Gamification Can Work—If Done Right
“You want something tangible, something you can reach out and touch.” That’s what a top salesperson said during a discussion of what makes an effective sales incentive.
Of course, this person wasn’t suggesting foregoing a commission. However, when it comes to attaining an objective—in this case, exceeding quota—the right incentive adds the extra oomph. And more and more, that’s where gamification is being put to use.
“Gamification, by definition, is about applying game-design thinking to non-game applications to make them more fun and engaging. Tap into people’s natural desire to compete and play, and it results in high levels of engagement,” writes Adam Swann in Forbes.
Included in HubSpot's Inbound Internet Marketing Blog’s list of 10 of the Most Memorable Marketing Campaigns of 2012 is a campaign based on gamification implemented by Autodesk, creator of 3D design, engineering, and entertainment software, to get people to use their trial software more. The result? “After gamifying the experience, they saw a 10% increase in trial downloads and a 40% increase in trial usage. Not too shabby!”
To encourage salespeople to use a company’s expensive customer relationship management systems, something they frequently don’t take the time to do, CFO Magazine notes in “Gaming the System“ that “adding a gamification layer to a company’s existing CRM system will increase productivity while also providing managers with a more accurate view of what their sales staffers are doing and how their customers are feeling.”
Gamification is making its way into academia as well. Slashdot featured a video from Professor Cliff Lampe, an assistant professor in the School of Information at the University of Michigan. Lampe discusses the advantages gamification brings to the university classes and his experience using gamification to make his 200-student lecture classes more interesting.
“Gamification I think is one of those terms that has the danger of making you, kind of, automatically gag,” says Lampe. “It seems like a marketing term for what nerds have done for a long time, but it’s worth thinking about like, how can we use principles of games to change the structure and conduct of a university class.”
Lampe cites the ability to choose your path, gain rapid feedback, and add guild participation elements and LARP (Live Action Role Play) as elements that appeal to students. As for the reaction of students and the university, Lampe said it’s been favorable.
I was a little worried since I’m new at the university that they would be like, ‘What the hell?’ but the vice president for communications for the university was really positive and participated in LARP Day.
For some guidelines, Dr. Dobbs’ “Gamification: The Art of Attracting and Keeping Users” provides useful information for the gamification of developer sites and communities. Suggestions include know your audience, create appropriate motivations, focus the scope of rewards, and implement wisely.
How far it’s adopted is anyone’s guess, but it’s fair to say that gamification is destined to be more than the latest buzzword.
