Modeling the Effects of Digital Gamification on Brand Attractiveness and Churn Reduction: Evidence from Millennials in Malaysia

Abstract

This study investigates how digitalised, gamified content strategies—Augmented Reality (AR), Mobile Apps (MA), Online Communities (OC), Social Media (SM), and Virtual Reality (VR)—influence Customer Churn Reduction (CCR) through the mediating role of Brand Attractiveness (BA) among Millennial retail consumers in Malaysia’s Klang Valley. A quantitative cross-sectional survey (n = 306) was analysed using PLS-SEM (SmartPLS 4), with reliability/validity checks, full-collinearity VIFs for common-method bias, 10,000-sample bootstrapping for inference and mediation, and PLS-predict for out-of-sample relevance. The results show that MA, OC and VR significantly enhance BA; SM shows a statistically significant but practically small effect, while AR is nonsignificant. BA, in turn, strongly predicts CCR, with mediation supported for MA, OC and VR (and negligible for SM), indicating that BA is the primary pathway to lowering churn. In conclusion, not all gamified technologies contribute equally; prioritising those that strengthen BA yields the most reliable route to reduced churn among Millennials. Retailers should allocate budgets toward high-impact touchpoints—particularly MA, OC and VR—use SM as a supportive channel rather than a primary churn lever and deploy AR only when usability and value are demonstrably clear; focusing design and investment on BA-centric experiences can translate into measurable retention gains.