The New Trend of of Gamification in the CRM Marketplace Webinar Highlights

Summarized by John Chan, ISM Software Lab Director

On March 12, 2013, Barton Goldenberg, president of ISM, along with Giles House (VP of Marketing Communications and Products at CallidusCloud) and Barry Givens (Director of Product Management at Avanade) presented a Webinar titled “The New Trend of Gamification in the CRM ”. Highlights of the Webinar follow:

The Gartner Group predicts that: By 2015, 50% of Fortune 200 companies will have a gamification application…

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, campaign or application in order to drive engagement.

The Gamification Deployment Options are:

• Gamification Platform: e.g., Foursquare
• Gamification Service: e.g., Samsung Nation
• Gamification Custom App: e.g., EpicMix

The Core Components of Gamification are: Interactive game features, Rewards and Status.

Gamification has undergone explosive growth: 2010, businesses spent $100 million on gamification and,in 2016, that figure is estimated to reach $2.8 billion. In 2010 there were 500 results for Google searches for “Gamification”. Today there are 9.95 million results. Gartner further predicts that by 2014, a gamification service for consumer goods marketing and consumer retention will be as important as Facebook, eBay and Amazon.

Key gamification business results:

Engagement
• 40% increase in page views
• 85% increase in user-generated content
• 60% increase in time spent on site

Loyalty
• 70% increase in repeat visits
• 150% increase in sign-ups
• 120% increase in social sharing

Commerce
• 40% increase in add-to-cart
• 15% increase in conversations
• 25% increase in referrals

For Gamification in a CRM solution, there will be a need for:

Real Time feedback to enable fast decision making,
Integration across knowledge management and collaboration.
Incentive design to ensure ongoing health of the rewards system.

The Value of Gamification in Service includes:

Clarity
• Real time feedback
• Inline with task flow
• Relevant coaching

Job Satisfaction
• Clear goals
• Rewards matching behavior
• Lack of ambiguity in performance

Lower Turn-over
• Greater connection to team mates
• Reduced stress

One should beware of possible crimes against gamification such as trivialized incentives, inflation, game management and narrow measurement.

In preparation for gamification, here are three key principles that ISM recommends each organization examine:

• Look at what you are doing to drive quota attainment or CSR performance (e.g., CRM systems, new sales/service processes) and apply gamification principles today
• Need to be smart about what you are measuring – quality as much as quantity
• Be sure to have your gamification strategy and roadmap in place!

In closing, ISM can confidently state that gamification is “here today” as we are simply applying a social technology to time-tested, motivational methods, Prepare for gamification as incentives are critical (e.g., pay-for-performance, individual versus team-based). Determine how best to preserve, record, and share learned information using gamification. Lastly, badges for gamification results are good for recognition, but must be complemented by meaningful rewards.

During the Webinar, participants answered five polling questions. Results are:

1. My organization is actively pursuing one or more gamification projects at this time?

Yes – 24%; No – 47%; On the drawing board: 29%

2. Do you believe that your sales teams are solely motivated by money?

Strongly agree – 44%; Somewhat Agree – 44%; Disagree: 12%

3. Do you see businesses adopting performance-based compensation and incentives in customer service operations?

Happening Now – 24%; Next 2 – 5 years – 47%; Never: 29%

To comment, please post your comments on the ISM Blog.

To access an archived recording of this ISM’s Webinar, click here and scroll down to the “The New Trend of Gamification in the CRM Marketplace” Webinar listing.