Nike+ Run: Game On, World.

"Sport is the ultimate game, and athletes are the ultimate players. Nike introduces a whole new training platform. Measure your score against your self, against your friends, against the world. The more you play, the better you get. The world is your playground. "

With this campaign Nike really changed the standards of gamification and people's behavior. Nike went deep to the core values of gamification and how to extract the most out of it. Nike re-imagined the relationship with customers. The company is going where the customers are: today, more than ever, into the social media platforms.

The video below is an example of a smart use of gamification because it took something that people find hard to get motivated for (to run) and offered a direct incentive (rewards). 

Nike successfully launched an online platform (Nike+ Web Community) to engage "players" into a completely new gaming environment in which physical activity is something challenging, exciting and rewarding. This platform allows Nike to have a personal conversation with customers. It also acts as a laboratory that lets the company study its customer's behaviors and patterns. 

Through its unique user experience, this tool allows runners to track their performance and monitor their progression towards their fitness goals. It also makes running much more fun and challenging, as it allows you to customize your workout activity, compete against friends and other platform users and share your achievements in many different social medias, such as Nikeplus, Facebook and Twitter.

What is Nike+ :

Nike+ is a successful ambassador for the Nike brand in the passionate running community, which is focused on users sharing stories about their feats. Since 2006 Nike+ Community has grown to 10 million members and has recorded more than 672 million miles run. Every day more and more addicted fans join the community. 

The merging of the digital and physical world for Nike and the 360 Degree Brand Marketing focus on improving the lives of the consumer has changed running forever. Now it's time to get your shoes on and share your run !!!

Gamification Can Change the World

One of the best known examples of Gamification that is making a difference worldwide is Khan Academy. Khan Academy was founded in 2006 by Salman Khan, an MIT and Harvard graduate, after trying to help his cousins on their math homework. The key here was that he was in Boston and his cousins were on the other side of the country. He decided to help them by creating YouTube videos for them to review the material. These videos began to become more and more popular and after people began to request more, Salman Khan decided to create the non-profit Khan Academy.

                                       

Now Khan Academy is using Gamification to try to educate the world by keeping kids and adults alike engaged in their learning process through their free website. All of the subjects taught through the website are shown on a visual Google Maps constellation called the Knowledge Map which allows anyone to see the relations between them. Rewards and badges are given each time you surpass a higher level. This allows kids to feel like they are playing while learning. 

"We're full of game mechanics. As soon as you log in, you'll start earning badges and points for learning. The more you challenge yourself, the more bragging rights you'll get.

We've heard of students spending hour after hour watching physics videos and 5th graders relentlessly tackling college-level math to earn Khan Academy badges. Some of the smaller badges are very easy, but the most legendary badges might require years of work." - Khan Academy Website

How Khan Academy works:

These are Khan Academy's numbers so far:
+4100 videos
297,944,321 YouTube views
Faculty: 1

But Khan Academy is not the only example of how Gamification is changing the world. Opower is helping utilities and households track their energy consumption. This new tool uses Gamification in a way that allows energy consumers to be able to compare their consumption with that of their neighbors and set milestones to better manage their energy use. Click on the image belowe to learn more about what Opower is doing:

There are many more examples of people using Gamification to change the world. The following example is helping feed many hungry people around the world. FreeRice is a website from the World Food Program which has partnered with sponsors who have agreed to help by donating 10 grams of rice for every right answer of an online quiz they have created. Try it out! You will have fun and at the same time help others by providing food to those who most need it. Check out the following video to see how it works:

As we have analyzed through our blog, Gamification is a great tool that helps companies and organizations engage their customers or users towards achieving a certain goal. In this case we have seen great examples on how this technological tool has been used to make a difference in the world. There are many more which you can explore from our sources and we encourage you to be creative and use this fun tool into making this world a better place!

Sources:
http://www.yukaichou.com/gamification-examples/top-10-gamification-examples-human-race/
http://www.gamification.co/2011/05/26/quests-skill-trees-for-learning-with-khan-academy/
http://www.revenews.org/gamification-changes-the-nonprofit-world-in-2012/

Ok, let’s use these Gamification frameworks and try to implement them in one of the hot topics of recent business world i.e., CRM, more specifically Customer service and support.

Customer service representatives are no strangers to contests and leader-boards, which have long been a motivational mainstay at call centers.  Unfortunately these old-fashioned poster-boards aren't the most inspiring type of contest, especially in this digital age. In an industry that is tough enough when you consider the disgruntled phone calls reps take on a daily basis, how do you inspire them to provide the best, most efficient customer service possible in a fun and fulfilling way?

That’s where gamification comes in. Think of it as a new and improved version of the classic, old poster-boards, where instead of updating contest results with a Sharpie marker, you’re able to integrate an exciting competition app, integrated within Salesforce etc, with real time updates, to motivate and incentivize employees to focus on what matters most in customer service. Goals may differ between sales and customer service, but motivational techniques don’t have to.

Following are the 5 Areas where Gamification can improve the quality of the work @ call centers

1) First Call Resolution (FCR): An average call center with 250 customer service representatives can save $234,451 by increasing FCR by just 5%. FCR is the most important metric for measuring cost performance and customer service because there is a direct 1:1 correlation between improving FCR and improving customer satisfaction.

Yet measuring FCR is not as simple as it seems - meaningful data necessarily takes into account several different factors, from getting routed to the correct rep to customers’ demographics. While other tools may miss out on some of this data, gamification systems can do double-duty: motivating representatives to record all of that important information from the initial point of contact by tapping into the competitive nature of the team. Companies are creating contests where in the representatives with the highest number of calls resolved without needing further follow-up receives a reward directly related to his or her team or area of expertise.

2) Average Handle Time (AHT): If an issue has to be solved, it to be resolved as quickly as possible without sacrificing quality. Gamification that rewards agents with points for a first call resolution or based on handle time help get people focused on this critically important metric to improving call center efficiency. Now a days, companies are developing applications that recognize the representatives with the lowest average handle time per month, or the representative with the highest number of calls resolved in less than ten minutes.

3) Coding: High-volume customer service organizations and divisions often use coding systems to differentiate between past issues, identify trends, highlight common incidents and generally organize data.  While this information is critical to improving a company, it is often collected half-heartedly due to the dry nature of the work. Companies can create contests where the employees entering the most accurate data in the most categories at the end of each period earns extra vacation hours.

4) Turnover Rates: Call centers are notorious for having high turnover rates, and it’s one of the greatest challenges of the industry. Industry-wide, turnover hovers around 26%, and up to 33% for part time employees. Agents often feel stressed by angry customers and disconnected from the organization since most of their day is spent on the phone without face-to-face interaction with peers. By bringing in real-time contests with high impact leader boards, representatives can put a face to their coworkers and engage with colleagues, strengthening your company culture in a real way. Gamification brings an element of fun to an otherwise boring job and leads to happier employees.  Companies create applications and representatives keep these apps easily accessible on the home screen of their computers so that they can have a running tab of their coworkers’ profiles. Encourage out-of-the-box profile pictures to bring a smile to the faces of your reps.

5) Up-selling: A sign of a good service representative is his or her ability to turn a positive service experience, or even a negative one, into a sales lead. If a customer has their question answered or problem resolved quickly, they are more likely to be interested in continuing their engagement in the company. Or, if a customer is dissatisfied with a product but engaged in a positive, constructive conversation with the service rep, there is an opportunity to offer that customer a different product. Agents can hand the client off to a sales representative as an inbound lead and up-sell opportunity. One of the most successful client uses of our gamification product has been using it to motivate salespeople to take a new product to market. This same concept can apply in a call center to support up-selling where your goal may simply be to motivate agents to ask a client if they would like to learn about a new service offering or ask for a referral. Creating friendly competition around it will get everyone rallied around it and spike this new behavior. Rewarding the employees who has the highest dollar value from up-selling with two tickets to your local sports team’s game will help boost up the employees interest.

This is just one application of Gamification. Tweaking old methods with tinge of gamification will definitely bring significant results.!

Sources: http://www.callcopy.com/files/files/whitepapers/callcopy-10-secrets-to-boosting-first-call-resolution.pdf?mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRonu6nKZKXonjHpfsX56%2BksXq%2BylMI%2F0ER3fOvrPUfGjI4ATMRmI%2FqLAzICFpZo2FFbG%2ByZf49Q4w%3D%3D

It's game on for recruiting !!!

It's game on for Human Resources officers. If you never thought about applying gamification to your recruitment strategy, maybe it's time to start!

Now that the concept of social recruiting has established itself and is no longer considered a passing phase, gamification's role in the recruitment industry will act as a game changer for companies willing to differentiate themselves from the competition while interacting with potential candidates. Organizations that embrace gamification have the opportunity to gain loyal customers and find a competitive edge in recruiting, retention, talent development and business performance.

The theory is that by using the same principles and mechanics that inspire people to play games, such as status and rewards, businesses can drive deeper engagement and use this to attract and retain employees. The principles of gamification could also improve staff and business processes by increasing creativity, learning, participation and motivation.

So how can gamification help organisations to better recruit, train and engage workers? Here are five reasons how and why you should play the game:

Increased Employee Engagement: The growing interest in gamification stems from a desire to increase engagement levels among employees. As such, it encourages openness and a system of reward and recognition in the workplace: an important aspect of attracting and retaining star employees.

Gamification taps into our Competitive Side: The more we play a game, the more engaged we become, feel a greater sense of accomplishment, and ultimately, the more willing we are to go the extra mile. Apply this to the work environment and you could see more sales calls being made or increased customer queries responded to.

Learning & Development: Gamification enables you to implement real-life situations experienced within your company within a controlled environment. For example, if you’re looking to train internal members, you could create a virtual environment for a situation that would be too expensive, dangerous or large to execute on a regular basis, such as constructing a plane.

Increased Brand Awareness: It’s a hiring challenge to keep talent engaged and interested in your brand. Yet the influence of gamification and the desire it creates to connect on a global level, keeps those companies that utilise it, one step ahead of the game by being more attractive to potential candidates.

Engaged Talent Pools: As companies build their own recruitment databases through their social platforms, they can use creative games to show others what it’s really like to work for their business, source talent and reward as necessary. For example, if you’re looking for a data entry clerk, create a game that offers a point for every correctly entered line of data, and the winner, could be your perfect applicant.


Examples

Marriott created an excellent recruitment campaign to attract potential employees – using an online game entitled My Marriott Hotel. It was created with the intent to encourage young people to take an interest in hospitality as a career path. The virtual game is much like Farmville or The Sims, requiring candidates to demonstrate their skills in a fun, online environment. It was a social media success that drove traffic to their Facebook career page (which currently has 113,000 likes).

Reveal by L'oreal:

The game was developed with the help of experts in psychometric testing and sets out to assess the skills of each individual regardless of background or experience. Participants take on the role of an avatar trainee and meet people in each department who ask questions and involve them in projects, all of which are modelled on real-life scenarios. The personalised feedback at the end will advise them on which, if any, area best suits their particular skills.

http://www.reveal-thegame.com/

Conclusions:

The next step for gamification will likely bring it thoroughly into the recruiting process, attracting candidates through social games on platforms that include Facebook, LinkedIn and even job boards like Monster. Companies should really look into gamification as a key resource for their recruiting process. The goal is to make the most of this next advancement in recruiting by creating an environment where people want to go frequently, using a compelling, rich and engaging content.


Sources:
http://theundercoverrecruiter.com/gamification/
http://www.webrecruit.co.uk/blog/employer-advice/game-recruitment/?goback=.gde_1988204_member_131229716
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeannemeister/2012/05/21/gamification-three-ways-to-use-gaming-for-recruiting-training-and-health-amp-wellness/2/

Gamification: Mainstream Since 2011

The idea of gamification has been flying around for a couple of years. Gamification was even short listed for word of the year in Oxford’s Dictionary 2011. In the end of 2011, some stats on this concept became available:

Source: http://mygamification.com/2011/gamification-goes-mainstream/

How Gamification Became the "New Normal"

Are you convinced that Gamification is already spread enough within Business?

According to Prof. Werbach, here are some organizations that already use Gamification:

But also this concept helps to generate a sizable amount of money. Check this out:

Source: http://learningpilgrims.wordpress.com/tag/gamification/

GAMASUTRA-2

Putting it together visually
All of this can be represented in a sort of ’3D’ / TriDimensional version of our two Acting On diagrams from earlier.

How do you create a balanced system for all types of users?
It becomes complex to handle so many user types when compared to five types like Player and then Philanthropists, Socializers, Achievers and Free Spirits.

One should create a system that appeals to the four basic intrinsic motivations and user types. Also, one should make it social, meaningful and give people some freedom before integrating a well thought out reward system (points, badges etc.). Through this, we are not creating a system that relies on the rewards to run but getting intrinsically motivated people. It is important to keep in mind that you want more of the intrinsically motivated users if possible because they will keep coming back, keep producing content. Also, these eight types of users can help us decide how to balance the system.

But, if the system is flooded with Self Seekers and Exploiters then you stand the chance of devaluing everything. Self Seekers run the risk of generating lots of meaningless content whilst exploiters will reduce the value of things like up votes and likes if the rewards are badly implemented.

Philanthropists and Achievers can both help a system thrive. Philanthropists want to help everyone. They want to answer questions and guide users. Achievers, depending on the type of system, may also wish to do the same. They are interested in being the best – at mastering things. They will want to give the best answer to a question, not so much to help the user, but to know they were the best. However, as their main aim is self-enrichment, they can also give very little back to as system aimed at teaching!

Free Spirits and Consumers tend to give very little back to the people, consumers especially. Too many of either of them and the social aspect of your system stands a good chance of not working. It is possible that consumers are all you want (with a loyalty scheme), but it is worth considering you can get greater value from engaging everyone else.

Socialisers are great for evangelizing a system and bringing more people to it, however, they don’t add content to systems as much as other types. Networkers are similar, whatever their motivations may be. However, networkers will bring in anyone, not just relevant people. Too many of them and the social aspect of the system can become diluted. Look at users on twitter with 30,000 “friends” then look at what content these friends actually generate. The likelihood is that of these 30,000 people, they only interact with a tiny fraction – so will other users.

Also, exploiters are the most likely to “cheat”. They are the ones who will “exploit” loopholes in the rules to gain – even if it is at the expense of others within the system.

Final Sutras
Below is an overall view on how to support different user types.

Although these are to give conceptual insights,, real life is not as black and white. Users will most likely display traits from multiple user types. But, they will usually have one that guides them more than the others. They are also likely to change user types as they get to know the system.  In systems where rewards are used in the onboarding process, but are phased out as the user becomes more capable, you will see them going from extrinsically “motivated” user types to intrinsically motivated types. This is when they realize that there is more to be gained from the system than just the points and badges.