When you decide to invest in mobile app development, there are two important questions that must be answered:

• How to encourage more downloads for the app?
• How to retain users’ interest in your app?

Hiring a talented iOS and Android developer to develop a great app and employing popular app marketing techniques would serve the first concern. For the latter, you would need to enhance app engagement value so that the users:

• Never think of deleting the app from their devices and
• Spend quality time on it every single day

While the experts suggest many mobile app engagement tips and strategies, gamification is indeed among the best ones. Find out why.

How Gaming Apps Rule the App Stores?

From Super Mario to Pokemon Go, games have always succeeded in keeping millions of enthusiastic gamers across the world fully engaged. There are some aspects and dynamics that non-gaming apps unfortunately lack. Some of these include:

• Fun
• Stress busting
• Spirit of competition
• Sense of achievement
• Team playing and more

These aspects give birth to gamification that redefines app development and engagement techniques.

Gamification: Borrowing the Gaming Dynamics

Gamification is not converting business apps into complete gaming apps, but integrating the engaging gaming aspects and dynamics to make them more attention-grabbing. Here’s how to make the best out of gamification if you are ready to do it for the first time:

• Add Levels: Similar to the popular gaming apps, add levels to the gaming part of your business app. For example, treasure hunt levels for retail apps would allow you to endorse the actual products available at your store.
• Offer Rewards: Mobile games offering rewards are extremely addictive. You may think of offering rewards matching the products and services of your business. Moreover, you may offer real as well as digital rewards.
• Discounts: Whenever a user completes a level or performs a task successfully, let a discount coupon pop-up. Needless to say, hot deals and discounts never go unnoticed and these would encourage users to spend more time on your app.
• Achievements: Everybody likes achievements. Add special statuses to the profiles of the winning players and encourage them to keep playing to defend their titles.
• Promote Competition: Apart from retaining the existing app users, acquire new ones by inspiring the former to challenge their friends and colleagues. Android and iOS app development offers gamification techniques that allow more players to play a game simultaneously or in groups.  

Some Additional Tips

• Simple is the Best: Maintain the basic objectives of your business app and integrate simple gamification dynamics to balance the purposes of user engagement and business sales.
• Reward at Different Stages: Rather than keeping the users waiting for one big reward, offer smaller rewards at different stages or levels.
• Allow Social Media Sharing: Mobile users love to go gaga over their exciting wins in games. By letting them share their achievements at social media websites, you would actually motivate them to keep playing more.
• Book Their Appointment: Bring them back during particular hours of the day by fixing the times for particular actions. This would prompt them to open your app according to your desire.
• Build Product Demos: Let the game revolve around demos of your business’s products. It would indirectly teach them about your products’ features and USPs.
• Value Customer Loyalty: Give special rewards and recognitions to your loyal customers and app users as they are willing to be treated distinctively.

Think of gamification at the very first step of app development, as mobile users are extremely prone to disengagement if they are not happy with the first impression itself. If gamification works, user engagement simply falls into place.