E-commerce competition is heating up—here’s how to increase online sales to stay competitive

The customer disengagement crisis that leads to a decrease in sales

In the ever-evolving world of e-commerce, brands are facing down a new threat from an old enemy, and it's messing with your favourite metrics. People appreciate being bombarded with marketing that misses the mark less than ever—businesses even sell ad free experiences as features and build their pricing around it. Where does that leave marketers? Baring our teeth at customers, searching for a way to claw them back into the buyer journey as they try to escape. In this version of the story, marketers aren’t the “good guys”—and it's not all fiction, either.

Data shows that 70% of shopping carts are abandoned without making a purchase. Why so steep? With 75% of online consumers preferring personalized experiences when most e-commerce brands are just getting ready to take their first step toward personalization, we can hardly blame our buyers. Add to this the 5.08 average steps in most e-commerce shops' checkout processes—nearly double the benchmark—and we're beginning to see the problem. When it comes to advertising, consumer attention spans seem to be getting shorter, and for good reason: if a touchpoint doesn’t match their intent and awareness stage, or has any friction at all, they decide if it's worth their time in under two seconds.

The bottom line? Customer disengagement doesn't bode well for e-commerce marketers trying to create and maintain customer relationships online. And it has most of us taking a hard look at our marketing stack to understand what we can do better and what needs to be cut.

The problem with traditional one-way marketing

How have e-commerce marketers traditionally engaged, converted and retained new customers? For most of us, a mix of promotional strategies and carefully crafted, targeted direct communications are marketing mix staples that help us capture customer interest under key demographics. We use discounts, loyalty programs, and targeted advertising to attract potential buyers over email campaigns or social media -and online banner ads, encouraging consumers to sign up or make a purchase. But this type of one-way communication is just that: one-dimensional—there's no consumer agency until the very last touchpoint when they decide to buy. And with one of the lowest median conversion rates across industries, it’s no surprise that most potential buyers never get there. 

So, how can e-comms deepen their efforts to intuitively understand the pain points of their customers? The name of the game here is personalization, but it's a play that takes time to ramp up. According to Salesforce's 2024 state of marketing report, 43% of marketers take a fragmented approach to personalized communications. In general, most marketers hold solid understanding of customer needs in some stages, but must shore up the lack of data or customer insights with mass communication in others. Personalization by itself won't solve the disengagement crises, either, as making first contact during early stages, when less customer data is available, remains a difficult task. Secondly, not all brands have the infrastructure they need to use the data they do end up capturing set up.

The go-to solution is quantity: mass marketing that adds to the landfill of unengaging, unimpactful brand messaging that consumers are starting to see as the enemy. Brands that fail to make a meaningful connection through traditional one-way marketing double down on volume to shore up the numbers at the expense of their brand image. No brand love can come from a very long, one-sided conversation, after all. And, in a time where e-commerce brands are seeking to differentiate themselves and consolidate growth, a weak brand is a major disadvantage. 

Traditional marketing methods that always delivered for e-commerce—think static discounts and loyalty incentives paired with strong visuals, persuasive language, and consistent messaging, for example—still works. But in the attention economy where eyeballs drop off faster than ever, investing in quantity over quality could be a mistake.

How Gamification Marketing increases sales in e-commerce

The human brain responds more powerfully to hands-on activities than to passive verbal or visual content. Gamification Marketing transforms those passive, informational touchpoints in your promotions and content—those static discounts and loyalty points—into interactive brand experiences that engage, convert, and retain more customers.

So, let's break it down. Why does Gamification Marketing win where passive marketing loses? Simple: it motivates action with upfront value. Traditional marketing leads with tangible extrinsic rewards like discounts and “buy one, get one” offers. Gamification Marketing, on the other hand, goes a level deeper to unlock real, long-term engagement and impact for brands. It plays on intrinsic rewards: that sense of achievement from earning enough ‘stars’ to access your new membership level at Starbucks or the thrill of swiping away on a digital scratch card to see what you’ve won. Intrinsic motivations for mastery, purpose or autonomy are so powerful that it compels 3.3 billion gamers—the biggest community on the planet—to seek out challenging, engaging, and rewarding digital experiences. Imagine unlocking this type of engagement for your brand.

As for BRAME, we're specialists in enhancing the extrinsic rewards already tied to your e-commerce brand's existing campaigns by integrating Gamification Marketing elements like points, rankings, and levels, tapping into consumers' intrinsic motivations.

Gamification Marketing’s competitive advantage in e-commerce

Why does it work? Let’s explore Gamification Marketing's key behavioral psychology principles and why they're so effective at boosting consumer engagement:

Intrinsic motivation: 

According to research from the University of Southern California, activities that foster a sense of achievement and purpose simply lead to higher engagement. Consumers are more motivated to participate or engage with a brand's touchpoints when they feel a personal connection. The easiest way for brands to do that is by offering a rich and resonant experience—and that is what Gamification does best, tapping into these intrinsic motivations with interactive journeys that turn consumers into heroes.

Extrinsic rewards:

Tangible incentives, like discounts, loyalty points, or exclusive rewards stimulate immediate consumer action. While these extrinsic rewards can prompt quick responses, they might not guarantee brand loyalty and promote customer lifetime value over the long term. For today's e-commerce brands setting the foundation for the future of customer engagement, relying on these rewards strategies alone won't cultivate those deeper customer relationships that keep customers engaged.

Cognitive engagement:

According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), interactive content is significantly more effective in capturing consumer attention compared to traditional static content. Unlike a static, one-dimensional banner or video ad, gamified touchpoints give consumers the full house of sensory experience: sight, sound, motion and active touch, engaging them with a multi-dimensional experience.

Gamification, personalization and loyalty

Where starting a relationship with your potential buyers is more difficult than ever, Gamification Marketing helps brands reconnect by tapping into what matters most to consumers: experience—rich, interactive and impactful brand experiences in the case of Gamification Marketing. Breaking through to key segments during those early stages of consumer engagement where data is sparse is a challenge, but it's one that e-commerce brands must tackle with a consumer-centric attitude.

By leading with experience, e-comm marketers can literally change the game. On the one hand, we get to capture consumers' undivided attention, earn engagement, and build on that 1:1 consumer relationship with lasting impact. On the other, we break with the root cause of the disengagement crisis: one-dimensional, one-way marketing.

By integrating engaging Gamification mechanics like challenges, rewards into their storytelling, brands like s.Oliver get to foster genuine engagement with their audience. Overall, customer engagement is contingent on customer experience, and increasing the latter boosts the former—but for brands who are looking to deepen their customer relationships over time, Gamification Marketing is a powerful first-party data capture tool. So, how can e-commerce brands start gamifying their marketing today?

Gamifying the shopping experience increases sales and improves cart conversion rates

To shore up that 70% average cart abandonment rate we mentioned, e-commerce brands can gamify the checkout experience to keep engagement steady. The longer your store has them sticking around in check-out, the more crucial it becomes to make each interaction as engaging and rewarding for customers as possible.

Place gamified incentives on every checkout step

To get your customers from touchpoint to touchpoint during check-out, rewards systems that let them earn points for completing specific actions, like entering their email, selecting shipping options, or opting in for brand communications. These points can be redeemed for discounts on future purchases, encouraging customers to finalize their transactions and return for more.

And, when users decide to bounce, BRAME and its partners can serve a gamified experience with enticing—even personalized—rewards that get them back into the mix.

Serve gamified time-limited offers after check-out

Static promotions are one thing, but brands rarely want to split the attention of consumers with commercial intent as a bounce rate counter-measure. On the other hand, product placement after the fact (even when personalized) can often feel disjointed from the buyer journey. Gamification Marketing for e-commerce can help bridge the gap between purchases by creating urgency with time-limited offers that activate during the checkout process. For instance, instead of recommending or promoting more products, encourage further engagement with a gamified touchpoint that unlocks rewards related to those products. The result? A powerful, experience-rich bridge between customer purchase and up-sell

Make checking out fun with a Spin the Wheel game

Consumers love free shipping. Why not offer it as a reward locked behind a Spin the Wheel game? Interactive elements that get consumers re-engaged in the buyer journey not only helps your brand convert, but gives consumers something to talk about, as well. Building loyalty with simple, fun and engaging brand experiences—even during check-out—is a great way to make sure your key buyers keep coming back.

Introducing Gamification into the checkout experience empowers e-commerce brands to reduce cart abandonment rates, increase engagement, and boost conversion rates. But, the true value of Gamification isn't in its rather impactful immediate results for your business, but instead lies in its ability to empower your existing touchpoints. The average check-out process is broken and, beyond that, the entire buyer journey has an engagement problem. Gamification restores your touchpoints’ ability to play their roles properly, leading to a more captivating and rewarding shopping experience, ultimately driving business results while fostering customer loyalty.

Conclusion

In a landscape where consumer attention is fleeting, e-commerce brands simply must innovate to stay competitive. By leveraging game-like elements, brands can create immersive experiences, transforming routine transactions into engaging brand encounters. Whether your brand is getting ready to take its first step in its personalization journey, re-capture the attention of key segments at scale, or simply looking for a conversion rate booster, Gamification Marketing can take your existing marketing mix to the next level. 

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