Can a serious business afford "unserious" marketing? VARUS.UA proved that gamification isn't just entertainment for users — it's a tool for expanding your base and growing revenue.
In this article, we'll show the results of two interactive gamified campaigns. We'll break down how game mechanics help overcome customer biases toward online ordering, why automated reminders are a critical element without which your gamification loses half its revenue, and how to build a communication chain that leads a customer from a game widget all the way to a completed purchase.

About the Project

VARUS.UA is a large supermarket chain, actively growing its online sales and delivery business. The company operates in a fiercely competitive grocery ecommerce market and is constantly searching for effective ways to attract new customers and retain a loyal audience. To build its retention marketing system, VARUS.UA uses Yespo CDP — a platform that unites all communication channels (email, Viber, SMS, push, and others) into a single automated workflow and responds to user behavior in real time.
The cases described in this article are the results of campaigns that the VARUS.UA team launched and tested independently, relying on the platform's tools and their own practical experience.

From Interest to Purchase: How Gamified Widgets Increase Sales

Gamification in ecommerce means using game mechanics to attract, motivate, and retain customers on a website or in an app. This isn't just about loyalty programs — interactive elements also work well directly on the site in the form of widgets.
A widget is an additional interface element that appears on a page and lets you engage a visitor, collect contact information, and deliver personalized offers.
Key advantage: widgets let you communicate with all site visitors, even those who aren't logged in.
A regular widget is a subscription form: leave your email and get a discount. A gamified widget does the same thing, but through play — spin the wheel, scratch the card, open the box — and find out what you won. The person has fun, gets an instant reward, and easily leaves their contact info.

Popular gamified widget formats: wheel of fortune, scratch card, match-three.

How Widgets Work in Ecommerce

A gamified widget solves several tasks at once: it grabs attention, entertains, gives the person an instant benefit (a discount, bonus, or cashback), and collects contact data. But a contact alone isn't a sale.
That's why, before launch, it's important to answer one question right away: what happens after a person leaves their data? Without a well-thought-out follow-up communication chain, most of the collected base simply won't make it to a purchase.

Three basic components of a gamified campaign:

• Engagement mechanic. There needs to be an appealing offer worth leaving contact details for.
• Concept. Is the promotion tied to something — a holiday, a season, an event? Does it match the company's positioning?
• A specific goal. The main rule: guide the user toward the target action. The user needs to understand what to do, and the company needs to know what goal it's trying to reach.

Case 1: Conjure Yourself a Promo Code!

For a Halloween holiday promo, the VARUS.UA team chose a non-obvious concept: instead of standard discounts, they decided to "fight" customers' fears about online grocery delivery. The promo ran under the slogan "Scratch Away Your Fear. Conjure Yourself a Discount."

The chosen mechanic was a scratch card—an interactive, gamified widget. Users entered their email and scratched off the protective layer to reveal one of several discount offers (on orders from 500 UAH). After receiving the offer, the interaction continued through email and Viber.

It's worth noting that in this case, communication focused solely on guaranteeing delivery of the promo code to the customer through their preferred channel, with no further reminders about using the bonus.

The promo ran from October 24 to 31. In just one week, the contact base grew by 127%. Gamification also had a positive effect on financial results — revenue from the direct marketing channel increased by 56%.

Case 2: Christmas Discount Spinner

For the Christmas campaign, the team chose a classic but extremely effective mechanic — the "Wheel of Fortune." Under the slogan "Spin the Christmas Discount Spinner," site visitors were invited to try their luck and win a bonus or discount for their holiday table.

The wheel of fortune creates an instant sense of excitement and engagement. What's more, the VARUS.UA team didn't just launch the widget — they integrated it into their branded holiday style, combining brand recognition with an attractive offer.

Results of the Christmas Campaign
The promo ran from December 19 to 26. Base growth was even higher this time — 140%, compared to +127% at Halloween.
Channel revenue grew 2.4x: +113.5% in the Christmas campaign compared to +56% at Halloween.

The Key Insight from Both Campaigns

Comparing the success of the Christmas promo to Halloween, the VARUS.UA team identified the decisive factor. During the scratch card campaign, interaction was focused on delivering the promo code via email and Viber, but it was passive: once a customer claimed the offer and moved on, the system made no further attempt to "reach" them.

In the Christmas case, a final automated reminder about the promo code's expiration date was added to the workflow. This re-engaged users who had already shown interest in the game but had forgotten about the benefit amid everyday information noise.

The additional reminder helped increase direct-channel revenue 2.4x compared to the Halloween campaign.

The difference in results between the two cases shows just how important proper follow-up communication is for bringing a customer to the target action — a purchase.

The Setup Logic: How to Build an Omnichannel Chain That Turns a Promo Code into a Purchase

Communication after a promo code is issued needs to account for two customer groups: new and returning. New users need to be engaged and have their contact information confirmed, while returning customers need a reminder of the benefit waiting for them.

Stages of the automated workflow VARUS.UA set up in Yespo CDP:

1. Email confirmation (Double Opt-In). New users first receive an email to confirm their address. This is critical for building a quality base. If confirmation isn't received within a set time, the system automatically duplicates the message via Viber to avoid losing a potential customer.
2. First message with the promo code. After confirmation (or immediately, for returning customers), the system sends an email with the promo code itself. This matters because the on-site window might get closed by accident, but the email will remain in the inbox.
3. Open check and cascade. The system checks whether the user opened the email. If there's no response within a few days, a reminder is sent via Viber. The platform also allows other channels, such as SMS or web push, to be flexibly added depending on customer behavior.
4. Engagement check and final reminder. Before the promotion ends, the CDP runs a final order check. If the customer has already made a purchase, no further messages are sent. If not, the customer receives an additional reminder that the promo code is about to expire. It was precisely this reminder in the Christmas case that helped increase revenue 2.4x compared to Halloween.

Learn more about how VARUS uses Yespo CDP's capabilities to achieve a 1073% ROAS.

Widget Launch Checklist: How to Avoid Mistakes and Maximize Conversion

Based on VARUS.UA's experience, here's a list of practical tips to help make your gamification as effective as possible:

• Use an omnichannel approach. Don't limit yourself to email alone. Add Viber or SMS, since part of your audience may ignore their inbox but respond quickly to messenger notifications.
• Add automated reminders. A customer can get distracted and forget about a discount. A well-timed reminder sent a few days before the promotion ends is that "final push" that boosts conversion.
• Adapt for mobile devices. A widget that looks perfect on desktop may completely cover a smartphone screen or run off its edges, which only frustrates users.
• Set up timing and frequency. Don't show the widget too often or to everyone. If a person has already received a promo code, they don't need to see the pop-up every time they visit the site.
• Disable on critical pages. Never show widgets on the checkout page. The customer needs to stay focused on payment there, and an extra window that's hard to close can drive them off the site.
• Test the entire chain. Before launch, check every stage — from the widget triggering to the email and reminder being received. Involve colleagues in testing across different devices to rule out technical glitches.

Conclusions

VARUS.UA's experience proves that gamification in marketing is a strategic tool. When set up correctly, game mechanics deliver not just emotional engagement but real financial results and customer loyalty.

The "Conjure Yourself a Promo Code" and "Christmas Discount Spinner" cases showed impressive growth in both contact base and channel revenue. The main secret to success lies in combining a creative concept with automated communication workflows that guide the customer from the first game all the way to the final purchase.

VARUS.UA plans to continue developing and testing interactive mechanics as part of its marketing strategy.

If you'd also like to turn traffic into loyal customers as effectively as VARUS.UA, book a consultation with Yespo's experts. We'll help you implement interactive mechanics that will scale your specific business.

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