A couple of months ago, I was introduced to the idea of “gamification” as a  possible way to drive engagement for both external and internal social networking initiatives. I was so taken by this idea, that I signed up for and recently finished an online gamification class from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. The course was provided through Coursera who provides dozens of online courses from some of the most well known schools in the country. A quick plug for coursera: the course was superb. High quality content in easily managed video lectures. Look forward to taking another one. If interested, here is a good post on how Coursera and others are changing higher education through open online courses.

Now, for a few key gamification takeaways:

Many brands have built up large communities of fans, followers and pinners on social networks but now what? Similarly, companies are starting to use social networking inside their organizations to transform how they work but they are struggling with low adoption rates. Enter gamification as a possible solution. The idea is not to turn these programs into games, but rather to use use game elements and theory to influence and drive behavior.

When thinking about gamification, there are four general best practices to consider:

1. Voluntary: participation should be voluntary. If participation is required some degree of resentment could occur that could negatively affect the initiative.
2. Learning or problem solving should be involved
3. Balance of structure and exploration. Structure is critical, however participants should also have the freedom and autonomy to explore and blaze their own trail within the structure
4. Fun. Whatever system is developed it has to be fun and rewarding to play/participate

The idea of rewards is central to gamified systems and rewards are also an integral part of common loyalty programs. A good deal of time was spent in the course talking about reward structures. They can be:

1. Tangible/Intangible
2. Expected/Unexpected
3. Contingent (you have to do something to get a reward)
   • Task non-contingent: you are rewarded no matter what
   • Engagement contingent: you get a reward once you start
   • Completion Contingent: you get a reward once you finish or complete something
   • Performance Contingent: skill based rewards

The challenge with rewards is that they can demotivate intrinsic behavior. Intrinsic behavior occurs when you do something because you want to e.g., share, work hard, exercise. Alternatively, extrinsic behavior is all about doing something for a reason other than the thing itself. For example, if certain customers naturally like to share you should not reward them with something unrelated to sharing like 50% off their next purchase if they share a post. This action can condition people to only act for the reward and not the action you want to reinforce, in this case sharing. This issue in the course was identified as the “Hedonic Treadmill“: “Once people are conditioned to respond to rewards, they will want continuously better rewards and will stop playing if they don’t get them”. Building your program weighted to intrinsic rewards is a much more beneficial path to take.

In order to decide if gamification is right for you, first clearly understand what it is you are trying to accomplish and then consider:

1. Motivation: Gamification is all about motivating behavior. So, if you can encourage certain behavior via gamification what value would be created?
2. Meaningful Choices: Are the tasks involved in achieving defined goals interesting? if not, can they be made interesting? Will they drive intrinsic behavior?
3. Structure: Can desired behaviors be modeled through algorithms? If objectives are vague, unclear or highly subjective, gamification probably will not work.
4. Potential Conflicts: What other motivational programs are in place and, will this new initiative come into conflict with these other programs?

Finally, if you decide gamification might work for your business issue, here is a six-step framework to follow:

1. Define business objectives
2. Delineate target objectives: what specifically do you want “players” to do?
3. Describe your players: demographics, psychographics, what motivates them?
4. Devise activity loops:
   • Engagement Loops: How do you get players involved and how do you keep them involved?
   • Progression Loops: How do you move players through the system to desired outcomes?
5. Don’t forget the fun: Why and how will this program be fun?
6. Deploy the appropriate tools:
   • Dynamics: Big picture elements, constraints, emotions, narrative, relationships
   • Mechanics: Processes that drive activity forward: Challenges, cooperation, feedback, rewards, transactions, win states
   • Components: Specific elements: avatars, achievements, badges, points, content unlocking, social graph, teams, virtual goods

Naturally, there was a lot more information in the course than I covered here, but I wanted to provide a quick overview of the opportunity as I am very excited about the possibilities. Depending on interest, I can cover additional ideas in subsequent posts.

Not surprisingly, there has been some pushback on the work “gamification” as it implies turning serious problems or opportunities into a trivial game. However, handled the right way the elements described here and others can be most effectively used to solve real world business and communications problems.

In my next post, I will describe a successful gamified employee engagement program we developed and rolled out for a client six years ago before gamification came onto the scene.

If you are interested in learning how these ideas can transform your business, I will be happy to start the conversation.

I have recently become interested in the nascent Conscious Capitalism movement so named by Whole Foods CEO John Mackey. I attended the Conscious Capitalism conference earlier this month in San Francisco and came away most energized. Terrific, inspirational speakers from the CEOs of companies like Whole foods, Method, Trader Joe’s, The Container Store and Patagonia. Not surprisingly I discovered that a few companies have been following Conscious Capitalism principles long before the term was coined (but not many).

During the conference, four areas were identified as key areas for conscious organizations to focus on:

1. Purpose: We need red blood cells to live the same way a business needs profits to live. But, the purpose of life if more than to make red blood cells. Similarly, the purpose of business is more than simply to generate profits. Conscious organizations need to define and live their higher purpose.
2. Culture: A conscious culture fosters love and care and builds trust among and between a company’s team members and its other stakeholders such as customers, the supply chain and other business partners such as franchisees.
3. Leadership: Conscious Leaders focus on “we” rather than “me”. They inspire, drive transformation and bring out the best in those around them. They understand their role is to serve the purpose of the organization, to support the people within the organization and to create value for all of the organization’s stakeholders.
4. Stakeholders: Unlike some businesses who believe they only exist to maximize ROI for their shareholders, Conscious businesses focus on their whole business ecosystem, creating and optimizing value for all their stakeholders, understanding that strong and engaged stakeholders lead to a healthy sustainable, resilient business. They recognize that without employees, customers, suppliers, funders, supportive communities and a life-sustaining ecosystem, there is no business. Conscious business is a win-win-win proposition, which yields a healthy return to shareholders.

The first day of the conference was made up of presentations and panel discussions comprised of the executives noted above, followed by hands-on breakout sessions on day two. One very interesting panel was made up of Container Store stakeholders: CEO Kip Tindell, a 25-year company employee, a life-long customer and an executive from Leonard Green & Partners (a private equity stakeholder). Discussion was about what every stakeholder valued about and received from the company. The biggest idea of the conference for me came from this panel and it has helped crystallize my value proposition. the 25-year employee stated that she believed the value of the Container Store was its commitment to “connecting hearts and minds” of all its stakeholders. This is a wonderful idea and one that is truly embraced by the brand.

In talking to various clients and clients to be about social media, I am hearing a lot of “what now” questions. Brands have built social communities of fans, followers and pinners. They are posting content, responding now and again but now what? Similarly, as I continue to evangelize for the use of social technologies inside organizations, I get the same kinds of comment i.e, “you want to do this to what end?’ The powerful idea of “Connecting Hearts and Minds” has affected me profoundly because I think this is what’s next. This can happen now faster and more effectively than ever. Applying social technologies externally or internally the right way allows companies to build emotional connections with its stakeholders and by truly engaging with them, listening to them and collaborating with them you can understand what is on their mind as well. This purposeful approach to integrating social technologies throughout the organization can truly be a game changer.

As for my value proposition upon the return from the mountaintop, it is:

To Help Companies Thrive By Connecting Hearts and Minds Via The Use Of Collaborative Social Technologies.

If you are interested in learning more about Conscious Capitalism, let me know. I have started the conversation with a few like minded individuals about starting a Conscious Capitalism chapter in Dallas. Stay tuned for more details and as always, I welcome all thoughts and comments.

Have had a couple of recent client conversations where the interest has been better customer engagement. These folks (and many brands) have had success in social media. They have built a good base of fans/followers and are posting regularly, but the question is, what’s next? “How do we continue to strengthen relationships with our customers and get them more interested and willing to share our content and ultimately drive action?” In the old days before social media, loyalty programs were a great way to regularly communicate with customers and give them reasons to continue to interact with the brand. Naturally, everyone wants customers to buy more and many are willing to provide some kind of incentive for them to do so. However, we now have an opportunity to develop next-generation loyalty programs by introducing measured incentives as a means to stimulate social actions.

There is quite a bit of buzz going on now about the growing applicability of “gamification” to social initiatives. I am not talking about everyone rolling out a version of Farmville to their social homes but rather taking three elements of successful gaming: game mechanics, reputation mechanics and social mechanics and incorporating these into meaningful action-driven programs. Should there be reluctance to provide incentives to all fans/followers, these programs can also be targeted to small groups of brand ambassadors or advocates as a way to energize them to evangelize on the brand’s behalf.

As some of you know, a year or so ago, we rolled out an online community for a B2B food service client with the objective being to position the brand as a thought leader by bringing together customers and prospects online to discuss all things related to food. There are a number of successful online food service communities today and I am absolutely convinced this is the right thing to do for my client. However despite having C-level buy-in, I am having a difficult time getting my client’s employees to participate (in particular sales people). I have found that this is not an uncommon occurrence and today’s thinking is some kind of gaming-type incentive program could be the answer to driving participatory behavior change.

So, if you are trying to drive online customer action or behavior change among employees, gamification provides intriguing food for thought.

If you are interested, here are a couple of good links on the subject. The first addresses the demonstrated value of gaming across B2B and B2C industries and the second is a summary of where gaming is headed in 2013 specifically is it relates to loyalty:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gabe-zichermann/gamification_b_2516376.html?utm_hp_ref=technology

http://mygamification.com/2013/keith-smiths-7-gamification-predictions-for-2013/

Came across a good report from Forrester research recently on how to improve digital customer experiences. Know this is a hot topic for many brands today. Quite a lengthy report so I thought I would summarize key findings here. (I reordered a few steps based on what I think makes the most sense.) If you are interested in seeing the full report, let me know and I will send it your way.

To maximize digital budgets and ensure ongoing funding, companies need to deliver web, mobile, tablet and app touchpoints that align with core brand attributes and support business objectives such as cost savings, revenue generation, and loyalty building. Key to this work: creating a unified customer experience.

• Effective digital experiences must align with three types of customer perceptions:
  1. How effective was the brand at meeting my needs?
  2. How easy were they to do business with?
  3. How enjoyable were they to do business with?
• First step to enhancing the online experience is to identify the problem areas that need attention:
  1. Examine behavior of customers on every digital touchpoint: site, mobile site, tablet and app
  2. Examine customer behavior across channels
  3. Target the most important interactions (not all matter equally to customers) and make those flawless
• Step two: Conduct an audit of all digital touchpoints:
  1. Try to accomplish relevant customer goals (this naturally requires defining relevant customer goals) on each of your digital channels
  2. Look for flaws (specific flaws that would slow users down or keep them from accomplishing goals altogether).  Forrester has defined four buckets where flaws can exist: Value, Navigation, Presentation, Trust
• Step three: Reach out to real customers:
  1. Solicit customer feedback about their current digital brand experience (perhaps provide an incentive for doing so)
  2. Gather and analyze unsolicited feedback (email, support calls, social mentions)
  3. Observe customer behavior in a natural setting where they interact with your brand
  4. Test new designs and functionality with actual users (again incentives can be provided here perhaps this is a perk for brand ambassadors or advocates)
  5. Document customer insights through personas and journey maps
• Step four: Leverage the brand:
  1. Make sure whoever is responsible for executing digital brand touchpoints understands the brand – its attributes, benefits and values
  2. Use content, functionality and design elements that support key brand attributes, benefits and values
  3. Improve usability to reinforce brand value
• Step five: Unify the overall customer experience:
  1. Use consistent design, type, colors, voice across touchpoints
  2. Make it easy for customers to shift from one channel to another
  3. Create cross-channel governance practices
• Step six: Take advantage of the inherent characteristics of digital touchpoints:
  1. Create touchpoint appropriate interfaces
  2. Right-size content and functionality
  3. Use native device data to deliver a subtle contextualized experience
  4. Look for opportunities to make interactions social: integrate social behaviors across the entire customer journey
• Step seven: Plan for post launch activity:
  1. Make sure your launch plan includes how to maintain and improve existing sites and apps after they launch
  2. Envision how to extend digital products and services to new platforms
  3. Clearly identify who is responsible for maintenance and management
• Step eight: Measure digital touchpoint performance against business metrics:
  1. Begin and end every project meeting with a discussion of business metrics
  2. Build ROI models (using measurable business goals)
  3. Create an integrated customer experience measurement framework including off and online touchpoints

Phew! A lot of information but nice little cheat sheet.