"The 10 Commitments" of Successful Gamification Solutions

Gamification isn't for the light-hearted. 

Winners in the gamification arena are those that ruthlessly listen and adapt to their users' needs and desires. Are you up to the task? 

While the title of this blog is a bit tongue in cheek, the following are some of the most important ways you can perform a self-assessment about how serious you are about gamifying your product. See how you rate out of a possible score of 10. 

World-class gamification solutions require near 24 hour management and adjustments to user performance. 

Companies implement gamification solutions to get financial results but the best implementations do it by engaging with their users in a genuine, honest manner. To wit, the gamification experience must:

• Be genuine to users in a way that matters to them
• Generate delight for users
• Learn from mistakes
• Do things right more often than not
• Be honest. Brutally honest. Inside and out.

In order to achieve these goals, I have put together "The 10 Commitments" of Successful Gamification Solutions.

I like the tablets, that's all.

  1 BE PREPARED TO BE BRUTALLY HONEST
  2 FAILURE IS THE ONLY OPTION
  3 IF IT WORKS, TRY SOMETHING ELSE
  4 DANCE, MONKEY, DANCE
  5 MANAGE EXPECTATIONS
  6 KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
  7 WE DON'T DO THAT AROUND HERE; WE DO THIS
  8 KNOW WHAT YOU WANT... TO STAY IN BUSINESS
  9 MEASURE SUCCESS OR DIE
  10 HIRE SOMEONE TO MANAGE GAMIFICATION FULL TIME THAT GETS IT

Measure your company or product against these commandments. To how many of these can you say for sure that your company can (or does) commit? 

Following these commitments as guidelines can give you the edge on your competitors and help your staff or customers reach their potential and ideally help the bottom line. 

Here is more detail on each:

COMMITMENT #1: BE PREPARED TO BE BRUTALLY HONEST
Companies that want the most from their gamification results have to truly commit. This means honesty within the company around sharing what works and what didn't work as well as telling the users about the same things. It turns out that EVERYONE wants you to succeed, because THEY WANT TO HAVE FUN. Involve them in the solutions. 

COMMITMENT #2 FAILURE IS THE ONLY OPTION
You have to be ready to fail. A lot. Until you figure out what works for your staff or users, you're only guessing. Good game designers make lots of mistakes until they get it right. It's true! 

COMMITMENT #3 IF IT WORKS, TRY SOMETHING ELSE
When things work for a while, you have to be ready to shake things up and do something unexpected. Nothing succeeds like the same thing over and over, said no one. Just when you think you have it together, your audience gets tired of the same old routine. Get crazy. Do something unexpected.

COMMITMENT #4 DANCE, MONKEY, DANCE
You have to be ready to constantly delight your players. This may mean doing the same thing over and over, trying new things, returning to the old stuff that worked, or getting creative to come up with something new. People want to be entertained. That's your job, now. 

COMMITMENT #5 MANAGE EXPECTATIONS
You have to have proper expectations. Tell your users that things are going to change over time. Let them know you're going to make mistakes. Let them know that you're going to listen to their feedback. And don't promise anything, and I mean ANYTHING, that you aren't going to deliver. That's just bad expectation management. 

COMMITMENT #6 KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
Your strategy has to be attuned to your audience. What works for the "sales" department doesn't work with the "production team," for example. What works for users that like one style of "play," whether it's customization or competitiveness... doesn't necessarily work for another. Remember who you're trying to entertain.

COMMITMENT #7 WE DON'T DO THAT AROUND HERE; WE DO THIS
Incentives and rewards have to mesh with the company culture. This is as custom as your company. You'll have to figure this out. Do the "little guys" get verbally rewarded? Do the "head honchos" get called out at meetings? Do the sales leaders get cash bonuses? Is your company committed to social change? Do your employees get comp time for doing community service? Whatever the culture is... reward people against that as a measuring stick.

Most importantly, only stick to positive affirmations of what you want. "We expect 75% completion of TPS Reports per day," for example, rather than "You will fail if you don't exceed 74% completion of TPS Reports per day." It's a mindset shift and your company needs to do it. Immediately.

COMMITMENT #8 KNOW WHAT YOU WANT... TO STAY IN BUSINESS
Your strategy must focus on end user objectives -- the desired behavior - and align with business processes. If your users aren't doing what you need them to do... it's time to get real with your objectives. Do you really know what you need them to do? Why are they doing something other than what you've created? Time to assess and adapt. See above commitments.

COMMITMENT #9 MEASURE SUCCESS OR DIE
Gamification provides a method to measure adoption and engagement. Avoidance of the gamification systems is be a clear signal that something is not working. If your metrics are showing that people are not motivated, it may be time to modify your gamification strategy. 

COMMITMENT #10 HIRE SOMEONE THAT GETS IT TO MANAGE GAMIFICATION FULL TIME 
Gamification is more like building and performing live maintenance on an MMO or a social game than any game you'd release in a fire and forget scenario.

Each of these above reasons are why you have to commit to be fully successful. 

RATE YOURSELF
Rate your organization against this as an X out of 10 scale. Think about whether you can get a higher score. Every company does NOT need to get 10/10 to be successful; these are merely guidelines. 

TALK BACK
What is your company doing? What is your score? Why isn't it higher? What did I forget? 

Your comments are welcomed below.

Badges in Social Media: A Social Psychological Perspective

How important are the "social" aspects of gamification to the overall success of a gamified product or process? There are a few "scholarly articles" on the subject and this is one I have recently read so here's my brain dump.

I completely welcome all comments; I don't think anyone "knows" this stuff, so I'm not ever going to have any ego in the game. This is something we're all looking at from our own perspectives and the best I can figure is that we all have to keep talking about what we see. 

If you don't have a lot of time, just read the parts in bold. Those are the takeaways, filtered into my way of thinking and speaking. 

Badges in Social Media: A Social Psychological Perspective
http://uxscientist.com/public/docs/uxsci_2.pdf

This study goes into detail about five social psychological functions for badges in social media contexts: goal setting, instruction, reputation, status/affirmation, and group identification.

Badges can serve several individual and social functions depending on the nature of the activities that a badge rewards and the application of badges in particular contexts. 

The paper itself culminates with a concern that badges (or certain types of badges) aren't always right for every product and that there should be more research done on that aspect of badge implementation. That certainly makes sense to me.

PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTION: GOAL SETTING
Perhaps the most obvious function of badges is as a goal-setting device. Badges challenge users to meet the mark that is set for them. Goal setting is known to be an effective motivator, and experimental studies have illustrated that the most motivating goals are those that are just out of comfortable reach. 

The fun and interest of goal seeking is often the primary reward itself.

Goal setting is most effective when users can see their progress towards the goal. Without signposts to mark the way, there is little or no feedback to keep users moving in the right direction. Furthermore, people often escalate their efforts when they know they are near their goal

To sum this up: The fundamental reason why gaming is fun is "Pleasurable Frustration." This is the human need to strive for success.

PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTION: INSTRUCTION
Badges can provide instruction about what types of activity are possible within a given system. Badges often embody the social norms of a system by exemplifying the types of activities and interactions that are highly valued, and in so doing provide a kind of social shaping of user activities. 

Whether they earn the badges themselves, individual users can also gain a Gestalt understanding of the overall community of users. 

To sum this up: Badges tell you what to do and what is possible to do.

PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTION: REPUTATION
Badges assist reputation assessments at several levels. At a general level, examining another user’s badges can provide a summary of interests and engagement levels, for example by indicating whether a user is a casual or fanatical community member

By providing an encapsulated assessment of engagement, experience, and expertise, badges can be an invaluable tool for determining the trustworthiness of other people or the reliability of content. 

To sum this up: Badges are an easy way to see if someone's worth their salt.

PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTION: STATUS / AFFIRMATION
The power of status rewards derives from the expectation that others will look more favorably upon someone who has undertaken the activity represented by a badge. More difficult achievements may be assumed to lead to greater status

They mark significant milestones and provide evidence of past successes.

The interplay between status and affirmation is important because it highlights how badges can be engaging from both an individual and a group point of view. 

To sum this up: If people understand what it takes to earn a badge, those that earn them feel pride. 

PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTION: GROUP IDENTIFICATION
Badges communicate a set of shared activities that bind a group of users together around shared experience.

Achieving badges can provide a sense of solidarity and increase positive group identification through the perception of similarity between an individual and the group. 

To sum this up: Those that participate in a shared experience bond together.

BADGES MAY NOT ALWAYS BE "RIGHT"
Evidence suggests that badges are not universally appreciated, understood, or attended to. 

The authors' in-progress research on FourSquare indicates that most users find only some types of badges interesting or motivational. Furthermore, just as some have questioned whether badges are actually counter-productive as game mechanics, the "corruption effects of extrinsic incentives" could make some badges harmful to intrinsic motivation. 

To sum this up: Different people are motivated by different incentives. 

CONCLUSION
The social aspect of gamification is, essentially, belonging. The more people can talk to each other with an understanding of the system that they are using (i.e. gamification), the better they feel about the system and their involvement within it. 

Badges are useful tools for many systems and games. They create a bond for those that use them and can help a group follow the goals set out for it through the system's design. A shared knowledge of the meanings of the badges allows for pride and a sense of belonging. 

It is my opinion that badges are only one part of the whole picture. There are many types of players / users and a well-rounded game system hits all of those types as equally as possible. 

Gamification Examination: The Week in Gamification, November 4-8, 2013

What the heck do I know?

Feel free to look me up here.

Two years ago I was introduced to the world of "gamification," which is using game mechanics to encourage user behavior. This is not a new technique (think Airline Miles), but with the infusion of Big Data into the picture, the ability to track and modify user experiences on a millisecond by millisecond basis became possible. 

With the experience I have had in making video games that must react to users' every whim and desire, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to get into this new "field."

There are many ways to slice this onion, but one of the best ways to say it is that users that are experiencing gamified systems are more engaged and interested in what they are doing. In my opinion, it's because the people that are doing the gamification are being FORCED to listen to their users. Just like a good video game. 

But gamification is NOT a video game. As these blogs go forward, you'll see what I'm talking about. 

Let's discuss the highlights that Google brought me in my Google Alerts (which I do believe in) in this week's Gamification Examination!

Disclaimer: there are a lot of opinions thrown around in here. Consider yourself warned as well as invited to participate in a discussion through the comments below. 

T&T ROLLS OUT GAMIFICATION FOR BIZ TRAVEL

This page opens with "When Travel and Transport decided last year to develop a gamification program for corporate customers, it was making a conscious effort to focus on the carrot rather than the stick approach to travel management."

The general thinking is that Travel is one of the types of businesses that use gamification in an extrinsic manner. This is not necessarily anything to do with what you would call current-day gamification. Let's look at this article closer... 

Since this is for TRAVEL MANAGEMENT and not consumers, there is a chance they can break out of the extrinsic motivator mold. Oops! They actually lead with "Half of those customers will offer their travelers points that can be collected and redeemed for merchandise and travel rewards." Yep extrinsic. They say this is "different" because they are using it for a new part of the industry. I'm not convinced. Let's keep looking...

"[G]iving public recognition to travelers who do the most to hold down the firm’s expenses, can do wonders." Umm... not sure this is really anything new. 

They also mention leaderboards. All right, that's something basic and needed. That's good.

"What’s new is the science of using motivators to drive employees toward given objectives by creating relevance and allowing them to connect on their own terms." Science of motivators? I think this is really just a way to align the users' motivations with those of the business and using conditioning. There's simply nothing SOCIAL about it. 

Their final words: "Just do something fun and easy and see how it goes." Yep. They certainly seem to be doing that. Prizes for performance. That's not good. I predict this program will work for as long as someone can make a budget for prizes. 

Elearning! Magazine October/November Issue Focuses on Learning Gamification with Features by Game On! Learning

It's an article about a magazine with articles. Interesting angle, but you guessed it - it's a press release. Let's open it up!

Game On! Learning was called on to lead the charge. ' “Due to the ground-breaking nature of the issue, it was important to work closely with their editorial staff to provide the best possible information about learning gamification to their readers.” '

All right. This is going to be GROUND BREAKING! 

"A highlight of the issue is the gamified Pop Quiz." Umm... looking at it - what you have here is a classic case of extrinsic rewards. Not really ground-breaking. But they did do it online through a QR code. Kind of interesting, but really?

No consideration of SOCIAL, but they do make the case for the business impact. 

Badgeville Launches The Behavior Platform 5.0: the Next-Generation of Gamification Technology for the World's Largest Enterprises

Yep, another press release, but they are so big, it's worth a dissection.

The NUMBER one thing on their feature list: "Social Rewards: a new native feature to recognize users for their interactions with a brand on social networks, driving better retention and advocacy."

This is exactly what the other company offerings I've been going on about for weeks are MISSING. It is the true engine that makes gamifcation work, so that it's not just a "flash in the pan" extrinsic reward platform. 

Here's another SOCIAL-driven feature: "Platform Event Subscriptions. Notify external systems every time users earn rewards on Badgeville-powered sites and applications. For example, when a user completes a new mission, you could automatically trigger an e-mail to be sent from your E-mail Service Provider (ESP)."

This is some POWERFUL stuff. People WANT to be recognized socially for their performance and it is really meaningful when the others understand the effort that these rewards took to pull off. Ever told someone that you reached level 100 in Pac Man? What if someone told you they got a PERFECT score in Pac Man, where they collected every dot, ghost, and fruit for every level in the entire game? That would blow your mind because you have CONTEXT. And that's part of the value of social rewards. 

Intrinsic motivation is far more powerful than extrinsic motivation. C'mon, people! You need to WAKE UP AND SMELL THE MOTIVATION!

Signing off for today (11/07/13)

That's it for now. I fully expect you to share your thoughts here. Tell me I'm off base. I'll listen and adapt. I'm not "right," because no one is on matters like these, because this is a growing field, and I don't have all the information you do. More than anything, a discussion will help us ALL learn more. 

Gamification Examination: The Week in Gamification, October 28- Nov 1, 2013

What the heck do I know?

Feel free to look me up here.

Two years ago I was introduced to the world of "gamification," which is using game mechanics to encourage user behavior. This is not a new technique (think Airline Miles), but with the infusion of Big Data into the picture, the ability to track and modify user experiences on a millisecond by millisecond basis became possible. 

With the experience I have had in making video games that must react to users' every whim and desire, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to get into this new "field."

There are many ways to slice this onion, but one of the best ways to say it is that users that are experiencing gamified systems are more engaged and interested in what they are doing. In my opinion, it's because the people that are doing the gamification are being FORCED to listen to their users. Just like a good video game. 

But gamification is NOT a video game. As these blogs go forward, you'll see what I'm talking about. 

Let's discuss the highlights in this week's Gamification Examination!

Disclaimer: there are a lot of opinions thrown around in here. Consider yourself warned as well as invited to participate in a discussion through the comments below. 

Gamification – The only way to engage your audience

Reality is not enough for new consumers, gamification is needed to engage them. 

“This is a generation that will not accept the way the world is. If they are not impressed, they will leave you as a customer and go for a competitor,” Zichermann warned.

Mahindra Centuro Promotes Its Features Via Gamification On Social

While it is true that many of the behaviors that Mahindra Centuro want to see their users performing are included here, it is also just as likely that they will not receive the results they wish for. First of all, they are creating games that do not appear to people that they are primarily interested in. Secondly, they do not to appear to be creating situations that are realistic to the customers. 

They also  include an explanation of a Twitter contest. Really? I'm not convinced that this is any more than a press release, although this blogger does appear to write about different companies. 

The Role of Gamification in the Contact Center and Back Office

This seems like a real article. Let's see! 

"Why is gamification ideal for the contact center and back office? One word: millennials. They've grown up gaming. They know how to jump, punch, race, and run with a flip of their thumb on a control device, so gaming is in their DNA."

The group used as an example a company that focused on extrinsic rewards: "once the agent hits that 25th triple play, he or she wins a $50 gift card. This technique has helped this company boost triple play sales by 18 percent in the first three months of the program."

Another example: "This particular insurer's contact center gamified its add-on policy cross-sell program by awarding points for each add-on policy an agent sold, and offered prizes such as Blu-ray players and flat-screen TVs at certain point levels."

My take: while this IS gamification, it's just about the worst way to implement it. Not only does it cost the company cash, in my mind it causes sales people to do anything they can to "beat" their other co-workers instead of working on a common goal: the success of the business. Honestly it seems that they have forgotten one of the KEY aspects: the SOCIAL aspect, where they become rewarded for what they do and share those successes with the others in the company. 

I happen to agree with one of the commentors on the article: "The only thing new about [this type of] "gamification" is the name and that it's now being applied in the consumer marketplace. The often quoted Gartner study was not focused on Call Centers and has no validity when comparing gamification successes or failures within call centers. It also took the erroneous view that gamification was a new idea."

LevelEleven Executives and Customers to Present at the World's Largest Vendor-Led Technology Gathering

This is DEFINITELY a press release. Let's see what they have to say... 

They are presenting at Dreamforce 2013 and here's the pitch: "LevelEleven's lead product, Compete, is an easy-to-use app that creates competitions and leaderboards around any behavior that can be tracked in a CRM system."

Now, one thing that is VITAL in a successful gamification system is, again, the SOCIAL aspect. Where users can SEE others successes and SHARE how they are doing. This solution does not appear to have that as a key feature. And that is not a good thing.

Signing off for today (11/01/13)

To be completely honest, I didn't see too much this week that blew my mind. Even the above were pretty lame. 

That's it for now. I fully expect you to share your thoughts here. Tell me I'm off base. I'll listen and adapt. I'm not "right," because no one is on matters like these, because this is a growing field, and I don't have all the information you do. More than anything, a discussion will help us ALL learn more. 

Gamification Examination: The Week in Gamification, October 21-25, 2013

What the heck do I know?

Feel free to look me up here.

Two years ago I was introduced to the world of "gamification," which is using game mechanics to encourage user behavior. This is not a new technique (think Airline Miles), but with the infusion of Big Data into the picture, the ability to track and modify user experiences on a millisecond by millisecond basis became possible. 

With the experience I have had in making video games that must react to users' every whim and desire, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to get into this new "field."

There are many ways to slice this onion, but one of the best ways to say it is that users that are experiencing gamified systems are more engaged and interested in what they are doing. In my opinion, it's because the people that are doing the gamification are being FORCED to listen to their users. Just like a good video game. 

But gamification is NOT a video game. As these blogs go forward, you'll see what I'm talking about. 

Let's discuss the highlights in this week's Gamification Examination!

Disclaimer: there are a lot of opinions thrown around in here. Consider yourself warned as well as invited to participate in a discussion through the comments below. 

Why gamification is the future of social TV

This article describes how the players in online / social TV and video delivery are finding ways to entice users to share content as well as become more deeply involved with it through contests, surveys, and additional material on the content creators' websites. It's as if they were using the content as a trap for their users! But if you think about it, don't you want your users more ENGAGED with your products and content? What are YOU doing to encourage deeper involvement with your product? Maybe you're an employer that wants to gamify your employees... what ways can you provide to get your employees more excited about your company and its products or services?  

Will Social Media, Big Data, and "Gamification" Replace the Recruiter?

Remember what we said about Big Data above? Well, it's really here to stay and the NSA isn't the only one with access to it. If you're using the internet on anyone's site... they know what you're doing and what you're clicking on. Get used to it. 

Oh yeah, I'm going to write about that article. On second thought... I won't. Because it's a paid Press Release that requires you to login to their system and then download the real information. 

Based upon my experience and what I've read lately, they won't be replaced, but they will have a tougher time. If gamification is implemented correctly in organizations, some studies show that turnover is reduced up to 37%. That makes it a little harder to dig someone out of a job. 

Get the Technology Outlook for STEM+ Education 2013-2018

Now this is something you can download and read. Here's my summary: It turns out that kids like games. No, they really like games. And they are highly motivated when someone makes their educational material into a game. Shocking, right? Well, it's backed up with a bunch of data now, so pay attention. 

The next round of employees are going to be bored out of their minds in your organization if you cannot figure out how to motivate them. Here are the keys to the kingdom: Big Data, Gamification, and Immersive Learning Environments. You're welcome. 

Here's the index to the PDF, in case you want to dig deeper. 

Time-to-Adoption Horizon: One Year or Less 

• Learning Analytics 
• Mobile Learning 
• Online Learning 
• Virtual and Remote Laboratories 

 Time-to-Adoption Horizon: Two to Three Years 

• 3D Printing 
• Games and Gamification 
• Immersive Learning Environments 
• Wearable Technology 

 Time-to-Adoption Horizon: Four to Five Years 

• Flexible Displays 
• The Internet of Things 
• Machine Learning 
• Virtual Assistants 

Why you were not wasting your time playing video games - an introduction to gamification

This article is all about the basics of gamification as well as a couple of good examples of its use. Again, it all boils back down to game mechanics, motivating and engaging users, and additional depth of content and experience. 

They warn about the risks of gamification to be mentioned later, but I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that their comments about it being bad or poorly accepted are going to prove to be either a poor implementation that doesn't resonate with users or, worse, a fire and forget strategy that was a failure before it started. If you are going to use gamification, you MUST fully commit to its needs. And those needs are based in what online video games have been doing for over twenty years: new content and user directed feedback. In other words, if you're not committed to adding new content and listening to your users, you have already failed. See #6 on my blog post: 6 Things to Consider Before you Implement a Gamification Strategy. You have to be committed. 

Game Thinking – Breaking it Down

This is a pretty good blog! While it only lightly touches on gamification, it does put it in perspective of how it fits within the "gaming" or "toy" realm. It has links to other blogs with much more deep material that you can dive into as you wish. 

His take on intrinsic / extrinsic motivation is a little different than mine, but that's okay. While he defines extrinsic as "points, badges, etc." I see those as ways to visualize intrinsic motivation. My definition of extrinsic is "something you can hold or experience," like a prize or a lunch with the CEO. Maybe I'm way wrong, but the point of intrinsic-ness is that it is inherently personal and there's no way to know what someone's intrinsic motivators are. If nothing taught me that any other way, video games have shown me the light. 

I constantly play games with people that have decided on their own "win" conditions. These are rules that they make up with the tools they have and may have nothing to do with the original game experience. It's like playing pool with someone and they decide that you have to shoot with the wrong hand and bank the cue ball off one rail before hitting the object ball. Using "badges," you can actually reward people for doing things like that, and you'll allow those players to show off the fact that they were able to play in that manner. I think that's rewarding because you were able to take that motivation and reward it. And you can only do that if you have built a gamification system that allowed for that flexibility AND you listened to your users to find out that they wanted to experience your system that way. 

What if your employees decided that the best salesman was the one that could close three sales between 4:45pm and closing time, 5pm AND those customers gave them 5 star ratings on their customer review system? What if they wanted to get a lunch with the CEO for getting to work on time every day for a month? Could your system adjust for that quickly? Do you have a plan in place and a person in place that listens to these desires?

Retail bank innovation focuses on mobile, location-based services and gamification

This references a report that you have to be a member to download. I'm not going to sign up for all of these services, but if you want to give it a go, here's the link.

For all of the hype in the title, here's the one quote that mentions it: "Gamification has been used by nine percent of banks, with 45 percent aiming to gaming elements to engage customers in future." Wow. Not much to go on, but still impressive given that banks are usually not taking risks like this. So, what does that tell you? I think it says that someone has seen the writing and the ROI and wants in. It's not giving a rifle to depositors, but it's taking a risk anyway!

I'm an online customer of CHASE, and I don't feel like their system is gamified, but there are tools I can use that help me manage my money more like a game if I want to. I can set alerts and get texts for whatever I want. I like to think of them as my little helpers that are managing my money. But again, that's MY intrinsic motivation. What would happen if they actually let me choose avatars that sent me email in their "voice?" What if I got badge awards for direct deposits or putting regular deposits in my savings accounts? Heck, what if I could participate in a greater challenge like Kiva or BOINC, where my badges added up to a group goal? Austin has saved $1million dollars this year, so CHASE is donating $10,000 to [insert charity you chose to "save" toward]. My goodness, that would be a win for everyone. How much does advertisement cost? And how much would that interest gain for them? You do the math. I'll keep dreaming. 

Signing off for today (10/22/13)

That's it for now. I fully expect you to share your thoughts here. Tell me I'm off base. I'll listen and adapt. I'm not "right," because no one is on matters like these, because this is a growing field, and I don't have all the information you do. More than anything, a discussion will help us ALL learn more. 

6 Things to Consider Before you Implement a Gamification Strategy

Gamification has been my main learning opportunity and new professional skill for over two years. I went live with my first gamification effort in August 2011 at an educational company and now I am working as a gamification expert for one of my favorite clients. It's a lot of fun working with teams that are committed and enthusiastic!

There are many positives and negatives about implementing gamification, from matching a cultural fit to ensuring that there is top down support for the effort. 

Top down support is the place to reality check first. If your leaders aren't sold on the idea, it's likely that some of the necessary pillars for success will not get put in place before they want to "hurry up and launch it!" Make sure they know what they're getting into and how it affects the bottom like.

After experiencing this gamification effort and watching implementations succeed or fail, what kind of tips can I offer to a company considering using gamification to engage their employees? Here are six that are vital.

1) "Just what the hell is gamification? Is it all Nintendo and no real work?" Ensure everyone knows what gamification is: a way to use proven techniques to encourage, engage, and reward people for doing the things the organization wants them to accomplish.

2) "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it." Be sure that you can quantify what you REALLY want your employees / customers to accomplish. It has to be measurable. 

3) "Know your audience." Make sure the experience is genuine to your product or service and a good cultural fit for your community. If there is a disconnect, you can bet they won't participate.

4) "Honesty is the best policy." If you make a mistake, own up to it immediately and completely. People forgive mistakes. People remember cover-ups. This is especially true with customers on the internet. The internet never forgets and it's awake 24 hours a day.

5) "Gamification is NOT 'fire and forget." Successful gamification efforts are seriously supported. You measure and adjust. You redo your onboarding until it shines. You find ways to continually delight your community. Continuous upkeep and tweaking of the experience is vital to long-term success. New features are introduced as they are needed, and those are carefully chosen by the right people, which may in fact be your community. 

6) "Are you committed?" Gamification is a big undertaking, but the results can not only be measured, they can significantly affect your ROI. Making the shift to gamifying your company in any way requires a lot of trust (with everyone in your company), and a commitment to constant self-reflection. Are the company's needs aligned with its processes? Do we know what our staff are supposed to be doing? Are we providing the right service to our customers? If you are ready to question everything so you can align your gamification efforts with those of the organization and your community or employees, you are on the right path.

Without a Community Engagement Manager, 

your community is not really connected

In order to keep the above maxims alive and thriving, you require a dedicated, driven, healthy "Community Engagement Manager" to continually understand the feelings of the staff and align their goals and needs with those of the organization. They are also responsible for the overall health of the community as well as leading the product direction for the gamification efforts. 

Only a special person can juggle these needs and lead your community exceptionally well. It's a non-stop challenge to keep people interested, and if the point is to keep them engaged, they need to be well nurtured. 

I'd love to hear your thoughts! Do you know an amazing "Community Engagement Manager?" What qualities do you think they should bring to the table? What is their real job title?

Why does re-engagement matter?

What makes you remember to go back to a website? What makes you decide to see your dentist at the right time? Unless you're making notes yourself, you are being RE-engaged.

What made you think of that PARTICULAR webpage, store, or restaurant?

I am putting together my thoughts on how re-engagement works and how it has (or hasn't) evolved over the years now for a talk I'm giving at Captivate Conference in October, and I'll share it online when I'm done with it, hopefully as a video.

How do you get your users to come back, even after they've had a fully awesome session with your product / service / website experience? That's the real trick, I think, and people don't have that considered as part of the overall plan. They tend to tack it on later, once they notice that those heavily involved users quit coming back.

Whether it's an email, TV ad, banner ad, snail mail, text, or phone call, what reminds YOU to go back to a product or service? Why does it work?

PS Tickets are available for Captivate here! A 15% discount (that expires SOON) can be used here.