Product Team
2025-10-16
10 mins
Product Development
Gamification
UX Design
Gamification Strategy in Product Development: Long-term Effects on UX
The term gamification is not new, at least for people that work in marketing and software development. In the early 2000’s, marketeers and software designers started to use game design elements and principles to create more engaging and appealing digital products.
In 2002, , a British game developer, created the term gamification, which was from then on used to describe the use of game-like interfaces in electronic devices. But it was around 2010, when social media and smartphones started to gain more popularity and were more accessible to everyone, that this concept began to be critical in terms of UX.
In an era of digital products, the competition started to grow; websites and apps started to multiply, and the challenge was now how to keep users active and loyal. Based on research of behavioral sciences, it was quick to understand that users are attracted to rewards, challenges, and instant feedback, since this will trigger dopamine, and also will reinforce their habit to use the app/website.
This can be validated on the increasing motivation and participation of the users, since they are encouraged to start tasks and stick with them to obtain points, advance in progress bar or gain a higher place on a leaderboard, what will also promote a sense of belonging and grow the relationship with the brand; another useful asset, that probably users are not aware of, or maybe do not concern about, is that this approach is also a way to collect data and insights about user preferences and usage path, which will allow companies to adapt their product strategy based on the data they gather.
But what is really gamification?
integrates game-design elements, like points, levels, challenges, rewards, into non-game products, to increase users’ engagement, motivation and satisfaction. This approach taps directly into our natural desire for achievement, competition and recognition, so it will likely increase users’ use of the product, since they will feel more connected with it.
Usually, we see gamification applied on products in areas like websites, mobile apps, , fitness, and workplace tools. Several known brands that we use on a daily basis use this approach; one uses it in a more obvious and intrusive way, others opt for a more clean and light presentation. But the fact is that gamification is almost these days; it is, in fact, what makes users come back.
To make it clearer, following we will present some brands that use it, some of them from the early stages of gamification:
- Nike+ - the app Nike developed specifically for running, introduced also running challenges and achievements to keep users motivated and use the app repeatedly.
- LinkedIn - it introduced progress bars for profile completeness, to encourage users to add more information about them (education, professional experience, etc.), which would allow users to get badges and would allow their profile to get more views from recruiters, for example.
- Yahoo! Answers - by answering the questions asked by other users, you could get points by participation, which would create a sense of knowledge and trust in the answers given by users with more points.
- Strava - this fitness app, specific for running, cycling and hiking, turned fitness tracking into a social, competitive, and rewarding experience, by adding features like leaderboards, challenges, badges and even a social component, that allows users to interact with others and even build a community.
Why use gamification as a strategy in product development?
Since we already know more about this concept, and how it impacts on the users’ commitment to products that use it, we can think a little deeper, and wonder why we should stand for this approach, why we should use it and the benefits it has.
We can point out some positive outcomes that has:
1. Effective in catching users' attention
Implementing gamification means that users will be more engaged with our product (likely at least). Since digital products are competing for a limited user time, this approach will provide users a sense of accomplishment and recognition that will reinforce a positive behaviour and an emotional engagement with the product.
2. Implements habits and routines
Human beings like routine, it gives us a sense of previsibility and security. By using a product that challenges users, gives users defined objectives to accomplish on a daily basis and also makes users compete between them, in order to achieve the best position on the leaderboard, for example, we are implementing habits and routines that make engagement rates grow.
To achieve a higher position on the ranking, users will more likely use the app daily.
3. Helps on users retention and collaboration
Gamification makes user engagement increase, since the tasks are presented like a game, and users can recall more information, so their motivation and participation will increase and will have a better overall experience.
And, since many gamification approaches use some type of collaboration between users, this will also improve users’ collaboration skills.
4. Users recognition
Users like to feel they are being recognized by their usage. Having a podium, a leaderboard, will allow users to keep track of what is their position and wake up the competitive side humans naturally have.
Seeking recognition, even if it’s on the casual side of things, is one of the main things that attracts users and makes them a regular user of the product.
What are the risks of using a gamification strategy?
While in users’ engagement and make apps grow, it also comes with potential downsides that designers and product owners should consider. Below, we will approach some of the items that can make users drop the usage of the app:
1. Short-term engagement
Users start to use an app and keep engaged due to the gamification techniques. They earn points by doing something, get a badge to achieve some goal, go every day to that app to get a higher position on the leaderboard.
But, if this mechanic is always the same, day after day, week after week, month after month, with no surprises, nothing new, will the user keep the interest? Will the user come back after a certain time?
The absence of new incentives, removal of previous ones or repetitive sequences of events will give the user the feeling of routine, which is exactly what they want to avoid when they engage in apps with this type of strategy.
So, if a company wishes to use gamification, it should have in mind that on-going improvements must be planned and made in order to keep users engaged and interested, what will imply, undoubtedly, a higher pressure on the product team, since they need to keep thinking about new features to make the product evolve in the right direction.
Engagement and competitive spirit is a good thing if well balanced. But, if competition leads to extreme points, this will create very unhealthy issues, like rivalry or even harassment, creating a toxic environment between users, and not the healthy and positive atmosphere that was supposed to be built.
Addiction and compulsive behaviour can also be raised, since users will tend to get more and more competitive to get a bigger reward, more points, or simply get a higher position on a leaderboard for status.
Companies will be confronted with some ethical concerns, since the strategy implemented is leading users to get dangerous consequences for their mental health and day-to-day life, which will likely damage brand's reputation.
3. One-size-fits-all approach
Not all users are eager to engage in something with a competitive component, just want to use an app quietly, with no pressure, without a thousand daily notifications informing that some user passed the score he achieved previously or the neighbour achieved a new level.
This notification bombing will leave the user with the feeling that this app is being too demanding, it’s asking the user for more and more time and attention throughout the day, and will most likely make the user move away from it.
So, how can we use gamification in product strategy responsibly?
As we explored previously, we have pros and cons in using this approach, so the key should be just one, and as everything else in life: balance!
Balance, using the key points in gamification, but also give space to users to make their experience more personal, according to their needs and preferences.
The strategy should be aligned with the company's core values, allowing the gamification techniques to be a part of the product, not replace the product itself, give users the ability to turn off notifications, give their feedback, and align the future improvements with it.
To show this, we can use as a case study of gamification and how it impacts on users' usage.
In one of our product presentations, BytePitch’s product team made a deep dive into Duolingo’s strategy and, even if the number of active users is big for an educational app, the number of users’ drop off is really high too.
We discussed about the app itself and our experience, and the conclusions were similar: we have used it for some time, but then we just uninstall it due to the amount of daily notifications and emails asking us to use the app or we will lose the streak, giving us a sense of commitment and pressure we don’t like to experience when using an app for fun purposes; the content lacks basic language skills, focusing on situations that are not very likely to happen on a daily basis, and that also didn’t help us remain active users since we don’t see any purpose in what we are learning.
So, we can say that Duolingo is likely replacing the product goal, or at least giving less importance to the product goal itself, and focusing on the gamification strategies that want to keep users, no matter what, which, in our opinion, is losing the focus on what a product should be.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we can say that gamification is more effective when it supports genuine product goals and respects ethical boundaries. If it is poorly executed, it can feel manipulative and ultimately make users drop off.
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