How Baidu Designers Build Addictive Gamified Growth Experiences

Introduction

As designers for Baidu APP's user growth, we aim to create fun, engaging operational activities that also meet business growth targets. Using Baidu's classic card‑collecting game as a case, we explore design thinking and theory to reveal how designers craft addictive gamified growth experiences.

Growth Stages and Operational Goals

ToC products typically pass through introduction, growth, maturity, and decline phases. Early stages rely on incentive‑driven tactics (subsidies, coupons) for rapid user acquisition, while the mature stage focuses on sustaining activity through brand‑centric, gamified experiences that build loyalty.

Three Core Experience Elements

Through user research and interviews, we identified three essential components for gamified growth: play strategy , world view , and emotional experience .

Play Strategy

The activity’s play design most strongly influences user enthusiasm. A compelling strategy keeps users interested from the first interaction through the entire event. Baidu’s multi‑layer card‑collecting game, upgraded from a simple double‑layer system to a multi‑level challenge, exemplifies this approach.

The redesign is grounded in Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s flow model, which describes a state of deep immersion and excitement. User research showed strong early motivation to collect cards, but difficulty or repetitive tasks caused drop‑off. To maintain flow, we introduced clear goals, limited stages, and progressive rewards, reducing perceived difficulty and extending engagement over a 10‑plus‑day period.

World View

A coherent world view adds narrative depth to the activity. For the 2022 World Cup card‑collecting event, we built a story where users assemble a team that advances through tournament stages, aligning the game with the global event and enhancing emotional resonance.

The concept emerged from cross‑functional brainstorming (product managers, interaction designers, visual designers, front‑end and back‑end engineers) and was refined using the 5W1H method and Kano analysis to identify key “Aha” moments, such as unlocking a new stage.

Emotional Experience

We applied Yu‑Kai Chou’s Octal Behavior Model, which balances white‑hat (positive) and black‑hat (challenge) motivations, as well as external and internal drivers. By amplifying white‑hat factors like mission, creation, and achievement, and tempering the scarcity‑driven black‑hat pressure, we sustained user interest.

Specific design actions included mission‑reinforcing pop‑ups, achievement badges for each tournament stage, and curated team‑card visuals that encouraged continued collection. We also preserved a sense of mystery for locked stages to spark curiosity and internal motivation.

Conclusion

The article outlines the three‑element framework for gamified growth, demonstrates the practical application of flow and octal behavior theories, and emphasizes that designers must understand core business impact factors to deliver superior user experiences.