In a post-GDPR world, Dave Corlett, New Business Director at Ready, explores how effective email marketing can be by introducing a gameplay element.

According to a recent Econsultancy report, email remains the most effective marketing channel available to marketers.

Despite our collective grumbles about overflowing inboxes and endless spam, it seems the right offers at the right times still tempt us in.

However, the introduction of GDPR has made it more difficult for consumer brands to attract new email sign-ups. Not only do customers have to opt-in to receive email communications, but many have become more cautious about where their data goes.

But don’t switch to carrier pigeons and smoke signals just yet. There is a way for marketers to repopulate their databases at scale, with customers who are genuinely interested in their brand and their products.

Online games and gamified competitions are an extremely effective method of acquiring quality data for email marketing. 

How so? Well, the simple reason is that people are more willing to provide their data in exchange for an incentive, such as the chance to win something appealing.

But turning the experience into a game offers many more benefits besides…

1. Reward your audience

When we achieve something, our brains release a little hit of dopamine as a reward. It’s essentially the same process that reinforces healthy behaviour by “rewarding” us for essential tasks, such as drinking when we’re thirsty.

Psychologists have found that the reason we love to play games is down to this sense of achievement and reward. It’s one of the underlying reasons that gaming has become the multi-billion-dollar industry that it is today.

This means that branded games can reward customers two-fold. There’s the psychological reward of playing and succeeding. And, if they get lucky, the value-driven reward of winning something.

It also means that even if you don’t convince them to submit their data this time, they’ve still had a bit of fun interacting with your brand.

2. Stand out amongst the sub-standard

Let’s face it. There’s a lot of mediocre content out there. And that’s being polite.

However, when done right, games and gamified experiences are content that doesn’t feel like content. People interact with them because they look fun, they’re a little bit challenging, and they offer something as a reward.

We’re naturally enticed in by the prospect of winning something, as the previous section alluded to. Even more so when it involves a challenge to try and master! As a result, people actively choose to engage with this kind of content, rather than scrolling past it.

It’s content that is often shared between friends too. Especially if they’re a competitive bunch!

3. Get your message across

Introducing a gameplay element to campaigns allows brands to communicate key product and brand messages in a fun way.

Got a fresh variant with new ingredients? Make them the heroes of the game. Does your product help customers address a particular need? Replicate this scenario as a game, where winners achieve whatever benefit your product provides.

We launched a Facebook-based game last year for skincare specialists Bioré. Their products remove blackheads, so we built a version of the classic whack-a-mole game where users had to “whack” the blackheads that popped up on a virtual face. Simple, yet really effective at giving the audience a live, interactive demo of their USP.

Additionally, the data you capture has been voluntarily provided by someone who has consumed this messaging. You’ve educated them, and they’re interested in finding out more.

4. Reach the mobile-first generations

Long gone are the days when you’d have to be at home, plugged into a machine to play your favourite games.

Our phones are more powerful and connected than ever before. They’re essentially games consoles in our pockets. And that’s what many of us are using them as, too. 80% of global mobile app downloads are games.

It’s not just pubescent kids playing Angry Birds either. The average age of a mobile gamer is 37, and they are more likely to be female than male. Observers put this down to the popularity of games like Candy Crush and Words With Friends, which appeal to any age and gender.

The start of something beautiful…

Of course, as the title of this post suggests, acquiring a bunch of new sign-ups is just the first step to growing sales via email. The quality and frequency of the communications that follow – now that’s where the real battle will be won.

However, marketers can spend all the time in the world creating the perfect email strategy, supplemented by stunning emails that Michaelangelo would be proud of (if he’d devoted his artistic talents to MailChimp rather than the Sistine Chapel). If the audience isn’t being increased, sales won’t be either.

There is an insatiable appetite out there for game-based content built for mobile devices. More brands really should be tapping into it to boost their mailing lists with quality customer data.

Bath-based agency Ready creates bold promotional and tactical campaigns for clients including Soap & Glory, Quidco, Kiddylicious, and Burt’s Bees.

The post Fun and games: The first step to more sales from email marketing appeared first on IPM Bitesize.

Revlon have appointed Jackanory to develop and implement engaging experiential activations to drive trial and purchase of Juicy Couture’s brand new fragrance pillar, OUI Juicy Couture. Tasked with bringing to life the OUI Juicy Couture concept centred around female empowerment and encouraging women to say “yes” to things they believe in, Jackanory have created an eye-catching and engaging sampling experience that will tour shopping centres nationwide.

The #PowerOfOui activity will be taking place in shopping centres nationwide from 24^th August to Sunday 9^th September.

In the centre of a boxing-ring style stand, is a punch ball where shoppers are encouraged to have a go at the ‘YES OUI CAN’ Power Punch game to experience the empowering and playful force of the new brand. Shoppers will be invited to beat the score with one punch and then encouraged to share their experience on Instagram using the hashtag #PowerOfOui for a chance to win OUI Juicy Couture merchandise.

Laura Byron, Brand Manager of Oui Juicy Couture said “We needed an activation that would truly resonate with our target market, leverage our positive brand statements and encourage trial and purchase consideration. We’re confident that Jackanory’s #PowerOfOui activation will do just that and help to generate strong word of mouth around the new fragrance.”

Jo Curtis, co-founder of Jackanory said: “We’re delighted to be working with Revlon to kick start the story of their new OUI Juicy Couture fragrance.  We love the playfully provocative and unstoppable nature of the brand and can’t wait to see the concept come to life through our shopping centre activations. By leveraging the positive OUI statements through our activity, we hope to drive trial and purchase of the fragrance, all the while underscoring the importance of female empowerment.”

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To mark the launch of highly-anticipated videogame Prey on May 5, computer and video game retailer GAME teamed up with legendary music brand, NME, to create an exclusive Augmented Reality (AR) audio visual cover wrap for NME’s free weekly magazine.

When viewed through the Scan-It feature on the free-to-download GAME app, the cover wrap becomes interactive, bringing the game to life, and allowing readers to truly get a sense of its atmospheric soundtrack.

Prey, from publisher Bethesda, has been launched for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 computer entertainment system and PC at a recommended price of £44.99. GAME has an exclusive package including a Steelbook and Prey soundtrack selections CD.

GAME Retail is the UK’s leading videogames retailer. NME is one of the UK’s most famous and influential youth brands, covering music and culture since 1952. Initially a weekly newspaper, NME now reaches 8.5 million people via the website, social and other offsite distribution, video channels, app, live events and the free weekly magazine.

Prey is a first-person action-adventure video game developed by Arkane Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. The game is set on a space station where research is carried out into hostile aliens; the aliens escape and players have to survive while finding a way off the station.

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