Title: LEVEL-UP LOYALTY: GAMIFIED ENGAGEMENT & CLIENT LIFETIME VALUE IN ONLINE SERVICE MARKETS

Author: Alina Demydova

Abstract: This article advances a theory-driven account of how gamified engagement systems-points, badges and tiered “level-up” journeys-can raise client lifetime value (CLV) within online service markets such as coaching, consulting and subscription-based SaaS. Instead of gathering fresh field data, the study synthesises and meta-analyses evidence already scattered across peer-reviewed experiments and live-market trials, translating behavioural lifts into financial implications that matter for service providers. The resulting conceptual model argues that well-designed game cues satisfy clients’ needs for competence and progress, which intensifies platform interaction, shortens the gap between successive service purchases or renewals and, over time, lowers churn. Pooled effect sizes extracted from thirty-plus empirical investigations consistently link stronger gamification depth with higher usage frequency and improved retention, offering solid, indirect support for these hypotheses. By welding motivational psychology to service-profit-chain logic, the work extends relationship-marketing theory beyond retail and equips practitioners with evidence-based blueprints for designing loyalty programmes that trade on intrinsic satisfaction rather than discounts.

Keywords: Gamification, client lifetime value (CLV), service engagement, online services, loyalty programmes, intrinsic motivation, meta-analysis.

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