Four areas of your company that can benefit from Gamification
A multinational company in the construction materials industry has decided to transform their entire technological ecosystem in stores.
To make it happen, it was necessary to create a solution that understood areas such as back office, cash front and assisted sales to support the performance of the professionals responsible for the supply chain, inventory, sales, and even reimbursement.
To implement a universal digital solution, approximately nine thousand employees will be trained in all their stores around the country. But this project had a significant challenge: in large companies, the complexity of the processes involved in changing systems generates a lot of discomfort at all points of contact.
That’s where Gamification comes in! It was used to facilitate the change management process, and the results were remarkable. The transition was smoother, without tremendous resistance, which helped the company save money. Check it out in detail!
Do you know how Gamification can help your business?
Keep reading to understand what this is and what areas of your company can implement the methods that surround this concept!
What is Gamification?
Gamification is the process of taking something that already exists and integrating it with game dynamics to motivate participation, engagement, and user loyalty. Gamification uses the data-driven techniques that game designers use to engage players and applies them to non-gaming experiences to motivate actions that add value to their business.
Game dynamics
Gamification is built on ten primary game mechanics, which were developed to motivate and engage users. Depending on your goal, you can use any combination of these techniques to achieve your business goals.
Points
Points can be used to:
- Indicate status
- Identify high priority activities
- Buy real or virtual goods
The game dynamics associated with points include achievement and (emotional) progress. Users want to feel rewarded and maintain (or increase) their score.
Levels
Levels provide users with specific milestones, status, or checkpoints.
This can also show long-term or sustained achievements within the gamification program.
Within the mechanics of the game, the levels touch the human desires/motivations of:
- Competition
- Collection
- Achievement
- Progress (emotional)
Missions
Missions provide objectives for users to perform as a team or individually.
After the mission is completed, users feel fulfilled.
The dynamics that work side by side with missions include:
- Competition
- Community
- Achievement
- Surprise
- Exploration
Badges
Badges are used to demonstrate mastery over important tasks and goals. These visual indicators of achievement can also communicate skills or knowledge within a group.
The game dynamics associated with badges include:
- Community
- Collection
- Achievement
- Surprise
- Progress (emotional)
- Exploration
Rating
Many games feature a “high score table,” better known as a Leaderboard, to show how well users/teams are doing compared to one another.
Examples:
- A team/individual leading in Gamification can inspire another team/individual to stay on top.
- A leaderboard can trigger more competition between teams/individuals to outperform the current leader.
The main game dynamics associated with leaderboards include:
- Competition
- Collaboration
- Community
- Achievement
Unlocks
Unlocks are used to open new missions or challenges. For example, a user must complete A (mission, task, challenge, etc.), which will unlock B, C, and D.
The mechanics of unlocks can be implemented with challenges, activities, and missions that deliver badges upon linear progression.
The associated game dynamics are:
- Achievement
- Surprise
- Exploration
Event feed
This game mechanic allows users to see how all other players are doing.
For example, a user can read that a colleague has completed a mission and progressed to the next level in the event feed.
The Event Feed motivates other users to keep making continuous progress to keep up with their colleagues.
The associated game dynamics are:
- Exploration
- Competition
- Collaboration
- Community
- Progress (emotional)
Quizzes
Quiz game mechanics allow users to test their knowledge. By doing this in conjunction with other game mechanics, the user is more immersed in the gamification program.
Progress bar
The Progress bar shows users where they are in completing missions, challenges, and the overall Gamification journey.
The associated game dynamics are:
- Achievement
- Progress (emotional)
To better understand how this process works and how it can help your business, check out our complete guide!
Five areas that benefit from Gamification
Check now some of the areas in which you can implement Gamification strategies.
- Sales
Motivate and involve your team with Gamification. Use leaderboards, challenges, and instant recognition to create a high-performance culture.
You can do this in the following ways:
- Sales contest: create a friendly competition in your organization.
- Sales ranking: sports-style sales leaderboards to facilitate tracking individual and team progress.
- Awards: create medals/trophies (real and/or virtual) to reward those who reach a sales goal, meet quotas, make more calls, etc.
- Customer service
- Make customer service more fun.
- Lessen the traditional tension between the customer and your company.
- Insert game mechanics into phone call systems or online chats.
That way, your customers will not be bored while waiting on the phone; they will even find it pleasant to stay on the line.
3. Internal communication
The internal community in any company has little time to absorb the flow of information from day to day operations. By gamifying internal communication, it is possible to make sharing information more engaging.
One way to do this is to transform the intranet portal into an internal social network with a dynamic game. There are ready-made platforms for this on the market, but it is also possible to program one yourself. It must be a functional and fun virtual environment.
4. Marketing
Starbucks applies gamification techniques through the My Starbucks Rewards Program to increase customer engagement and ensure brand loyalty. Customers who become members of Starbucks Rewards receive incentives, such as free food and drinks, and earn points or “stars” for each purchase.
Users can redeem these stars for specific items or rewards, such as birthday drinks and free refills. These are available as customers earn more stars. Those who achieve gold status can reap the best rewards.
In this example, Starbucks provides incentives to give consumers a sense of achievement and reinforces the idea that if they are loyal to the company, they will be rewarded.
Have you ever thought about how Gamification can benefit your business? If you want to know more, download our book Gamification, INC.
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