Gamification in Banking Industry: Examples and Best Practices

Today, companies have to come up with approaches to surprise their clients and offer good customer experience. No one will be surprised by the usual mobile apps or bot advisor, so why not try a gamification? It has already gained ground in many industries, from education to healthcare. But have you ever heard about gamification in banking? It’s a relatively new approach to providing banking services, so people are still quite skeptical about it. In the article we will explain how to use gamification in banking, benefits it may bring to the industry, challenges and principles of gamification in finance and banking.

Gamification in Business Environment: What is It and How Can It be Applied?

Statistics state that gamification as an approach is a serious multi-billion-dollar business. Some companies have already tried on game mechanics such as quests, ratings, and levels to achieve various internal and external purposes to attract new customers. According to the statistics, the gamification market worldwide reached $12 in 2021 compared to $4.91 billion U.S. in 2016. And is set to rise over $30 billion by 2025. Companies invest in gamification solutions to:

• Engage new clients
• Increase their loyalty
• Train employees
• Promote personal development
• Manage innovation

What is gamification?

Gamification is the process of using game psychology in a non-game environment. For users active participation, you can reward thus, improve app engagement and and get valuable data-driven insights.

How Does Gamification Enhance the Banking Industry?

Banking activities are not fun but serious matters for the majority of people. Banks want to come up with new approaches to offer fun experiences that will motivate customers to spend more time online and buy more. Thus, institutions strive to apply gamification in banking services to get compelling tools for influencing the decision-making process, enhancing customer engagement, making changes in operations and some corporate processes and motivating customers and employees.

The idea of gamification doesn’t mean literally turning a banking app into a game. Rather strengthen traditional methods with game elements. That is especially important for digital-only banks who have limited channels of communication with their customers.

Usually, gamification in the banking industry impacts the following spheres: sales, marketing, innovation and talent management. Banks launch web or mobile applications that in the form of a challenge teach users how to pay taxes and or conduct online transactions. App users get points for and later can exchange them for different services and offered by a bank:

• cashback
• upgrade
• participation in online auctions
• exclusive services

Benefits of Gamification for the Banking and Financial Sectors

Gamification of finance institutions brings numerous benefits both for the banks and their clients from customer engagement in banking and winning their loyalty to attract more investments into your organization. Here is our list of benefits:

New customers

Gamification is one of modern communication methods and interaction with potential customers. Attracting them with a top-notch banking app that will offer more fun than just traditional features with numbers and stats, is a smart decision.

Enhanced customer engagement

Game solution makes clients spend more time using the mobile banking app and interact with the bank’s services.

Awareness of new services and products

With the help of game apps, banks can quickly spread information among their customers about their latest updates and services

Financial literacy

Gamification in digital banking simplifies the understanding of banking operations in general and enhances customer’s financial literacy.

Valuable data

Digital solutions allow you analyze data about current bank clients and gather valuable insights about their behavior. Thus, it may help your team create strategies for future development and improvements.

Digital transformation

Today it’s crucial for banks to keep up with fintech trends. Game solutions can serve as a starting point for the digital transformation process for every stakeholder: bank’s board, management, employees and the customers.

Financial literacy

People don’t always understand questions related to their finances : debt, investments ,inflation. When it comes to financial education, gamification techniques can be used to increase financial literacy and to give customers ownership of their financial decision making.

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Practical Examples of Gamification in Banking

As we know all the benefits, now let’s look at best practices of gamification in the banking sector.

Accomplished strategy

One of the challenges in the banking industry is to acquire a trustworthy borrower. However, with a new approach, banks are using gamification in banking apps to motivate people to open deposit accounts and use credit cards. Also, financial institutions can target clients according to their specific needs. Barclaycard US created a social community of cardholders by launching Barclays Ring, a social credit card. Game techniques make card-related activities more engaging: e.g. сommunity members share their ideas for credit card features.

Better service experience and clients loyalty

Gamification of banking services helps gain loyalty among customers. Financial operations may be enjoyable with well designed and implemented game elements. Users play and win something (e.g. a higher deposit rate or a home appliance), so the next time they need a loan, that particular bank will be the first place they think of. Games can also help customers control how much they spend, show their spending patterns, and highlight how much they need to save to meet their financial goals. To drive customer loyalty, the digital-focused Spanish bank, BBVA launched a BBVA Game\ — a web app that teaches how to make banking transactions, offers mobile banking app tutorials, and explanations of how to pay taxes online. Clients complete tasks, thus earn points and spend them either to stream movies and download music and or tickets to theater.

Winning competition

Today a modern bank that is oriented on tech-savvy clients will definitely overcome competitors. Let’s take a look at a Ukrainian digital (only) bank Monobank that employs various innovative techniques to deliver services to its customers. They have intuitive, highly visualized mobile app with hidden mini-games, and some activities that can be awarded financially.

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Final Thoughts

Gamification of financial services isn’t just about collecting coins and taking a quiz. Its value is in analytical data, an expanded client base, and an attractive image of a financial institution. Businesses are investing in digital solutions for a reason: to keep up with clients demands, automate their operations, enhance customer engagement, and of course, survive the competition. We, at Inoxoft, help fintech institutions empower their workforces with custom fintech development services and innovative solutions. Get in touch with us and find out more about ways you can apply best practices of gamification in banking and how to  start benefiting from this idea today!