Gamifying marketing : fusing games with consumer transactions to sustain engagement and accurate choices

摘要

In this thesis we identify two problems. First, the consumer problem consists of a tension between performance (i.e.: a focus on final choices), and persistence (i.e.: a focus on pleasurable experiences) behaviours. Some pleasurable activities such as gameplay help to solve this problem by generating ‘Flow’, a highly enjoyable and focused state associated with improved cognitive functioning (Guo & Poole, 2008). Games provide an interesting marketing analogy, because like many common market transactions (e.g.: buying products or services), games involve a series of decision tasks that customers perform to achieve a goal. Recent marketing theory suggests that games help to improved customer engagement and quality of decisions without the need for extrinsic rewards (Dias & Agante, 2011). Relatedly, the second problem is a managerial dilemma of how to solve the consumer problem while sustaining company objectives (i.e.: profit). That is, to help consumers to make accurate choices repeatedly while enjoying the decision process. The goal of this thesis is to explore the design of a successful consumer journey. Our objective is to strengthen customer decision accuracy by building enjoyable transaction tasks.We achieve this across three chapters by introducing games that create Flow experiences during decision making. In the first chapter we outline the theoretical foundations of performance and persistence behaviour. In particular, we explore the role of Flow experience as a mediator of decision accuracy. In chapter two we conduct three longitudinal laboratory experiments to (i) validate the creation of Flow, (ii) investigate how dynamic Flow effects lead to persistence behaviour, and (iii) the extent that Flow positively influences decision performance. Finally, in chapter three we fuse a typical transaction task (such as evaluation of product attributes) within a game structure and investigate its effect on consumers’ decision accuracy. With these questions considered, the three chapters account for the role of Flow in customer decision making. We aim to contribute to the ongoing discussion of customer engagement, loyalty, and welfare. The goal is to define a marketing framework that merges game thinking with traditional transaction-based marketing to empower consumers to repeat enjoyable transactions with high levels of accuracy.