PlayAbly Podcast 14 - Gamification Everywhere: Lessons from Temu and Beyond

In this episode of the Playably Podcast, we sit down with CEO and founder John Cheng to deconstruct how gamification has become a cornerstone for global success stories like Temu. From interactive spinners and loyalty programs to personalized engagement strategies, we explore how brands are using gamification to hook customers, drive loyalty, and gather invaluable insights.

We discuss the psychology behind gamified experiences, their widespread impact across industries—from eCommerce gamification to airline loyalty programs—and actionable steps brands can take to start integrating gamification in ecommerce today. Whether you’re new to gamification or looking to refine your approach, this episode is packed with insights you won’t want to miss.

Welcome to the PlayAbly Podcast! This episode is brought to you by PlayAbly Ads, where we turn your marketing into an interactive, game-based experience that engages customers and boosts conversions. And here’s something special—mention this podcast when you book a free demo on our website, and you’ll get your first month free! Visit playably.ai to learn more and schedule your demo.

Thanks for tuning in to the PlayAbly Podcast! Ready to engage your customers like never before? PlayAbly turns your website into an interactive experience that drives results. Don’t forget, mention the podcast during your free demo, and get your first month free! Book now at playably.ai

Get Your First Month of PlayAbly free when you mention this Podcast during your free PlayAbly Demo - learn how gamification can improve your ecommerce shop at www.playably.ai

Transcript

PlayAbly Podcast X - Gamification Everywhere: Lessons from Temu and Beyond

[00:00:00] 

Kajal: Welcome back to the playably podcast. Joining me once again is CEO and founder of playably John Chang. Welcome John. 

John: everybody. 

Kajal: Today we are diving into a very large topic, which is talking about gamification everywhere. Specifically, we started with Timo. Every time you go on the app, there is a wheel that you spin.

You always get the same prize. that's not the only thing that they're doing though. 

John: Right. I think what's fascinating about Timu especially given that Timu is the fastest growing commerce app ever. is deconstructing how they got there 

Because if you think about their two levers, one of which is access to low priced, but sometimes low quality goods, which frankly you could get on lots of other platforms. The other I don't think is as well known is that, Timu's parent company, is actually founded. By a social game developer, 

So he comes from a free [00:01:00] to play. he had a game studio that he shut down to start this, but you can see how that formed the basis of the design of the app itself. it very much comes from a place where not only are there spinners and everything else, but you'll see a lot of the specials have time limits on, 

Or there, are achievements that you can get as part of the app. well, sometimes it seems like Timo has a, more of a cheesy type customer experience. It actually matches really well with the types of products they're selling. he's really trying to drive an impulse by using a lot of these techniques that you'll see in free to play games that, spur kind of a compulsion loop, to get someone to do something, and they do it incredibly well, 

And they're doing it across the world, which I also find really interesting, is how universal these, psychological triggers are, games kind of speak across culture, across language, in terms of, our [00:02:00] desire to compete, our desire to have fun, and our desire, when we're curious to learn more.

Kajal: I mean, it makes sense that it came through gaming. I would think Teemu was the only one that, started the whole, you can't buy from us unless you download the app and do the purchase from the app. So that, most people won't remove the app to be able to collect other data from you, depending on what their tracking is and be able to then target you and market to you more efficiently.

actually gaming was the only time I ever downloaded. random apps. It would seem unsafe, but I'd be like, oh, I want to play this game. I'll download it. I'm usually very, careful; I don't download a lot of apps. I've stayed away from having a lot of them, but gaming always got me so I can see that connection.

when people, think gamification in e commerce they think it's never going to happen. it's so ubiquitous, and goes beyond just conversions 

John: I think what we at Playably are so excited about is that, even that [00:03:00] silly spinner.

Is the number one mechanism to get people to either buy or give you their email. But actually where we're seeing gamification really take hold is in other strategic objectives important to your company and brand. as an example, learning about your customer base. their true desires and preferences, is, from a planning and, strategic perspective, the most important data you could have, getting people to respond to surveys or similar tasks is not only inefficient, but often, yields a skewed sample.

But when people lie and check the same box all the way down the line, you don't get actually good data, But when you think about gamification, the number one thing is actually not conversion it's engagement. What we are driving is engagement and interaction between the shopper and the app or the game because it's digital, there's the opportunity for you to respond to their [00:04:00] actions, Warby Parker does a really good job of this, If you're designing glasses and have the opportunity to put it on your social media. they're showing their preference.

For what type of product they want, what colors are interesting, what they're looking forward to next season. That's great customer intelligence, right? Same with Starbucks. Their loyalty program is actually one of their key drivers, in terms of product development, right?

Looking at what and how people respond to the app, what they're choosing, in the app is part of that interaction. You can get really good organic preference information about your customer base that there's no other way to get. not only are games everywhere, but I think what you use games for is, you know, we're at the cusp of really opening up our minds as to how that engagement can be valuable in many different ways 

Kajal: Last time we discussed driving brand affinity, being able to build the brand, but it's really a personal [00:05:00] connection that you develop with the brand because you're on your own personal journey, whether it's through the app or however else the company is responding to you.

I think it speaks a lot to. The human motivations of reward seeking achievement competition. and not only the increased engagement and getting repeat visits, but customer loyalty. I think we've seen that elsewhere. in airline rewards, programs.

John: I am never not shocked by how, loyalty programs, like airline rewards, points and status, are transparently, a game structure, You earn different levels. you get points for performing certain actions. You get rewards. And who hasn't walked down an airline aisle as you're boarding the plane and seen these people are sitting in first class.

These people are sitting in premium. and I'm sitting in economy. Wouldn't it be great if I could move up in status or get these other things. there's a mechanism in which I could do it. for free. 

Kajal: [00:06:00] And I think it appeals to everybody.

I think, you can game the system and strategize on it, or you could just get the most basic reward and feel really satisfied with it. 

John: Yeah. There is a strategy. For everybody, right? I could imagine there are certain people on this podcast, who would be those kind of strategists who would really figure out how to maximize the system.

I know there's people on our team with the credit card points and stuff like that. But for me, when I see, at the end of the year, people needing to make status taking flights across the world just to get those airline points. I'm like, wow, that is an incredible engagement mechanism that these airlines have, over their customers in a way that, on the one hand, sure they're doing these actions, but they're doing it of their own free volition, right?

There are, enjoyments in this for them. There's, a reward for them, obviously, as they get the status or, achieve these things and they're not shy about it. They talk about it online, I did this mileage run and [00:07:00] Took 15 different legs before December 31st, it's not that much different from, 

Hey, I farmed this today and my farm has grown by 20%, people love to share the things that they enjoy. to many people, it's almost like a hobby or, an identity, that they start to develop not just with themselves, but also with the brand, I'm an Alaska person, Alaska airlines, and that's my frequent flyer program.

And this is my status on it. When you become that intertwined, that's a customer that, you have for life, right? Because it's part and parcel of who they are. 

Kajal: Yeah, I mean, I'm on a few of those communities. We've definitely had some credit card reward point, business class flights internationally and now I'm addicted, but what I always find funny is that, in the United subreddit, People complain.

They say, this is what happened. Oh, they devalued the program, but nobody leaves. They don't decide, okay, I'm going to switch to a different airline They're already bought [00:08:00] in. They already, have fond memories of it happening and everything in retrospect is always, more positive than it actually happened.

And so it's just crazy that no matter how bad programs get, even Disneyland, they just keep raising the prices, and everybody keeps paying it. They have a lightning lane pass that you can ride all of the lanes once. And I think it's like 400, 500, depending on how busy the park is.

at first when it was announced, people were like, nobody's going to buy it. And I've seen so many people talking about, okay, we bought it, this was our experience. they like to just, share how they did it and be a thought leader in that space and build their own community, which is so interesting to me.

John: if you look at the corollary, right, customers are always going to be frustrated or disappointed or have negative feelings. But if it's part of a game structure, an actual, program that they're aware of and they're working towards, they're willing to put up with much more of that quote unquote crap.

Then if it was a [00:09:00] one off experience and they just got pissed on a flight, they probably will never take that airline again. But if it's part of something they know they're working towards and there's. Variable rewards and all these game mechanisms we talked about, you're more likely to have not only more leeway, but ultimately even drive more passion from them when you are able to come through.

So it is this idea of a super fan. only exists if there's levels and striations to the brand and their fan age, right? we use the term gamification or games quite a bit, but, if you break that term down, it's an incentive structure, It is a, program that people understand how to advance in and they know the tasks that they need to perform to do it.

people are wired to do this, maybe in different ways, at different levels, but everybody is wired, from a fundamental level to want more, to achieve, to show off. and at the end of the day, It's not just a psychological, tool.

It's actually fun, People do this because it [00:10:00] teases their own psychological needs. it's a win win if you can implement this, going back to Timo, in an authentic way that is true to what, your brand's about, what products you're trying to sell, and how you're trying to sell them.

to work it into a way where people start to identify with your brand in a way that is more than just the singular product purchase itself.

Kajal: I think it could extend beyond people who are already in the program becoming a status symbol, something they want to achieve. influencers. on social media show, Oh, this is, my luxury flight. my private jet. my new designer purse where normally people wouldn't see those items.

and desire them . So . even before they're in the system, there are ways to get people to idolize you and build up that thought of your brand before they even have an interaction with you. 

John: Yeah, social media platforms are games in themselves, right? How many likes can I get?

How many followers [00:11:00] can I get? how visible can my posts be? This kind of game structure is something you can avail yourself, of, even if you don't gamify your brand yourself, that's the environment we live in today. that's the world we're already living in where this gamification exists. I think it's incumbent, especially with the clients we work with, to be authentic about it? How can you do it in a way that feels natural, not cheesy, and get outcomes that matter.

As much if not more than just a simple sale But if you can also use it to get a deeper understanding of your customer to serve them better because you're able to reveal things that maybe they weren't even thinking about we really believe it can be a win win in a way that is more than just hey, how can I trick somebody into buying a product, right?

it's much more important and impactful than that and frankly, much more Viable to the customer than that. 

Kajal: It can be daunting to, brands [00:12:00] who don't look at themselves as a gamified brand yet. besides hiring playably to build quizzes and games for them so that they can get a jumpstart on this, what are some other things that brands could be doing on their own?

John: Yeah. I think the first thing you need to do is look at how your customers interact with your brand and who they are. at Playbill, we believe it's not one size fits all, you have to be very brand specific in how you approach this problem.

are there segments of your customer base that are older? how they want to interact, and the types of interactions they're going to have are going to be different, I would say airline service. programs have a lot of these personas, which are completionists, 

People who, once they're exposed to something, want, every step to be kind of ticked off. These are all things that can be done through surveys, and a lot of analytics on your site to build this segmentation of your user. And then it's about experimentation. [00:13:00] It's about being able to identify these groups and try different mechanisms, to build little, experimental pods, to see what the reaction is, right?

at Playable, we do a lot of experimentation, a lot of A B testing, a lot of trying different mechanisms because it is not, one size fits all. So, hey, everybody, roll out a spinner. And magic happens, right? all the examples we talked about are very different.

each example was selling a different product, how it had a different customer base. And even with Teemu developed it over time, right? They all, Learned over time how to do this. if you don't have a partner who focuses on this, then I would suggest putting together a team or people with game development experience, to work on that with you, because, if it's something that's an afterthought, then it's going to appear like an afterthought, to the consumer.

frankly, the reception to that, often isn't very positive, right? So you really. [00:14:00] Want to go all in on it, if it's something you believe in and you've seen the results from, all of the brands we talked about have made, long term investments into this, idea and approach because they believed in it, it wasn't something that, hey, I installed an app and now my brand is gamified.

I just don't see many cases where that would ever be true 

Kajal: every conference we've been to this year, has had at least one talk, about gamification from the big names, Walmarts of the world, and it's everywhere.

So, if you're not thinking about it or, haven't started yet you're going to be left behind. 

John: Yeah. especially from a practical perspective, how expensive advertising is getting, right? Like how many more brands on Shopify, there are, they all kind of look alike.

The ability to break through that noise in an authentic manner, there are very few levers for that, right? And with gamification, if you can appeal to people's [00:15:00] curiosity, to their intrinsic need to collect or to achieve, you can set yourself Apart, not just from a brand perspective, but from a very tactical marketing perspective, to break through that noise in a way that benefits your brand, not just in 2025, but for the long term. it's investments we're seeing across the board. People are talking about making now, I think every week we're seeing more brands, launch games, launch apps with games in them. we love it, we think the confluence between. Gaming and shopping making it fun, as games become 

The dominant form of entertainment, eclipsing movies and TV It's the mindset people are going to be in. if you can't serve that, if you can't scratch that itch, then you're going to be behind the investment you can start with can be small, but you need to start, today.

Kajal: Thank you, John, for joining us today. There's a lot here and I'm excited to see what the future brings [00:16:00] for gamification. Even our own product has developed so much in the last couple of months. as everyone really gets on board with it and AI comes into it, I think there's just a lot that's going to happen.

John: Absolutely. Thanks for listening 

Kajal: Playably Podcast we'll be back next time.