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Keep your employees – and your customers – engaged like never before with these cutting-edge techniques.

From medieval jousting knights to today’s online gamers, people have always loved to compete – especially when prizes are involved. And modern companies have figured out how to incorporate game-like elements into business, increasing both employee and customer engagement.

Gamification helps make mundane work enjoyable while helping drive customer loyalty, engagement, and satisfaction. In this article, we’ll talk about why gamification works, how using gamification can help businesses grow, and the biggest gamification trends of 2023.

Gamification 101

Gamification is the process of introducing game elements into non-game contexts. It enhances engagement and motivation by establishing goals, challenges, and tasks, which, upon completion, yield rewards such as points, badges, or other incentives. Consistent progress feedback sustains motivation, often incorporating competitive or collaborative features to provide a social aspect to the experience. Ultimately, gamification leverages deep psychological motivators to elevate participation in everything from employee training to product sales.

Gaming for employee engagement

Gamification for employee engagement motivates and involves employees more effectively in their work tasks and company objectives. Here’s how gamification works for employee engagement:

Clear objectives

Companies set specific objectives that align with their business goals. These objectives can range from achieving sales targets to completing training modules.

Rewards and recognition

Employees who meet their objectives by completing challenges earn rewards such as points, badges, or small prizes. Recognition from peers and supervisors also plays a role in motivating employees.

Feedback and progress tracking

Gamification provides real-time feedback on employees’ progress. This helps employees gauge their performance and improvement over time.

Skill development and learning

Gamification can be used for employee training and development. Completing training modules or acquiring new skills can lead to rewards and advancement.

Impact on company culture

Gamification can contribute to a positive company culture by promoting friendly competition, teamwork, and a sense of achievement.

Measurement and analytics

Employers can track data generated by gamification to analyze participation rates, trends, and the overall impact on employee performance.

Gamification for employee engagement leverages the principles of games to make work tasks more enjoyable and motivating. But it’s only as effective as the tools you use to implement it.

Crewhu’s contest widget 

The Crewhu contest widget is a powerful tool designed to enhance employee engagement and performance through detailed analysis of collective contest performance. It provides a range of essential metrics and features for evaluating your team’s contest activities, including:

Comprehensive metrics

Get a clear and objective view of your team’s contest performance with metrics such as the number of goals achieved and missed in the last 30 days, as well as the number of remaining goals.

Benchmarking

Compare your company’s contest performance with others in the MSP market. This benchmarking metric offers valuable insights, helping you assess your position against competitors and identify areas for improvement using the following data:

• % Achieved: The percentage of goals achieved in the last 30 days.
• Achieved: The total number of goals achieved.
• In Progress: The total number of goals in active contests.
• Not Achieved: The total number of goals not achieved.
• Benchmark Ranking: Your company’s ranking based on the % Achieved value compared to the average percentage of all contest goals in Crewhu, with four ranking ranges for reference.

This widget empowers you to drive engagement and performance by tracking and optimizing your team’s contest activities effectively. Of course, employee engagement isn’t the only way that gamification can lead to improved business outcomes.

Gamifying the customer experience

Implementing gamification for customers involves a strategic approach that incorporates game-like elements into various aspects of the customer experience. Here’s how businesses can effectively implement gamification to engage their customers:

Identify objectives and goals

Define clear objectives for gamification. Determine whether you aim to increase customer engagement, drive sales, enhance brand awareness, or achieve other goals. Having a well-defined purpose will guide your gamification strategy.

Understand your audience

Conduct exhaustive research to understand your target audience’s preferences, behaviors, and motivations. Tailor your gamification elements to resonate with their interests, demographics, and needs.

Choose gamification elements

Select appropriate game elements that align with your objectives and audience. Common gamification elements include points, badges, leaderboards, challenges, virtual currency, levels, and rewards. Choose elements that will encourage desired customer behaviors.

Integrate gamification into touchpoints

Identify touchpoints in the customer journey where gamification can be seamlessly integrated. This could include your website, mobile app, social media, email campaigns, loyalty programs, and physical locations.

Offer meaningful rewards

Develop rewards that are valuable and relevant to your customers. These could include discounts, exclusive content, freebies, access to premium features, or unique experiences. The rewards should motivate customers to continue participating.

Provide clear instructions

Ensure that the gamification experience is intuitive and easy to understand. Communicate how customers can participate, earn points, and redeem rewards in easy-to-understand terms. Complex rules or confusing interfaces can deter engagement.

Measure and analyze performance

Use analytics tools to track the efficacy of your gamification strategy. Monitor key metrics such as engagement rates, conversion rates, time spent, and user feedback. Use these insights to refine your approach over time

Successful gamification relies on understanding your customers, thoughtful design, and a willingness to adapt based on feedback. And companies continue to come up with new and innovative ways to make it work.

Gamification trends in 2023

Gamification is poised to revolutionize how organizations engage with their customers and employees. According to a recent report, the gamification market is projected to experience an impressive compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24.8%, with an estimated worth of $37 billion by 2027. Here are just a few ways that gamification is making an impact in 2023.

Diverse sector integration

Gamification is making its mark in the healthcare, finance, and automotive sectors. In healthcare, it’s changed how individuals monitor their well-being. Apple’s technology-driven approach encourages users to track their sleep, heart rate, hydration, and more. In finance, it turns mundane tasks into fun activities, and the automotive industry uses virtual training programs similar to popular simulation games. As unexpected sectors harness gamification to optimize their processes, its influence continues to expand.

AI’s expanding role

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is poised to play a pivotal role in the future of gamification. With predictive components, AI enhances adaptability, making gamification experiences more personalized. Its ability to generate insightful customer data empowers organizations to anticipate user preferences and individually tailor engagement strategies. 

Sales process enhancement

Gamification is set to revolutionize the sales process. By transforming pipeline tasks into engaging games complete with points, badges, and leaderboards, organizations motivate their sales teams to achieve essential targets. This approach boosts productivity and fosters healthy competition among employees, resulting in improved performance and increased job satisfaction.

Engaging onboarding

Gamification is reshaping the way companies onboard new employees. By infusing the learning process with game mechanics, businesses create engaging and memorable experiences. Studies show that most employees believe that a gamified recruitment process makes companies more attractive. This trend is set to continue in 2023, as organizations recognize the value of smooth onboarding experiences that enhance employee engagement and satisfaction.

CRM transformation

Gamification is reshaping customer relationship management (CRM) systems, enhancing user adoption and engagement. Gamifying the CRM processes leads to improved productivity, better collaboration, and increased motivation, as employees are rewarded for achieving milestones.

In a rapidly changing business landscape, gamification is a potent tool for boosting engagement and driving success in every aspect. 

Crewhu can help

Of course, gamification isn’t all fun and games. It takes some serious work to make work this much fun. And that’s where Crewhu comes in.

We make the hard stuff easy by showing you how to celebrate everyday wins and acknowledge your employees and customers in ways that align with your company’s values, goals, and mission statement. Our experts are fully versed in all the latest gamification techniques that can increase productivity and boost your bottom line. 

If that sounds like a good time, book a demo with us today to discover how Crewhu can help scale your business to new heights of engagement and success.