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    Natalie Monko Lead Project Manager

    Gamification in Fintech: Top 6 Features to Ensure High Customer Retention

    Focusing on client engagement is vital to the success of any company. Semrush informs that customer loyalty is typically worth ten times more in comparison with a single purchase. Experts found that if clients feel satisfied with their interaction with an organization, 96% will continue using products or services. 

    On top of that, people will most probably share their positive impressions with friends, families, and colleagues. Therefore, by ensuring a seamless customer experience, financial institutions manage to increase revenues while reducing or preventing churn and bounce rates.

    Fintech gamification is among the most effective ways to achieve this purpose. The demand for gamification is witnessing a surge across multiple industries. According to MarketsandMarkets, the gamification market size is projected to rise from $9.1 billion in 2020 to $30.7 billion by 2025, progressing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) at 27.4%. Prescient & Strategic Intelligence provides a more modest estimation, expecting a CAGR of 24.2% between 2020–2030. 

    In this article, software experts at Surf will describe the main gaming features that can help you transform the customer experience. Let’s get started.

    What is gamification in finance and banking?

    Gamification in fintech means incorporating game elements and mechanics into a non-game solution to improve customer engagement. In fact, the process generally includes setting objectives, monitoring progress, and completing tasks to unlock rewards such as bonuses, cash incentives, and gifts. Gamification finance apps are often based on a “PLB” (points, leaderboards, badges) system to stimulate consumers to perform certain actions, for example, save money and plan budgets.

    Gamified experience directly affects the following aspects:

    • Client satisfaction and loyalty
    • User acquisition and retention
    • Word-of-mouth recommendations

    By employing the gamification concept, financial companies can minimize bounce rate and generate higher profits. For instance, Extraco, the largest independent banking organization headquartered in Texas, implemented fintech gamification that taught customers about services and benefits. As a result, the institution managed to increase customer acquisitions by 700%. Additionally, Extraco raised the conversion rate by 7x—from 2% to 14%. Now, let’s consider gamification ideas for apps.

    Top fintech gamification ideas to engage customers

    1. Rewards, badges, stickers, points

    A reward system is an effective technique to attract and retain clients. By providing value, a financial organization can deliver a better experience while increasing return on investment. Fintech gamification ideas for apps in this regard comprise points, badges, and stickers that users can receive when interacting with a software platform. 

    For instance, an institution can let customers earn coins for making purchases from partner retailers to further redeem them for gift cards and discounts. It is also possible to hold a prize drawing for the most active players, encouraging consumers to use the product more often.

    Considering solutions that use this kind of fintech gamification, Digit, an app that aims at automating savings, motivates people to save money with bonuses. Due to this functionality, Digit has helped customers collectively save over $5 billion. By now, the startup has raised $66.3 million during 7 funding rounds.

    Here at Surf, our team developed a mobile banking solution that allows users to make online payments, apply for loans, and receive personal offers. In order to boost user engagement, our engineers implemented a loyalty program that provides users with cash back in bonus points. 

    To learn more about this project, read its case study. If you are wondering how to create a similar solution, check out our guide on how to create a mobile banking app.

    banking app screen

    2. Goals and challenges

    Setting objectives and challenges is a great motivation element that allows for increasing customer loyalty and satisfaction. Employing this technique, gamification finance apps help consumers improve financial well-being. For example, software solutions can enable users to create personal financial plans, monitor spending, plan budget and stick to it. 

    With the view to stimulate interest, banking organizations can let customers establish saving goals and provide rewards for their accomplishments. Additionally, it is reasonable to place budget limits, so that people can avoid the problem of extra expenditures.

    Currently, many popular fintech products deliver this fintech gamification feature. For example, the Qapital banking application empowers users to set spending, saving, and investing targets. Qapital also provides the visualization of the “Goals and Rules” functionality. To date, the startup has managed to attract $47.3 million over 5 rounds. 

    3. Progress bars

    The use of progress bars is another popular fintech gamification method that enables financial services companies to keep users motivated. When customers complete the necessary tasks (such as saving money, developing good spending habits, setting and achieving daily goals), they see the bar moving closer towards the target. The possibility to track performance contributes to increased user engagement and retention. 

    Concerning real-life examples, Mint is a well-known mobile application for personal budget management. The product contains a progress bar, which helps users stay motivated in pursuing their financial goals while reducing the app’s churn rate and increasing the conversion rate. It is worth remarking that Mint delivers a range of valuable features. For instance, the solution offers personalized recommendations on how to pay down debts faster. To date, Mint has raised a capital of $31.8 million over 5 rounds.

    Mint app screen

    4. Gamified educational content

    To raise customer awareness about financial products, services, and topics, it is crucial to implement gamified education. For this purpose, organizations can incorporate a variety of techniques that involve puzzles, quizzes, videos, and actual games to increase financial literacy while boosting overall engagement. 

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    BBVA, a multinational financial institution based in Spain, created BBVA Game, an app that provides educational videos and a point system allowing users to win prizes such as movies, music downloads, and football match tickets. 

    It is worth noting that BBVA Game implemented a range of fintech gamification techniques, providing customers with points for each transaction. With this initiative, the bank was able to promote online banking services, as well as improve user retention and satisfaction. ​In the first six months, the solution managed to attract over 100,000 players

    From our personal experience, Surf built a mobile investment app for brokers and their clients. For the purpose of increasing financial literacy, our software experts created stories to display educational content. Additionally, we added short tips to each product screen. Check out a case study to learn how our engineers addressed technical challenges and what functionality they developed.

    investment app concept

    5. Leaderboards

    Leaderboard is another gamification feature that an organization should take into account when building a fintech application. Simply put, a leaderboard represents a high score list that enables users to compete with each other. By adding a competitive game element and allowing customers to visualize their results, a company helps them increase productivity and client satisfaction.

    Considering app gamification examples, a stock market trading app Ayrro provides leaderboards to deliver a better customer experience. Thanks to digital badges and rankings displayed on the leaderboard, traders can see how close they are to the first place and monitor their performance in comparison with other users.

    Ayro application

    6. Social media

    In order to improve customer engagement and minimize churn, financial companies can allow people to share their achievements, favorite features, and interesting app content via social networks. Furthermore, this fintech gamification method helps organizations attract new users and increase awareness. 

    Speaking of relevant examples, Meemo is a social finance application that encourages customers to share gifts and money with their friends. Powered by artificial intelligence, the product provides users with personalized rewards based on activities like money remittances. In addition, Meemo summarizes user activities for a certain week in an Instagram Stories-style.

    Summing it up

    Delivering products and services in a highly competitive landscape, financial organizations have to deliver a customer-centric experience, so that they can make existing clients happy while attracting new ones. Thanks to fintech gamification functionality, startups and institutions can win the audience and significantly increase customer loyalty conversion. And as loyal consumers are much more willing to interact with the app and recommend it to their friends, it will become much easier to gain additional profit and take on investors.
    If you aim to develop a fintech solution or improve an existing one, you are welcome to contact our team. Our software experts will soon get back to you and help address all issues. With vast experience in this field, we will assist you in prioritizing features, choosing a technology stack, and ensuring compliance with security standards.

    Aim to develop a fintech solution or improve an existing one?

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