't. See how intrinsic and extrinsic motivators go hand-in-hand below:

• Relationships. People are naturally social. We are encouraged by a sense of competition or collaboration between friends and family. To put this into motion you could use features like leaderboards or group challenges.
• Accomplishment. Satisfying the need to achieve creates an intrinsic motivation that makes using your app fun. Try adding features like a leveling or a badge reward system.
• Empowerment. Successful apps empower users with autonomy. Studies show that when mHealth apps allow for customization, users report higher engagement. One simple example is the ability to change the user's avatar.
• Unpredictability. Humans are naturally curious. Provide your users with challenges and wagers to add depth to your user experience and keep them striving for their goals.
• Constraint. People are highly motivated to avoid negatives outcomes or constraints. A common use case of this is adding a premium version of your app, or leaving certain parts of your app locked.

Looking for more gamification goodness? Check out our ‘What is Gamification’ page!

Gamification for mHealth apps done right

There are many gamification tactics you can use to boost app engagement and user retention. However, it all depends on the user goals and requirements. Let’s see how top mHealth apps like Strava and Milk Man use these features.

The chart above breaks down various gamification strategies, which top apps like Strava use to effectively motivate their user base.

Strava was the top health & fitness app of 2020, with yearly downloads jumping 179%. The fitness app helps over 40 million athletes track their runs, cycle rides, and other activities. Most importantly, Strava recognizes the power of motivation.

Runners can turn their local park or street into a racecourse, which the app calls ‘segments’. In doing so they can compete on a leaderboard with others in their area. The genius of their leaderboard is how it thrives on the social and motivational aspect of the user experience. Eventually, making fitness superfun!

On the other end of the spectrum, Milk Man is an emerging app that encourages fathers to learn about the health benefits of breastfeeding. Milk Man drives engagement through points, badges, and social elements like forums and chatrooms. This way they encourage fathers-to-be to engage in discussion.

This screenshot from the Milk Man app displays how badges and achievements can encourage fathers to learn about important health topics.

1 in 3 users cited gamification as the reason for continued app engagement. 72% of Milk Man’s users reported learning new information. The fathers cited personalized notifications as the number one motivating factor.

How to incorporate gamification for mHealth apps

A Brazilian study found that gamification for mHealth apps leads to higher health goal completion. They laid out a 7-step blueprint to help you set up your own gamified user journey:

1. Analyze the app’s requirements and key features - find out what actions your users need to take, in order to experience value from your app.
2. Identify the target users - Learn more about who your users are, what they like, and what motivates them.
3. Pinpoint the interactions between the users and app - identify when a user interacts with your app and think about what the ideal user behavior might look like.
4. Learn the pros and cons of other gamification apps with similar interactions - study how competitors leverage gamification and what the positive or negative results are.
5. Choose the most suitable gamification strategy - select the strategies that are most likely to work based on the goals you want to achieve and the information you have already gathered.
6. Develop the gamification features - Leverage your user data to develop scalable challenge and reward systems to motivate your users.
7. Evaluate the gamification features - Measure how the gamification features drive the desired behavior and how you might improve it.

Consider what user data you can leverage to drive the desired user behavior. Essentially, you can gamify any interaction a user has with your platform. Obviously, your strategy will depend on a lot of factors such as who you’re targeting and what you’re trying to achieve.

Setting up a gamification strategy is hard. Let our team of experts help you!

The benefits of gamification in health apps

Gamification drives long-term app engagement. While users might initially be motivated by short-term results, behavioral research suggests that this only goes so far. Once those results have been reached, user motivation can run out. Gamification solves this by providing stimulating positive feelings and an enjoyable user experience.

Gamification makes the user more enjoyable. When 27.8% of users delete within 30 days of downloading a health & fitness application, early app engagement is critical. In fact, gamified onboarding can drive 54% increase in free trial usage. Gamification for mHealth can turn mundane tasks like filling out your profile or your health logs feel like less of a chore.

Gamification reinforces positive behavior change. Simply put, research shows gamification for apps stimulates goal completion. Using motivators like progress bars and achievements, in conjunction with a deeper desire to improve health support behavior change over time.

Want to pimp up your user experience to make it more fun? Check out our app gamification software!

Wrap up

In order for mHealth apps to succeed in their goal of improving user health, they need to overcome the challenge of a boring and abundant user experience. In fact, a major reason for churn in mHealth apps is the lack of user motivation.

To combat this, mHealth apps are increasingly turning to gamification, a strategy used by market leaders like Strava and Milk Man. Gamification for apps leverages game elements to drive action towards your goals. Not only does it make your mHealth app more fun, but it also leads to higher success rates.

Looking to drive long-term engagement and positive behavior change yourself? This might be the right strategy for you!

A free consultation can help you determine the best gamification approach for your app to drive user engagement and achieve health outcomes.

3 leading examples from brands on how gamification lifts app engagement

This image illustrates how gamification elements can be integrated into mobile applications to boost user interaction and retention.

The importance of apps in commerce grows each year. Take Nike, whose CEO expects digital sales to make up 50% of total revenue by 2023. By contrast, Nike’s original goal was just 30%. What did Nike do to create such rapid mobile app engagement?

Studies show that game elements like reward systems increase brand engagement in three ways: emotional, cognitive, and social. Meaning, gamification positively affects consumer engagement. That’s good! Because acquiring new customers can cost 5 times more than retaining existing ones!

So how do brands use gamification to create customer value? In this article, we’ll explore some leading examples of gamification:

• The psychology behind gamification
• How Nike Fuel keeps runners motivated
• Urban Sports Club’s remarkable reward system
• Target’s Christmas wishlist setting a gamification example

The psychology behind gamification

Gamification is the strategic use of game elements and psychology in a non-game context. Gamification platforms can increase mobile app engagement by a whopping 47%. They do so by using game-like features such as leaderboards, progress bars, and badge reward systems to make the user experience fun and satisfying.

Essentially, you provide users with two types of motivation.

First, you have extrinsic motivation, which is triggered by rewards. Here, we are motivated because there is something to win. Studies show that while extrinsic motivation is often the initial driver of engagement, it does not achieve long-term user retention. Sure, people might enter your giveaway, but leave immediately once they found out they didn’t win anything.

New to gamification? Check out our ‘What is Gamification’ page!

On the other hand, there is what behavioral scientists call intrinsic motivation. This is the internal drive to take action towards a specific goal because you enjoy the journey in itself. It relies more on emotions and desires than rationality. However, intrinsic motivation is something you need to build up over time. That’s why you need a good mix of both types of motivation to keep users going.

The more users engage with your app, the higher their motivation and user retention will be. Even a small increase in mobile app engagement can reap rewards – did you know that a 5% rise in user retention can boost profits up to 95%?

A successful gamification example is the Delhaize app. 2/3 of sales are generated through the app loyalty card. This is 24% higher than the previous year! So how do big brands leverage gamification to win?

How can gamification work for me? Get a free consultation and we’ll show you how it works!

Let’s explore some gamification examples from brands like Nike, Urban Sports Club and Target.

How Nike Fuel keeps runners motivated

Nike Fuel tracks users’ physical activity to help them exercise better. To keep users motivated, the app fulfilled the need to socialize. Although the product was withdrawn from the market in 2018, it is still a powerful example of gamification at work. This is why.

Besides well-known gamification features like timed challenges, competitions, and leaderboards Nike Fuel connected with a range of other apps such as Spotify, Apple Music, and more.

One of those apps is Zombies, Run! This viral running app plays audio missions set during the zombie apocalypse that motivate you to exercise. Here’s the genius part: you can tag in running partners to join your missions! The app makes running exciting and fun, increasing mobile app engagement and customer loyalty for Nike also.

By developing an app that supports a healthy lifestyle, Nike got to collect high amounts of relevant data on their users – leading to more informed marketing, better customer service, and a personalized customer experience. The app also had built-in recommendations on new sports clothing based on logged activities. As a result, app users spent up to 3 times more than non-app users! Talk about loyalty.

This Nike ad campaign visualizes the intersection of fitness, community, and technology that made their app ecosystem so successful.

Urban Sports Club’s remarkable reward system

Urban Sports Club offers a range of exercise classes for a flat rate. The brand released an interactive ad with an excellent example of gamification. They created a rock climbing game where the leaderboard’s top 3 users would win the prize of a 90-day contract.

The engagement was high – a majority of users played the game 3 times, with the leaders playing nearly 25 times! The reason these campaign works is that the reward system triggers the human need to achieve. The leaderboard encourages competition and it’s has a clear goal: reach the top of the climbing wall!

Gamified apps like this create customer value by utilizing a reward system. The potential reward and fun customer experience encouraged engagement and lead generation. As a result, organic traffic to their website shot up 39% and the campaign had a 45% lower cost per click.

The screenshot from Urban Sports Club's interactive ad shows how a game-like challenge with a clear leaderboard can drive high levels of user engagement.

Target’s Christmas wishlist setting a gamification example

Target, one of the USA’s biggest retailers, developed a ‘Holiday Wish’ app for the festive season. Through the app, kids could send digital wish lists to Santa. After that, parents would receive the lists and have the option to instantly order from the list. In the end, the average value of wishlists came in at a hefty $1,500.

Mobile app engagement skyrocketed – 61% used the app weekly, and 31% engaged multiple times per day. All in all, the app generated over 75,000 downloads and 100,000 wish lists. That equals a sales potential of $92.3 million!

Don’t be just another app. Set yourself apart with our app gamification software!

What makes this app a powerful gamification example is how playful and accessible it is to use. Children view the item catalog through an augmented reality platform, and, if chosen, the items are ‘sucked into a tube’ and sent to their ‘Wish List Headquarters’. Fun features like this increase app retention and optimize the customer experience.

Target's 'Holiday Wish' app interface demonstrates how augmented reality can create a playful and immersive experience for users, turning wish lists into a fun activity.

Recap

Digital sales in commerce are on the rise. In Belgium, Delhaize already achieves 66% of all sales through their mobile app. Besides generating sales, increased mobile app engagement improves brand equity. The longer a customer engages with your brand, the more willing they are to purchase – even more than the weekly new active customers.

Gamifying your customer app can help you reap the rewards of long-term app engagement. It does so by adding game-like elements throughout the user journey, to increase motivation and provide a satisfying user experience.

So how do leading brands use gamification to their advantage?

Nike Fuel achieved increased user retention by building an app around fitness. By doing so they gathered a ton of insightful data. The result? A jump in Nike customer loyalty.

Urban Sports Club took the approach of a rock climbing game with a prize reward system. This gamified campaign led to a 39% surge in organic traffic at 45% lower cost-per-click.

Target created a festive wishlist app for kids. The app saw 75,000 downloads and created a sales potential of $92 million.

By focusing on creating customer value, Nike, Urban Sports Club, and Target all managed to stand out from the basic and boring loyalty apps. Their gamified approach allowed them to create more personalized and fulfilling experiences with every user interaction. So, now that you know how the big brands do it, what are your next steps going to be?

This call-to-action is a great next step for exploring how gamification can be applied to your own projects.

Changers: 3 gamification features that boost customer motivation in sustainable mobility

Changers utilizes compelling gamification features to encourage sustainable transportation choices.

Getting someone out of their car and onto an e-scooter is no easy task! Given the challenge, studies into customer motivation can provide product managers in urban mobility with useful insights. Research shows that gamification features incentivize green actions and create customer motivation. Inspired by these studies, apps like Changers are growing popular.

In this article, let’s discuss how Changers is making urban mobility greener!

• 3 trends affecting urban mobility today
• Gamification features incentivize sustainable urban mobility
• Changers: 3 examples of gamification that create customer motivation
• Recap

3 trends affecting urban mobility today

Governments are striving to hit the goals of the Paris Climate accords. The targets of the agreement require an overhaul in the way we travel. Here are today’s trends:

1. Cities want sustainable solutions. Local governments, such as in Barcelona and Paris, are creating the 15-minute city. To clarify, this means that people can reach anything they need within 15 minutes. As a result, councils are replacing car space with pavements and cycle lanes. This benefits shared mobility companies! For example, e-scooter enterprise Lime entered Paris in 2018, and in just 1 year counted 12 million journeys! In real terms, that’s over 1.2 million fewer trips by car.

This graph illustrates the significant reduction in car trips as a result of sustainable mobility initiatives in cities like Paris.

2. Ride-sharing market leaders have shifted focus to user retention. Uber and Lyft have seen user growth metrics stagnate. Given this, Uber and Lyft developed reward systems to increase user retention. This reflects industry trends. In brief, the ride-sharing culture is no longer about competition, but consolidation. Namely, rather than expanding directly, mobility apps are now buying local companies instead. For instance, to enter South America, the Chinese ride-sharing app Didi bought the Brazilian enterprise 99.

As user growth stagnates, major ride-sharing apps are now focusing on retention strategies to maintain their user base.

3. Public and private mobility is integrating. The needs of the public and private sectors are converging. Public organizations, like those that operate the buses and trains, are working with shared mobility companies to create greener cities. Notably, in Spain, the state-run railway operator Renfe partnered with e-scooter company Circ and ridesharing app Cabify. Amazingly, the 3 companies have integrated into 1 app! Clearly, this is better than using each app individually. In that mess, your app might get lost! The integrations give users one central place for all their transport needs.

The integration of public and private transport services into a single app demonstrates a key trend in modern urban mobility.

Gamification features incentivize sustainable urban mobility

Gamification is the use of game elements in non-game contexts. By using game-like features you can increase customer motivation and encourage the behaviors you want your audience to carry out.

A recent study shows that gamification helps urban mobility apps incentivize green mobility. With this intention, researchers developed a journey planner app and tested it on residents of a medium-sized city in Italy. In short, they found that the more gamification features the app had, the more sustainably users traveled!

Want to know more about the ins and outs of gamification? Read our ‘What is Gamification?’ page!

To start, the app had basic functionality. With each passing week, examples of gamification such as leaderboards, badges, and point systems were added. The results were striking! Comparing week 1 to week 5, there was a near 30% drop in car trips.

StriveCloud offers expert consultation to help you implement effective gamification strategies in your own application.

The positive results were achieved with a clever gamification strategy.

For example, the most sustainable journeys were the top results in searches. In addition, they were highlighted in green to emphasize them even more. Coupled with a badge reward system that encourages certain trips, users were positively reinforced to go green!

Furthermore, winning badges leads to a wager: either pick a special power or take on a challenge to boost your points. Wagers are not just fun, they also use the empowerment dynamic of gamification. Empowerment creates customer motivation!

Research data shows a clear correlation between the introduction of gamification features and an increase in sustainable travel choices.

Changers.com – 3 examples of gamification that create customer motivation

Putting the research paper into action, Changers is a mobile app that helps companies incentivize their employees to adopt a greener lifestyle. It is achieved, for example, by rewarding users with badges, or empowering them with points that can plant trees that offset their commute’s CO2 emissions. Thanks to Changers’ mobile app, users in the German city of Münster saved 80,000 kg of CO2 in just 3 months! This was made possible with gamification.

Want to drive meaningful retention on your app? Try our app gamification software!

Let’s uncover 3 main gamification features Changers utilizes:

1. A reward system that unlocks perks for sustainable activities. The points system incentivizes green actions like walking to work. As a result, participants can exchange their points for vouchers in staff cafeterias or for bicycle accessories.

Prizes are an excellent extrinsic motivator that provides users with goals to strive for! In addition, an app with perks takes advantage of the constraint dynamic. This means that parts of your app are locked off. Why is that so effective? Science shows the fear of missing out is as motivating as winning!

The Changers app displays a clear reward system where users can exchange points for tangible perks, providing strong extrinsic motivation.

2. Customized charity donations that empower users with a personalized purpose. The points system can also buy donations for your chosen charity. This mechanic empowers users to customize their own benefits. Customization tools are shown to significantly boost mobile app engagement!

This interface shows how users can redeem their earned coins for charity donations, empowering them with a sense of purpose.

3. Competitions that are not just fun, but provide ongoing motivation. Playing with friends and colleagues provides motivation to reach the top of the leaderboard. This game mechanic appeals to the need for social status, which is a great source of intrinsic motivation! People like to be at the top. In addition, Changers has a forum that allows colleagues to discuss or brag about their achievements. Obviously, people are naturally motivated by competition, collaboration, and relationships!

A leaderboard feature taps into the natural human desire for competition and social status, driving ongoing engagement.

Utilizing these gamification features, Changers is making a real difference. By incentivizing users to choose sustainable mobility methods like the bicycle, the app is helping people’s health and the planet. In achieving this, Changers provides an excellent example of gamification that shows how gamifying your app creates long-lasting customer motivation!

Recap

Getting someone out of their car and onto an e-scooter is no easy task! Research shows that gamification incentivizes users and creates customer motivation in sustainability.

One company taking advantage of this is Changers. To put Changers in context, here are 3 trends affecting urban mobility today:

1. Cities want sustainable solutions. Since the Paris Climate agreement, local governments are making their cities greener.
2. Ride-sharing market leaders have shifted their focus to user retention. Both Lyft and Uber implemented a reward system to increase user retention.
3. The needs of public and private companies are converging. For example, the Spanish state-run railway operator Renfe partnered with e-scooter company Circ and ridesharing app Cabify. The 3 companies integrated into 1 app!

A recent study shows gamification can help sustainable urban mobility. In this study, researchers developed a journey planner app. In short, they found that the more gamification features they added, the more sustainable trips were taken!

The app began with basic functionality. With each passing week, examples of gamification were added. Comparing week 1 to week 5, there was a 28% drop in car trips!

This was achieved with a clever gamification strategy:

• 🌱 The most sustainable journeys were the top results in journey planner searches.
• 🏆 A badge reward system encouraged certain trips.
• 💪 Challengers and wagers empowered the user.

Learning from that study, Changers is also a model gamification example:

• 💰 A reward system that unlocks perks for sustainable activities such as walking to work.
• 💳 Customized charity donations that empower users with a personalized purpose.
• 👏 Competitions that are not just fun, but provide ongoing motivation.

Thanks to their mobile app, Changers can boast success: in just 3 months, users in the German city of Münster saved 80,000 kg of CO2! This was made possible with the customer motivation created by gamification.

Take the next step in reducing user churn by exploring the solutions offered by StriveCloud.

The science of how to motivate your customers with app gamification

This article explores the psychological principles behind using gamification to motivate app users and improve engagement.

When the average human attention span is just eight seconds, getting and keeping customer attention can be difficult. In fact, a lack of customer motivation leads to the reality that nearly 3/4 of users uninstall apps within just 90 days. For this reason, market leaders like Smarty Pig and Fitbit use app gamification to drive engagement.

But what is gamification exactly? And how does it motivate customers? Let’s look at some examples of gamification and find out how it strengthens the relationship between brand and customer.

Here’s what you’ll discover:

• What is app gamification?
• How does gamification lift customer motivation?
• Using gamification to create an engaging app
• Examples of gamification from the market leaders

What is app gamification?

Gamification is the strategic use of game elements and psychology used in a non-game context. This means adding gamification features like progress bars, prizes, and reward systems into your app to drive the user behaviors that help you grow.

App gamification has the power to clarify objectives and make those goals rewarding to achieve. Beware! It doesn’t mean you should turn everything into a game, rather you take the psychological elements that make a game fun, and embed those into your customer experience.

Not only will customers be more engaged, and loyal, they will also spend more and more often!

This diagram illustrates how app gamification can lead to significant business growth by improving engagement and loyalty.

Companies that use gamification are often more profitable as they know how to keep their customers actively engaged. The positive effects are clear early in the user process. Case in point, product managers that gamify the onboarding process see engagement and conversion metrics DOUBLE.

Looking for more? Find out everything you should know on our ‘What is Gamification’ page.

How does gamification lift customer motivation?

Generally, gamification plays on two types of motivations based on behavioral psychology and cognitive bias.

Achievements and results-based drivers are called extrinsic motivators. However, long-term motivation doesn’t derive from only extrinsic motivation. These drivers trigger initial engagement and are crucial for the discovery phase. But to create user retention beyond that 90 day cut-off, customers need a little bit more.

To increase customer loyalty, you need intrinsic motivation. These are innate emotions linked to our desires or fears. Here are 5 examples of those and how you could use them to increase customer motivation:

• Relationships – People are social creatures and are naturally motivated by competition, collaboration, and relatedness.
• Accomplishment – Achievements like badges give customers goals to strive for. Pro tip: indicating their progress towards it motivates them even more!
• Empowerment – Positively reinforcing customer actions, with a discount, for instance, empowers them to keep coming back to you.
• Unpredictability. People love to explore and stay surprised, that’s why things such as variable rewards are crucial to increase customer retention.
• Constraint. Try locking off exclusive features. Science shows the fear of missing out is as motivating as winning!

This is a visual representation of the core drivers that gamification leverages to increase customer motivation.

Using gamification to create an engaging app

If you want to increase user retention and mobile app engagement, you must create a compelling customer experience! Given that, here are three examples of gamification features that research shows can provide a 47% increase in engagement:

1. App personalization and the power of the avatar.

Give your users autonomy. Customization tools, such as picking your own avatar, results in higher engagement. For instance, if you display the user avatar at an achievement milestone, studies show it leads to a ‘higher level of sense of presence’. This means that users feel more involved! As a result, you tap into the intrinsic motivator of self-worth.

2. Leaderboards facilitate competition which shows off your social status.

A research paper stated that competition is a ‘media, not a purpose’. While leaderboards create fair competition, the friendly battle is only a vehicle that motivates users to win. Primarily, competitions access motivational drivers like the need for social status, the need to socialize and provide a way to test dedication. Equally important for product managers – that same research paper showed placing on the leaderboard improves user perception of the mobile app.

3. Progress bars encourage growth and customer motivation.

Progress bars fill with color as soon as the user advances. Of course, this feature does more than detail the length of a task. For one, it gives your users knowledge of how much effort they need to invest. In addition, seeing the immediate progress from your actions provides customers with instant gratification.

Don’t be just another loyalty app. Set yourself apart with our app gamification software!

Examples of gamification from the market leaders

How do the top dogs do it? Let’s see how two market leaders use examples of gamification to bring the customer closer to their brand:

Smarty Pig’s progress bar motivates you to save money.

Smarty Pig is a finance app that helps users meet savings goals. Users start by setting an aspiration like buying a car. This target acts as a sort of avatar, personalizing the goal process. Notably, depositing money fills up a progress bar displayed as a cartoon pig!

In effect, it makes the user process fun and exciting. This gamification feature makes budgeting satisfying, not a chore! All things considered, the results are clear. In just 2 years, the app acquired 40,000 new customers and $250 million in the ‘piggybank’.

Fitbit’s leaderboard encourages users to run harder and faster!

Fitbit is a health & fitness app used with a wearable tracking device. The app tracks daily steps and encourages users to complete a daily goal. Steps are seen as the ‘currency’ that buys your way up the leaderboard.

The leaderboard creates a sense of social connection; a place where you can compete with friends and share the results on social media, which we call a positive intensifier. It must work, as Fitbit has over 29 million weekly active users!

To back that up, the Fitbit leaderboard thrusts, what one study calls, ‘sedentary’ users into action. Results show the leaderboard alone leads to a 15% increase in daily steps!

Recap

Customer loyalty is the challenge of today. As a matter of fact, 71% of users uninstall apps within 90 days. That’s why companies that use app gamification win.

Gamification is the strategic use of game elements and psychology used in a non-game context. Examples of gamification are often portrayed as progress bars, prizes, and reward systems. However, they need a deeper realization to push customers forward.

They do so using two types of motivators:

Extrinsic motivators are achievements and results-based drivers. They rely on our desire to get rewards. These help customer motivation through the discovery phase, but for true loyalty, you need intrinsic motivation.

Intrinsic motivators appeal to the deeper emotions linked to innate desires or fears. In effect, studies show this creates positive behaviors like enjoyment and happiness. App gamification relies on these behavioral dynamics to lift customer motivation:

• Relationships – People are naturally social and enjoy friendly competition.
• Accomplishment – Give customers goals to strive for.
• Empowerment – Customers need autonomy and personalization.
• Unpredictability – Delight your customers with a surprising experience.
• Constraint – Lock off features to incentivize usage.

You can boost engagement by as much as 47% if you:

• Embrace app personalization and the power of the avatar. Give users autonomy and let them pick their own avatars. Involve them, and appeal to their sense of self-worth.
• Facilitate social competition with leaderboards. Fair and transparent winning criteria encourage competition and usage, ultimately improving the customer perception of your app.
• Encourage growth with progress bars. Give users instant gratification and digital confetti upon completing a progress bar, which contextualizes the effort of the task.

Indeed, market leaders are doing this already!

• Smarty Pig uses a cleverly designed progress bar to help users save money.
• Fitbit’s leaderboard encourages social connectedness, which keeps users active.

StriveCloud offers expert consultation to help you implement effective gamification strategies in your own application.

5 Gamification examples that make Nike Run Club a top running app

The Nike Run Club app interface is designed to be engaging and motivating, helping the brand retain users long-term.

Successful apps are not only good at user acquisition, but they manage to sustain long-term engagement in their users. However, only a few apps manage this. Research states lack of engagement or perceived value are included in the main reasons for user churn. 77% of users stop engaging with an app after three months. So how does an app like Nike Run Club, dating to 2012, drive retention by 21% and retain a position as one of the top 10 running apps?

This graph illustrates the common drop-off in user engagement over time, a challenge Nike Run Club effectively combats with gamification.

Essentially, to foster long-term user engagement, your app needs to be both fun and rewarding, as well as establish a clear sense of value. An effective way to do this is through gamification!

Let’s look at 5 examples of gamification from Nike Run Club and why they work.

What we’ll cover:

• How does Nike leverage gamification on its Nike Run Club app?
• Nike Run Club breakdown: 5 gamification examples

How does Nike leverage gamification on its Nike Run Club app?

Nike Run Club is a health & fitness app that tracks users’ runs with data ranging from exercise duration up to the wear of your trainers. Along the way, they will recommend new articles based on your activity. In 2020, the app saw download growth of over 45%, compared to the average global increase of 10%.

The Nike Run Club app is not just a running app to track distance. It uses gamification to encourage mobile app engagement and retention. Through this app, Nike can collect data about users’ chosen sports, activity levels, and preferred styles. By using that data to personalize the experience, app users spend 3x more than guest customers.

So how do they do it? In a 2020 study, users of Nike Run Club named the reasons behind continued mobile app engagement. They cited:

• Usefulness - The app clearly communicates its benefits.
• Ease of use - An intuitive interface and onboarding process are key factors.
• Playfulness - The user experience is exciting and interesting.
• Interpersonal influence - The app fulfills the basic need to socialize.

Nike Run Club training plans use a range of gamification features such as milestone unlocks, reward systems, and leaderboards. A study on Nike Run Club states that recognition from family and friends is the main factor affecting engagement.

Gamification is the strategic use of game features and psychology in a non-game context to support business goals. It triggers users to take action towards goals by relying on innate human desires such as our need for achievement or a feeling of empowerment. Examples of gamification for apps often occur in the shape of game-like features such as leveling or reward systems, challenges, and more.

New to gamification? Get up to speed on our ‘What is Gamification?’ page!

So how does this Nike app motivate its users to keep running? Let’s go through 5 gamification examples and break down why they work!

Nike Run Club breakdown - 5 gamification examples

Let’s take a look at 5 examples of gamification used by Nike Run Club and how they maximize mobile app engagement by shaping user motivation.

#1 Build on your community to increase user retention

Nike Run Club fosters a sense of community that fulfills the human need to socialize. This way they encourage users to interact and keep each other motivated. Consequently, research confirms this leads to long-term mobile app engagement.

Nike Run Club’s social elements greatly influence users to continue using the app. Not only do users have a social network and share options, but there are also plenty of opportunities to team up and form an exercise group with their friends. After all, it is the Nike Run Club!

#2 Set timed challenges to trigger user participation

Timed challenges are a great example of gamification when it comes to triggering user participation. Therefore, setting deadlines creates a sense of urgency and urges users to take action before it’s too late.

Nike Run Club does this with many challenges. For example, the Nike Run club marathon plan, takes a set amount of weeks and workouts, that keep progressing towards harder and higher goals.

Studies show that adding a deadline greatly helps in goal pursuit. It’s caused by an innate fear of loss or mission out, known as FOMO. To increase the power of this driver, Nike Run Club even offers prizes to participants , such as a free trip to the Nike HQ.

Nike Run Club uses timed challenges, like this weekly goal, to create a sense of urgency and encourage regular participation.

#3 Celebrate progress to reinforce app engagement

While cash prizes are one way to celebrate user progress, it’s actually cheaper and more effective to use digital confetti. Instant feedback is a powerful driver linked to the need for empowerment, and the effect is greatly increased by Nike’s share buttons.

Nike Run Club users are regularly given the ability to share their progress and achievements. This helps keep them accountable for their goals! They call this a ‘retention hook’. Studies back this up and state that positive reinforcement in mobile apps can trigger action and habit formation.

Celebrating milestones with shareable achievements provides powerful positive reinforcement, driving users to continue their running journey.

Reward users' individual fitness progress with gamification! Book a free session to start now.

#4 Install a sense of competition through leaderboards

A fitness app challenge on its own is a great idea, however, it cannot stand against the power of competition! A leaderboard is a way of tracking progress, challenging yourself to overcome peer results and sharing your achievements with others. It’s an example of gamification relying on community, instant feedback, and progress measuring all at once!

The fitness community is vast, but users are most motivated when they compare themselves to people they know. Nike Run Club’s leaderboard encourages users to participate in run challenges with their friends and family. A recent study into the app found that the mechanism of competing enables interaction. Accordingly, the closeness of the community motivates the intention to run, ‘increasing confidence and connection’. Community challenges are a built-in positive feedback loop.

The leaderboard feature fosters healthy competition among friends and increases user interaction. Source: Felicia via appsamurai.com

#5 Empower users through personalization

Personalization gives users autonomy and research shows this results in higher mobile app engagement. For example, the app’s coaching plans are tailored to runners’ strengths, and changes with their progress. It always keeps it challenging enough to still be interesting, but not too hard that users lose motivation.

On top, integrations with Spotify and Apple Music let users listen to their own music during training, and you can even set which weather conditions you prefer to exercise in. These features embody those drivers of long-term mobile app engagement: usefulness, ease of use, and overall satisfying experience.

Want to differentiate through gamification? Check out our app gamification platform!

After the five gamification examples we showed you, it is clear why Nike Run Club is the app of choice for runners. The app perfectly balances functionality with fun. Let’s call it FUNctionality!

This call to action encourages potential business clients to explore how gamification can be applied to their own services.

Recap

It’s a fact that 77% of users stop engaging with an app after three months. So how does an app like Nike Run Club, dating to 2012, drive retention by 21% and retain a position as one of the top 10 running apps?

The biggest reasons to quit apps are lack of satisfaction and perceived usefulness. However, these issues can be solved with gamification.

A study found that Nike Run Club’s motivational drivers for app engagement were:

• Usefulness
• Ease of use
• Playfulness
• Interpersonal influence

To build on those motivations, Nike uses gamification in a variety of ways. Here are 5 gamification examples from their Run Club app:

1. Build on your community to boost retention
2. Set timed challenges to trigger user participation
3. Celebrate progress to reinforce app engagement
4. Install a sense of competition through leaderboards
5. Empower users through personalization

Gamification platforms fulfill basic human needs like personal satisfaction, social interaction, and stimulation. It makes an app experience fun and engaging, leading to increased user retention and mobile app engagement. Nike leverages gamification to collect invaluable information on their customers.

In addition, Nike Run Club has figured out the best plan for behavior change. Studies show that when well-implemented gamification helps induce positive behavior. The app’s design is a lesson in how gamification can help your application enable users to achieve their goals while maximizing your business objectives.

How gamification helps Streetcrowd fight the greatest challenge in shared mobility

Streetcrowd's gamified mobile app is at the forefront of tackling efficiency problems within the shared mobility industry.

Today, 76% of people live in cities. That’s one billion more than in the year 2000! Given the rapid urbanization, transport needs are changing - and fast. To get ahead, shared mobility companies like Uber and Streetcrowd boast cutting-edge gamified apps. Take Uber, whose reward system focuses on customer loyalty and user retention. Likewise, Streetcrowd has managed to create loyal customers by using gamification features. They’re an excellent example of how to increase app retention.

Let’s see what makes the Streetcrowd app successful and how it built a dedicated community of active users that spans across 10 cities. In this article, we cover:

• Trending now: why you should learn how to increase app retention
• Gamification apps leading the way in shared mobility
• Streetcrowd boosts user retention with gamification features
• Recap

Trending now: why you should learn how to increase app retention

In 2020, app uninstall rates shot up by 70%. That’s a $57,000 loss for the app market every month! Product managers are leveraging game psychology and gamification features to increase app retention and eliminate churn. As a result, the gamification market is set to grow over 25% yearly.

Studies show that gamification features give a huge boost to app retention metrics! That’s because they drive engagement by triggering customer motivation and making the experience fun and rewarding.

Apps that engage with and motivate their customers in this way see a whopping 63% decrease in user churn. Besides, gamified reward systems generate customer loyalty. This is great because loyal customers spend more, and more often!

Want to know more about the ins and outs of gamification? Read our ‘What is Gamification?’ page!

In short, 1/5 of users check out a new app just once before uninstalling. Given this, only focusing on the acquisition side can lead to poor user retention metrics, and a wasted budget writes software enterprise Upland.

Shared mobility apps are no different. That’s why the industry is exploring gamification features to increase user retention and loyalty.

Gamified apps leading the way in shared mobility

On-demand mobility is a fairly new sector; it only dates back to around 2009. When smartphones became the norm, mobility apps with a focus on flexibility and customer empowerment quickly emerged. One of the first to do so was Uber in 2009. Now, a little over ten years later, Uber has 93 million active users.

This graph illustrates the competitive landscape in the ridesharing market, showing shifting user loyalty between an established player and a rising challenger.

Uber is fighting to retain them from a fierce set of competitors. To illustrate, their userbase has declined by 7% in the past four years, while Lyft has seen an 11% rise. In response, Uber shifted its focus to user retention and created a reward system called Uber Rewards.

The story is similar across the mobility sector, given how fast the market grows. As an illustration, the world’s top 10 ridesharing apps were all founded after 2008!

The table lists the top 10 ridesharing apps, highlighting the sector's rapid growth and recent emergence in the last decade.

To clarify, there is an explanation as to why “get big fast” is the motto of the mobility sector. It is due to the Network Effect, which means that the product grows in value as more people use it. Clearly, a mobility app is of little use to customers if there are no drivers, and there are no drivers without customers! This chicken and egg scenario means that companies need to grow extraordinarily quickly. One of these strategies means offering discounts and competitive pricing. However, that will not achieve user retention, nor will it improve the company’s wallet!

Under these circumstances, mobility apps need to find innovative ways to stay afloat and tackle the issue of how to increase app retention. In response, the shared mobility sector is emphasizing user retention and efficiency increases. In fact, operational efficiency is the greatest challenge facing the industry, notes consultancy firm Arthur D Little. To turn this threat into an opportunity, Streetcrowd is leading the way forward.

Want to drive meaningful retention on your app? Try our app gamification software!

Streetcrowd boosts user retention with gamification features

Streetcrowd is an app that supports mobility providers by making their operations more efficient. Its mission is customer experience optimization. Using gamification features, the app engages users through a reward system to do odd jobs, such as moving a parked car in the company’s 5,500 vehicles to a more desirable place.

In other words, where the car is more likely to meet customer demand, rather than sit idle. This maximizes profit! Clearly, it is needed: current car usage rates for mobility apps are a shockingly low 10%.

The chart highlights the low utilization rate of vehicles in mobility apps, a key operational challenge that Streetcrowd aims to solve.

To be sure, it is impossible to achieve a perfect 100% utilization rate, but there is obvious room for improvement. For customers, a higher car utilization rate means the car is easier to allocate because it’s closer to users. Benefits like these will drive customer loyalty and user retention much more than a discount. With this in mind, Streetcrowd sets out to increase rates by implementing a range of gamification features:

A reward system that motivates users to achieve goals

Streetcrowd incentivizes users through financial rewards, paying them for their time. This is an extrinsic motivator, meaning that it is a results-based driver. However, this reward system is most useful in the discovery phase. Behavioral research shows that user retention is instead achieved through intrinsic motivation.

Challenges that encourage users to complete tasks

This appeals to the user’s self-worth, an intrinsic motivator. In addition, challenges are fun! If users succeed, they will feel the reward (and the dopamine hit that comes with it). A possible challenge could be moving a certain number of vehicles in a fixed timeframe to get a bonus reward.

Empowerment through an interactive interface

Empowerment is a principle mechanic of app gamification. Users select which vehicles they want to move, and transparently see what is required. A visually pleasing map with greens, reds, and clearly mapped routes makes the task feel less like a job and more of a quest!

This screenshot of the Streetcrowd app displays its interactive map, which turns vehicle relocation into a quest-like experience for users.

Progress indicators and digital confetti give users instant gratification

When you are logging a vehicle, a progress indicator guides you during the wait for acceptance. This is a simple yet effective gamification feature. For one, it assures the user that the system is working. Additionally, scientific research shows that it minimizes cognitive load. In other words, instead of focusing on the wait, the progress indicator reduces the user’s perception of time by providing a visually stimulating experience.

Streetcrowd pairs this with digital confetti, showing a celebratory splash in the middle of the screen. This provides instant gratification, which contributes to creating customer loyalty! How so? It very clearly shows that their work has rewards.

The app's reward screen uses digital confetti to provide instant gratification, reinforcing positive user behavior and building loyalty.

As a result of their gamified app, Streetcrowd has created customer loyalty in cities across the world. Users’ continued engagement and reward for participation create loyalty for the Streetcrowd brand. Streetcrowd has managed to leverage gamification to increase operational efficiency. The faster service and higher utilization rates give them a competitive edge over other bigger brands.

This call-to-action banner encourages readers to explore how gamification strategies can be applied to their own applications.

Recap

In 2020, app uninstall rates shot up by 70%. The on-demand mobility sector is growing rapidly, yet it is shifting, and companies are responding with gamification apps.

Market leaders like Uber are losing customers to challengers like Lyft. To combat this Uber installed gamification reward systems to improve user retention.

While tackling user retention, the largest challenge the sector is facing is a poor rate of operational efficiency. For example, the average utilization rate for a car in a mobility app’s fleet rests at just 10%! Streetcrowd is in the industry to change that.

Streetcrowd is an app that supports mobility providers by making their operations more efficient. Using gamification, the app engages users to do odd jobs such as moving a parked car to a more desirable location, where it is more likely to be used.

It uses a variety of gamification features to achieve this:

• A reward system that motivates users to achieve their goals. Using financial gain for completing tasks is a key result-based extrinsic motivator.
• Challenges that encourage users to complete tasks. This appeals to the user’s self-worth, and need for fun, both intrinsic motivators.
• Empowerment through an interactive interface. Users can choose tasks through a transparent and intuitive selection process.
• Progress indicators and digital confetti give users instant gratification. These enjoyable small touches provide encouragement to continue using the app.

As a result of their gamified app, Streetcrowd has created customer loyalty in 10 cities across the world, as well as making themselves indispensable to mobility app providers through their skill at tackling operational efficiency. Streetcrowd is showing the way forward by confronting the greatest challenge of the shared mobility sector.

This final banner rinforces the value proposition of using gamification to reduce user churn and improve retention metrics.

Uber: A great example of how to increase customer loyalty with gamification

Uber's app interface provides a clear example of how gamification elements can be integrated into a service-based platform.

The average smartphone owner unlocks their screen 150 times a day! Needless to say, the tremendous amount of attention our mobile asks for can feel overwhelming for some people. As a mobile app, how do you rise above the noise and make yourself heard? Product managers are turning to gamification to solve this issue and increase user retention. In great numbers too, as the adoption of gamification is set to grow by 25% every year!

Gamification is the use of game-like features in a product or service to improve customer engagement and loyalty. Examples of gamification can be a monetary reward system and unlockable badges. As a result of implementing gamification features, early adopter brands are reaping the benefits. A study into Nike Fuel’s gamification found it supercharged customer loyalty and led to clear sales benefits: app users spent up to 3 times more than non-app users!

One sector is taking great advantage of gamification: on-demand mobility. These are companies that provide flexible transport solutions through mobile apps, like Uber. In this article, let’s look at how Uber’s gamification app made them a market leader.

We will cover:

• Key gamification trends and the case for customer loyalty
• Why on-demand mobility needs the power of gamification
• Gamification examples that help Uber improve customer loyalty
• Recap

Key gamification trends and the case for customer loyalty

More and more we see market leaders using gamification to create long-lasting customer value. One of the first gamification examples goes way back to 2006 when Coca-Cola started using features like loyalty points and prizes as part of its My Coke Rewards program. The campaign retained 20 million lifetime members! A sign of how powerful gamification can be.

Another key trend is the changing demographics of consumers. Digital natives, consisting out of millennials (1981-1996) and Gen Z (1996+) will make up 3/4 of the workforce by 2025. In short, that means those with spending money! Given that Millennials were the first generation to grow up with games, it should not be a surprise that studies show millennials respond positively to app gamification. Brands can leverage this power to increase their customer loyalty among this hard-to-reach demographic.

Speaking of customer loyalty, did you know that millennials are the most brand-loyal generation? Despite taking an unliking towards in-your-face marketing such as ads or drip campaigns, over half of millennials say they are extremely loyal to a brand! This affects the on-demand mobility sector as well, especially Uber, where 65% of users are aged under 35.

Why on-demand mobility needs the power of gamification

Today, the way we get from A to B is changing and car ownership is plummeting. As a result, the ridesharing app market is predicted to grow an impressive 20% every year. That means the market will double in just five years! Given this growth, the competition is getting stronger too. Take Lime for instance, whose signature green bikes can be found in most major cities – they only started in 2017.

This graph illustrates the significant growth in on-demand mobility users, highlighting the competitive market Uber operates in.

The on-demand mobility market is no stranger to using gamification features to improve mobile app engagement. Lime, for instance, has a reward system that encourages its customers to pick up bikes across the city. In exchange, users get Lime coins which they can exchange for free rides, discounts, and merchandise.

These are great features to attract new users, but gamification is not one size fits all! You must implement it with your target audience always in mind. Studies show that mature businesses (like Uber) should steer clear of free rides and price cuts – so what is a market leader to do?

Uber shifted its focus to customer loyalty instead of acquisition. Currently, most people request a ride with Uber - it makes up 67% of the ridesharing market. Although, that figure is down from 74% in just four years. Given the rise in competition and alternatives, Uber is using gamification to increase user retention.

Gamification examples that help Uber improve customer loyalty

The Uber app uses gamification features to meet its business goals. In particular, their reward system is tailored to raise user retention. As opposed to Lime, which offers incentives to start using the service such as discounts, the Uber Rewards program aims to incentivize loyalty. The reward system launched in 2018 and includes a tier system that unlocks benefits such as the removal of cancellation fees.

Uber's reward tier system visually communicates player status and unlocks exclusive benefits, driving long-term user loyalty.

A reward system like Uber Rewards helps you turn customers into loyal ambassadors. This is a good strategy! Keep in mind that your top 10% of customers spend almost 3x per transaction than the bottom 90%. Part of the reason this reward system is so effective is a dynamic called constraint. This is when you lock off parts of your app or only reveal things to pro users. Behavioral science shows the fear of missing out is just as motivating as winning!

Want to know more about the ins and outs of gamification? Read our ‘What is Gamification?’ page!

There are other examples of gamification Uber uses to increase its user retention. In order to encourage customers to take part in the reward system, a progress bar shows you how close you are to the next tier.

By visualizing progress, the customer can see how much time and effort they need to invest. Another benefit is that the progress bar provides instant gratification and triggers a natural motivation for progress.

The progress bar is a classic gamification technique that provides users with instant feedback and a clear goal to strive for.

To be sure, intrinsic motivators are crucial for user retention! Intrinsic drivers provide customer motivation based on feelings like enjoyment and happiness. Extrinsic motivation on the other hand is more results-based. While research shows that extrinsic motivators push users through the discovery phase, intrinsic drivers create long-term mobile app engagement.

In conclusion, Uber identified what their business needed, and adapted the app accordingly with the right gamification features. The mobile app focuses on customer loyalty and it has achieved clear results. In just six months, 20 million users signed up to Uber Rewards! The Uber app is an example of how to successfully position your product and target your audience in order to achieve your goal. And it was made possible with gamification!

Want to drive meaningful retention on your app? Try our app gamification solutions!

Recap

Gamification is the use of game-like elements in a product or service to lift user engagement and increase customer loyalty. Gamification features are popular today – Gamification adoption is set to grow by 25% every year!

One sector is taking great advantage of gamification: on-demand mobility. These are companies that provide flexible transport solutions through mobile apps, like Uber.

The rapid growth of gamification is a sign of changing demographics. Digital natives, who will soon make up for 3/4 of the workforce, not only respond positively to app gamification but are also the most brand-loyal generation. These demographics heavily affect Uber, where 65% of users are aged under 35.

Let’s recap the challenges of the sector and how Uber faced up to the challenge:

• The ridesharing app market is predicted to grow an impressive 20% every year.
• Companies like Lime have gone from emerging to competing rapidly.
• Competition has led to a 7% decrease in Uber’s market share.

Given this, how did Uber utilize gamification features to achieve user retention?

• Implemented the Uber Rewards system, to give back to its loyal customers.
• Introduced tiers with perks such as the removal of cancellation fees.
• Developed a progress bar to show how close users are to the next tier.

In response, they received 20 million sign-ups in just six months! And that’s how gamification can be used to turbocharge user retention and customer loyalty.

Learn how StriveCloud can help you implement similar gamification strategies to boost your customer loyalty.

How Duolingo uses gamification to improve user retention (+ 5 winning tactics)

If you have ever tried to learn a new language on your phone, you probably know Duolingo! With over 42 million monthly active users, Duolingo is the world leader in educational apps. In other words, they’ve built an app that makes learning fun! The user experience on Duolingo is full of gamification elements that make learning a new language motivating for its users. From daily streaks to points, badges, and leaderboards, Duolingo gamification makes it a perfect case study to improve user retention!

Duolingo’s product manager Zan Gilani himself says the app’s key to success is how it leverages gamification to keep people motivated and engaged. Its badging system has come to define the app. However, Duolingo goes way beyond just badges. They created a fun learning environment that keeps users engaged and conclusively boosts its user retention metrics.

This title image sets the stage for our analysis of Duolingo's successful gamification strategies for user retention.

In this article, we’ll tear down exactly how they do it:

• 3 challenges Duolingo overcame with gamification
• How gamification helped Duolingo become the #1 language learning app
• 5 gamification tactics that helped Duolingo improve user retention
• Recap

3 challenges Duolingo overcame with gamification

When Duolingo launched in 2011, it had a simple mission: make learning a language simple, fun, and free. Duolingo developed an interactive learning platform inspired by proven educational methods, such as the theme-based teaching approach. This means that courses are grouped in themes, such as ‘greetings’. According to research studies, this method gives a 45% boost to student results.

However, a mobile app differs a lot from the classroom. Given this, Duolingo faced 3 existential challenges. Today, they have overcome them all with gamification, and become the perfect example of gamification in learning!

#1 Low user retention rate affecting all mobile education apps

First we should establish what a low retention rate means. What is a good retention rate for scale? Generally speaking, you should retain around 20% of your app users after the first day. However, learning apps are far from reaching this. They have one of the lowest user retention rates (1.76%) out of all kinds of mobile apps. Duolingo was no different when it started. In 2012, Duolingo’s next-day user retention was just 12%. This statistic revealed some clear issues with the onboarding process. Especially, the intimidating amount of knowledge that users needed to learn to get ahead.

This graph illustrates the typically steep drop-off in user retention for Android apps, a significant hurdle Duolingo needed to overcome.

Obstacles this big are a problem. You can’t learn a language in 1 day, so how can Duolingo help its users learn a new language if they don’t stick around?

Today, it is clear that Duolingo beat the odds. User churn (defined as those who opened the app on a given month, then failed to do so the following month), declined considerably. From around 47% in mid-2020 to around 37% in early 2023. For an app released in 2011, this is a remarkable achievement.

Want to improve your user retention metrics with gamification? Get a free consultation to start!

#2 It’s difficult to keep users motivated over the long run

Improving short-term user retention is one thing, but it can take weeks to see progress in learning a new language. Given this, users need to stay motivated towards reaching their goal! Duolingo gamification played an important role in inspiring long-term motivation in its users.

The learning app managed to keep its users engaged with short-term wins while increasing inherent motivation through genuine progress and skill development. Consequently, customers remained loyal. It’s a proven theory! A study from 2021 found that 80% of language students enjoyed using Duolingo because of its gamification!

#3 Demonstrating real progress in language learning

A key motivational driver in education platforms is the human need for competence. Because it takes a long time to learn a language, any signs of progress might take a while to manifest. That is why loyal customers in the education technology industry don't come easy. Given this, there needs to be meaningful achievements early on to motivate users.

You see this in most games as well, the first levels are easy and get you hooked on the overall game. As you progress the difficulty increases, but so does your skill level and motivation!

What is gamification and how does it increase user motivation?

How gamification helped Duolingo become the #1 language learning app

Early in Duolingo’s history, the challenges we just mentioned defined the product strategy. Gilani, the company’s most senior product manager, said “We realized we needed to encourage people to form a daily learning habit”.

Gamification is great at making an app ‘sticky’, meaning that users will make a habit of using it. Duolingo gamification case study is proof of that!

This graphic visualizes how Duolingo integrates gamification into every aspect of the user journey to maximize retention.

Customer retention strategies are hard to navigate for most apps. However, Duolingo has nailed theirs with gamification. Research shows that gamification has a hugely positive effect on Duolingo’s brand equity and user retention. The team developed an effective set of gamification mechanics through extensive A/B testing (for which they have become famous).

Duolingo gamification ranges from the obvious, such as the badge reward system, to the barely noticeable. For example, think of that little red dot over the app icon that indicates a new item, or something unresolved. Just that small feature increased daily active users by 1.6%. While that doesn’t sound like a huge number, they add up when you have millions of users!

By boosting their daily active users bit by bit, Duolingo tackled the problem of user retention. At one point, this was a particular issue.

Initially, Duolingo was losing users during the onboarding process. This is because the app onboarding was focused on sign-ups, to generate email addresses. However, more often than not, new users would ignore their notifications. Remember that 12% next-day user retention rate? Well, the product manager decided to push the sign-up page until after a test lesson. This had a major impact on the number of retained users. It led to a huge 20% jump in next-day user retention!

The simple red dot notification is a subtle yet powerful gamification mechanic that significantly boosts daily active users by creating a sense of urgency.

5 gamification tactics that helped Duolingo improve user retention

Let’s be clear, the gamification mechanics implemented in Duolingo positively affect user motivation. A study revealed that more than 1 in 2 users found Duolingo gamification personally motivating. Let’s take a look at the different gamification mechanics, why they work, and how they made Duolingo the best app for learning:

#1 Using a mascot makes push notifications more personal

Duolingo's Green Owl is famous and serves more purposes than just marketing. Push notifications can be very intrusive or commanding. Duo’s part in this makes them friendlier, and people are more likely to listen to a friend. Don’t believe it? Well, it’s tested - against other push notifications, the personal greeting from Duo did best and led to a 5% rise in daily active users.

Duo, the friendly mascot, personalizes push notifications, making them feel more like helpful reminders and less like intrusive alerts.

#2 Badge rewards lift referrals & lead generation

Duolingo’s badge reward system saw an impressive 116% jump in referrals. Badges fulfill the basic need for self-worth, an important intrinsic motivator. Users can look at their earned badges and review their progress, or, show off their badges to their friends!

It is key to point out that referrals are an invaluable resource for product managers. They are the most effective form of lead generation! It requires no financial investment and brings in customers more likely to stick around.

Duolingo's badge system effectively taps into the user's need for achievement and social recognition, which in turn drives referrals.

#3 Instant feedback gives users control and room for growth

Feedback supports the intrinsic need for growth. Also, immediate corrections lend a sense of control to the user. It’s a great gamification case study for learning. Imagine if the app made you wait to see what you did wrong. That wouldn’t be fun! It would feel like taking an exam unless you’re into that sort of stuff.

What’s more, the pleasing “ping” sound you hear when you answer correctly provides even more positive reinforcement. Studies show that positive reinforcement makes people more motivated to learn!

Instant feedback on answers provides positive reinforcement and gives users a clear sense of control and continuous progress.

Keep learners motivated on your app! Discover our gamification platform today.

#4 Leaderboards encourage competition and social interaction

Every time a user completes a course, they earn points that gain them a place on a leaderboard. This feature triggers a sense of competition and the need to prove yourself as a leader. Therefore, it also creates a daily habit, as you wish to collect more points and advance upwards. In addition, the app often shows where your friends are placed, or tells you when they have achieved something. Not only does this provide the opportunity to congratulate friends on progress, but it also motivates you to keep up with your peers!

Leaderboards and leagues foster healthy competition and social connection, motivating users to maintain their learning habits and keep pace with peers.

#5 Streaks give users a reason to come back

The famous streak feature has a huge impact. Of course, it is indispensable in forming the daily habits that Duolingo’s product manager Gilani spoke about. But how do streaks work in user engagement strategies? As an app developer, you use gamification to incentivize behavior in users. A streak incentivizes persistence, and encourages customers to engage with the platform. This turns the app into a sticky experience!

Combined with the ‘weekend amulet’, where users can take a weekend off without losing their streak, you get a winning formula for user retention. Users offered a streak wager see a 14% boost in day 14 user retention!

The streak feature is a core component of Duolingo's strategy, creating a powerful daily habit for learners to protect their progress.

Finally, a 2% rise here and a 1% jump there might sound inefficient, but Duolingo’s success speaks for itself. From 2017 to 2020, Duolingo’s revenue ballooned over tenfold, jumping from $13 million to $161 million! That’s an enormous increase, and one that the team can agree was based on its strategy of gamification.

Do you want to improve retention and engagement on your app just like Duolingo? You’ll need a bespoke gamification strategy. To start your journey, get in touch with our gamification experts by booking a free consultation!

This call-to-action banner encourages readers to take the next step and explore how gamification can be applied to their own applications.

TLDR;

Duolingo is the world leader in educational apps. In the words of Duolingo product manager Zan Gilani, the app’s key to success is gamification!

Let’s see how they did it:

3 challenges Duolingo overcame with gamification

1. Educational apps face chronic user churn. It’s the app category with the lowest user retention rates out of all kinds of mobile apps.
2. Language learning requires long-term user motivation. The user experience needs to trigger both extrinsic and intrinsic motivators to be fun and motivating.
3. Giving users a chance to see their improvement. Because language learning takes so long, users need to see their growth fast, or they will quit!

Duolingo Gamification Case Study

Gilani, the company’s most senior product manager, said “We needed to encourage people to form a daily learning habit”. For this, the team chose gamification.

Studies show that gamification has a hugely positive effect on Duolingo’s brand equity and user retention. Small features such as a red dot over the course indicate new content boosted daily active users by 1.6%. These numbers all add up!

5 gamification tactics that helped Duolingo improve user retention

✔️ Adding a mascot to push notifications makes it more personal. Duo’s friendly appearance in push notifications led to a 5% rise in daily active users.

✔️ Badges boost user referrals and lead generation. The introduction of badges saw a 116% jump in referrals. Badges fulfill the basic need for self-worth, and you can show them off to the friends you refer! Referrals are one of the best forms of lead generation.

✔️ Instant feedback gives users control and room for growth. Immediate correction gives users a sense of control and supports their improvement with both tips and positive reinforcement.

✔️ Leaderboards encourage competition and social interaction. This feature fulfills the need to win, as well as the need to show off social status. It motivates you as you don’t want to fall behind!

✔️Streaks give users a reason to come back. A streak incentivizes and gamifies persistence, keeping users glued to the app. Users offered a streak wager see a 14% boost in day 14 user retention!

The small boosts in metrics add up - and they sure do in revenue. From 2017 to 2020, Duolingo’s revenue jumped from $13 million to $161 million! That’s an enormous increase, and one that the team can agree was based on its strategy of gamification.