How to Use Gamification to Collect Quality First-Party Data and Improve User Engagement

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Let's kick things off with a little thought experiment.

What if your next marketing campaign felt more like an immersive game than a classic sales and benefits pitch?

A true interactive experience that captivates your audience from the first click, creating real emotional connections with your brand.

That's exactly what we built for leading Slovenian retailer Lidl.*

By adding some magic to their digital marketing, with a dose of gamification. We aimed not just to collect First-party data, but to create enjoyment and nurture lasting engagement of users.

The idea was simple ...

If we segment and tailor the expeirence, communication and game mechanics for each, this well result in higher engagement, more leads and First-party subscribers, and a deeper emotional connection with the brand.

The Goal: Acquiring High-Quality First-Party Data

The mission was clear:

- Acquire at least 10.000 segmented leads to power personalized marketing activities

- Create experience that users would interact with for at least 2 minutes

- Make emotional connection with users to deepen the bond with the brand

But they didn't want just any data. The objective was high-quality leads - people already invested enough to reveal their interests and preferences willingly.

That's where brainylab's mastery of gamification came into play.

The Plan: Segmented Gamification for Every Persona

To captivate Lidl's diverse customer base, our strategy featured not one, but four custom-tailored gamification solutions. Each experience was particularly designed for a specific persona:

· Young adults without kids: A relatable personality quiz for the socially-savvy crowd

· Parents of young children: Family-friendly games blending education and experience

· Parents of older kids: Myth-busting challenges tapping into their unique interests

Every gaming interaction, from the storytelling to the reward mechanics, was purpose-built to resonate with the intended audience.

We even developed comprehensive engagement funnels to guide users smoothly from first click to conversion.

The Audience: Tailoring Experiences for Every Persona

Catering to Lidl's diverse customer base required ultra-precise audience segmentation.

We defined four distinct sub-groups and meticulously crafted gamification mechanics to resonate with each one:

Sports Enthusiasts

For this crowd of athletic supporters, we developed the Educational Handball Quiz. With Lidl as a major sponsor of the sport, this trivia-packed challenge capitalized on their passion through an engaging, knowledge-boosting affair.

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Existing Customers, Game lovers & Cooking Enthusiasts

We captivated Lidl's bread-and-butter shoppers, home cooks and casual gamers alike with the Mythbusting Food Quest. This interactive experience put their culinary knowledge to the test while debunking common food myths for tasty rewards.

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Families with the Youngest Kids

Tapping into the childhood magic of the holidays, the Advent Calendar Game enchanted families with a festive countdown of daily surprises and delightful storytelling.

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Picnic & Summer Lovers

For this social, outdoorsy segment, we created the relatable Personality Picnic Quiz. They discovered their ideal 'picnic persona' through a fun, shareable experience tailored for carefree warm-weather attitudes.

image5 Each gamification solution served up the perfect narrative themes, interactions, and reward mechanics to align with the distinct interests and behaviors of its target persona. Immersive worlds they'd find truly irresistible.

The Idea: A Suite of Persona-Driven Gamification Hits

With our audiences laser-targeted, the brainylab team dreamed up four wildly creative, on-brand gamification solutions:

1. The Personality Picnic Quiz delighted social butterflies eager to discover their 'picnic persona.'

2. The Educational Handball Quiz challenged sports buffs with a trivia-packed, knowledge-boosting affair.

3. The Advent Calendar Game enchanted families with an exciting countdown to Christmas full of surprises.

4. The Mythbusting Food Quest captivated foodies by debunking common culinary misconceptions.

Cross-platform compatibility? Check. Seamless website integration? You know it. But most importantly, each game delivered an incredibly fun and memorable brand experience tailored to its respective audience.

The Results: Gamification Domination

In a word - wow. Lidl's embrace of gamification was an unqualified success, crushing KPIs across the board:

· 12,224 ultra-valuable first-party leads captured (122% of target!)

· Average user engagement of 2.5 minutes (peaking at nearly 4 minutes)

· 86,968 unique visitors, with 60% starting and 56% completing games

· Retained #1 position in brand closeness and grew primary shopper share by 1%

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Thanks to brainylab's strategic, persona-driven approach to gamification, Lidl not only amassed rich customer insights - they achieved incredible engagement, emotional resonance, and tangible business wins.

The play-to-win mentality paid off in a big way, elevating Lidl's customer experience into an addictive, loyalty-boosting brand journey.

Who's ready to level up their marketing game?

Contact us to explore how we can help you connect with your audience on a deeper level.

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