The Benefits of Gamification for Social CRM

By Barton Goldenberg

Gamification is defined as:

• The use of applying game-like elements to non-game environments to influence behavior.

• The integration of game mechanics into a Website, Social Media community, campaign or application in order to drive engagement.

Gamification allows an organization to benefit from the adoption of psychology techniques to motivate people to perform certain actions.  Here are two examples of the benefits of Gamification for Social CRM:

1. Motivate sales reps to use Social CRM applications. Organizations that utilize a prominent Social CRM application often have an option to purchase a Gamification vendor’s add-on module to help drive increased use of the Social CRM application.  Here are two example of how this works:

• Each time a rep completes a trip report, updates an address or leverages social insight from a customer profile located in the CRM system, the user receives ‘points’ in the adjacent Gamification game console. The user then has the opportunity to redeem these points for merchandise or gift cards.

• The Gamification application can create what are called ‘leaderboards’ to show how all sales reps are doing against each other in terms of sales, new leads, completed calls, etc., thereby encouraging friendly competition among the reps.

2. Increased Social Media community participation. Applying Gamification techniques such as rewards or recognition to a Social Media Community helps secure increased engagement by employees, customers and partners.  Community members get more points or higher recognition as they participate more in the community.  Many Social Media platform vendors now offer a Gamification component or plug-in to their platform.

In the next post, I will discuss how Gamification can lower contact center agent turnover and deepen customer engagement.

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Barton Goldenberg, is the founder and president of ISM Inc., customer-centric strategists/implementers serving best-in-class organizations globally. As a CRM leader for 30 years, he was among the first three inductees in the CRM Hall of Fame. Recognized as a leading “customer-focused” author, his latest book, The Definitive Guide to Social CRM, is hailed as the roadmap for Social CRM success. Barton is a popular speaker on “maximizing customer relationships to gain market insights, customers and profits”. He is a long-term columnist for CRM Magazine and speaker for CRMevolution and frequently quoted in the media.