Gamification for digital engagement

Nowadays, digital is everywhere. This means it became quite pervasive, and this favoured the rise of new business models, new initiatives and best practices to involve more and more your users, followers, customers and consumers in the digital arena.

Many of these initiatives are indeed focused on maximizing the so-called online engagement. This means users are more and more immersed into those journeys, or processes, that companies are trying to prepare for their customers (or webpage visitors).

For sure this massive use of digital media helped the birth and much more frequent use of gamification.

Gamification is “the application of game-design elements and game principles (dynamics and mechanics) in non-game contexts.”

Gamification is developing quite rapidly, and is rooting into many areas of the digital world. There are companies using it in order to engage even more with their customers, and others are using it in motivating their teams in being more proactive in their activities (even digitally).

For instance, I would like to do a couple of examples that I find quite clever an indicative.

PWC, a big consultancy company, has experimented and used the gamification approach to engage with future talents (Multipoly). Their Hungarian branch was inviting candidates to join their gamification portal, and there they have been challenged to solve problems that usually the company faces. Candidates could join, team up and work together to solve the problems. The end reward was indeed the promise of being hired by the company.

A second example is an app that I love, it’s called Habitica. Joining this community of about two million people, you will have daily challenges on your dashboard, from making 10 push-ups one a day, till making laundry and storing your robes. Also, this practice creates a very engaging environment, you can join teams, challenge mates, and invite friends to participate.

A third examples is the Starbucks Reward app, which goes even further. Indeed, this app is not only gamifying the way you buy coffee or cookies, but it also creates a new way to engage customers and make them loyal to the brand. Basically, you can earn stars buying in shops, and once you collect a number of stars you can claim your free coffee, or free Frappuccino.

Said so, there are quite some other examples on how gamification is helping communities, companies and customers in engaging even more online, and I am sure this will be a practice that is not deemed to disappear soon. Instead, I believe it will stay and grow even more, since people do love to play even when doing boring things like waiting on a queue, or buying clothes.

So, you all really need to monitor it very closely, and if you don’t we will do it for you. Stay in touch!