Psychology of Gamification in Marketing or Why 'Temu Is as Addictive as Sugar'

Why does Temu feel impossible to quit? Every scroll on Temu is a dopamine hit wrapped in a discount. Temu isn’t just an e-commerce, it’s a psychological playground. Flash deals, countdown timers for free shipping, and spinning wheels for instant discounts keep shoppers hooked, guiding them toward purchase after purchase. The urgency, the rewards, the luck, and the achievements — it’s all designed to keep shoppers engaged and motivated.

None of this is accidental. Retailers have long studied consumer behavior, and Temu, experts say, has mastered the art of gamification in marketing —using game-like mechanics to make shopping feel more like play. Bonuses, coupons, and exclusive deals mimic the dopamine-driven reward systems of video games, ensuring users keep clicking.

And it’s not just Temu. Brands across industries are tapping into the same psychological triggers. Starbucks and Sephora weave gamification into their loyalty programs. Lacoste hides prizes in its virtual store, turning shopping into a scavenger hunt. The strategy is clear: keep customers entertained, and they’ll stay longer—and spend more.

It’s all done with gamification in marketing. What is gamification marketing? It’s the use of game-like elements in non-gaming settings. In marketing, it means making activities like shopping, learning about a product, or attending an event more like playing a game.

In this article, we’ll dig into:

• The psychology behind gamification
• How it affects consumer behavior
• Effective gamification techniques in marketing
• The benefits of implementing gamification in your marketing

The psychology behind gamification in marketing, or why it actually works

Today’s consumers are overwhelmed with choices, and traditional digital marketing tactics often feel like noise. You are probably familiar with the term banner blindness. Yes, banners back then looked very different (and ugly, let’s be real) compared to our present browsing experience. However, a key takeaway is that users had consciously evolved to ignore any online ads. 

Already in 2013, banner blindness was at a whopping 86%, and this trend in consumer behavior continues. Thus, marketers strive to:

• bring back customer attention, 
• increase engagement, 
• improve user experience, and 
• keep them returning. 

Optimistically, we can pause the struggle for at least a decade thanks to the overall positive impact gamification in marketing has on these metrics. When a brand integrates gamification correctly, it makes us want to engage because it’s exciting (and rewarding, though). We’re no longer rolling our eyes at another 20% off banner, now we’re actively checking our points status progress bar, or happily adding that product to a cart just to see if we got an additional benefit or gift. It’s not random, it’s our brain’s pleasure center lighting up, and big brands know this. It’s also a much more organic way to connect, and it also signals that the brand values our time enough to make the experience enjoyable. 

Some recent examples we spotted: 

Skyscanner’s advent calendar

Skyscanner’s adventure advent calendar just went live in December 2024 at the Now Building, lighting up Outernet London with massive floor-to-ceiling 16K LED screens. Each day reveals an all-expenses-paid trip across the globe, turning holiday dreams into a real-life possibility. It’s the perfect blend of festive and high-tech game-like vibe, making people get that big-screen excitement and come back for more chances to win.

Jacquemus’ lottery

Jacquemus turned the usual lottery into a gamified experience, where participants were randomly selected from a pool of online registered users, and the winners were the lucky few whose cards stayed empty after every number was called. Among the prizes? Everything from scarves, bags, and the ultimate gift — a shopping gift card. The result? A blend of excitement, exclusivity, and a rewarding experience that left everyone talking in social media long after the last number was drawn.

So, now, as a consumer, you are not surprised to see a gamified campaign offering you a product discount, special offer, or free gifts. Being a widespread occurrence surely helps the image, but what else makes gamification so successful in marketing?

Three psychological drives of gamification in marketing

Gamification is not just technology, it is psychology — at least according to LXA’s Sarah O’Neill. Indeed, its mechanics are inspired by the fundamental drives of the human psyche, namely curiosity, the need for achievements, and reward-seeking. Why these? It’s about creating an emotional experience — because when customers feel like they’re playing and winning, they stay engaged longer.

TL;DR: they drastically improve conversions at each stage of the customer journey. Here is how:

Curiosity is the inherent human desire to explore the unknown. It can transform a passive observer into an agent of change eager to engage with the world. Curiosity marketing uses this desire to help businesses attract attention to their products and reveal new customer segments.

A desire for achievement arises when we know exactly what we need to do to get the prize, and we’re more motivated to do it because it’s bite-sized and achievable. Even the slightest hint at competition fuels a simple human desire to win or be better than (others or yourself), encourages faster action, and creates a fun and intriguing experience.

Reward seeking is how we thank our brain for being curious and engaged. A need to collect a reward might appear during the competition to sustain the participant’s interest or at the end of it, where it equals the prize. Rewards are simultaneously the "more" we want and a stimulus to go after it. Moreover, they acknowledge user activity on the business’s behalf, as if saying, “You are seen.”

Fun fact

In his book Behave, Robert Sapolsky explains how unpredictability can make rewards even more exciting — the dopamine level can spike even when a reward is received only half the time upon task completion. So the next time you find yourself hitting “play again” on a brand’s challenge, just know that the rush you feel isn’t coincidental. 

Now, let’s dive deeper into the behavioral triggers that make people engage, from the thrill of earning points to the satisfaction of leveling up.

The dopamine loop

The real impact of gamification lies in the dopamine reward system. Every time a customer completes a challenge, unlocks a reward, or hits a milestone, dopamine is released. This “feel-good” chemical drives motivation, action, and keeps them coming back.

A basic dopamine loop is made of four components:

1. Stimulus 

a pleasurable experience that comes our way.

2. Dopamine release 

a reaction to the stimulus, which makes us feel a-mazing!

3. Reinforcement

our desire to relive that pleasant experience.

4. Habit formation

our initiative to seek and find the stimulus.

A loop is a loop, but the original stimulus must come from outside in a timely manner. Let’s take a look at some scenarios on how you can design your gamification strategy to trigger the right dopamine loops at the right time.

“Temu is as addictive as sugar,” says retail analyst Neil Saunders. “The experience, paired with rock-bottom prices, gives shoppers a dopamine hit that keeps them coming back.” The chaotic interface fuels the illusion of discovery, making users feel like they’re sifting through a treasure trove of deals—if they act fast enough.

Scenario 1

Problem: There is low engagement, and customers are unwilling to sign up for your newsletter with valuable offers.

Solution: Give them a gamified quiz, asking about the problem they’re looking to solve and their product preferences. Firstly, people love talking about themselves as well as learning something new. Secondly, you can give them points for each answer provided and add an enticing “You are 1 question away from a special offer!” This combo of immediate feedback and the promise of a reward sustains the dopamine loop.

Scenario 2

Problem: Your customer has spent over 20 minutes on the website, actively browsing, but hasn’t added anything to the cart.

Solution: Show them a centered content-blocking widget, inviting them to spin the wheel for a surprise discount. Say they get three tries. With every spin, the anticipation of winning triggers more excitement. The spinning animation builds suspense, and the eventual reveal — whether it’s a 10% discount or a freebie — releases dopamine, rewarding the user and encouraging further interaction.

Scenario 3

Problem: As a SaaS marketer, you know your customers want a free trial, aka the reward. To do that, they need to fill and submit a form, but still they drop it half the way through.

Solution: Add a progress bar to your form showing how many steps remain for your customer to complete, but also add a discount for the next purchase on the completion. You can stress how much is done with — “75% complete” or how much is left — “25% to complete.” Now, on top of getting a free trial, they’ve also completed the task. The event releases a dopamine rush, reinforcing the behavior and making them more likely to engage in similar activities.

So, by strategically designing gamified experiences that align with the dopamine loop — offering timely stimuli, rewarding actions, and reinforcing behaviors — you can bring back customer attention and grow long-term engagement.

Decision fatigue and gamification

Ever notice how you can spend half an hour scrolling through Netflix’s endless catalog only to end up watching nothing? Have we always had this much choice? We haven’t, but as a fairly egalitarian and free space, the internet allowed all kinds of businesses to flood the space with their products and services.

Fun fact

In The Paradox of Choice — Why More Is Less, its author, Barry Schwartz, argues that the explosion in choice has led to increased anxiety in consumers, so narrowing that pool would be a welcome change for both parties — customers and business owners. Apart from anxiety, customers also experience decision fatigue: they are just tired of having to research and make choices all the time. Too many choices lead to zero action. 

But it is impossible to reduce the proposition, which will only keep growing on the market. Luckily, with gamification you can create a healthy “tunnel vision” by simplifying the decision-making and guiding customers toward the actions you want them to take. 

In this context, the nudge theory comes into the limelight. It rests on the idea that a subtle stimulus, aka nudge, is more effective in prompting people to make better decisions than outright persuasion. Two of its main concepts are default options and framing. The former’s meaning is straightforward; its value lies in the contents of the option: whatever you set as a default choice will form a person’s perspective. The latter is how the choices are presented, i.e., verbal, visual, and other types of messaging. According to the authors of Gamification for Product Excellence, social proof, free trials, and the forms they come in make perfect nudges that take the burden of active decision-making off the customer.

By drawing attention to where it’s needed, here are some cases how gamification can be helpful, resulting in benefits all around.

1. You have a page with limited-time discount offers, but there’s no way you can put it in the hero section, so customers don’t scroll that far and rarely come across it. You can do a spin-the-wheel with the exact discount and a link to the page where they can use it.
2. You offer tier subscription plans that differ slightly in price and features; your customers are not always sure what they need exactly. You can gamify the comparison with an interactive quiz.
3. Your SaaS product comes with advanced customization options that work well for your big clients, but new and smaller ones just don’t seem to make any use of your arsenal. Here, a gamified step-by-step onboarding will narrow the selection to what they might benefit from.
4. Too many rewards is also a decision fatigue possibility, and one that a mystery box with suggestions on how to redeem the points collected can solve — give options rather than more discounts.

Tapping into achievements and decision-making

Humans are hardwired to seek out achievement. The satisfaction of completing a task plays a huge role in driving customer behavior. But it’s not just about making customers feel good, it's more about influencing their decisions. By guiding customers toward the path that feels most rewarding, you can drive them to take the actions that matter most, whether that’s making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or spending more time on your site.

There are several types of ecommerce shoppers, with the four common ones being:

1. Impulse buyers
2. Cautious shoppers
3. Bargain hunters
4. Brand-loyal customers

Importantly, these types are defined by their behavior and the goal they want to achieve by browsing your website, knowingly or unknowingly. 

Impulse buyers usually act on a whim, making purchases without planning, and they seem to enjoy it overly. To incentivize them, you can add a countdown timer to any gamification element to create a sense of urgency and play into the FOMO.

Cautious shoppers are the opposite of the previous type. These customers do meticulous research before they enter the site, which is good. But what if they don’t find what they want within a minute? A personalized quiz can provide even more insight into a product, thus extending their knowledge and stars or other points of recognition, which could be a welcome additional reward.

Bargain hunters want to find the best deal, and all their activities are built around this filter. Finding it already is an achievement. A scratch card with a promo code could be a worthwhile option for them. You can set it to trigger seconds after a user comes to the website so that they get what they are after as early as possible.

Brand-loyal customers might seem like a given because they already trust your business enough to make repeat purchases. However, the smallest pick on your behalf may trigger them to look elsewhere. You should be ready to fight for their attention with exclusive offers encased in a set of gift boxes triggered to appear after a failed purchase event occurs, for example.

Professor Mark Griffiths, an expert in behavioral addiction, says that Temu’s countdowns and flashing deals create a sense of urgency, keeping users locked in. Even the process of earning rewards becomes a never-ending loop, one more task, one more referral, always just shy of the promised prize. The result? An experience designed for engagement.

By guiding them toward these rewarding micro-achievements, you’re effectively motivating them to make decisions. For example, people love crossing items off their wish lists. That’s our brains saying, “Let’s do this again.” Gamification takes that satisfaction and weaves it into everyday decisions. Instead of drowning in options, customers are guided by bite-sized achievements and every small win keeps them coming back for more, resulting in loyalty.

Social proof or why seeing others buy motivates action

Online shopping is no longer a solo experience, e-commerce platforms increasingly make it feel like you’re browsing with a crowd. Social proof elements (showing what others are buying or endorsing) have become a cornerstone of gamified shopping, influencing how consumers perceive a product’s value and the urgency to purchase. When done right, these features create a sense of momentum and community around products, turning a simple product page into a collective experience.

E-commerce sites use real-time cues to show that “everyone else” is buying, which instantly builds trust and spurs impulse buys. Some of the most effective tactics include:

• Live purchase counters and stock alerts: Messages like “120 people bought this today” or “Only 3 left!” tap into the frenzy of demand. Displaying real-time purchase activity builds trust and urgency for shoppers on the fence​. It’s the online equivalent of seeing a long line outside a store — a sign that “this must be good.”
• Bestseller and trending badges: A “Best Seller” label or a “Hot Item 🔥” tag on a product immediately tells shoppers that many others have chosen it. This leverages the collective instinct: if an item is popular, new customers subconsciously feel it’s a safe, worthwhile choice. In fact, a “Best Seller” badge explicitly signals a product is in high demand and acts as social proof, reassuring buyers that it’s a solid pick​.
• User activity feeds and pop-ups: Many sites now use little notification pop-ups that say things like “Jane from Toronto just purchased this item”. These real-time feeds turn anonymous traffic into relatable human activity. The strategy was born from a simple question: how can an online shop show it’s busy like a packed store? The answer is to showcase other users’ actions in real time​.

Critically, these tactics do more than make the site look lively—they directly impact shopper psychology. One large study across 7,000 websites found that adding scarcity cues (like low-stock warnings) was the #1 driver of increased sales, and building social proof was #2​. Seeing “real people” buying a product right now delivers a double punch of urgency and validation​.

Social proof works so well because humans tend to assume that if others want something, it must be valuable. In e-commerce, this translates to a simple consumer thought: “I don’t want to miss this deal or be the only one without it.” From a behavioral perspective, FOMO is driven by the fear of regret and the desire to join a rewarding experience that others are having​. 

As an example, Temu’s tactics lean heavily on psychological principles: scarcity, social proof, and sensory overload. Shoppers don’t just see a product, they see how many others have bought it, how many are eyeing it in real time, and a flurry of five-star ratings reinforcing its appeal.

Wrapping up

Human psychology dictates our behavior, choices, and how we avoid making them. To match those complicated (and conflicting) phenomena or even get ahead, marketing teams need to keep inventing strategies that make it to the customer’s heart. Or at least catch their attention. 

And when they genuinely enjoy the process, they’re far more likely to become repeat customers, because they’ll remember the brand that made them smile, not the one that left them tired and frustrated.