4 Gamification Strategies You Can Use to Take Your MSP Business to the Next Level

By Michael Brown 1

Right now, everything from customer service departments to the latest digital marketing strategies are being designed around getting more people to engage with a brand, not just buy from it. Companies are trying to get customers, prospects and even their employees to engage, and it is paying off rich dividends in the form of better brand awareness. Gamification is one of the best ways to engage people. So how can your cloud-based file sharing service use it to its advantage? Let’s take a look!

What is gamification?

Gamification refers to adding gameplay elements such as competitions, keeping score and rule based plays into business operations. The theory behind it is simple; just as a game encourages people to participate and interact, similar tactics in marketing and business circles can help prospects, clients and employees come closer together and become more involved with the brand.

The strategy has helped many companies build their brands, and/or engage their employees. Here are 4 examples of gamification which have been used very successfully, and which you can emulate in your own company:

Trivia Crack

Kerry Hearns-Smith, a senior learning specialist at Xerox uses an app called Trivia Crack which throws questions at users, making them compete against one another. Kerry successfully used the app to train new recruits instead of making them sit through a boring 2 day-long training session.

Samsung Nation

Samsung decided to use the power of social media for their gamification efforts. Users are awarded points and badges for answering questions on forums, participating in Q&A discussions, reviewing products and watching videos. Aside from the usual digital rewards, they can also win real prizes such as TVs and smartphones for their efforts. Samsung has managed to build a thriving community using this tactic, while also creating invaluable content which is viewed and shared by people connected to their primary audience.

The Email Game

One of the primary contributors to Monday morning blues is that long list of emails you know you have to wade through before you can get on with the day. The Email Game by Baydin might help you and your company out here. Baydin’s approach uses gamification to boost productivity by giving users a three minute window to respond to priority emails which need to be answered quickly. Employees collect badges and points for completing tasks quickly and managing their workflow better. Check out their site for more information on how they do it.

 IActionable by Salesforce

Salesforce has been using gamification since long before the concept even got its name. IActionable uses gamification at various levels to help employees understand goals, and achieve them. Scores, achievements, leaderboards and contests can be configured to drive performance throughout the organization. The system makes it very easy for managers to define performance parameters and also helps employees track their goals.

You can read more about IActionable here.

Similar strategies have been used by Microsoft, Allstate, Hyatt and many other companies to entice employee as well as client to participate in brand building activities. As a cloud-based file sharing service provider, you too can use these as inspiration to try gamification within your own company.