Gamifying corporate apps - Transforming the mobile experience

What is gamification?

Gamification involves the use of elements and techniques from gaming in contexts beyond gaming. It is used to motivate and engage people in activities that could otherwise be perceived as boring.

To this end, it relies on principles and techniques lifted from psychology, game design, flow theory, motivation theory, and other related disciplines.

Objectives of gamification

The gamification concept can be introduced both in internal contexts (employees/companies) and in external contexts (customers/partners), and in both cases the objectives are the following:

• Increase user engagement and retention
• Promote user participation and interaction
• Stimulate learning and development of skills
• Incentivise the achievement of objectives
• Promote brand loyalty

The principles of gamification

Gamification isn't about turning everything into a game. It's not that simple, and to ensure success in implementing this concept in our corporate apps, there are certain key principles to be followed:

1. The user experience evolves with the use of the app
2. Identify the Core Loop: Identify the behaviour you want to see from the user and encourage these key actions (the core loop) through constant rewards
3. Limited resources: Allow users to decide how to spend these limited resources
4. Instil a feeling of ownership
5. Integrate the social aspect into the experience, such as through the integration of social networks.

Gamification mechanisms

The term mechanism refers to the specific elements used to design and develop gamified experiences, with the aim of motivating, involving and rewarding participants. Some of the mechanisms used in gamification are:

• Rewards
• Achievements/Badges
• Self-expression
• Competition
• Constant feedback
• Micro-moments

How can we implement gamification in our apps?

It's all part of a good design

As with any good mobile app development project, the integration of gamification must start with an analysis and design, creating the right starting point for subsequent implementation.

To do so, we can use the following tools:

• Customer Journey Map
• Gamification canvas

Apply the correct game mechanics

To ensure success when applying gamification in our product or service, we must correctly apply the game mechanics that can bring us closer to our goal. Below, we define the 10 game mechanics we need to consider:

1. Define the rules of the game: What are our objectives? Which problem or area do we want to improve?
2. Define the game environment: narratives or themes, avatars, player profiles, sound...
3. Analyse potential players
4. Establish how the game is scored
5. Create missions or challenges
6. Establish prizes or recognition
7. Use levels, achievements, goals, stories and badges
8. Employ urgency and scarcity with limited activities or resources
9. Create rankings, ratings and leaderboards to encourage the competitive spirit
10. Appeal to pride and generate admiration: Show the user their progress, celebrate overcoming challenges, allow the user to share on social networks...

Conclusions

Gamification has proved to be a powerful strategy to increase participation and motivation in a wide variety of contexts. From education to work and the field of health, this technique has transformed the way we interact with the world and face challenges. By taking advantage of the game elements, we can turn everyday activities into fun and highly participative experiences.

As mentioned above, it is important to understand that gamification is not a magic solution and that it doesn't work in every scenario. Not all activities benefit equally from this technique, so it's important to carefully assess its potential and applicability in each particular context.

At Seidor, we are experts in the development of mobile and web apps, and we have the right experience to help you achieve the customer engagement you're looking for. We do this through careful design and, later, implementation of the gamification concept.

If you want to know more about the world of gamification for your corporate apps, don't miss the webinar. You'll find the information below.