Several apps face the challenge of a disengaged user base. And for good reason! Creating an engaging app involves more than just making it functional; it also requires stimulating your users with enjoyment and reward. 

Nike Run Club, however, excels at establishing long-term relationships with its users. Why is that? Because their app incorporates a few characteristics difficult to achieve by other apps: usefulness, playfulness, and simplicity. But these characteristics cannot simply pop up magically.

So what was the Nike Run Club’s secret ingredient? As you probably guessed – gamification.

Gamification uses a broad range of mechanics that support different types of motivation. When you trigger your users with various kinds of motivation, you might get the desired result: high engagement and long-term loyalty, just like the Nike Run Club app did.

Let’s explore together how a few simple gamification examples can stimulate different types of human motivations, and how Nike Run Club successfully integrated them into their app.

Instant feedback stimulates empowerment 

The Nike Run Club app tracks the users’ progress and celebrates it with instant feedback that enables positive reinforcement. Moreover, users can easily share their progress with their friends by simply using an in-app sharing button. This social button motivates them even more to complete their run and to be proud of their achievement. 

Leaderboards promote fun competition 

Some people love to take part in friendly competitions! With Nike Run Club, users can prove to their friends who’s the best when it comes to running. The spirit of competition means not only the battle but also the excitement of interacting with other contestants. And what better way to encourage that than gamification?

Personalization gives users autonomy

Nike Run Club provides personalized coaching plans that adapt and evolve with the users’ progress. This clever gamification strategy makes the app even more relevant and users feel understood.

Nike Run Club used gamification by tapping into human needs and motivation. This resulted in sustained long-term engagement and avoided user churn.

By providing instant feedback, the app activated positive reinforcement, and users could acknowledge and share their achievements with their friends. With leaderboards, users could fulfill their needs to compare with others in a friendly way and interact with their competitors. Finally, by using personalization, Nike Run Club could offer their users the most relevant suggestions according to their goals and progress.

Altogether, these are just a few examples of how to deal with disengaged users. Gamification is a creative and effective instrument to raise your user engagement metrics. And when it comes to gamification, the possibilities are endless. You just need an expert, one that is what our team at StriveCloud can be for you!