Ep 159: Why Gamification Fails and What Membership Owners Should Do Instead
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Why Gamification Fails and What Membership Owners Should Do Instead
Gamification is everywhere in memberships—points, badges, leaderboards. While it’s fun and easy to track, the reality is, gamification often fails to create long-term engagement. Worse, it might actually hurt your membership if it’s not tied to what truly motivates your members.
I’ve helped my clients add $3.4 million in annual recurring revenue by focusing on what really works for engagement: intrinsic motivation. Here’s a breakdown of why gamification often fails and actionable strategies for creating lasting engagement in your membership.
Why Gamification Fails
1. It Stops Internal Motivation
Gamification relies on external rewards—like points, badges, and leaderboards—which can undermine internal motivation. This is known as the overjustification effect:
What It Means:
When people are rewarded for actions they already enjoy, their internal drive shifts to an expectation of the reward. Once the reward is removed, their interest and effort decrease.
Why It Matters:
Members don’t join your program for points or badges. They join because you’ve motivated them toward a meaningful promise or outcome.
Over time, gamification loses its novelty and stops working, leaving members less engaged than before.
2. It Creates Short-Term Engagement
Gamification often generates a temporary burst of excitement, but:
The novelty fades quickly.
Members lose interest in rewards like points and badges when they no longer feel new or challenging.
3. It Causes Engagement Burnout
For some members, gamification can feel overwhelming or unnecessarily competitive, especially if they’re falling behind on leaderboards or feel pressure to keep up. This leads to demotivation rather than engagement.
4. It Rewards Surface-Level Actions
Most gamification systems reward shallow actions like logging in, commenting, or watching a video. These aren’t tied to members’ goals or progress, which are the real reasons they joined your membership.
The Problem: Gamification encourages busywork rather than meaningful engagement or retention.
What Actually Motivates Members?
If gamification isn’t the answer, what is? According to Daniel Pink’s book Drive, motivation requires three elements:
1. Purpose: Working Toward Something Meaningful
Your members need to stay connected to the “why” of your membership. In myCommunity Cultivated Framework, I call this the Cause:
How to Apply It:
Continuously remind members of their purpose and the value they’ll achieve through your program.
Incorporate this purpose throughout your member journey map (get my free guide at retainguide.com).
Common Mistake:
Many memberships stop selling the “why” after members join. But selling is about building belief, and you need to keep selling the purpose throughout their journey.
2. Mastery: Recognizing Progress and Seeing a Path to Success
Members stay motivated when they:
Know what to do to make progress.
See and celebrate their progress along the way.
How to Apply It:
Create a progress path that guides members step-by-step from where they are to where they want to be.
Highlight their progress through community initiatives and your member journey map.
3. Autonomy: Taking Ownership of the Journey
Members need the freedom to engage in a way that works for them. A one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work anymore.
How to Apply It:
Offer multiple content mediums and delivery formats to accommodate different learning styles.
Avoid shaming members who don’t engage visibly. For example:
Lurkers may not post in your community but could still be implementing your templates and achieving incredible results.
How to Build Intrinsic Motivation into Your Membership
To create lasting engagement, focus on weaving purpose, mastery, and autonomy into every stage of your member experience:
Clarify Purpose:
Continuously reinforce the “why” behind your program.
Use personalized messaging to tie the membership’s purpose to each member’s individual goals.
Spotlight Progress:
Celebrate milestones—big and small—through personalized messages, public shoutouts, or progress dashboards.
Use your community to showcase member wins and inspire others.
Provide Flexibility:
Allow members to choose how they participate and engage.
Recognize that success looks different for everyone.
The Bottom Line
Gamification might seem like an easy answer, but it often fails to deliver lasting engagement. If you want to keep your members motivated and reduce churn, focus on intrinsic motivation by weaving purpose, mastery, and autonomy throughout their experience.
For more strategies to retain your members, download my free guide at retainguide.com.
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