Gamification Builds Strong Customer Relationships

By Steve Alter

There’s little doubt that “engagement” is now the coin of the realm in the arena of social business. Almost daily, new research announces the importance of customer engagement, companies declare their commitment to engaging employees, and thought leaders such as McKinsey & Company proclaim that we are now in “the era of engagement.”

Such a buzzword may generate excitement, but it’s of little consolation to a business leader watching customers abandon online communities, employees fail to adopt social software and efforts to “get engaged” deliver underwhelming results. At that point, executives often start questioning “the ROI of engagement,” when they really should be asking, “What is engagement, and are we actually doing it?”

To “engage” according to dictionary.com, is “to attract, to involve in intensely; to secure for aid.” Imagine your brand driving those kinds of outcomes with customers and employees, and it instantly becomes clear that engagement is not an activity, a tool or an old-school marketing campaign dressed up in social clothing. Real engagement requires commitment, trust and interaction, building a two-way street that delivers mutual benefit to both parties.

“Gamification,” like “engagement,” is a word that has been so overhyped of late that it seems more useful for a game of Buzzword Bingo than as a business initiative. But with its combination of game mechanics, social networking, interactive media and behavioral analytics, gamification enables real, scalable engagement in ways that can transform your business.

Also like engagement, however, achieving your desired business goals through gamification demands a calculated strategy that goes beyond the “shiny object syndrome,” and an enterprise-ready platform to enable and support your plans.  Here are four basic steps to help get you started and keep you on track.

Step 1: Clearly define your objectives.

How and where are customers and employees interacting with you today? How can social engagement add value to that interaction?  What impact will it have on the business? In social engagement, a failure to plan is definitely a plan for failure, yet too often we see the articulation of clear business objectives overlooked in the rush to implement a new program or platform. Even if your initial efforts were ad hoc and reactive—“Everyone’s in social, we need a Facebook page tomorrow!”—it’s critical to do the strategic planning that will make engagement an imperative instead of a checkbox.

Dell did exactly that on their its way to becoming a leading social business. Initially using social channels in reaction to a series of customer service crises, Dell quickly recognized a larger opportunity to dramatically change the nature of its relationship with customers and shift brand perception. Since then, Dell has strategically embedded social engagement into its business, affecting sales, support and product development by enabling multiple points of interaction with customers and actively joining the brand conversation.

Step 2: Foster current participation and encourage more of it.

Like a traditional marketing campaign, social efforts often focus on creating broad awareness to attract new fans. Yet, every minute of every day, thousands of customers are contributing to your brand value through their participation in social channels: recommending your products, answering customer questions, retweeting news or reviewing your products.  If you are failing to actively engage these customers or employees, you are leaving money on the table. Rather than putting all of your efforts into chasing a new audience, focus on the most valuable activities people are already participating in and understand their behaviors so you can encourage more of it.

Adding gamification to a social environment creates a rewarding experience for your community experts, and as they strive for broader recognition, lets them model an aspirational path for your enthusiasts and casual users to increase their participation and deepen their involvement. Leveraging this natural human desire for recognition and validation not only raises the level of engagement, but also reduces the friction required to do so. Rather than igniting a new fire, you can simply fan the flames of an existing one and watch it spread.