Gamification: Uncover the Golden Ticket to Success in Business
Venture into the labyrinth of gamification, a hidden treasure map within this research paper, guiding entrepreneurs towards success.
This map is the power of gamification, a revolutionary tool that transforms the marketing journey from a mundane path into an enthralling adventure yielding remarkable results.
Imagine a world where work becomes an engaging game, where you're rewarded for completing tasks, participate in exciting challenges, and forge interactive relationships with colleagues and customers. This is the world of gamification: where game techniques are used to create an enjoyable experience that incentivizes participation and interaction.
But First: What Is Gamification?
Gamification is “the application of gaming mechanics to non-gaming environments to make difficult tasks more palatable”.1
How Three Key Gamification Features Contribute to Achieving Your Goals
In a competitive world, everyone is looking for innovative ways to attract and retain customers. In this context, the concept of "gamification" has emerged as a powerful tool for achieving success.
In this research paper, they highlight three key features that form the basis of "gamification" and define its different paths towards achieving specific strategic goals -virtualization, social comparison, and tangible rewards- which in turn lead to one of three strategic goals:
Customer retention
Attracting new customers
Transforming user perceptions
Each path relies on the presence (or sometimes the absence) of different design features, and companies achieve the best results when they focus on one or two goals rather than all three together.
What Makes a Successful Game?
Building on the three design features that have consistently contributed to success, examples are used to illustrate what their application means:
Virtualization: Duolingo app, which uses virtual characters and "maps" to teach language.
Social Comparison: Nike Run Club, which uses badges and leaderboard rankings to showcase users' commitment.
Tangible Rewards: Starbucks Points, which offers customers points that can be redeemed for free drinks.
By using the Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) tool, causal inferences were drawn and the conditions for the success and failure of "gamification" were uncovered. This systematic analysis allows companies to map out a roadmap to tailor their "gamification" strategies to their unique needs and goals.
Among the findings were two paths to "gamification" failure
Neglecting the three essential factors.
Incorporating undesirable social identities
At last they showed the five key takeaways for managers planning "gamification" initiatives to improve their chances of success
Avoid focusing solely on engagement: Companies that narrowly focus on engagement without a clear understanding of how their game adds strategic value often face difficulties.
Define strategic goals: Once a company knows its goals, it can provide designers and engineers with clear directions to work on.
Align design with strategic goals.
Choose KPIs that align with strategic goals: This can prevent the project from going off track due to minor successes that do not serve the strategic goal.
Avoid getting bogged down in random experiments: According to the QCA on "gamification" projects, trying to "try everything" without planning backfires and is associated with failure. In "gamification", it is important to set a clear strategic goal and understand the effective paths to achieve positive results.
In conclusion, regarding digital ethics and the future of "gamification", they emphasized the need for companies to clarify their position and take a more ethical approach to how their games work, how people use them, and the broader impacts they may have.
And we encourage you to explore the paper for more details, it's crucial for companies to tailor gamification to their unique needs and objectives.
Fortunately, a wealth of resources are available to assist businesses in effectively integrating gamification into their operations.
“gamification while it is certainly an exciting prospect, success is far from guaranteed”
So, are you ready to embark on the gamification adventure?
Share your thoughts on this topic and join a community of entrepreneurs who are using gamification to take their businesses to the next level.
Excellent 👌 thank you