Talking about gamification in the financial industry, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind? Chasing villains or venturing into action-packed missions while paying bills via an app?

Even though this sounds like a good idea, gamification is not about transforming serious business into an actual game. It is about finding a way to incorporate gameplay principles, elements, and mechanisms in the financial industry, to make it more engaging and more appealing.

In this article, we shall tell you more about gamification in general, its implementation in the financial sector, and the multiple advantages that come along!

What Are the Basic Principles in Gamification?

Simply put, gamification represents the incorporation of game elements into non-game activities to create a more engaging environment. With the help of those elements, consumers can acquire various bits of knowledge and master a diversity of skills in a smoother and more efficient way.

To engage, entertain and finally educate- that’s how gamification principles enrich one person’s experience with non-game-related spheres.

Is It Complicated to Gamify Finances?

Talking about the most common gamification tools used to entice a consumer, those are points, badges, and leaderboards. All of them are used to visually identify progress, display achievements, and show one’s ranking among other participants. One of the most widely spread examples are apps for languages where consumers progress through lessons, score badges, solve tasks, learn grammar and gradually boost their vocabulary.

Translated into the finance sphere, enthusiastic developers came up with a range of interesting solutions to help people learn how to manage their funds properly. There are a plethora of apps designed to show people the best way to save money, how to properly invest, and so on. The best part of all-it all resembles a game!

This leads us to one of the most prominent drawbacks in the whole process- users should still keep in mind that it’s their personal attitude that helps them manage their funds wisely, not a funny app.

Such tools are designed for a wider audience, they aren’t tailored to fit each and every person’s individual needs and preferences. For that reason, it’s of vital importance to use these apps as additional tools for motivation, while at the same time being highly self-motivated to manage money more responsibly.

Multiple Benefits for Companies and Clients

By offering rewards and versatile opportunities to save money, companies not only engage their clients but increase customer retention as well. Over the long term, this means better and higher profits.

Those are some of the advantages companies have, what about consumers?

Similarly, benefits are numerous, but let’s start with the most important one- the opportunity to learn about finances in a more entertaining way. Furthermore, people are motivated to manage their finances more responsibly and continuously work on ways to reorganize their spendings and make the most of the money they earn.

A goal by goal, badge by badge, every single achievement is a motivation to keep saving. When a consumer feels rewarded, he/ she will remain loyal to such a company, will recommend it to family and friends, and will return over and over again. That’s precisely the customer retention we talked about earlier.

While all of us are aware that it is possible to get addicted to video games, we should still point out that saving money via apps is far away from being eligible to be classified as an addiction. Except for the consumers who have experienced some of the gaming-related issues.

Final Thoughts

What comes as a conclusion is that, with suitable instruments, that is- gamified financial apps, budgeting can be extremely fun. With the possibility to personalize the experience and run finances in a more enticing environment, money management, often described as boring or scary, becomes not only a piece of cake but a pleasurable activity.

Bottom line is that finances remain a serious business, but they can be approached in a more engaging way.