Putting Wordle to work: what we’ve learned from a 5-minute game

Heardle, Quordle, Nerdle and beyond

But why now? What is it about these bite-sized, 5-minute games that have taken the world by storm in 2022? Are they simply a post-Covid version of water cooler chat or is there more to it? Once Wordle exploded on the scene, copycats were quick to follow. From Taylor Swift-themed Taylordle to film-guessing game Moviedle, it wasn’t just word-themed challenges that were taking up our tea break. Anything that grabbed our attention and rewarded us with that instant gratification was added to the list. It became community-building.

Playing games is in our nature. It’s how we learn, it’s how we communicate, it’s how we make connections. A lot of it comes back to the likes of dopamine release, emotional memory, flow, etc – but we’ll leave that one to the folks at Psychology Today. It does make sense, then, that after our two years of lockdown and quarantines, we have found a new joy in the shared experience of play, enjoying relief in those brief pockets of time we spend exercising our brains together.

Like so many common marketing strategies, gamification is just another tool based on our human behaviour. It gives consumers agency. By completing a gamified step at some point in the marketing funnel, buyers become active participants instead of passive pawns. And because it results in a pay-off, they keep coming back for more. This tactic works online and IRL – you only have to look at McDonald’s Monopoly, Doritos Roulette, Starbucks’ Rewards or Headspace’s app design to see gamification put into action.

Let’s talk about money

So back we go to question number 1: How can brands make this work for them? First things first: Wordle was never designed to be monetised. It was simply a game Josh Wardle created for his girlfriend to keep her entertained throughout lockdown. She loved it, so he shared it with his friends and followers to give it a go themselves. No banner ads, no pop-ups, no data exchange – and no income. It wasn’t until the New York Times got involved that Josh was able to take advantage of his viral sensation – eventually selling it for a hefty 1 million dollars. You would too.

But even with the New York Times sticking their URL in front of the game, it’s still free. So – where’s the money coming from? And where is it going? In all likelihood, the New York Times will start monetising Wordle through gated access, the same way they’ve done with their Crossword and other games. Either that or we’ll start to see ads appear whenever we refresh our tab. One thing’s for sure – with millions of daily users, the New York Times have cracked the code to boosting site traffic.

The premise works. As consumers, we’re so used to being bombarded with money-grabbing strategies across our apps and searches that it’s noticeably different when a brand does the exact opposite. Take Patagonia’s infamous ‘Don’t Buy This Jacket’ campaign in 2011, for example. Their aim was to be “the only retailer in the country asking people to buy less on Black Friday.” The result? A 30% growth in revenue by 2012. (More on that here.) Or what about Tesla – who famously don’t spend any money on traditional advertising? Sure, it helps when you have Elon Musk at your helm, who himself is a walking advertisement for the brand, but the idea’s the same: when you stop pushing your product onto people, they start pulling.

This also explains why the Freemium business model has become so popular. The online graphic design platform Canva has over 60 million active monthly users taking advantage of its free suite of tools. But upgrading to their Pro model is just a few clicks away – and with countless devoted fans on board, Canva was just valued at $40 billion USD. Like Wordle, Canva follows a simple rule: Give, without asking back. In return, your customers will reward you with loyalty.