A gamification experiment increased our community retention by 34%?

We tested several retention tactics in an online community over a 60-day period:

• Discord role rewards
• Weekly member shoutouts
• Email engagement campaigns
• Task-based challenges with achievement badges

The challenge-based system outperformed everything else.

Members who completed at least one challenge were significantly more likely to remain active than members who only received passive rewards like announcements or recognition.

One interesting observation was that verifiable achievement badges appeared to create more engagement than cosmetic rewards.

Has anyone else tested gamification mechanics for retention?

What worked best in your community?