Game-Based Marketing: Inspire Customer Loyalty Through Rewards, Challenges, and Contests

By: Gabe Zichermann, Joselin Linder

Narrated by: Tom Dheere

Publisher's summary

Harness the power of games to create extraordinary customer engagement with Game-Based Marketing. Gamification is revolutionizing the web and mobile apps. Innovative startups like Foursquare and Swoopo, growth companies like Gilt and Groupon and established brands like United Airlines and Nike all agree: the most powerful way to create and engage a vibrant community is with game mechanics.

By leveraging points, levels, badges, challenges, rewards and leaderboards these innovators are dramatically lowering their customer acquisition costs, increasing engagement and building sustainable, viral communities.

Game-Based Marketing unlocks the design secrets of mega-successful games like Zyngas Farmville, World of Warcraft, Bejeweled and Project Runway to give you the power to create winning game-like experiences on your site/apps. Avoid obvious pitfalls and learn from the masters with key insights, such as:

• Why good leaderboards shouldnt feature the Top 10 players.
• Most games are played as an excuse to socialize, not to achieve.
• Status is worth 10x more than cash to most consumers.
• Badges are not enough: but they are important.
• You dont need to offer real-world prizing to run a blockbuster sweepstakes.
• And learn even more:
• How to architect a point system that works .
• Designing the funware loop: the basics of points, badges, levels, leaderboards and challenges.
• Maximizing the value and impact of badges.
• Future-proofing your design.
• Challenging users without distraction.

Based on the groundbreaking work of game expert and successful entrepreneur Gabe Zichermann, Game-Based Marketing brings together the game mechanics expertise of a decades worth of research. Driven equally by big companies, startups, 40-year-old men and tween girls, the world is becoming increasingly more fun.

Are you ready to play?

©2010 Jargonlab, Inc. and Joselin Linder (P)2011 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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5 out of 5 stars

By Maikol on 12-14-11

An Innovative Way To Look At Marketing

What made the experience of listening to Game-Based Marketing: Inspire Customer Loyalty Through Rewards, Challenges, and Contests the most enjoyable?

I read posts from babyboomerswealthclub everyday and was looking for ways to monetize my hobbies as a baby Boomer. I find the ideas and suggestions in this book very innovative in how I now look at marketing my business. The book was easy to listen to and introduced fresh materials and new ways of thinking to stay in the game and craft new customer loyalty.

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4 out of 5 stars

By Chris on 02-06-12

Great stuff, but read to fast!

The content of this book is great and has ignited quite a few ideas, but it is read way to fast. Like mega-speed-reading. This is not a story, but a book that is supposed to get your head started with ideas how to include gamification in your marketing. As said, the content is great and does just that, but because it is read to fast, you barely have time to gather your thoughts and it is quite hard to keep listening attentively. Otherwise, great book!

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