Nearly All Retailers to Use Gamification to Engage Customers: Survey

Nearly nine of 10 retailers (87 percent) plan to use gamification to engage the customer within five years, according to a survey by Boston Retail Partners. And almost half of them (46 percent) say a structured loyalty program is a top CRM priority.

Other findings of the survey recognize the key CRM aspects of customer engagement across channels:

Identify the Customer – 883 percent more retailers plan to identify customers when they walk in the store within five years.
Analyze the Customer – 100 percent of the retailers plan to utilize analytics/dashboard to understand shopping behaviors within two years.

The consultancy’s 2015 CRM/Unified Commerce Survey of top North American retailers offers insights into their current state and planned initiatives, priorities, and future trends that relate to CRM practices associated with the retail industry’s shift to unified commerce.

“Customer experience and engagement continues to be the top priority for retailers in their quest to gain and retain customers,” said Brian Brunk, principal, Boston Retail Partners. “It is interesting to see the explosive growth in the use of gamification as part of a CRM program to engage and motivate customers.”

 Ken Morris, principal, Boston Retail Partners, said, “The key to influencing a customer’s purchase and offering a personalized experience is to identify the customer early, as soon as they enter the store. However, in many cases, customer identification is happening at the point of checkout, which is too late to influence a current purchase decision. Fortunately, our survey indicates that within five years, more than 50% of retailers plan to identify customers when they walk in the store.”