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Applying gamification in business

Hi, my name is Rafael Saraceni. For more than 2 years I have been assisting companies in Brazil to train more than 7.000 professionals using gamification. I am also the founder of Lira Edu, a Brazilian customer success gamification SaaS for new user's onboarding. Here are the insights I have learned after +4 years applying gamification techniques in business.

Gamification is the buzzword of the moment. Many companies claim they have implemented gamification in their product, services or operation, but what really matters is the result they get from it. And that is when things get complicated.

What is gamification?

Gamification is a process of using game elements inside any context that is not games oriented. It is derived from behavioral design and the main objective is to stimulate people to behave in a specific way using design elements.

Gamification examples (duolingo and airline miles)

One of the best gamification cases is the learning app Duolingo. Besides using game elements, scores and progress bars to teach languages, the main catch that the app designers have is the way they build users' engagement at least 15 minutes everyday. They require you to commit to a certain goal and push you to this goal through notifications, e-mails, to compete with friends, strangers and to earn badges and achievements.

One of the first gamification cases in business is the Air Miles Reward programs. Other fidelity programs give rewards after a certain number of existing purchases. But the airlines take it to the next level by offering not only their travel tickets, but also special seats, waiting rooms and services to a selected group of loyal travelers, creating even a sense of hierarchy status among them.

Implementing successful gamification strategies

In order to implement a successful gamification strategy it is mandatory that you have clear metrics, goals and a deep understanding about your target audience. The more specific the public that you target, the more effective your strategy can be.

One of the areas inside a company that can benefit the most from gamification strategies is the Human Resource department. Especially in these times where home office becomes mainstream, to keep employees engaged and motivated can be very challenging.

Many companies start to use gamification during the hiring and onboarding process. There is a company in Brazil which uses short designed RPG-like sessions on Zoom to assess the candidates' abilities as part of the evaluation process. On the onboarding side, I have used many of Duolingo's gamification mechanics to help companies to train their new employees for their function 100% remotely.

Just like in games, continuous feedback is extremely important when creating a gamification strategy. The rules that apply for a specific mechanic should be clear, including the assessment whether the outcome is positive or negative.

Despite the name, one important thing about gamification is that it has more similarities with design than games. It is rooted in human centered design, which is why I always emphasize this:

Gamification is about helping people to achieve a desired outcome. It can be in business, health or education. But the strategy should be always centered in the group of people you want to target and the context in which the strategy will be developed.

Wrapping up

Unfortunately this post got a little longer than I expected, but I hope it can help you to understand and apply such techniques in your life or your business. If you are interested, I discuss a lot about gamification in my Twitter and my LinkedIn.

Cheers!

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