Most of us have heard of Duolingo. The language-learning app has become fairly ubiquitous, with rivals like Babbel and Rosetta Stone also becoming popular. Yet Duolingo has also become a darling of the stock market, with investors seriously impressed by how the app retains users – it now boasts over 100 million – and converts free users into paying ones without resorting to sneaky freemium tactics that you might see with your favorite mobile games.
Duolingo’s main selling point is pretty straightforward: most of us would love to learn a new language. But just like finishing that copy of War and Peace gathering dust on your bookshelf, it can be difficult to stick to it. Yet, Duolingo has a trick up its sleeve, which can broadly described as gamification tactics.
What is gamification?
Gamification is the concept of adding game-like elements to non-gaming activities, such as language learning. In the case of Duolingo, it is achieved by using features like Streaks, a motivator that marks consecutive days using the app, leaderboards, and XP points to complete challenges like quizzes. All of these are classic gamification elements. They are simple but effective. In short, they make language learning less “dry”, and they make the app engagement “stickier”.
Many of the world’s most popular apps use gamification. Examples of apps that use this idea naturally include Fitbit (the app, not the device) and Strava, both of which use gamification to keep users motivated during runs and workouts. Educational apps have also started to get on the bandwagon, encouraging study and, when used in school settings, affirming positive behaviours by students.
Gamification and sports betting
Gamification has spilled over into other areas, too. Sports betting apps, for instance, have extended well beyond simple betting lines, offering more interesting ways to bet and engage with sports as a whole. This can be best seen with online football bet builder markets, a kind of multi-leg bet that invites you to use statistics and other metrics across a game.
The gamification here comes in two areas: first, it prompts you to engage with the live game (bet builders are especially popular with football) and watch it actively, not passively. Secondly, it spills over to social media, where fans will discuss statistical tactics and so on.
Beyond fitness, education and sports betting, gamification has found its way into a wide range of industries. For example, financial apps use gamification to encourage better saving habits by rewarding users for meeting financial goals. Environmental apps might incentivize eco-friendly behaviors, such as reducing energy consumption or recycling, by turning them into challenges with tangible rewards.
Businesses have a new way to leverage engagement
From a business perspective, gamification has become a powerful tool for customer retention and brand loyalty. By making their products more engaging, companies can increase user retention, enhance customer satisfaction, and ultimately drive revenue growth. This is particularly important in the digital age, where user attention is a scarce resource. For instance, Starbucks uses gamification in its loyalty program, where customers earn stars for purchases, which can then be redeemed for rewards. Starbucks pushed this further with an NFT programme, but it was discontinued.
At its core, gamification taps into fundamental psychological principles. By leveraging elements like rewards, competition, and social interaction, gamification satisfies our intrinsic motivations, such as the need for achievement and recognition. It creates the sense of connection with others, even if that is, at heart, an illusion. This is why gamification is so effective at keeping users engaged—it’s not just about making an app more fun; it’s about aligning with how our brains are wired to seek satisfaction and accomplishment. Duolingo and many other apps have recognised this fact, and anyone launching an app should take note of it.
