Gamification: The Way to Get Noticed in Fintech

By Adam Fard, founder and CEO Adam Fard UX Studio

Despite the boom in the sector, Fintech startups are notoriously difficult to get off the ground. They struggle to find early adopters, hindering activation. With steep competition, churn is a significant issue and differentiation can be difficult within such a closely integrated sector. However, there are ways to ease the path to success and gamification could provide part of the solution.

What is gamification and how can it be applied to Fintech?

Gamification is the incorporation of game elements into a non-game platform. Its aim is to improve customer engagement by making processes fun. This can be done through the issuing of rewards upon task completion, progress and status monitoring – often through the use of leader boards and points systems – and through the setting of challenges or objectives.

For customers, this means a more engaging user experience and the provision of an interface that is not just easy, but enjoyable to use. For businesses, gamification means earlier uptake, reduced customer churn, and increased conversion rates. In fact, according to Finances Online, companies that introduce gamification elements to their products reach up to a 700% increase in conversion rates. This is because they stand out from the crowd, create memorable experiences for customers, and are an interesting proposition for investors.

Why does gamification impact UX and user engagement?

One of the reasons that some brands reject the idea of gamification is that it can seem like a form of dumbing down or infantilising a serious subject by introducing aspects of play. But in reality, It plays to trigger emotions, using these positive experiences to build better engagement, which in turn fosters loyalty, and feeds in to creating higher sales.

At its core, gamification works through the simplest aspects of psychology. By gamifying your products, you provide your customers with choices. Rather than ushering them into making the decisions that are beneficial to your business, you provide them with a goal to reach and the encouragement to achieve it. It puts them in control, making the experience more rewarding.

These rewards can come in many forms. There’s the personal sense of achievement that can be gained through goal completion. It mimics that sense of pride that you get when you successfully save for your first car, gap year, or holiday. Then you have the recognition of the brand, which can come in various forms. In many cases, gamification allows users to enjoy their competitive spirit, by comparing their progress with that of other users. Overall, it makes for an appealing proposition.

How can you gamify your Fintech business?

This trend of gamification is growing quickly and it’s important to jump in before the trend completely explodes. Gamification deploys multiple tactics, and each business will find a different combination of features to suit their product and its users. We have laid some gamification tactics that you can employ in your fintech products and although this is not a complete list of all the tactics you could use, the ones listed are the most common.

Collectibles and rewards – We all benefit from positive reinforcement and we all work better when we have tangible goals. By introducing collectibles and rewards, such as stickers, badges, or points, you provide a goal for your customers to work towards. And then recompense them for their efforts.

Progress bars – Providing a simple, visual guide to where you are in relation to your goals, progress bars aid with motivation and satisfaction.

Streaks – Working on a similar theme, recording success streaks rewards users with a thrill every time they work towards their goal.

Challenges – In-game challenges are loved by gamers. Partly because it’s something a little bit different, and partly because they provide different goals and rewards. The same applies with the gamification of Fintech (or any other UX platform). It reignites interest and stimulates engagement.

Leader boards – As previously mentioned, most of us are naturally competitive. We all want to see our name at the top. This can be further enhanced by the introduction of social elements, so customers can see who they’re competing against.

Does gamification work in both B2B and B2C spaces?

Gamification was initially intended for the B2C market. It works on an individual level and feeds on the sense of personal achievement that we all relish. In B2B, however, that sense isn’t always there and B2B can be labeled boring. But there is still a place for gamification, it’s just deployed slightly differently. Most B2B companies that utilise the model, use it for in-house purposes. Initiating gamification to encourage sales and generate engagement amongst employees. That’s not to say that it cannot be used for B2B customers. But you do need to fully research your audience first.

In Conclusion

Fintech isn’t exactly considered the epitome of fun, but gamification can help to make the UX more interesting and keep users coming back for more. However, gamification doesn’t work for everyone. It should only be applied when you have the proper data to assess whether it would suit your product and your demographic, but when it is well applied, it has the power to enhance user activation and retention, and word-of-mouth referrals. It’s a way to make your product stand out, and to build loyalty. With so many Fintech startups falling by the wayside through poor differentiation and engagement, gamification does seem to be a simple solution for overcoming those hurdles.