The Casino Effect: How Robinhood Gamified Investing
Blurring the lines between investing and gambling
Wall street has always been considered a casino.
The financial markets are as unpredictable as a roulette table.
The secret sauce of casinos is in their ability to make players feel like gambling away their money is just a game. Add in some lighting, enticing sounds, and sensory rewards to keep these gamblers hooked.
And even if they lose, they’re encouraged (usually by the hopium voice in their head) to double down to get their money back.
Sound familiar?
In the same vein, Robinhood's sleek, user-friendly app helped attract new, adrenaline-filled gamblers investors.
Turning stock picking into an exhilarating lottery.
Here’s the 5 step guide to gamifying your product to make it more addicting.
(For legal reasons, this is for entertainment purposes only 🤑).
Celebrate everything
Someone created an account? Throw confetti.
Took the core action of your product? Have a signature notification sound.
Shared your product with a friend?! Send them a reward.
The positive reinforcement encourages them to keep taking these actions.
It also lets them know you appreciate them using the app and their success is your goal.
Highlight the trends
Doing this achieves two things:
Dangles the dream outcome (max profit).
Simplifies decisions (follow the crowd).
People look to others for information about what is right or good to do in a given situation.
And the social proof of people buying a stock is the same as people recommending a product.
Monkey see, monkey do.
Color theory
Green means money, wealth, and a sense of calm.
Red means failure, danger, or stop.
That’s why they swapped red out for orange, which gives off optimism and energy.
Look through the App store, and you’ll see 99% of apps avoid using a bright red color, other than the Youtube play button.
Even Tinder has a soft red with a gradient.
Keep things moving
People’s attention spans are short, but even a slight update on the screen keeps them interested.
Robinhood does this in two ways:
Dramatic price shifts
Pulsating graph indicators
Natasha Dow Schüll, a gambling addiction and design expert, says this constant motion builds urgency.
It also keeps us guessing and anticipating every movement.
When you’re watching the stock you just bought go up in real-time, you’re thinking about all the money you’re about to make with a smile on your face, proud of yourself for making a smart investment.
And even if the stock is going down, you still watch it with a heart full of hope that it can’t possibly go down any more can it?
And what does Robinhood care whether you’re watching in joy or in horror?
Their job is to just keep you on the app.
Instant gratification
The theme of every tech product is to give you quick wins.
Enter the price.
Swipe up.
Voila, your order is done.
No keyboard and no time for second thoughts.
Just invest.
So don’t be boring, make your product easy to use and incentivize actions to get your customers addicted.
Here’s a bonus lesson from Nikita Bier, who went viral for making $10M in 3 months with Gas app before selling it to Discord.