Gamified Marketing Practice: An Experiment-Based Study on The Effect of Social and Empowering Gamification

Abstract

Gamification has been believed to be a powerful interactive marketing tool to engage consumers. However, little is known about the effects of elements facilitating consumers’ social interaction and empowerment. To bridge this gap, we conducted a vignette-based online experiment with a 3 (social dynamics: collaboration vs. competition vs. independent) by 2 (agency level: high (skill-based) vs. low (luck-based)) between-subject design (N = 761) in the marketing campaign context to investigate the effects of social and empowering gamification on various dimensions of gameful experiences. Our study revealed that collaboration and competition-based campaigns enhance the gameful experiences more than independent designs, with no significant differences between the two. Consumers’ perceived agency influenced their experience, with skill-based designs showing greater effectiveness. Surprisingly, there was no interaction effect between social dynamics and agency on gameful experience dimensions. The study suggests marketers should foster social interaction and use skill-based designs to enhance the overall experience.