Loyalty - it's in the game

Do you play games on Facebook? Mafia Wars apparently has over 6 million users, Farmville recently hit a million and new applications are appearing daily. These games, besides being fun, are really interesting because of the way they actively design in customer loyalty. Financial services marketers could usefully steal a lot of their ideas.

The first challenge for the gamers is to encourage people to sign up. Digital channels make it easy to run multiple iterations of ads - so they do.This way, they can run simple appeals based on different criteria at different times, the ads stay fresh and they have a better chance of presenting the viewer with a compelling ad at a receptive moment.

They then start to use each new gamer they recruit to recruit more, by inviting them to post a message to their Facebook page letting their network know they have just signed up.

The next challenge is to build loyalty. They do this by setting regular, visible, achievable goals that reward frequent visits and disincentivise infrequent visits. Rewards are most easily earned when the gamer has just been recruited and needs to be converted from trial to active engagement.

To reduce attrition, the developers are continually innovating to provide plenty of opportunities to reach out to gamers and stop them getting bored and moving elsewhere. These often encourage gamers to create a highly personalised experience.

Over time, viral recruitment continues as the gamer is actively incentivised to recruit their friends and expand their networks to include other players. Friends can be sent free gifts and receive special rewards for helping each other. As friends are recruited, their wall posts become a reminder to continue playing.

It works brilliantly because it incentivises the behaviours that the player wants to demonstrate in that environment: friendship, sharing, social interaction.

Some financial institutions do some of these things some of the time. I receive regular statements that remind me about my bank account. I have a savings account that rewards my behaviour as well as my balance by paying more interest in months when I don't make withdrawals. Private and corporate banks run networking events that encourage people to bring their friends and colleagues.

However, all too often banks do none of these things. I have a term savings account with a bank that has not contacted me once since I opened it. It would be all too easy to forget it even existed. Presumably they hope I will continue to invest with them once the term has ended - but they have wasted the opportunity to build a relationship with me and are relying solely on interest rates and apathy to achieve that.

5 ways financial services marketers could turn loyalty into a game 

• Provide a welcome pack for new clients shortly after the account has been opened that includes something for the client to share with their network
  
• Communicate returns in the context of a goal - for example, allow customers to personalise their online environment by inputting a savings/loan reduction/loyalty points goal and track and reward progress towards it. Enable users to opt to share their progress with their network if they wish
  
• Actively market your social marketing offerings eg Facebook pages, blogs etc to encourage clients to engage with your brand and use the channel frequently to engage clients with eg advice, invitations to exclusive events, time limited promotions etc
• Do more split testing and don't automatically rule out the variants that have lower response rates - try mapping respondents against segments to see if you have captured a different audience
  
• Set up your own Facebook game, tied to your brand promise and offering, and send it viral