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Gamify Your Loyalty Program: Fun Ways to Reward Your Customers This BFCM 2023

The holiday season is just around the corner, and for eCommerce stores, it means one thing – Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) season sale!! These shopping extravaganzas provide a golden opportunity to boost sales and engage with your customers in exciting ways. 

One effective strategy to make the most of BFCM is by gamifying your loyalty program. By infusing elements of fun and competition into your rewards system, you can create a memorable shopping experience that keeps customers coming back for more.

Did you know?

Customer acquisition can be raised by 700% through a gamified system.

In this blog, we’ll explore some creative ways to gamify your loyalty program and reward your customers during BFCM 2023.

The Power of Gamification

Gamification is the art of incorporating game-like elements into non-game contexts, and it’s a proven method to drive customer engagement and loyalty. When done right, gamification can transform mundane tasks into enjoyable experiences, and that’s precisely what you want to achieve during the hectic BFCM season.

Here are some compelling reasons why you should consider gamifying your loyalty program for BFCM:

Boosts Engagement: Gamification encourages customers to actively participate in your loyalty program. Whether it’s collecting points, achieving levels, or competing with others, customers are more likely to engage when there’s an element of fun involved.

Fosters Competition: People love a good competition. By adding competitive elements like leaderboards or challenges, you can tap into this innate human desire, driving customers to earn rewards faster and spend more.

Enhances Loyalty: A well-designed gamified loyalty program can turn one-time buyers into loyal, repeat customers. The excitement of earning rewards and achieving goals creates a sense of attachment to your brand and builds trust on your products.

✅ Increases Sales: During BFCM, the goal is to maximize sales. Tier-based gamification can nudge customers to spend more by offering rewards, discounts, or exclusive access to special deals.

Fun Ways to Gamify Your Loyalty Program for BFCM 2023

Now, let’s dive into some creative ideas to gamify your loyalty program this BFCM:

1. Points and Rewards

Implement a point-based system where customers earn points for each purchase. To make it more exciting, offer bonus points for specific actions like referring friends, writing reviews, or sharing products on social media. To create a loyalty program or points-based program, use reward tools like BayRewards, where you can customize your entire program.

As BFCM approaches, announce special rewards for customers who reach specific point milestones during the sale period. Also, run bonus points events for customers during special holidays. For example, Starbucks organizes points-collecting events to double or triple their points.

Source: Starbucks

2. Throw a Surprise Sale for VIP Members

VIP members are to be treated special in every way. Who doesn’t love surprise sales on your website? Throw a surprise sale during the BFCM campaigns and show the prices only to VIP customers. Make your VIP programs crisp and simple. 

Let them know the prices by sliding a bar or scratching a product. This will be an interesting activity for your customers, and this can eventually increase the anticipation of your customers wanting to know the prices for the products.

Source: Flipkart

3. Mystery Prizes

Create an element of surprise by offering mystery prizes or discounts. When customers achieve certain goals or reach a particular spending threshold, they can unlock a virtual “mystery box” or “mystery prices” containing a surprise reward. This adds an element of excitement and anticipation to their shopping experience.

Source: Flipkart

4. Exclusive Challenges

Set up exclusive BFCM challenges for your loyal customers. For example, challenge them to complete a certain number of purchases or share your BFCM deals on social media to unlock exclusive discounts or early access to your sale. This not only encourages engagement but also helps with word-of-mouth marketing.

Source: Starbucks India

5. Leaderboards & Milestones

Launch a BFCM leaderboard where customers can see how they stack up against others. Offer rewards for the top performers, and make sure to update the leaderboard in real time to maintain the competitive spirit. This can be particularly effective in encouraging repeat purchases and driving sales.

You can also showcase the milestones that the customers have achieved over the past few weeks. And reward your customers with the best coupons and surprise sales. The milestone meter can also motivate the customers to reach the next point of the meter to enjoy more benefits.

Source: Nykaa

6. Limited-Time Events

Create limited-time events within your loyalty program. For example, host a “Power Hour” during BFCM where customers can earn double points or unlock exclusive deals. These time-limited events can create a sense of urgency and drive immediate action.

Mcdonalds organized a limited-time event named Scan and Earn, where on that day, people get to earn 2x points on every order they make.

Source: Mcdonalds

7. Social Media Challenges

Leverage the power of social media by organizing fun challenges or contests related to your BFCM offerings. Encourage customers to share their purchases or creative content (like unboxing videos or holiday-themed photos) on social platforms with a specific hashtag. Reward the most engaging and creative entries with special discounts or prizes.

Source: Starbucks

8. Spin the Wheel

Spinning the wheel is a popular and engaging gamification element often used in reward programs to provide customers with a chance to win prizes, discounts, or other incentives. This method adds an exciting and interactive dimension to loyalty programs, making the experience more enjoyable for customers. 
You can send the coupons and personalized reward codes via email to your customers. Choose the right email marketing tool for your business to send rewards to your customers.

Source: Grab

9. Partner Collaborations

Collaborate with other brands or businesses to introduce collaborative gamification experiences. Customers can earn rewards not only from your store but also from your partners, enhancing the overall appeal of your loyalty program during BFCM.

For example, KFC collaborated with the famous game PUBG to launch a new product, “Battle Box Meal.” This partnership is a win-win for both brands.

Source: KFC

Another example is the K-pop group collaborated on limited-edition Oreo x BLACKPINK packaging, with each pack complete with ten collectible photo cards. Alongside the cards, fans will be able to access eight personalized AI video messages from each member and mobile wallpaper downloads.

Source: Oreo

10. Lucky Draws & Treasure Hunt

Engage your customers of all ages! To do this, try launching different types of games like lucky draws, treasure hunts, predict and win, etc. This will encourage your customers to play and earn rewards and special coupons during sale days. 

For example, Amazon organizes predict and win contests during cricket season. This will draw your customers’ attention and get them involved in playing this.

Source: Amazon

Another example is from an eCommerce website called Myntra. Here, you can see how they get their customers involved in games and other challenges to get the coupons. This can be incorporated into your loyalty programs for better results this year.

Source: Myntra

Wrapping It!

Gamifying your loyalty program for BFCM 2023 is a smart strategy to boost engagement, loyalty, and sales during this crucial shopping season. By introducing fun elements like points, challenges, leaderboards, and mystery prizes, you can create an immersive shopping experience that keeps customers coming back for more. 

Remember that the key to successful gamification is to make it enjoyable and rewarding for your customers, ensuring that their interactions with your brand are memorable and exciting. 

So, gear up, get creative, and make this BFCM a truly game-changing experience for your loyal customers!


Guest Author:

Jerusha Carolin is a Content Marketer at TargetBay, an eCommerce Marketing Cloud used by thousands of online stores across the globe. She loves content research and enjoys writing content on anything related to email marketing. She is a lisztomanic who loves to listen to music to keep herself lively and optimistic about life.

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Head of Content Marketing at CS-Cart | Website

Yan Anderson is the Head of Content Marketing at CS-Cart with over 10 years of experience in the eCommerce industry. He's passionate about explaining complicated things in simple terms. Yan has expertise in building, running and growing eCommerce marketplaces. He loves to educate people about best practices, new technologies, and trends in the global eCommerce industry.