Not long ago, there was a common belief that gamification on commerce websites should be strictly limited to B2C, consumer-facing industries. B2B sites, it was reasoned, needed to maintain a higher level of professionalism and seriousness to develop and strengthen business relationships. Leave the short-term game-playing excitement to the sites chasing immediate sales.
As some of Luxid’s top clients have discovered, however, gamification can be just as effective in B2B tech marketing. From product demos to training programs to interactive, educational adventures, gamification is proving to be an increasingly effective tool for getting leads and strengthening brand loyalty.
What’s changed? The rise of accessible AI, virtual-reality and augmented-reality technologies for starters, making it easier for tech companies to develop gamified modes and create memorable experiences that captivate potential customers while laying the groundwork for lead generation.
And for individuals, playing video or online games has become a part of our daily lives, extending well beyond the headset crowd toggling joysticks, enthralled by cyber warfare and Esports. It’s enjoyed by millions across the globe, with a wide spectrum of choices. If you take a look across your office, you’re bound to see someone looking down at a phone, trying to figure out anything from Candy Crush to Wordle, Connections or Immaculate Grid. Even LinkedIn users find themselves drawn in by Tango, Queens, Pinpoint and Crossclimb.
It's all finding its way into B2B marketing because simple and engaging gamified experiences can make learning and consuming information more fun and competitive. Detailed visual experiences can help users be fully immersed in the content they’re consuming. One example is Duolingo, which has successfully gamified language learning into a multi-billion-dollar business.
The shift of gamification to the B2B side of marketing illustrates the acceptance of a more playful way to captivate the attention of potential customers and clients. Tech companies are finding that it can also:
- Foster long-term relationships and business collaboration
- Drive online community engagement
- Improve customer experience
- Bolster brand image, loyalty and satisfaction
- Provide insights to better understand customers’ needs and challenges
- Enhance productivity
- Improve learning and training
- Provide a competitive advantage
Types of gamification and awards
Gamification taps into humanity’s competitive nature. The next time you’re at a tradeshow, conference or tech event, watch where the crowds form and the traffic bottlenecks develop. It’s often where attendees have their focus drawn by games and attention-grabbing technology. Gamification unites them both.
Forms of gamification include:
- Embedded demo challenges
- Interactive learning
- Knowledge and retention quizzes
- Competitions
- Puzzles and minigames
- Escape-room-style, complete-the-next-task progressions
- Scene immersion experiences
Earning awards in these gaming elements taps into our pride and desire to be recognized for tasks well done. Awards can include:
- Prizes, drawings and giveaways
- Discounts
- Exclusive access
- Points, virtual badges and physical stickers
- Leaderboards
- Awarding of certifications and nominal titles
Dell gets in the game
Dell Technologies has recently partnered with Luxid on a pair of gamified projects to help engage and educate attendees at the Mobile World Congress. The Dell MWC Partners Interactive Game was a four-pronged, interactive-learning production that showed how Dell’s solutions were effectively used in the open telecom ecosystem by putting users in animated scenarios to compete for points.
This included an eye-catching, futuristic idle video, an interactive adventure demo that showcased Dell’s telecom partners, a mini game within a purposeful video that required users to avoid obstacles to accumulate points, and the awarding of stickers based on the success of the tasks.
Dell will unveil a new immersive Telecom Adventure Demo at the 2025 MWC that will be a first-person, tension experience that requires users to solve various potential telecom and enterprise issues by selecting the correct tech setups for specific scenarios.
When Dell was building a new OTEL (Open Telecom Ecosystem Lab) in Texas, Luxid produces an immersive, scalable virtual reality “digital twin” experience of the physical space before it was build. The VR space showcased Dell’s expanding capabilities in the telecom arena, enabling them to present live, control the content and collaborate with partners about the offering.
AWS goes on a quest
Another Luxid client, Amazon Web Services (AWS), tapped into game-based learning with AWS Cloud Quest, which is an immersive, role-playing simulation game that helps develop in-demand cloud skills. Participants embark on virtual journeys that guide them through various AWS services and features, challenging them to solve puzzles, fulfill tasks and overcome obstacles. Each Quest is immersive and educational, with award points, rewards and leaderboards providing recognition of achievements.
Among the others experiencing success with gamification are LinkedIn, SAP, Asana, Salesforce, Cisco and IBM. LinkedIn’s sales tool, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, has popular gamified elements that include the awarding of achievement badges and certifications for completed training modules, quizzes and assessments.
Before you get started
Tech companies looking to take the next step to B2B gamification need to remember a few things:
- Identify your goals and objectives (such as generate leads, boost web traffic, or strengthen customer retention)
- Understand your audience (know their pain points) and customize to them
- Align with your company’s brand values and messaging
- Strike a balance between digital and physical challenges and rewards
If you’re looking to inject excitement, emotion and interactivity into your B2B marketing strategy, then gamification could be a route that gives you the edge over your competitors. Talk to an expert at Luxid to find out how you could start your journey into gaming to boost engagement and lead generation.
