Say your prayers, competitors!
Everyone is looking for the miracle cure to improve company culture and to turn drop-in customers into lifelong clients. Believe it or not - there is a way to do it. Or, at least, to level up in both areas of your business. One word: gamification.
What is gamification?
Gamification sounds like fun, doesn’t it? Well, by definition it is the application of game-design components and gaming concepts in frameworks external from gaming, from marketing to sales programs.
While it has a variety of applications, the basic concept of this process has been around since the early 2010s, and used as a method to replace the industrial era “carrot and stick” method of engaging employees. It’s been pursued heavily by startups and enterprises since 2016 as a result of a study by Gallup that estimated US productivity loss to be at $370B specifically, directly linked to disillusioned employees.
As a method of improving morale through guiding human behaviour, it’s really picked up steam as an incentivation mechanism and growth marketing strategy tool. This is thanks to its ability to induce both innovation and incentivization in employees and customers alike.
How does gamification positively impact consumers/clients?
To answer your burning question as to how it affects consumer/client side of operations, there are two key areas where gamification has the highest impact on an enterprise:
1. Customer journey
2. Product life-cycle
Seeing as the customer journey is more essential than ever, understanding how to motivate your customers is key right from the get-go. Companies looking to pull long-term customers in will often look to offer things like leaderboards, badges, and other features that encourage consumers to invest in the brand in order to unlock hidden features, and exclusive access.
A great example of this is Coca Cola’s interactive game at Supermarket’s in Singapore and Beijing. They used gamification to capitalize on consumer intent at the pivotal moment in the customer journey. As consumers entered the store, they could immediately join an interactive game that saw them shoot virtual ice cubes into a glass of coke in order to win loyalty points or discounts. It’s a fantastic example of how using simple game tactics can immediately pivot customers away from the competitor brand and right towards yours.
How does it positively impact internal mechanics of the enterprise?
There are two key areas where gamification has the highest impact on company culture:
1. Behavioural design for increased employee engagement
2. Better business idea generation and stakeholder interest
If you already work in sales, you may have seen examples of this type of engagement. Essentially, gamification uses similar reward systems to improve business results in a more exciting way and also leads to personal satisfaction. The right gamification strategy can create unbelievable results by drawing out innovation, creativity, authenticity and an increase in cross-team communication.
Microsoft employed gamification tactics so well that their Japanese office took an entire day off to play and win their company game. What the company created was a language quality “game” that allowed all of their employees around the world to offer feedback on the accuracy of their localized language products. The result? Nearly 5000 employees gave improvement feedback on 500,000 screens worldwide, meeting both behavioural design and better idea generation tactics. How’s that for company culture!
Boss Fight
Gamification is an effective tool allowing your enterprise to accelerate feedback cycles, set clear goals, create an engaging narrative and encourage the implementation of difficult but possible tasks.
What’s great is that this method can take on many forms for many types of industries. One size does not fit all when it comes to how the game is played. The main takeaway from employing this strategy is the myriad ways you can improve your business outcomes from both inside and outside of your business. So go on and get playing!
Credits
https://www.whappy.it/en/enterprise-gamification-ultimate-guide/
https://www.cornerstoneondemand.com/resources/article/5-companies-using-gamification-boost-business-results/
https://rockcontent.com/blog/gamification-in-content-marketing-strategy/
https://www.smartinsights.com/content-management/content-marketing-creative-and-formats/gamification-as-a-content-marketing-tactic/
https://rocfeathermedia.com/blog/how-to-use-gamification-for-content-marketing/
https://yukaichou.com/gamification-examples/top-10-enterprise-gamification-cases-employees-productive/
https://program-ace.com/expertise/gamification-solutions-for-business/