Play to win: Enhancing customer engagement with gamification 

You might be familiar with Nike’s Run Club app, a GPS-powered running companion that meticulously captures each stride as you exercise around your neighborhood. Beyond basic tracking, the app immerses users in the Nike running community through gamification, social integration, and live feeds. Celebratory achievements mark milestones, while run levels inspire more miles, transforming every run into a rewarding activity. Through this interaction, Nike collects user data, personalizing experiences and driving three times more spending from app users than guest customers. With over 100 million users, Nike Run Club exemplifies how gamification shapes engagement and market impact.

Organizations have increasingly embraced gamification – the use of game design elements in non-game contexts – as a tool to engage with existing and prospective consumers. With the digital gaming industry poised to reach a projected value of $521bn by 2027 and a user base of 3.1bn, the strategic…