Category Archives: Gamification

Analytics, Gamification, Induction programme, On-boarding/ Induction, sales training

Scoring Success: How Leaderboards and Rewards Can Drive Team Performance

Leave a comment

Leaderboards and rewards are powerful tools for motivating teams. They work by providing clear and tangible markers of progress, as well as a sense of competition and accomplishment. A study conducted by the University of California, Berkeley found that leaderboards can increase productivity by as much as 44%. 

Motivates them to achieve a goal 

When team members can see their progress on a leaderboard, they are more likely to feel motivated to continue working towards a goal. Additionally, leaderboards can be used to track progress over time, which allows team members to see how far they have come, and how much further they have to go. 

Creates a sense of competition 

Another reason leaderboards and rewards are effective is that they create a sense of competition. When team members can see how they are doing compared to others, they are more likely to push themselves to do better. This can be especially effective when the leaderboard is public, as it creates a sense of accountability and encourages team members to work harder. 

Creates a tangible marker of achievement 

Rewards are great motivators for teams, as they provide a tangible marker of achievement. When team members are rewarded for their hard work, they feel a sense of accomplishment and validation. This can be especially motivating when the rewards are meaningful and relevant to the team members, such as extra time off, or a bonus. A study by the Harvard Business Review found that tangible rewards, such as bonuses or gift cards, can increase motivation by as much as 25%. 

Builds camaraderie within the team 

In addition to providing a sense of progress and competition, leaderboards and rewards can also be used to build camaraderie and teamwork among team members. When team members are working towards a common goal, they are more likely to support and collaborate with one another. This can lead to a more cohesive and productive team overall. 

Drives employee engagement & boosts morale 

Research also shows that leaderboards and rewards can have a positive impact on employee engagement. A study by Gallup found that engaged employees are more likely to stay in their job, leading to lower turnover rates and cost savings for the company. Research by the University of Warwick found that happy employees are 12% more productive than their unhappy counterparts. 

However, the way leaderboards and rewards are implemented can impact their effectiveness. It’s important to make sure that leaderboards and rewards are used in a way that is fair and transparent. Team members should be aware of the criteria and rules for earning rewards, and should be able to see their progress on the leaderboard.  

Let’s look at a case study of how leaderboards can be used to increase training adoption in a sales team in ABC Inc., a Pharmaceutical company. ABC Inc. wants to increase the adoption of a new sales training program among its sales representatives. To achieve this, ABC Inc. implements a leaderboard system to track the progress of the sales representatives as they complete the training. 

The leaderboard is displayed on a large screen in the sales department and updated in real-time. It shows the names of the sales representatives and their progress through the training program. It also includes metrics such as the percentage of training completed and the scores achieved on quizzes and exams. The leaderboard is set up in a way that sales representatives can easily see where they stand in relation to their colleagues, and the top performers are highlighted. 

To further motivate the sales team, ABC Inc. also implements a rewards system. Sales representatives who complete the training within a certain timeframe or achieve a certain score are given bonuses or other incentives, such as extra time off.  

This would ideally result in further competition among the sales team and an increase in training adoption. 

To sum up, leaderboards and rewards are powerful motivators for teams because they provide clear markers of progress, create a sense of competition, and provide tangible markers of achievement. Additionally, they can build teamwork and camaraderie among team members. When used in a fair and transparent manner, leaderboards and rewards can help to create a more motivated and productive team. 

Advertisement
Employee-Training, Game-based learning, Game-based Learning Infographics, Gamification, Press, QuoDeck, Remote Working

People More Motivated By Entertainment Than Traditional Learning Constructs: Kamalika Bhattacharya, CEO and Co-founder, Quodeck

Leave a comment

Anyone who runs a digital business recognizes the need for interesting and interactive content to attract and retain customers, train employees, and gig workers, and engage value chain stakeholders. This is precisely where QuoDeck comes in. A B2B SaaS Digital Learning and Engagement Platform, QuoDeck enables organizations to use interactivity and games to engage audiences. Founders Kamalika Bhattacharya and Arijit Lahiri experienced a moment of insight on a routine visit to a mall. “We found that in between scanning visitors, the security guard was playing candy crush,” exclaims Bhattacharya. “That’s when we realized that people are more motivated by entertainment than traditional learning constructs,”

QuoDeck began as a game-based learning system but now offers a complete digital engagement suite, called the QuoDeck Interactive Cloud that promises engagement, speed, mobility, regionalization, data, and security. QuoDeck has been awarded a fellowship by the Royal Academy of Engineering, London and Newton Fund and selected as a winner at ET Power of Ideas.

Today, QuoDeck caters to over 5 million users across an enterprise client list that includes Unilever, Vodafone, Flipkart, Dabur, etc.

Role of gamification in the workplace

Gaming is all about stimulating people, driving a healthy sense of competition among them, and ultimately rewarding them. Rooted in psychology, it can be used to drive any kind of activity or function in the workplace. It works particularly well in the field of learning and enablement by adding an element of fun to propel interest and engagement. This is often achieved by using points, badges, rewards, and contests to create a sense of competition and winning around learning and knowledge consumption.

Studies have shown that through gamified learning and training, retention of information is longer and has high recall value due to the fact it is generally imparted through an audio-video medium. Gamification is also an excellent tool to test participants. It can be used to assess how the participants manage time, prioritize and respond to social cues, among other key skills.

Nowadays, many organisations are shifting towards gamification, making the corporate process smooth and easy going for both HRs and employees.

Gamification is used at workplaces to add a fun element and to increase the level of interest of employees in their day-to-day tasks. It is used in many corporate practices such as onboarding new employees, training, employee engagement & motivation.

What is the scope for job creation through Gamification?

Educational, training, and recruitment platforms are increasingly leveraging the fun elements of gaming to help engage people in jobs. It follows then, that the reverse can also be true – gamification can be used to impart basic skills to people before they are hired and also upskilling them after they are hired. This should impel better outcomes for people looking for work opportunities, effectively making them more job-ready.

Also, an increasing proportion of the workforce that companies are going to hire in the near future will be gig workers. According to a 2021 report by Boston Consulting Group, gig workers have the potential to service up to 90 million jobs in India, or 10 percent of India’s roughly 900 million-strong workforce in the near future. Companies across sectors are banking on the rise of the gig economy to scale fast but quickly hiring gig workers and training them is a huge challenge for enterprises. Gamification can solve for this challenge and maximise job creation. Entertainment and gaming platforms are hugely popular among gig workers to alleviate boredom. A platform that leverages this entertainment factor with high-quality UI can help companies hire and train staff in a highly scalable manner.

The Role of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

QuoDeck tracks event stream data continuously and uses Machine Learning methods to figure out trends that prove effective for people. The data is aggregated, co-related, and filtered in real time to help create personalized recommendation algorithms that evolve based on what users prefer to consume. As for Artificial Intelligence, that finds applications in learning content creation such as question generators and chat bots that are used to mimic real-life situations as closely as possible.

Where does India stand versus global trends in the adoption of Gamification?

If you look at the numbers, the global gamification market is expected to grow exponentially to USD 38.3 billion by 2027, from a mere USD 9.1 billion in 2020. Things are a little slower in India. While the adoption of gaming is widespread, the use of gamification mechanics in businesses is still at a nascent stage. Moreover, gamification seems to be geared more towards the internal customer than the external. Most Indian apps have yet to gamify their customer, partner or vendor onboarding process as well as their loyalty programs even though these are known to have a tremendous impact.

Working with fortune 500 companies

As India’s largest digital learning and engagement platform, QuoDeck works with several Fortune 500 companies such as Unilever, Vodafone, Flipkart, Tata Consumer, Dabur, and Britannia. These companies have been quick off the mark in recognising the potential and benefits of gamification for their external and internal audiences. Gamification is particularly effective for training and upskilling full-time employees as well as gig workers. Moreover, given the large audiences these companies need to address, digital platforms are the only scalable option for them as they allow standardization and big data collection.

What would it take for smaller companies to adopt Gamification?

Smaller companies need bite-sized platforms and a content-ready approach to spur them to adopt gamification in their businesses. Reducing the cost outlay and providing customized platforms that can go live in a matter of days will certainly make gamification more widely acceptable.

How far away are we from a future where every company prioritises this?

Most companies already realize the need for scalable platforms to train their workers. A field-based workforce requires an approach to training that is different from the traditional classroom, workshop, or on-the-job model. Gamification makes the process of learning entertaining, pull-based and relatable, thereby allowing for maximum adretention. Businesses can no longer afford to ignore the importance of gaming and gamification as effective tools for audience engagement and training; embracing them fully is not too far away in the future.

What are QuoDeck’s plans and goals?

Modern-day businesses across the world are dealing with the challenge of reaching their geographically widespread workforce. This challenge is a huge opportunity for us. We plan to go global with our entire suite of services and work with companies in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. While we pursue this goal, we need to ensure that QuoDeck remains the market leader in its category as it is today. We hope to keep it so with constant cutting-edge innovation.

This was first published on BW Gaming World

Corporate Learning and Development, Employee-Training, Game-based learning, Gamification, QuoDeck

How hyper-casual gaming can be used to transform enterprise outcomes 

Leave a comment

It’s undeniable that gaming is no longer a niche, but has become mainstream. In the past, gaming as an activity or culture was identified with console gaming through PlayStations and Xbox, which were far too unattainable to gain mainstream acceptance. But mobile gaming has taken the world by storm and has gained broad-based appeal and adoption. Gen-Z and Millennial audiences, especially, spend more time gaming than on any other form of entertainment. 

Even within gaming,  the hyper-casual game genre has become increasingly popular. As a game genre, it accounted for almost 60% of mobile game downloads out of the top 20 billion downloads in 2021. With simple user interfaces, compact sizes, and highly visual designs, hyper-casual games have a broad appeal among digital audiences, and not just among Gen-Z and Millennial players. So, given the popularity of this genre, how can this be leveraged to drive enterprise outcomes. 

Today, let’s take a tour of hyper-casual games, their characteristics, and their incorporation into the enterprise to drive the best business outcomes. 

What are Hyper-Casual Games?

Let’s start with what hyper-casual games are. They are games that incorporate simple mechanics such as clicking on something repeatedly, or swiping and selecting, or just clicking to avoid obstacles. They don’t require high levels of hand-eye coordination and incorporate bright visuals to make them eye-catching. Therefore, the level of skill asked of the player of a hyper-casual game is very low, making these games playable across all age groups. 

Hyper casual games will also have mechanisms such as simple level-ups, bonus gatherings, and repeat visit rewards, all to make the player feel good about playing the game with easier ‘wins’. 

Although they tend to concentrate on a single basic mechanic, such as endless running or finding hidden objects, hyper-casual games are nonetheless tricky enough to keep players engaged. In short, hyper-casual games are simple to learn but challenging to master, which draws players in repeatedly. The genre is famous for being played in small or snackable bursts, that gamers can enjoy while waiting in line or commuting to work.

How can games be used to drive enterprise outcomes?

Considering its minimal game mechanics and addictive game play it is easy to incorporate learning into hyper-casual games to increase knowledge retention and engagement, leading to higher productivity. 

Question-based, hyper-casual gaming is a mechanic where questions can be answered to gain more time or lives or rewards in a game. As players play the game longer and longer to achieve high scores, they encounter these questions again and again as they seek to gain more time/lives to reach a higher score than before. Such a mechanic is known to drive higher recall of these facts or concepts, simply because they are seen again and again. This is a scientific technique called ‘Spaced Repetition’, where the repetition of these questions places difficult-to-recall facts and information in front of a learner multiple times until it excites not just rote memory, but visual memory as well. Multi-sensory memory ensures that these facts stick in the mind of the learner for a long time. 

Based on the ‘high scores’, players then get to see a leaderboard, where they can compete with others on knowledge. This leaderboard spurs players to try to keep knocking others off the top perch and creates a ‘Pull’ mechanism for the content. Therefore, the need to beg and cajole learners to consume the content is very low. Additionally, social media mechanics can be added to create buzz such as sharing their wins on internal company pages or running these as contests, which reward those at the top of the leaderboard. 

To sum up, it is undeniable that the popularity of the hyper-casual gaming genre combined with incorporating learning approaches makes it a potent tool in the hands of smart, new-age enterprise learning and capability development professionals. As the proportions of enterprise audiences start to lean more heavily in favor of millennials and Gen-Z, enterprises must make the leap to these approaches in order to remain relevant in these young minds.

Corporate Learning and Development, Gamification, Mobile Learning, Press, QuoDeck

Consumer engagement: Gamified campaign gaining momentum with leading brands

Leave a comment

QuoDeck’s gamified campaign #D2City has received over five million impressions in just two weeks

Leading brands are using gamified campaigns for engaging with consumers due lack of physical space where consumers can experience or see D2C (direct-to-consumer) brands after the Covid outbreak.

QuoDeck’s one-of-a-kind gamified campaign #D2City, which is used as an engagement strategy for over 28 brands enrolled on the platform, has received over five million impressions in just 14 days of its launch. Over one million engaged through videos, games, and other content.

Kamalika Bhattacharya, CEO, QuoDeck said innovative brand communication is the key to capturing customer attention in this age of transient loyalty and #D2City has established a brand new high engagement marketing tactic for D2C brands across sectors to create brand affinity.

The campaign was designed as an interactive digital city that allowed visitors to experience, explore, play and learn about their favorite D2C brands.

Mobile-friendly gaming microsite

For the campaign, Quodeck hosted over 28 big and small D2C brands from industries such as Cosmetics, Electronics, Personal Care, Food, Apparel, and Baking Goods, among others, in a mobile-friendly gaming microsite designed as a city with buildings, key buildings playing host to brands and their games.

The D2City campaign leveraged the growing popularity of gamification to help D2C brands capture consumer attention from far beyond just tier-I cities. During the duration of the #D2City campaign, the platform received 80 percent hits from tier-II and -III cities across the country, correlating with the rising demand for D2C in these areas.

Launched in 2017 by Kamalika Bhattacharya and Arijit Lahiri, QuoDeck is a B2B SaaS Digital Learning and Engagement Platform that enables organizations to use interactivity and games to engage audiences such as employees, value chain, and gig workforces.

The platform is highly scalable and equipped to handle large user bases and extended ecosystems such as sellers, agents, vendors, distributors, partners, etc.

Today, QuoDeck is the market leader in its category, catering to over five million users across an enterprise clients, including Unilever, Vodafone, Flipkart, and Dabur.

This was first published on The Hindustan Business

Gamification, Press, QuoDeck, Start-up's

5 Apps and Platforms that every enterprise should have to get the best from people across their value chain

Leave a comment

Companies across the world rely on a complete suite of business activities and processes that go into creating a product or providing a service. Commonly referred to as Value Chains, these multiple stages in a product or service offering increasingly determine an enterprise’s efficiency, profit, and success. However, any Value Chain can only be as effective as the people behind it.

Though the world of business was already on the cusp of change in terms of technology and digitization, the pandemic changed the way businesses thought, by placing the workforce in the ‘driver’s seat of a company’s growth. It was no longer about where people worked, or how many hours they put in; instead, it was about taking ownership and delivering results in the absence of structured workplaces. And the fact was, it took motivated employees and value chains to do this well, leading to a virtuous cycle of productivity and loyalty leading to customer retention and market growth for businesses.

With the pandemic slowing, but the new ways of working here to stay, companies are being pushed to adopt technologies and platforms faster to support this way of working. We’ve compiled 5 apps and platforms that can help companies get the best from their value chains in today’s world:

1. Digital Training and Enablement (QuoDeck) –

QuoDeck is a SaaS Digital Learning and Engagement Platform that enables organizations to use interactivity and games to engage their employees, value chain, and gig workforces.

QuoDeck caters to the growing need for organizations to drive last-mile performance improvement through a better understanding of products, services, processes, and sales & customer service approaches. The platform creates pull through the use of games and gamification mechanics, driving higher adoption and retention, and delivering market-beating performance improvement outcomes for organizations. Furthermore, by using interactivity and games, QuoDeck helps capture valuable data in real-time, and analyze it through big data analytical tools.

QuoDeck offers a complete digital engagement suite, called the QuoDeck Interactive Cloud that promises engagement, speed, mobility, regionalization, data, and security. Today, QuoDeck is the market leader in its category, catering to over 5 million users across Fortune 500 clients.

2. Employee Financial Wellness (Valyu) –
Valyu secures the employee’s financial wellness through its tailored financial products and services. It builds literacy around better personal finance practices and takes care of all unexpected financial crises, celebrations, and smart savings.

Valyu.AI is a fintech startup committed to innovation and financial wellness that partners with companies to enhance their employer brand. Valyu offers a suite of financial services & products on social inclusion and financial wellness for all employees across the board. The company has set out to reduce employee financial stress by providing employers with a holistic approach that addresses financial well-being issues at its core. Their financial wellness programs have changed lives, and improved staff retention and productivity by providing enterprises with a holistic approach that addresses financial wellbeing issues at its core.

Founded in 2020, The company leverages AI and Machine Learning to develop advanced salary solutions that can help companies alleviate their employees’ financial concerns by giving them early access to their earnings and establishing a financial care framework.

3. Employee Gifting (IGP for Business)
IGP for Business is India’s 1st Gift tech Company and is a one-stop destination and partner for enterprise rewards and loyalty solutions. With a fully automated, high-tech gift tech platform, IGP for Business empowers companies to leverage gifting as a growth driver. IGP for Business offers a robust Digital platform for enterprises to manage the Rewards & Incentive Programs for their employees, channel partners & customers. You get access to India’s widest multi-category reward catalog across personalized and perishable merchandise options, as well as 100+ e-gift cards.

Employee Gifting is important because it helps build engagement and overall loyalty by creating an experience that sparks an emotional connection, strengthening the employee’s relationship with the company. With IGP for Business Platform, enterprises can celebrate their employees’ birthdays, anniversaries, and special occasions by uploading a bulk order through a customized dashboard. IGP for Business does the rest. The company ensures your pre-selected gift reaches your employee’s office or home, wherever they may be. What’s more, they ensure it reaches a pre-designated time, and the proof of delivery with the timestamp is updated in real-time on your dashboard. Invoicing gets digitized as well. If you are an enterprise that runs Loyalty Programs, Channel Incentive Programs, or Employee R&R programs, in that case, IGP for Business can power your entire rewards catalog across Merchandise as well as Gifts Vouchers.

4. Employee Benefits program (Advantage Club) –

Advantage Club was founded to define employee benefits beyond just provident funds and corporate discounts beyond just dining. It has grown into a platform through which corporates can engage more meaningfully with their clients. Advantage clubs aid employees with rewards and recognition, early wage access, perks, and other products in order to increase employee engagement within the firm.

Launched in 2016, Advantage Club runs a corporate discount platform and an end-to-end reward and recognition solution. When corporates enroll with Advantage Club, they get access to exclusive offers from over 10000 brands, including Samsung, Faasos, PNB Housing, Myntra, and Apollo Pharmacy, among others.

With over 370 corporate clients, including giants like Concentrix, EY, Technotree, DXC, Maruti Suzuki, Punjab National bank, and Mphasis, Advantage Club is leading the $10 billion market in SE Asia.

5. Corporate Wellness (HealthifyMe) –

HealthifyMe offers corporate wellness programs to enterprises to improve employee health & engagement. Employees have witnessed a 50% increase in physical activities and a 59% increase in engagement. The programs are based on a gamified app that includes a leader board, teams, and tasks & objectives and is tailored according to employee needs.

HealthifyMe is an Indian digital health and wellness platform headquartered in Bangalore that provides services such as calorie tracking, one-on-one nutrition and fitness coaching, and diet and workout plans. It was founded in 2012 by Tushar Vashisht, Sachin Shenoy, and Mathew Cherian.

This was first published on SmartStateIndia

Corporate Learning and Development, Corporate Learning Best Practices, Game-based learning, Gamification, Mobile Learning

Will Gamification For D2C Brands Work?

1 Comment

As D2C brands take on established brand mammoths to capture consumer attention, with proven use cases of gamification and many well-known brands reaping its rewards, gamification has now become an essential weapon in any smart, new-age marketer’s arsenal

With the world undergoing unprecedented transformations since the Covid-19 pandemic began, enterprises across the globe are reimagining their branding and marketing strategies to adapt and realign with the changing needs of their consumers.

One sector that has stood out from the rest in the post-pandemic era has been D2C retail, which saw a significant uptick in demand during these times. At present, D2C brands have sprung up in multiple sectors, including fashion, FMCG, Homecare, Femtech, personal care, baby care, cosmetics, lifestyle, home décor, consumer electronics, among others. More than 800 D2C brands in India are carving a niche for themselves, with many more to join the ecosystem in the coming years. Such a backdrop points to an increasingly competitive space where only those who deploy the best brand strategies will survive in the long run.

The most significant challenge faced by D2C brands today is one of creating brand recognition among consumers. Given the lack of a physical space where consumers can experience or see the brand, digital mediums such as YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Whatsapp etc., become the primary mediums through which consumers are reached. However, high clutter in these channels makes content differentiation a critical marketing need.

Gamification, as a strategy, is one such way in which D2C brands can strongly differentiate and attract new consumers.

There is a natural instinct in every person to compete, to be challenged, to have fun, to be rewarded, and to mirror. These five innate instincts can be satiated through games and gamified engagement. Furthermore, when people play games, they feel motivated and experience a positive ’rush’. Gamification in the context of marketing merely couples these positive emotions through game elements and game principles with a topic or information about a product.

Gamification is already widely used in a variety of contexts across sectors with the ultimate goal of entertaining, engaging, and educating audiences. Globally the Gamification market is expected to grow to USD 38.3 Billion by 2027, from USD 9.1 billion in 2020. The global gaming market is expected to be USD 268.8 billion in 2025, up from USD 178 billion in 2021. This is fueled by growing acceptance of this medium in the minds of consumers across the world. As younger populations enter the working age and with the advent of mediums such as VR, this trend is only expected to magnify.

In the context of D2C brands, tried and tested gamification methods can be a game-changer in many ways, some of which we’ve explored here.

Enhance reach and brand awareness

Brands can use games to create fun interactive content for people to discover and understand their brand and products. Using gamification elements incentivizes the interaction while creating hype for your product or services among consumers. This is also a great way to promote newly launched products or campaigns; there is a high likelihood that a consumer may participate or make a purchase with a game as a hook.

When you integrate a game into your brand content across different consumer touchpoints, you also encourage your consumers to share their gaming experience with their social networks, as gaming activities get a lot of shares.

This increases a brand’s reach and awareness, thereby making it easy to attract new consumers. For example, a study by Gigya, a customer identity management platform, found that brands such as Nike, Dell and Pepsi, who used gamified elements in their content, saw a 13% increase in post comments, 22% more post shares and a phenomenal 68% content discovery rate.

Drive Engagement and Increase Brand Loyalty

Game principles can be used to achieve the holy grail of marketing – sustained engagement. According to Digital Marketing Forum, 60% of people admit that an appealing game from a brand may influence them to buy more from that brand. Similarly, a survey conducted by Ask Your Target Market found that 38% of people enjoy their shopping experience when brands include games or interactive features. This data indicates that gamification can enhance sales, brand awareness, and customer loyalty and help develop an emotional connect with the audience. This, in turn, leads to a longer relationship with consumers, as opposed to simple brand awareness. Brands that gamify to raise engagement find that games also tend to boost customer experience and satisfaction.

With the increased demand for consumer entertainment since the pandemic began, brands can leverage gamification to make the user’s engagement with the brand more enjoyable and dynamic. Bain & Company’s research shows that increasing customer retention rates by 5% increases profits by 25% to 95%.

Grab new segments’ attention: Target Generation Z and Millennials.

While gamification for digital marketing works well across all ages and demographics, games perform exceptionally well with Millennial and Gen Z audiences, as indicated by the Consumer Insights research, which found that about 81% of Gen Z gamers reported playing games in the past six months. Millennials and GenZ make up the majority of the 600 million internet users in India, and they are driving online shopping like never before. As a result, D2C

brands are getting higher responses and witnessing a sharp rise in engagement and visibility from Millennials and Gen-Z, who make up the major share of online shoppers. This points to a huge opportunity for D2C to leverage the affinity of Millenials and GenZ towards games and use gamified elements to drive revenue and engagement.

Generate data for personalisation and user retention

With hundreds of D2C startups and traditional retail companies vying to take the D2C route, customer acquisition costs are rising. A data-driven understanding of the customer can help D2C brands deliver unique experiences across channels, thus, improving retention and increasing overall customer LTV. Games naturally lend themselves to capturing higher levels of data that can indicate consumer behaviour or preferences. This sort of data can be generated through gamification applied across multiple touchpoints in the consumer decision journey.

The data collected can help D2C brands optimise experiences across customer lifecycle stages while reducing overall marketing costs.

As D2C brands take on established brand mammoths to capture consumer attention, they may need to find innovative ways of appealing to consumers. What better way than to deliver a personalised experience to make consumers feel like part of something unique and niche. With proven use cases of gamification and many well-known brands reaping its rewards, gamification has now become an essential weapon in any smart, new-age marketer’s arsenal.

By Kamalika Bhattacharya, CEO & Co-Founder at QuoDeck

This article was first published on BW Disrupt

Game-based learning, Game-based Learning Infographics, Gamification, Micro-learning, Mobile Learning

Ways That Actually Work To Engage Consumers During The Festive Season

1 Comment

Want to increase both sales and engagement during the festive season? I got you! Here are 5 effective ways that work to engage your consumers.  

The festive season is everyone’s favourite and that time of the year where brands record a rapid sales growth of more than 7.5%, even during the pandemic. For this sales rate, you need to create a strategy and organise your content schedule ahead of time to engage your customers effectively.

Do you want to know what strategy will engage your consumers for the upcoming festive season? Yes, you are reading the right page. QuoDeck has every solution for that.  

Try to plan and create your content to ensure that you’ll be able to give your audience engaging content on a consistent schedule throughout the festive season. You’ll also get the best results for your marketing as the festive sales season approaches.

Here is a list of 5 creative tips to engage with your consumers by embracing content for the festive season of 2021:- 

Use Engaging Push Notifications

Push notifications can provide a great experience and amaze users with useful content regardless of the device or browser being used.

Over the holiday season, your audience will be sensitive to content that helps them reach their goals. Use push notifications to notify users on their phone or desktop site that discounts, suggestions, or other resources are available to them.

Well-written and frequent messages on your website will result in higher engagement. Do you know how push notifications can boost app engagement by 88%?

Using push notifications to improve consumer experience by informing your consumers about shipping and discounts on pages they’re browsing would make festive shopping more attractive.

Create Giveaways

Isn’t the festive season the ideal time to host a giveaway? It highlights the spirit of the season, builds enthusiasm for the chance to win a great gift, and increases social media buzz for your brand.

Use e-newsletters, blog posts, and social media to announce the giveaway to your consumers. For example, you can create an email list by asking people to sign up to enter the game. Having people follow you on social media to join the giveaway will grow your social media following.

Add Festive Spirit To Your Online Community 

Do you realize that your brand image is dependent on how your consumers perceive you? With advertising, graphics, and other marketing strategies, you may influence how your brand is seen online, but engagement defines your brand image.

Establishing an online community is one of the most successful ways of generating meaningful and long-term engagement. It takes time, but it is well worth the investment.

Having a passionate group of interested people in your online community will always show your effective marketing and boost engagement during festive times.

Offer Festive Discounts People Can’t Refuse

What time will be excellent for great discounts than the festive season? Most of the country will be shopping for themselves or their dear ones. So now is a perfect time to offer discounts on products, services, or even delivery to increase engagement and sales.

Use your online community, such as websites, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, to update your customers about discounts, essential for engagement and sales generation. 

Create A 12-Days Drip Campaign

After the giveaway, you may put up an email drip strategy with 12 days of engaging content.

A 12-days email marketing campaign in which you draft emails in advance and schedule them to publish whenever the criteria are met. You might develop a set of 12 creative emails showcasing your brand offers which will appear in your consumer’s inbox daily throughout the festive shopping season. 

Exclusive discounts, free content, tutorials, and gift vouchers, an offer such as this can help you quickly grow an email list. If you organise beforehand to share it with your community, you may experience increased engagement and conversion rates.

Conclusion

Isn’t maybe the first time in history we’re implementing a festive marketing strategy to engage consumers in the middle of a pandemic? Yes, you heard me right, businesses need to continue to market well and offer information that will assist consumers in making wiser buying decisions and building engagement with their brands.

We’ve got you covered with the above-mentioned influential tips to engage with your consumers. In 2021, use these guaranteed strategies to boost engagement rates during the festive season.

Corporate Learning and Development, Corporate Learning Best Practices, Employee-Training, Gamification, L&D professionals, Sales, sales enablement

The Top 5 Ways to Transform Your Sales Team into a Sales-Enabled Organization

Leave a comment

Wondering why your team is lagging behind in sales? Here are some tips to transform yours into a sales-enabled company!

The sales team of any organization is a crucial driving force for good business. While standard sales strategies are used by a majority of organizations, the sales aspects are often undermined with more focus on enhancing your brand identity and other peripheral aspects.

For a business, at the end of the day, sales stand to be the most important. Even if you’re a brand that believes in making an impact or looking at the larger picture, you really can’t keep your vision going without having the basic funds for it. Many businesses fall to their ends due to the lack of a prompt sales team.

But the question is – how to make your company a sales-enabled one at large? Here are the top 5 ways with which you can transform yours into a sales-enabled organization:

  1. Modernize with CRM and collaboration tools

As much as you’d think your sales reps can handle it all, making their lives easier with some modern sales elements is always a good idea. Sales-friendly CRM systems can help to manage quality leads and target relevant consumers. Interactive and collaboration tools for your sales team can also do wonders for an effectively managed sales funnel. 

  1. Automate administrative and mundane tasks

Do everything you can to ensure your reps are focusing on sales and not mundane paperwork or other administrative tasks that could be managed digitally. If you’re still doing things the old-fashioned pen-to-paper way, it’s time to upgrade. Incorporate apps and devices into your workspace for digital signatures, cross-platform networking, and centrally updated data. In fact, handling mundane things electronically ensures not only saved time but improved security, privacy, and authenticity of data! 

  1. Use gamification strategies to encourage competition amongst reps

The sales playing field has traditionally been a competitive one. Who can finish their targets first? Who can get that promotion? How about easing the pressure-based competition and gamifying the competition between reps. Quodeck is a one-of-a-kind SaaS tool that allows you to create a gamified interactive interface that can be the next big thing to keep your sales reps engaged and on their toes. 

  1. Invest more in sales training and enablement

The businesses that experience a dip at the earliest are those that don’t train their reps well. You can’t expect your employees to deliver if you don’t provide them with the best training and set of resources to close the most number of deals! It is high time to invest in more effective sales training strategies, new technologies, and sales-enablement platforms for your business. 

  1. Analyze data to optimize strategy

Last but not least, fine-tuning your strategy as per your prior performances will truly make an impact. Insights from performance data can greatly transform your sales team and fine-tune their responses for client conversions. Classify and recognize aspects that are working and figure out strategies that are not working. You’d be blown away by how much data can reveal about your organization’s performance! Employ effective data analytics tools to reap the benefits of this. 

Conclusion

A few steps in the right direction can change your existing team into one with a little more perspective on sales. Assess your organization and shortlist what would work for you to boost up the potential of your sales department. Jump into these top options and find out what works for your business!

Corporate Learning and Development, e-Learning, Game-based learning, Game-based Learning Infographics, Gamification

The Best Tips To Get A Gamified Course: 5 Ways To Give Your Students a Fun Learning Experience  

Leave a comment

Applying a gamified learning method is a new technique many institutions are adopting today. Amplayfy offers effective ways for modern learners. 

The new-age learners of today can be referred to as modern learners. They have an abundance of information that they can anytime and anywhere, which can be quite overwhelming. However, if we compare today’s generation with the older ones, they have comparatively lesser attention spans. 

Thus, the need to include the correct way of learning is crucial for this generation to ensure that they are engaged and attentive. What can be better than gamification techniques for learners to enhance their engagement? Many studies have proven that such strategies affect not only their performance but also their productivity. To create such engaging courses, you can check out Amplayfy for the plenty of such options offered by them. 

Tips to make gamified courses:

Here are five tips to get an effective gamified course for learners and have a fun learning experience:

Tip 1: Know your students

a) Know the difficult parts 

Try to find out the trouble spots of the students since it will allow you to build the best gamification techniques for the classroom. The significant reason for finding students’ trouble areas is that they will let themselves be at the forefront of the gamified strategy.

b) Conduct a Survey 

You should conduct a survey in your class to design the right ways to keep them engaged. The aim is to learn about the games that students are most interested in. 

Tip 2: Set the learning goals

a) Define goals

Have proper objectives in the form of learning goals that will help solve the troubles of the learners. Setting learning goals will allow students to learn concepts and grow their skills. Add behavior goals to include guiding students to concentrate and perform efficiently.

b) Design projects that allow meeting these goals

Give the students ample choices that challenge as well as suit their abilities. You can accept the projects in the form of a presentation, creative writing, paper or essay, and even a creative product that suits the given topic. 

Step 3: Make a structure of the gamified learning experience

a) Modify the scoring system

For most students, marks or scores are the most frightening part of a school. The aim of gamification is to avoid the old ways of presenting marks and modify them. Try to focus more on their progress rather than on their mistakes. 

You can also give points for finishing extra-curricular tasks, being active in the class, or anything that shows their effort to learn.

b) Utilize ‘stages’

You can alter how you name the topics and chapters and try referring to them as stages. Unlike teachers, students might fail to resonate while referring to topics and chapters. However, students might be able to relate when you call it stages, especially gamers. 

As in games, to go to the next stage, they have to overcome the current challenges. Similarly, they have to apply the same technique for studies as well. You can try this by mentioning particular tasks as mandatory to go to the next stage. For example, unless students finish their homework or take part in class and quizzes, they won’t be allowed to go to the next stage. 

Step 4: Know the resources

a) Make a manual and form teams

Like almost all video games, try to make instruction manuals that explain to the students how they should work. Your manual can hold information such as:

  • How stages function
  • The type of task that learners will handle
  • Explain the new scoring system 
  • How learners can gain rewards, and what are those rewards 

It will be a reference for learners, which will tell what they should do to be successful in a gamified scenario.

Step 5: Use gamification factors

a) Ensure the progress is visible to the learners

Showing the progress made by the learners is an essential element of gamification. It is almost like promoting the student community. Try to inculcate the method of displaying their growth and what they have achieved so far. 

You can apply different techniques to display their progress, like a bar chart. Make and share a bar chart that holds the growth made by every learner in learning a skill. When someone gets a score on winning a quiz or finishes homework and assignments on time, you can immediately fill up his or her bar. 

Those students who are making good progress will be motivated to make better growth. And those students who are not doing well will be motivated to work harder to reach that goal. In this process, every student will learn important skills.

b) Offer rewards

Giving rewards is the best way to merge gamification and learning, which is going to keep the students engaged. Many studies have proved that rewards in gamified education motivate learners to acknowledge their achievements and work harder to make progress. 

Conclusion

While the process of studying and learning tends to be boring for most students, gamification can help make it an engaging experience. The tips listed above can help you implement a gamified course and make it fun for the students. Get started on it now!

Game-based learning, Gamification

6 Power Sales Lessons that Put Gamification to Good Use

Leave a comment

An effective tool for boosting sales and engagement is gamification. There are layered benefits and impacts of gamification for customer engagement. Some brands and sites still aren’t able to extract the best use. An off-place rewards offer or boring content can be a no-go for your business. Basically, the forced inclusion of gamification in some form just for the sake of it often misfires.  

A gamified element can be exciting for users. But, customers also spot a well-placed gamified element. They know when one has been forced onto your site. Something too complex, too lengthy to follow can be methodological. But, with something downright uninteresting, customers are usually likely to be repelled. It is understandable that finding the proper use of gamification for your purpose can be tricky. Check out these six power sales lessons that put gamification to good use: 

Lesson 1: Divide your sales strategy into small chunks with gamification 

All the information for going through your platform can be overwhelming. Or, getting to know your service can be a bit too much for the customer. At times, customers simply don’t follow or snap out of their attention span.  

For instance, let’s say your service manual for the user is never-ending. Using gamification here can be a great way of dividing ideas. The user-action path, when divided into small chunks, can be easily comprehended. An excellent example of this implementation is Salesforce. Their use of gamification breaks down the action path for their users.  

Salesforce ITC gamified ITC Adoption Challenge  

Image Source: https://www.salesforce.com/blog/making-salesforce-user-adoption-fun-blog/  

Lesson 2: Create some healthy competition and make customers feel involved 

Users are always up for a fun contest to revive their competitive streak. A healthy contest that requires them to put in some effort to see results is a great concept that can be used with gamification. The idea here is to make the customers feel involved and in charge of their progress on the interface. If they know they can work to rise on top of the chart, they’re more likely to get back to the app for frequent use.  

One example of the competition-based use of gamification is with Nike’s Run Club. There are different target goals and achievement metrics. Here, fitness freaks have just the thing they need to be motivated for fitness while also having the incentive of exciting prices. What better form of engagement could there be for a fitness brand?  

Nike’s gamified Run Club 

Image Source:https://www.appcues.com/blog/getting-gamification-right  

Lesson 3: Extend a community experience 

The feeling of belonging is one that keeps bringing people back. This is exactly what a digital or virtual community experience brings to the table. This could also have a hint of competition. Or, merely regular updates, and interactions with members of that community. A community-based gamification experience makes sense for people with similar interests. People related to that brand can be brought together for a shared experience.  

A great example of this is Samsung Nation – a shared and interactive community space to check out new arrivals, earn rewards, and stay updated with all ongoings with the community.  

Samsung Nation  

Image Source: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Enterprise-and-Business-Example-Samsung-Nation_fig11_292720849  

Lesson 4: Trigger a sense of achievement with a “level-up” vibe 

Gamification need not necessarily always be a game, it could sometimes be even for sales. Gamification elements that offer a sense of achievement with a level up to look forward to work great for customer retention and sales.  

Have a look at the Forest App’s gamified interface. With each milestone of focussed time, users can unlock new trees to plant for their productivity missions. Not to mention the adorable interface with the level-up concept, which has truly worked wonders for the brand. 

Forest App Gamification 

Image Source: https://uxplanet.org/what-to-learn-from-the-forest-apps-gamification-5d8fe48eb4f4  

Lesson 5: Incorporate gamification with the main goal of your interface 

A great interface can be created if you incorporate gamification with the primary goal of your platform. This can include reward programs and incentives. Or choosing a product or specification. And, pretty much all activities involved in the severe sales aspect of your business.  

Image1 Source: https://feedier.com/blog/gamification/magic-gamification-examples/  

Image2 Source: https://bootcamp.uxdesign.cc/starbucks-gamifying-the-coffee-buying-experience-212acc6b40eb  

Lesson 6: Personalize the gamification experience 

The last one is a lesson to make your customers feel special. A hint of personalization always does the trick. A gamified element to present personal details of the user, track them, and adjust them as per their preferences is always well-appreciated.  

For instance, Duolingo, the language learning app, has used personalized gamification to perfection. The Duolingo bird is an interactive addition to the interface. The words/phrases that users are well versed with are tracked to present a learning interface that is at par with their current learning. This is done through gamified interactions and quizzes.  

Duolingo’s Gamified Interface 

Image Source: https://octalysisgroup.com/duolingo-review/  

Conclusion 

Are you missing out on the benefits of gamification because you don’t understand it? Try implementing one of the discussed power strategies to work for your specific purpose. The idea is to integrate something fun, practical, and meaningful within your content. When used right, gamification can be the make or break element for customer retention and engagement. In the longer run, it’s better to consider options for getting on the gamification bandwagon that let your competitors take the lead. Figure out what would work for your sales strategy, experiment a little, and you’ll be sure to find your perfect gamification fix!