Latest / The Email Marketing Podcast with Fexingo: Newsletters, Open Rates, and Subscriber Growth / How Email List Gamification Boosts Engagement by 40 Percent
Transcript
- Lucas: So it's episode 100 for us, and I wanted to do something that actually ties back to a question we get a lot: how do you make people actually look forward to your emails instead of just tolerating them? Luna: Right, because most people's inbox is a chore list. How do you flip that? Lucas: Exactly. And one strategy that's been quietly picking up steam is gamification. Not in a cheesy 'you won a prize' sweepstakes way, but using game mechanics like points, progress bars, and leaderboards inside the email experience itself. Luna: I've seen a few brands try this. What's the actual proof that it works? Lucas: So I dug into a case from a DTC skincare brand called Ustawi — not a household name, but they've got about 400,000 subscribers. In late 2024 they launched what they called a 'Glow Journey' program. Every email you open earns you 10 points. Every click earns 25. And when you hit certain thresholds — 500 points, 1,000 points — you unlock a badge and a discount code. Luna: Okay, so they're basically creating a loyalty program inside the inbox. Lucas: Exactly. And the results: over six months, their open rates went from 22 percent to 31 percent — that's a 42 percent relative lift. Click-through rates jumped from 3.1 percent to 4.3 percent. And revenue per email actually increased 18 percent. Luna: Those are serious numbers. But how many people actually participated? Was it just a small super-user group skewing the average? Lucas: Good question. They reported that about 12 percent of subscribers opted into the gamification program. But within that group, average engagement was three times higher than the control. And here's the thing — the control group's engagement didn't drop. So it's additive. The 12 percent became your power users, and the other 88 percent just kept doing what they were doing. Luna: So it's a way to reward your most engaged people without punishing the passive ones. I like that. Lucas: Exactly. And the psychology behind it is pretty well understood. There's a concept called the 'endowed progress effect' — if you give someone a progress bar that's already 20 percent full, they're much more likely to complete the remaining 80 percent than if you start them at zero. Luna: Oh, I've seen that in action. Like those coffee punch cards where you already have two stamps when you get the card. People are way more likely to come back. Lucas: Precisely. Ustawi actually used that — new subscribers who joined the Glow Journey were automatically credited with 100 points, which is one-fifth of the way to a bronze badge. And their opt-in rate for the program was much higher than for a batch that got a standard 'earn rewards' invitation with zero starting points. Luna: So there's a lot of behavioral science baked into something that looks like a simple points system. Lucas: Right. And the other piece is variable rewards. In games, you don't know exactly when you'll level up or get a rare item. That unpredictability keeps you coming back. Ustawi applied that by occasionally awarding 'mystery bonus points' — sometimes a subscriber would open an email and get an extra 50 points with no warning. Luna: So it's like a slot machine for your inbox, but in a good way. Lucas: In the best way. And they made sure the mystery bonuses were tied to behavior they wanted — like opening a new product launch email or clicking through to a blog post about skincare routines. Luna: I'm guessing this works best for B2C, especially lifestyle and retail. But what about B2B? Can you gamify a SaaS email nurture sequence? Lucas: I think it can work, but the mechanics need to be different. B2B buyers aren't going to chase a badge for opening a whitepaper. But you could use progress bars for a 'learning path' — if a prospect completes three emails in a certification series, they unlock a demo with a senior rep. That's gamification, just framed as professional development. Luna: That makes sense. The key is matching the reward to the audience's actual motivation. A skincare customer wants discounts and social status. A B2B buyer wants expertise and access. Lucas: Exactly. And there's a good example from a company called Leadfeeder — they do website visitor identification. They ran a campaign where sales reps who responded to emails within five minutes earned 'speed demon' points and a spot on a leaderboard. Their response rates went up 30 percent. But that's internal, not subscriber-facing. Luna: Interesting. So gamification can apply to the team too. But let's talk about potential pitfalls. What could go wrong with email gamification? Lucas: A few things. First, you can't let it feel like work. If points accumulation becomes a grind, people will drop out. Second, you need to keep the reward fresh. If you offer the same 20 percent off for every badge, it becomes predictable and loses its punch. Luna: And there's the privacy question. Are you tracking every open and click just to assign points? How transparent do you need to be? Lucas: That's a real concern. Ustawi made it opt-in with a clear explanation: 'We'll track your engagement to give you points. You can opt out anytime.' And they allowed subscribers to see their point balance in a preference center. That transparency actually built trust — churn among gamification participants was lower than the baseline. Luna: So the lesson is: gamification works when it's genuinely fun and transparent, not when it feels like manipulation. Lucas: Exactly. And I think that's a good note for episode 100. We've talked a lot about tactics over the last 99 episodes — welcome sequences, reactivation, microsegments. But at the heart of it, email marketing is about building a relationship. Gamification is just one tool to make that relationship more engaging. Luna: And on that note, I think it's worth saying — the reason we can cover stuff like this without having to shoehorn in sponsorship messages is because of listeners who support the show directly. If these conversations have sparked something you've actually used, and you want to keep the podcast ad-free, there's a simple way to help. Lucas: Yeah, it's buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. No pressure, no perks, just knowing that the content stays listener-supported and independent. We really appreciate it. Luna: So back to gamification — have you tried any of these mechanics yourself, Lucas? Lucas: I have, actually. For a newsletter I run on the side about craft beer, I added a simple 'beer explorer' challenge: open 12 monthly emails and you get a digital badge. Open rates went from 35 percent to 48 percent over three months. The badge was just a PNG, but people loved it. Luna: That's a perfect micro-example. So for anyone listening, start small. Maybe a progress bar in your welcome sequence, or a badge for completing a three-part series. Lucas: And measure everything. If you don't see a lift in open rates or click-throughs within eight weeks, iterate. Gamification isn't a set-it-and-forget-it thing. Luna: Alright, thanks for the deep dive. Here's to the next 100. Lucas: Cheers to that.