“I’ve got 45 minutes to finish this chapter. If you guys pay attention for the first 5 minutes, I’ll let you all take a 5-minute break.
If you keep quiet and listen carefully for the next 10 minutes, you can take another 5-minute break.
And well, for another 10-minutes of silence, the last 10 minutes are yours to enjoy drawing, completing assignments or whatever you like.”
It was a hot summer afternoon at school. Students of XI B were in no mood to keep calm and listen to a 45-minute-long post-lunch lecture.
Seeing this, one of the teachers challenged the students to complete three milestones and win small breaks for their excellent behaviour.
As a result, the teacher could shorten the lecture while keeping students engaged.
Do you know why it worked? Because her milestone-based lecture concept was backed by the five fundamental principles of Edwin Locke’s goal-setting theory:
- Clarity: The goal of paying attention to the lecture for a certain period was specific
- Challenge: Focusing on a lecture after lunch in summer was easier said than done and required students to go beyond their capability and maintain silence
- Commitment: Students were dedicated to focusing and reaping the reward of the next milestone
- Feedback: The teacher noticed if the students remained focused during the first milestone and continued the lecture
- Complexity: A 10-minute break was the ultimate reward for which students were ready to dedicate 25 minutes of undivided attention
This way, the teacher could gamify the lecture, and guess what?
Morning Brew, a US-based media company that delivers business updates in a witty way, used a similar strategy to generate 1.5 million subscribers.
Itches your curiosity? Let’s scratch that by understanding how they did it:
1. Morning Brew Milestone Referral Program
More referrals, more swag—Morning Brew turned its referral program into a game-like milestone challenge, where users could refer friends and win exciting rewards as they achieved milestones and progressed further.
For example, a free T-shirt for 25 referrals, a coffee mug for 50 referrals and so on.
(Disclaimer: This image is for informational purposes only. Opinions or points expressed represent Morning Brew’s views and don’t necessarily represent the official position or policies of Gamize by OGL.)
This excited users to refer more to win higher-value rewards. Their gamified referral program also showed a referral count and how far a user was from achieving the next milestone.
That’s the power gamification can add to a simple referral rewards program.
But before we tell you how a business can launch a referral program to increase word-of-mouth sales at a lower customer acquisition, let’s look at some more examples.
2. Tesla Treasure Box Referral Program
With its headquarters in Austin, Texas, United States, Tesla is a premier global automotive company that uses referral leaderboards.
Interestingly, Tesla awarded the top referrers from each region the expensive P90D Model S and two tickets each for the Model 3 unveiling event, drawing more customers into its referral program.
The average incentive was a $1000 to $1200 Tesla credit, which could be used to reduce the cost of a Tesla. That’s a 2% savings on the regular Tesla Model 3, now the most affordable Tesla.
Moreover, Tesla China launched a Treasure Box referral program, which allows users to earn referral credits and buyer and loyalty benefits.
(Disclaimer: This image is for informational purposes only. Opinions or points expressed represent Tesla’s views and don’t necessarily represent the official position or policies of Gamize by OGL.)
The buyer and the person who referred them to Tesla received 3,500 credits. A loyalty program also gave current Tesla owners 7,000 credits when they bought another Tesla.
Referral credits could be redeemed for Tesla clothing and accessories. Tesla’s customer-centric referral program has significantly contributed to its $1 trillion valuation.
3. Dropbox Referral Program
Initial 15 months and 3900% growth! That’s the kind of wonder a gamified referral program did for Dropbox, a cloud storage solution.
Dropbox’s proposition was straightforward. Their clients were looking for cloud storage. Thus, providing more significant storage space as payment for referrals made the most sense as an incentive.
But there was a catch: this referral was double-sided rather than single-sided. Because both the referrer and the referee gained rewards, both felt a sense of exclusivity and value.
(Disclaimer: This image is for informational purposes only. Opinions or points expressed represent Dropbox’s views and don’t necessarily represent the official position or policies of Gamize by OGL.)
This strategy created a win-win scenario, thus making Dropbox’s referral strategy successful.
In a nutshell, the program worked because,
- The referral process was efficiently and organically incorporated into the user journey.
- Dropbox made sure that the dual rewards were evident to all.
- There was no effort required to refer someone; sharing was straightforward.
- The programme was made engaging by its gamification and transparency features.
4. TabbedOut Referral Program
TabbedOut, a restaurant tab payment app in the United States, is an excellent example of a referral progress bar.
A referral progress bar displays the number of referrals the customer has given and how many more they should reach for the next milestone. This exciting visual is an excellent way of motivating users to share more referrals in the referral game.
In the case of TabbedOut, users start as a “Newb” and can reach the “Fan” level after referring ten friends. This way, everybody can be a winner. Moreover, the tracker exhibits a user’s earnings from lifetime referrals.
(Disclaimer: This image is for informational purposes only. Opinions or points expressed represent TabbedOut’s views and don’t necessarily represent the official position or policies of Gamize by OGL.)
Also, as part of the TabbedOut referral program, users can share $10 with their friends while receiving a $10 reward, applying for each referral.
Users who refer a new member to TabbedOut earn a $10 discount on their new tab after closing the first tab. Additionally, their friend can enjoy a free 10% credit on their first tab.
5. Hustle Referral Program
The Hustle, a daily newsletter company, launched a referral program in 2016 that got 300k subscribers. What caught the eye of their readers to refer others? Take a look:
- The Hustle referral program email was personalised in a way that the CEO addressed it
- The rewards were super cool and motivating, such as a free t-shirt, hoodie, hat, free events, etc, based on the number of referrals made.
- Referrers could share their referral link with friends and track referrals. The referral dashboard showed the total number of referrals made, referrals remaining for the next reward, and more.
(Disclaimer: This image is for informational purposes only. Opinions or points expressed represent The Hustle’s views and don’t necessarily represent the official position or policies of Gamize by OGL.)
Grow Your Business With a Gamified Referral Program
Referral gamification is a fun way to keep users engaged, making them feel as though they are playing a game.
It is also an excellent way to create a buzz for your company, acquiring customers not just in a more extraordinary way but also at a lower customer acquisition cost.
While it’s easy to build a referral program and offer simple referral rewards to users, making your referral program fun ensures a good user base and continuity. This is precisely what gamification software enables.
You may or may not have a referral program that allows users to share their unique referral links with friends and win some rewards, but what makes it further motivating?
A leaderboard! Imagine users can see who made the most no. of referrals and win rewards accordingly. Or what if rewards could be virtual points like game points, which your users could use to grab discounts on products and services?
Our SaaS gamification solution’s dashboard enables you to create all of this and more just at the click of a few buttons.
Talk to our gamification experts today to learn more about leveraging gamification in your referral program to acquire, activate and engage customers.
