The swipe addiction: 4 lessons marketers can learn from Tinder

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This article is part of SWOT Team, a series on Mashable that features insights from leaders in marketing, brand-building and public relations.

Swipe right, swipe left — for many people, that's all it takes to get a date these days. I’m talking, of course, about people who use the dating app Tinder.

With 50 million active users and 1.7 billion swipes per day, Tinder is a veritable cultural phenomenon. It's hard to believe, but the average Tinder user spends 77 minutes every 24 hours perusing profiles on the app (and we wonder where all the time in our day goes).

SEE ALSO: Treatmobile marketing like online dating — but avoid these 5 costly mistakes

Yet Tinder hasn't only revolutionized dating and relationships (or lack thereof); it’s also taught brands lessons on how to better market themselves so that they entice consumers and engage them with campaigns.

Here are four critical lessons that Tinder has taught marketers.

1. Simplify

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Swipe right if you like what you see, swipe left if you don't — it doesn't get much simpler than that. The ease and accessibility of Tinder has made it part of users' daily routines. Today, they swipe during TV commercials, in line at the grocery store, walking to work, etc. A recent CNN article reported that these swipe-happy users generate 22 million matches each day across 140 countries.

The lesson for marketers: less really is more. Many brands are developing elaborate, personalized, geo-targeted campaigns that shove every detail of their brand down our throats. AHarvard Business Review study from a few years ago revealed that for many consumers, the increasing amount of marketing messages is overwhelming, not helpful.

"Rather than pulling customers into the fold, marketers are pushing them away with relentless and ill-conceived efforts to engage," the study concluded. So what's the best way to reach your customer? Be straightforward, transparent and honest.

2. Recreate the familiar

Critics fault Tinder for being superficial and shallow; its users, they say, are making snap judgments based off a handful of photos. But how is that any different than a night out at a bar? You see someone who piques your interest (largely based on appearance), you approach him or her and you start a conversation.

This behavioral routine is the same whether online or in person.

Familiarity is key in the consumer choice process.

Familiarity is key in the consumer choice process. Whether it's a brand or experience, people tend to gravitate towards what they know. Tinder isn't claiming to be something new; the app has merely digitized and simplified an existing process.

The lesson for marketers: Great ideas don't always differ radically from what already exists. Sometimes all you need is a fresh take on an old idea — just look at the success of companies like Seamless, Uber, Amazon. Stick to what you know and what your customers know; innovation is best paired with the familiar.

3. Market with fun

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Some say gamification is dead or too difficult to integrate. Yet it's hard to argue with Tinder's 50 million active users monthly. You see, Tinder is nothing more than a very, very addictive game disguised as a dating app

As Matt Calderone, vice president at LaunchSquad says, "Gamification is an effective way for brands to tap into user behavior that millennials have demonstrated they desire."

Not surprisingly, a 2014 studyby Badgeville, a leading gamification provider, showed a 140% increase in site time for pages that applied game mechanics into their offerings.

The lesson for marketers: Follow the gamification recipe for success (attract, engage and retain) and appeal with fun. Consider incentivizing online and mobile activities. Gamification can take many forms, such as rewarding specific tasks with points and badges, employing virtual currency to simulate real value, creating competitions with other consumers or just adding game-like elements to create a more enjoyable user experience.

Ben Foster, SVP Digital Strategy at Ketchum, says, "The trick with using games to drive participation […] it has to be about the person first and the brand second."

4. Brand loyal or brand one-night stand?

Whether intended or not, Tinder has been donned the originator of the ultimate "hook-up" app — catering predominately to the promiscuity of younger millennials in the digital era. By offering a simple solution to a commodity that's always in demand, Tinder regularly facilitates transactional experiences — users swipe to sate their short-term needs.

The lesson for marketers: It's great to build an emotional relationship with your customers — but sometimes that's not what they're looking for. In the end, it's about the numbers. A2014 Nielsen survey noted that 78% of customers are not loyal to a particular brand.

In the digitally connected world, convenience, accessibility and value are driving decisions.

In the digitally connected world, convenience, accessibility and value are driving decisions. It's evident that the transactional experience is winning the battle these days. Perhaps the emotional tie between a brand and a consumer may not matter as much as originally thought.

As NeilDavidson, managing partner and EDP at HeyHuman notes, "Oe of the truths about brand love is you can't make someone love you and sometimes a quick fling is better."

Who knows how long the Tinder trend will continue. In the short-term, the app has pioneered a new path to consumer engagement. If you're a marketer, it's worth taking Tinder seriously and trying to understand its secrets. Consider swiping right on these four lessons. You might not get a date for this coming Saturday night, but you'll find yourself with something better: happier, more excited users of your brand.