Management Practice Insights
DOI: 10.59571/mpi.v3si1.8
Year: 2025, Volume: 3, Issue: Special Issue 1, Pages: 45-51
Original Article
Disha Bhanot 1, Sheila Roy 2
1 Associate Professor in the Operations, Supply Chain Management, and Quantitative Methods department at SPJIMR.
2 Professor in the Operations, Supply Chain Management, and Quantitative Methods department at SPJIMR.
Correspondence
Received Date:23 December 2024, Accepted Date:20 February 2025, Published Date:30 June 2025
The world of fintech has spawned many startups striving to address challenges related to accessibility and adoption of financial products across various segments. One approach that is gaining traction among many fintech apps is gamification. Research by Simon J. Blanchard and Mike Palazzo demonstrates that withdrawing gamification features (like rewards, prizes and points-based raffles) reduced user engagement.1 This implies that a segment of customers relied on rewards to sustain positive financial behaviour, thereby casting doubt on the long-term sustainability of gamification. This article suggests how CMOs and product managers can tailor gamification for specific customer segments to drive loyalty by enhancing intrinsic motivation. We also explore how gamification can be leveraged to advance financial inclusion for those at the base of the pyramid.
1 Simon J. Blanchard and Mike Palazzolo, “Game Over? Assessing the Impact of Gamification Discontinuation on Mobile Banking Behaviors,” Marketing Science 44, no. 3 (May 2025): 546–65, https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2023.0345.
2 Sebastian Deterding, Dan Dixon, Rilla Khaled, and Lennart Nacke, 2011. From game design elements to gamefulness: Defining gamification. Proceedings of the 15th International Academic MindTrek Conference: Envisioning Future Media Environments, pp. 9–15. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1145/2181037.2181040.
3 Mordor Intelligence, Gamification Market Size; Share Analysis Growth Trends & Forecasts (2024 - 2029), https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industryreports/gamification-market, accessed on Dec 20th, 2024.
4 How Much Does Gamification Cost? The Buy or Build Decision, https://mambo.io/blog/gamification-software-build-or-buy? Accessed on Dec 20th, 2024.
5 Lotte Schou-Zibell, Swati Chowdhary, Banking on Fun: How Gamification and Nudges Can Foster Sustainable Finances, (blog), August 15, 2023 https://blogs.adb.org/blog/banking-fun-howgamification-and-nudges-can-foster-sustainable-finances.
6 Rebecca Trivella, 10 best practice examples of gamification in financial services (blog), October 24, 2023, https://www.finextra.com/blogposting/25083/10-bestpractice-examples-of-gamification-in-financial-services
7 Bajaj Finserv launches a new gamified campaign titled #EMINetworkPowerplay, ETBrandEquity, March 28, 2019, https://brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/mark eting/bajaj-finserv-launches-a-new-gamified-campaign-titledeminetworkpowerplay/68599940.
8 Rajat Dayal, “Creating Lasting Connections Through Gamification In Banking”, Outlook Business, February 8, 2020, https://www.outlookbusiness.com/banking/creating-lastingconnections-through-gamification-in-banking-4333.
9 Tarush Bhalla, “A look at the gaming strategy of PhonePe and Paytm, and why it is crucial for the payment behemoths”, YOURSTORY, April 9, 2019, https://yourstory.com/2019/04/gaming-strategy-phonepepaytm.
10 Kanishka Thakur, Gamification in Banking Key Features, Principles, and Examples, (blog), Sept 11, 2024, https://www.nudgenow.com/blogs/gamification-in-bankingexamples-best-practices.
11 Anika Bhattacharjee, How ICICI Bank enhanced Customer Engagement through Social Gamification, (blog), March 21, 2016, https://www.digitalvidya.com/blog/how-icici-bank-enhancedcustomer-engagement-through-social-gamification/
12 Gamification as a service: the future of banking? Deccan Herald, April 18, 2016, https://www.deccanherald.com/business/gamification-servicefuture-banking-2059572
13Ananya Vairavarajan, Gamification in Fintech Apps: Top 5 Examples, (blog), December 2, 2024, https://www.plotline.so/blog/fintech-app-gamificationexamples
14 Kailash Nadh, User disengagement, (blog), May 6, 2022, https://zerodha.tech/blog/user-disengagement/
15 Based on inputs from and first-hand interaction with industry experts.
© 2025 Published by SPJIMR. This is an open-access article under the CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
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