Despite
the buzz and the potential, many companies are not gamifiying. Firstly, they
might be hesitating because they can't see the ROI of gamifying their website
or product. Secondly, we can think that others may be waiting for a big success
story from another big company so they can mimic their strategy. However, if
the company has a desire for growth and customer that gather information,
gamification should be considered.In this short article, we will try to
highlight the five main benefits that gamification can bring to businesses.
1. Gamification can
help collect powerful customer data.
Most
gamification platforms require users to log in with either social media
credentials or a valid email address. This enable companies to both gather data
on users and see what they do on their website. Each user will be associated
with clicks, badges, achievements or points and this generates big data, which
represent valuable customer information and insights for companies. Large
amounts of data will be generated through gamification but it will be pointless
if it cannot be analyzed correctly.
Nowadays,
some gamification vendors offer analytic tools together with their products.
For example, Badgeville offers the Behavior Analytics Software to measure
customer behavior, engagement, growth and user activities. Bunchball offers
Nitro Connectors, a product that connects their gamification platform to
enterprise software such as SAP, SharePoint or Yammer to collect employees’
activity and behavior.
"Gamification provides real-time feedback about the world we live in." Mike Hugos
2. Gamification can
be a way toward crowdsourcing to help companies solve complex business issues.
Another
benefit having customers log in and participate on a company’s website is that
it allows the firm to use them as a sounding board. Gamification can lead to
crowdsourcing if the company uses customer feedback from games and applies it
to a business issue.
“Companies cannot innovate all on their own;
the notion that any company can be innovative through their internal R&D
efforts is an obsolete notion." Mike Hugos
Crowdsourcing
can be use to train computers to generate more accurate answers. « Game
with a purpose » is a gamification site where there is a game called
"ESP Game" where two people see the same image and are asked to type
in various one-word captions regarding it. Once the two people agree on a
caption, they get points and move onto the next round. The agreed-upon images
are made into tags that get recorded so search engines have a better idea of
what each image contains.
3. Gamification can
be an educational tool.
Gamification
is a creative and useful way to introduce customers to a new product a company
want to launch. Instead of giving a free trial for their product, companies can
let users test their product through a game designed to teach them how to use
it.
"Games are providing the achievement that's
connected to a motivation." Jennifer Wise.
For
example, Adobe provide its Photoshop current and prospective users an
onboarding program called “LevelUp” that teaches people the basics by giving
them tasks with assignments where they can earn points and badges once
completed.
However,
companies have to be careful and don’t offer too much to their potential
customers. For example, some companies are giving discounts on products in
exchange for a person's email address. The problem is that this person can
provide his email, get the 10% off offers by the company but then just
unsubscribe from its emails right after. So, if the company is offering a
reward, it needs to make sure it is targeted to the right audience.
4. Gamification
offers a way to companies to give back to the community.
Rather
than just benefitting themselves and solving their business problems, some
companies are giving back to the communities connected to their industry by
using games.
For
example, Opower, a Software-as-a-Service company that works with utility
providers, has been using Facebook to encourage people to track and share their
energy consumption and compete to be the most energy efficient. On its side, RecycleBank
decided to reward people with gift cards and discounts to stores and restaurants
for being green by recycling paper or using less energy in their homes.
5. Gamification
offers a way to stay relevant with customers.
Gamification
can help companies remind their customers that they are present and engaged
with them. Companies need to keep regular content up on their websites in order
to stay top of mind.
"The rewards are more than smiley faces and
thumbs up and likes. They turn out to be stuff the company can take to the
bank." Mike Hugos
Though
there are strong benefits to gamification, there is a way to go until it will
be fully evolved.
"Games are a perfect organizing paradigm for
unpredictable environments and that's the strategic element we're missing.
There is a whole strategic element we've only started to touch on."
Mike Hugos