How Gamification Helps in Customer Retention & Satisfaction

1. How Gamification Helps in Customer Retention & Satisfaction “The future of creativity and innovation is gamification” ~ Gabe Zichermann The growing popularity of games and adopting them in business isn‟t new at all. It all started in 2002 when Nick Pelling coined the term „gamification.‟ Games have already been applied in many real-life objectives from the past, such as simulation games being used for training or skill development. The idea of gamification has emerged as a modernized trend in recent years and the benefits of gamification in business, marketing are massive. It has drawn interest both from academics and practitioners, because of digitalization of our everyday lives. Now, games are a crucial part of our life, and everyone plays them whether these are console or mobile, or in the offline world. For many adults, gaming is an important leisure activity. Research says global games market grew in 2015 to an astonishing 70 billion USD. This truly shows that the world is harnessing the power of play. Brought to you by https://www.juegostudio.com Page 1

2. Additionally, Gartner, a world leading IT research and advisory firm, predicted in their „Gamification 2020 report‟, that gamification combined with other trends and technologies will serve a significant impact on: i) innovation, ii) globalization of higher education, iii) emergence of customer engagement platforms, and iv) design of employee performance. By 2011, Gartner also officially claimed, “Gamification is near the peak of Gartner Hype Cycles, and like most new trends and technologies, the initial hype surrounding the trend creates unrealistic expectations for success, and many poor implementations follow.” What is gamification? Now, let‟s talk about the fundamentals of gamification. Gamification is the use of game elements and game thinking in non-game environments to increase target behavior and engagement. The value of gamification isn‟t only limited to companies that are in a commercial environment. It can be used in any business or organization to increase target behavior. Lots of people get confused by the term gamification as the game part of the dictionary-recognized word is somewhat misleading. Many associate gamification with gaming. But, gamification is quite different and much more logical and scientific than gaming. The concept of gamification was basically developed from the games we have been playing since our childhood. It‟s the practice of incorporating the ideas from gaming, programs, and behavioral economics, with the aim of driving user engagement. The same fundamentals are used in today‟s sophisticated gamification applications focusing on engagement and rewards of the games. Gamification has the power to transform user experience by surrounding users with a gamified system. In some industries, gamification has started replacing long-waiting marketing processes and educational techniques which have lost the influence in areas like organizational performance, social change, brand relationship and talent development. Many companies started realizing that games can be very powerful in changing human behavior. Therefore it‟s not surprising that companies like Amazon & LinkedIn have incorporated game elements on their websites and in their services. Gamification has been with us for some time now, but it‟s so versatile that it applies to every kind of business. The beauty of gamification is that it can lend itself to many different purposes like marketing, company culture building, project management, recruitment. Brought to you by https://www.juegostudio.com Page 2

3. Here are some examples of excellent use of gamification in a business context. 1. US Army –America’s Army Use of Gamification in: Recruitment America‟s Army was developed by the US Army to serve as a recruitment tool. Candidates interested in enrolling can download the game for free and test their skills in this multiplayer strategic shooter environment to see if they‟ve reached the target or not. Now it‟s also using gamification to promote awareness of the U.S. armed forces. This effort was initiated back in 1999, and the first version was released in 2002. By 2008, four transportable “Virtual Army Experience” units were hitting shopping malls and public events. More than a decade in the making, the U.S. Army has turned its knowledge and experience of training games into a powerful recruiting tool. 2. NikeFuel Use of Gamification in: Customer engagement Nike has launched a campaign called NikeFuel a part of its large Nike+ community. In NikeFuel, users compete against each other in the daily amount of physical activity. This app would note all activities performed by users and transcribe them into points. After reaching a certain level, NikeFuel slowly unlocks special trophies and rewards. The campaign also encouraged specific behaviors, such as sharing app results on social media. This app engages Nike‟s customers such a way that not only they keep doing sports, but also share their results on social media and increase the brand‟s visibility. 3. Mint.com Use of Gamification: Advancing financial independence Mint.com makes the ordinarily painful process of handling your financials and planning for your future simpler and more entertaining through gamification. Mint.com is helping people every day to plan securely for their financial futures by putting budget allocation, easy-to-interpret Brought to you by https://www.juegostudio.com Page 3

4. charts and graphs outlining your personal financial plans, etc. So, people automatically use this kind of app that creates a colorful display to show exactly where one‟s money is going every month. 4. Startbucks – My Starbucks Rewards Use of Gamification in Customer Engagement Starbucks is known for its care when it comes to customer and employee loyalty and engagement. My Starbucks Rewards is an example of such a technique, where after earning a star every time, one can spend INR 300 with registered Starbucks card at any store of India which can later be exchanged for free drinks and food. After collecting stars, one will receive bigger benefits. The game has three levels which users can reach by their degree of loyalty, and next levels are open to those who visit a Starbucks store. The game is simple and includes material rewards. This helps to build the strong customer engagement. 5. Kaplan University Use of Gamification in: Educational achievement Kaplan University implemented Badgeville solutions to enhance its curriculum by encouraging for more participations. By incorporating challenges and badges, Kaplan witnessed good grades from students by avoiding failing of students to complete courses and programs. Dr. David DeHaven, Dean of the School of Information Technology, Kaplan University, shared, “Keeping students engaged is critical to a successful learning experience, and we found that the behaviors gamification promotes could easily enhance our curriculum by encouraging more quality participation.” 6. Keas Use of Gamification in: Building employee loyalty Keas is a smart employee wellness platform used by many organization to keep lower group health insurance costs and maintain low expenses related to events such as unnecessary sick days. Keas employs gamification by allowing workers from client companies to log into their personal dashboards through they can view their statistics, earn awards for achievements like completing tasks or support co-workers for getting closer towards their goals. Brought to you by https://www.juegostudio.com Page 4

5. 7. Puma Gunners Use of Gamification in: Customer engagement As part of Puma‟s digital campaign, Juego Studios‟ team created a cannon shooting game for mobile devices. Considering the physical campaign, the company tightly integrated the game with the planned physical event. While players were able to play the game on their devices individually, they also had a chance to shoot a physical cannon from their devices, placed in the Dubai mall, using the real-time integration feature of the game. This helped Puma to promote their partnership with Arsenal engaging the existing and future customers. (You can check the Puma Gunners created by Juego Studios) Above examples show that gamification can serve many objectives and if properly implemented, it can boost a company‟s performance or reputation and help the brand‟s popularity on social media. Gabe Zichermann says, “Gamification in the work environment is really about how to make people‟s jobs better and how to make people‟s work life better.” Gamification has the power to increase any business results, either by motivating your staffs or by incorporating with your products. Research vice president at Gartner, Brian Burke says, “Most attempts at gamification currently miss the mark, but successful and sustainable gamification can convert customers into fans, turn work into fun, or make learning a joy. The potential is enormous.” If you are looking for efficient and creative gamification solution provider, check our GAMIFICATION service page. Brought to you by https://www.juegostudio.com Page 5