5 Totally Different Ways To Benefit From Gamification

April 13, 2016

In Management & Organizational Performance

What do marketing, education, driving, health and performance at work have in common? Not much, right? We agree, but for one thing. They can all be optimized with gamification to engage and motivate people. And the basic principles to get there always stay the same. Here are a five success stories that prove why and how.

1. SAQ – INSPIRE : GAMIFICATION FOR MARKETING

Société des Alcools du Québec (SAQ) was massively criticized after its reward program Inspire was launched. If companies usually use such programs to build customer loyalty, SAQ’s main goal is mostly to better understand and gain new data. With a program rebate rate of 0.5%, the incentive to buy is pretty low. The reward program gives away 5 points for every dollar spent. This means that we must spend $ 1,000 to qualify for a $ 1 reward! SAQ takes advantage of people’s natural interest for games and fun to get valuable information.

SAQ customers are invited to sign up online and answer questions about their tastes and habits. They can then access a dashboard where they are invited to track their progress in real-time and view exactly where they’re at in numbers and dollars. They can also view their purchase history, and favorite locations or products. With that information, the Quebec alcohol corporation is fully equipped to boost its marketing program. Segmentation and customization possibilities are endless. From a pure marketing point of view: isn’t brilliant?

2. DESJARDINS INSURANCE– AJUSTO PROGRAM : GAMIFICATION TO PREVENT ACCIDENTS

Desjardins Insurance is one of the first Quebec insurance companies to use gamification strategies, along with BelAir Direct, Intact, Beneva and Industrial Alliance. Insurers hope that geo-tracking and communication tech applications can work to reduce the number of road accidents each year. Customers that sign up for Ajusto must install a recording device in their cars. That device tracks information about speed, kilometers, accelerations, or hours spent behind the wheel. This information is then sent to a large database where the information is compared and analyzed. Members of the Ajusto program then have an online access to a real-time driving performance dashboard. This is where they can challenge their friends, earn points, be rewarded for their good driving behavior, and save of up to 25% a year on their insurance policy. Not bad!

3. DUOLINGO: GAMIFICATION FOR LEARNING

Duolingo is a language e-learning application. For now, four languages ​​are offered: English, Spanish, German and Italian. The software integrates game mechanics at every step of the way to build motivation and engagement. When the user first signs up, an owl character that follows the user to share tips and tricks is introduced. In this fun tutorial, users can read motivation notes such as “To learn a language, you have to practice every day. ” Duolingo also brings together a community of ‘players’ that can challenge each other.

Users must unlock every challenge to go any step further. When they complete a new level, they are rewarded with points displayed in a dashboard. This is where they have everything they want to know about the number of hours remaining before they can complete a challenge or the number of days in row that they’ve spent studying. The application also uses stats and data to optimize the user experience. For instance, users are notified about optimal times to study and truly learn. Education has so much to learn from gaming, and it’s just the beginning of it all!

4. FITBIT: GAMIFICATION FOR FITNESS AND HEALTH

Fitbit defines itself as the ultimate fitness app. Users wear an application watch day and night that tracks data about footsteps, calories, heart rate, rest time, and much more. Users can also save information about sport sessions, meals and weight. The application uses several game mechanics to build motivation and engagement. For instance, users can challenge each other to earn badges and stay inspired on their fitness journey. They can view stats, goals, insights and more with their online dashboard. When gamification is used to improve health, everyone is winning.

5. ALTRUM– THE ALTRUM CELEBRATION PLATFORM TO INCREASE EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE

The Celebration Rewards and Peer Recognition program is your go-to software for team engagement. It’s like a social network for your business were colleagues can recognize each other and be rewarded  by their manager. This easy to use, 100 % customizable, software offers several level of permissions allowing managers and employees to collaborate on the same user interface.

The platform adapts to the needs of each organization and can even include dashboards for key performance indicators (KPIs) to help increase employee engagement . For example,  if you work in a call center and you want to track the number of calls per day, you can set a daily target that every employee must reach in order to get a reward. Employees could receive a certain amount of points for each call and then unlock a new level when a goal is reached. Game mechanics are really taking work to a whole new level of fun!

As you can see, gamification is a fairly useful strategy to build engagement and it surrounds us everyday. Altrum always remains at the forefront of innovation in this field to always go beyond what’s expected. Want to learn more about gamification? Email us.