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    Gamification Technology Overview PDF

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    Gamification Technology Overview PDF

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    Technology Overview

    Gamification:
    Technology Overview
    By: Jerry Rackley, Chief Analyst
    With: Kristen Maida, Senior Research Analyst

    September 2014

    © 2014 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.


    Table of Contents

    3 Executive Summary 8 About the Research Analysts

    4 Gamification Vendor Landscape 9 Our Technology Overview Methodology

    6 Evolution of the Landscape 10 About Demand Metric

    7 Analyst Bottom Line


    Gamification: Technology Overview

    EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
    A new, younger generation is now entering the workforce, bringing with them different mindsets and technologies than their Baby
    Boomer predecessors. For this new generation, video games, social media and all things digital and interactive have been an integral part
    of their everyday life. Engaging this new generation and those generations that follow is a serious challenge for businesses in the present.
    When seeking to engage an Online Community, particularly one consisting of millennials, Gamification is an approach that
    creates an environment of real-time feedback, benefits and rewards to which the digital generations have become accustomed.

    Quite simply, Gamification incorporates game-design mechanisms into non-game applications and environments to make
    them more engaging while adding a dimension of fun and competition. Gamification is a means to an end and, in broad terms,
    that end goal is behavior change. More specifically, companies gamify applications, websites or communities to better engage customers,
    employees or both.

    The insights and analysis presented in this Vendor Landscape are given to provide marketers with an overview of
    Gamification platforms and tools that enable Modern Marketing Organizations (MMOs) to make effective purchasing
    decisions about Gamification solutions that best fit their broader Customer Engagement strategy.

    Our look at this technology landscape focuses on the primary applications for Gamification, which broadly fall into the categories of
    Customer Loyalty or Advocacy, Customer Engagement and Employee Engagement.

    © 2014 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved. 3


    Gamification: Technology Overview

    GAMIFICATION VENDOR LANDSCAPE


    In this study, we focused on vendors that offered platforms
    that, generally, provide a Gamification utility that integrates
    with a variety of application environments. Most commonly, the
    integrations are with CRM, websites and social media.

    There are some vendors in this matrix with specialization. For


    example, LevelEleven works just with Salesforce.com. Similarly,
    LiveCube is specific to events.

    Gamification features exist in other solutions as well, most


    Download
    notably Customer Advocacy and Loyalty platforms. To review
    these features, refer to Demand Metric’s Advocacy and Loyalty
    Vendor Landscape and Advocacy and Loyalty Vendor Matrix.

    Download Demand Metric’s Gamification Vendor Matrix to review Figure 1: Gamification Vendor Matrix
    the key vendors in this technology landscape. This matrix includes
    target industries, key offerings, unique strengths and current
    customers for each vendor.

    © 2014 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved. 4


    Gamification: Technology Overview

    Gamification Platforms
    Virtually all Gamification platforms offered today are hosted. They
    enable the integration or incorporation of game mechanics into
    existing applications, websites and communities. For popular
    applications, such as Salesforce.com, the integrations are often
    “canned” and easy to implement. In other cases, an API supports
    custom integration.

    There are two broad classes of Gamification platforms. The first,


    represented by vendors like BunchBall and Badgeville, are general-
    purpose Gamification engines that are utilities for gamifying a wide Download
    range of applications. The second are solutions, represented by
    vendors like Lithium and LevelEleven, that use Gamification to
    drive Customer or Sales Team Engagement, Loyalty or Advocacy.
    Figure 2: Gamification Vendor Evaluation
    Evaluate solutions you are considering with Demand Metric’s
    Gamification Vendor Evaluation.

    © 2014 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved. 5


    Gamification: Technology Overview

    EVOLUTION OF THE LANDSCAPE


    As a concept, Gamification is not new, having its roots in feature of CRM, Marketing Automation, Customer Advocacy,
    airline and hotel customer reward programs that go back Loyalty and other systems in use by customers, partners, sales
    several decades. Then, as now, the goal was to encourage a representatives, support technicians and other groups.
    desirable behavior. In the last decade, Gamification has infiltrated
    the world of web pages, applications, online communities and social As the world of gamified environments continues to evolve,
    media. Early implementations were often simple badge and/or the data and analytics dimension will grow in importance.
    point systems. Analytics and reporting, once an afterthought, are now helping
    companies gain precise insights about the behavior of users and
    Today, they have evolved into seamlessly integrated systems participants in their gamified environments. This understanding
    that encourage and track behavior by providing status provides a competitive advantage by providing insights for
    updates, monitoring goals, offering rewards and creating enhancing Employee Engagement, building Customer Loyalty,
    competition about specific behaviors or completed actions. increasing interaction or advocacy and taking other actions that
    Integration with social media often makes participation in gamified create mutual benefits.
    environments fast and easy.
    Another area of Gamification evolution is occurring around
    As Gamification continues to mature, marketers can expect to Personalization. No longer must gamified environments be “one
    see it become an integrated feature of many other solutions, size fits all.” Instead, many vendors are providing technology
    as it already has for Customer Advocacy and Loyalty solutions. that enables the presentation of personalized rewards or other
    There will continue to be a need for a standalone Gamification dimensions of a gamified environment.
    platform that is capable of being integrated with other solutions.
    However, Gamification in the future will more commonly exist as a 6
    Gamification: Technology Overview

    ANALYST BOTTOM LINE


    Gamification is a powerful approach for incenting and rewarding certain behaviors. Since it is a means to an end, marketers should
    first have a goal(s) in mind for Gamification. Some common applications for Gamification are to:

     Increase Customer Loyalty  Encourage employees to complete training

     Increase Employee Engagement  Increase employee collaboration

     Increase customer or event attendee interaction  Reward employee communication or collaboration

     Encourage social media sharing  Reward Customer Advocacy

    Once you’ve determined a goal, carefully study the audience you seek to influence through a gamified application, community
    or website. This audience represents your “players” and you must know what motivates them. The challenge is to develop a narrative for
    your gamified environment that makes participation fun and meaningful and keeps the focus on the player yet accomplishes your goals.
    Most vendors have experience that marketers should exploit when implementing Gamification. Your gamified environment is ideally easy
    to participate in and play, yet difficult to complete.

    Once you’ve rolled out a gamified application, community or website, keep close tabs on it through analytics. Be prepared to make
    modifications and adjustments to the environment so it remains interesting to the players and still meets your goals.

    © 2014 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved. 7


    Gamification: Technology Overview

    ABOUT THE RESEARCH ANALYSTS


    Jerry Rackley, Chief Analyst – Demand Metric

    Jerry Rackley is Chief Analyst at Demand Metric. His 30-year marketing career began at IBM, and includes experience
    in the technology and financial services sectors. He has worked with companies ranging in size from startups to
    members of the global 1000, performing marketing, marketing communication, public relations and product
    management work.

    Kristen Maida, Senior Research Analyst – Demand Metric

    Kristen has worked with Demand Metric for the past 4 years, learning about and gaining experience in all aspects of
    the organization. She has developed job functions in almost every department to help with Demand Metric’s rapid
    growth. Her specialties include: social media marketing, digital marketing, content marketing & management and
    business process development.

    © 2014 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved. 8


    Gamification: Technology Overview

    OUR TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW METHODOLOGY


    The Modern Marketing landscape is an ever changing, ever evolving environment in which new strategies, technologies, vendors and products
    appear continually. Demand Metric Technology Overviews provide marketers with a focus on a specific technology solution set or focus area so
    that they are armed with the knowledge, information and tools they need to development effective strategies for their organizations.

    Each Technology Overview involves hours of analyst research, mainly publically available information, for a specific technology solution and is
    usually accompanied by several practical tools. Our practical tools are designed to provide marketers with the tools & templates they need to plan
    for an initiative in a given focus area, analyze the vendor landscape and select the best vendor for their organization.

    Our Customer Engagement series includes Technology Overviews on:

     Advocacy and Loyalty

     Gamification

     Online Communities

    We provide a comprehensive overview of Customer Engagement in the companion report – Customer Engagement Best Practices Report.

    © 2014 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved. 9


    Technology Overview

    ABOUT DEMAND METRIC


    Demand Metric is a global marketing research & advisory firm serving a membership community of over 40,000 marketing professionals,
    CEOs, and business owners with advisory services, custom research & benchmarking reports, vendor studies, consulting methodologies,
    training, and a library of 500+ tools and templates.

    Using Demand Metric resources, members complete projects faster and with greater confidence, boosting respect for the marketing team and
    making it easier to justify needed resources. Our 1,000+ clients range from start-ups to members of the Global 1000.

    TO LEARN MORE ABOUT DEMAND METRIC

    To discover how Demand Metric can help you become more strategic, please visit us online at www.demandmetric.com

    CLIENT SUPPORT

    For information, inquiries and general support, please contact us toll-free at +1 866 947 7744, or [email protected]

    We offer discounts for academic and nonprofit institutions, provide group memberships and license our content to associations and large
    enterprises for use on corporate universities and intranets.

    © 2014 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

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