Game On!
Game On!
By Barton Goldenberg
Gamification applications are receiving a lot of attention in the current marketplace, and I am 100% certain that they will continue to grow significantly in the future. In 2010, there were 500 results for Google searches for “Gamification.” Today there are 7.6 million results. In 2013, businesses spent $242 million on Gamification applications; that figure was estimated to have reached $2.8 billion in 2016.
Gamification is receiving such attention because Gamification can deliver meaningful business results:
- Engagement
- Increased in Social Media community participation
- Customer Service Agent retention
- Friendly competition among sales personnel
- Loyalty
- Increase in referrals
- Increase in repeat visits
- Increase in social sharing
- Sales Impact
- 1% higher revenue growth in companies that use Gamification (Aberdeen Group)
- Increase in add-to-cart figures
- Increase in conversions
Deployment Options
There are three ways to deploy Gamification in an organizational environment:
- Purpose-built Gamification custom app. EpicMix is a good example, which is a Gamification app for skiing. The app tracks the lifts and ski trails that a skier is actively participating in each time they are on the slopes. For example, a skier who goes ten times on the same ski lift will obtain a ‘Monogamous’ badge, while a skier who skies normally in sub-zero weather will obtain a ‘Polar’ badge. More than 100,000 skiers have signed up the EpicMix custom app, including my ski buddies and I.
- Building on top of a Gamification platform. FourSquare is good example of this deployment option. Foursquare is a location-based Social Media community for mobile devices. Using a mobile Website, text messaging or a device-specific application, FourSquare users ‘check in’ by selecting from a list of automatically-generated, nearly venues that participate in the FourSquare community. The FourSquare’s application automatically matches location information based on GPS hardware in the user’s mobile device and the network location of the participating vendor. Each time the user ‘checks-in’ to the community, they get awarded points and/or ‘badges’. Users also get increasing discounts from participating store that they are loyal to.
- Via a Gamification service. Samsung Nation is an example of a Gamification service deployment. Samsung Nation offers a social loyalty program where participants earn badges, move up in the ranks and have fun discovering everything that Samsung.com has to offer. Users unlock badges and ‘level up’ just by visiting, reviewing products, watching videos and more.
In our next blog post, ISM will have guest blog piece by Monika Götzmann concerning Customer Retention.
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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.