Gamification: definition, examples and strategies

Continuous learning and motivation are vital to improving performance. However, keeping teams invested in learning and performance and customers energized about using your product can be challenging.

The solution is gamification. Engaging employees and prospects with friendly competition and rewards gives them extra incentives to perform well or support your business.

In this article, we’ll explain what gamification entails and how it can benefit your company. We’ll also share examples of gamification to inspire you.

What is gamification?

The goal is to change behavior or boost motivation. Game design elements such as rules, reward systems and leaderboards make work more playful.

Gamification has become part of everyday life, especially as smartphone and tablet apps and online tools implement these strategies.

For instance, fitness trackers like Fitbit award badges for reaching step goals, and online customer surveys show a progress bar for completed questions.

Visual proof that you’ve completed X% of a task enhances the user experience, increases confidence and incentivizes you to keep going.

What does gamification offer? Benefits at a glance

Because all humans have a playful instinct, gamification at work can reach people across demographics and roles. According to recent studies, over 80% of private sector workers know about gamification and believe it improves their engagement and productivity.

It can also lead to better brand engagement and stronger customer loyalty.

Here are some benefits of gamification in the workplace for employees and the customer experience:

• Increased motivation. Gamification introduces a competitive element that motivates employees to achieve their targets. Competition can also drive customers and prospects to engage with your brand more.

• Enhanced user engagement. Gamification makes day-to-day tasks more exciting, helping keep teams engaged and less likely to burn out and encouraging customers to return often.

• Improved performance. Gamification’s competitive and rewarding nature can lead to improved performance and higher achievement rates.

• Better training retention. When onboarding new employees, use learning processes that integrate gamification to reinforce skills and improve product knowledge retention.

• Real-time feedback. Gamification provides immediate feedback through rankings and achievements, allowing employees to adjust their strategies.

• Recognition and rewards. Regular acknowledgment boosts morale, encouraging continuous improvement among team members and loyalty among customers.

• Increased collaboration. Team-based challenges and goals can enhance cooperation and foster a more collaborative environment.

• Data collection and analysis. Gamification tools often include analytics to track performance data, offering insights that can optimize your sales strategy.

• Clear goal setting. Gamification’s clear and quantifiable objectives help employees focus on specific learning outcomes and improve goal alignment within the team.

Gamified strategies can help your employees learn more effectively, progress toward goals and improve their skills. These same tools can also boost customer interactions and drive more engagement with your brand (more on that below).

Typical elements of gamification

How exactly do you get started gamifying non-game-related tasks or learning? Here are some gaming elements to apply in professional settings:

Turning applicable tasks into games helps employees feel like part of a team. Rewarding efforts will make engagement more enjoyable and increase engagement for employees and your customer base.

4 examples of gamification in business

Businesses can employ gamification in different contexts:

• Internally, to motivate or train their teams using gamification software

• Externally, to attract and retain customers

This concept suits companies of any size or sector, and the use of games in marketing, sales, recruitment and productivity can enhance your processes. Here are some examples:

1. Gamification in marketing

Gamification is a perfect fit for marketing campaigns. More companies are incorporating gamification elements into their websites or mobile apps to engage customers, keep them online longer and generate sales referrals or reviews.

One of the best-known gamification examples in marketing is Spotify Wrapped. Each December, the streaming service creates a personalized yearly review for its users, showing which artists and songs they listened to the most. Many Spotify users share their annual reviews on social media, giving the service free advertising across various channels.

Gamification in marketing requires personalized, shareable, creative content. Keep your audience informed about monthly or annual progress to boost your marketing efforts year-round.

2. Gamification in sales

Gamification is also an effective sales tool. Playful elements such as contests or loyalty programs can motivate customers to make first-time or repeat purchases.

For example, the American cinema chain AMC fosters customer loyalty with its reward program AMC Stubs. In the AMC app, users earn points from concessions and ticket purchases that they can apply to birthday gifts, discount offers and upgrades to 3D or IMAX screens.

Sales teams can also leverage rewards and incentives to increase engagement. This strategy gives employees more reasons to do their jobs well and support the team.

3. Gamification in recruiting

Gamification can also make the recruitment process more engaging. Companies can include a quiz or knowledge test on their career page to help recruiters pre-select candidates.

For example, Google screens potential employees using aptitude tests that measure situational judgment and mechanical or numerical reasoning. The content of these assessments is secret, but practice tests give an idea of the knowledge required.

Consider using online learning modules to measure sales aptitude when screening candidates.

4. Gamification for motivation and productivity enhancement

Gamification is a powerful tool to motivate teams to achieve specific goals and work more productively. A gamified system that awards scores based on revenue generated can foster healthy competition within a sales team to improve closing rates.

For example, B2B data provider Lusha gamifies collaboration by offering incentives to high performers (e.g., a gift or an extra day off).

For example, gamification can supercharge sales performance, especially when integrated with powerful tools like Pointagram within a sales CRM like Pipedrive. By turning routine sales activities into engaging games, Pointagram can track key metrics, award points and distribute rewards.

Gamification aimed at productivity can help teams stay motivated and foster healthy competition to drive better sales results.

What is sales gamification software?

Sales gamification software is an application businesses use to boost sales teams’ motivation, engagement and productivity. Along the way, they enhance their sales processes.

Gamification platforms help employees improve performance using gamification elements. They especially benefit remote teams, who can hone their skills and stay motivated through playing out real-world scenarios and engaging in social interaction with colleagues.

For example, Spinify (which integrates with Pipedrive) offers real-time leaderboards that give teams more visibility into performance and simplify goal-setting.

Team leads can also use internal analytics data to improve sales games, working out the kinks so the next iteration is even more helpful for employees.

Final thoughts

Gamification allows businesses to attract customers and increase engagement. Leveraging these strategies internally improves operations and employee morale, while external rewards boost customer retention. Use the tips in this guide to make gamification work for you.