Happy Friday! We have scoured the internet for the best gamification and customer loyalty highlights of the week. We are pretty excited to see some new applications of gamification as well as some redesign of older gamification websites and tips for improving loyalty programs. If you are like us and can’t stand to go into your weekend without the latest news, read on.
Social Shopping Site Shopcade Introduces ‘Perks’ To Reward It’s Most Influential Shoppers TechCrunch 8/23/2012 Social shopping side Shopcade has introduced even more features aiming at using gamification to build customer loyalty as well as reward super-users on the site. Users will now be able to earn points for sharing, shopping and completing sponsored missions to earn rewards from partner brands. The site hopes to grow its user base and increase engagement among existing users. Retail hasn’t caught the gamification bug the way some other industries have, so this will be an interesting example to watch.
eBay gamifies the auction, with a little help from US Santa Cruz VentureBeat 8/21/2012 This is a really cool example of academia and industry coming together to collaborate on innovative gamification. US Santa Cruz students are working with eBay, the online auction site, to see how game mechanics can engage the eBay audience. The program began with a small test course over the summer, and will expand to a larger course of 30 students this fall. It will be great to see what these students come up with and if eBay implements it!
What’s the Difference Between Games and Gamification MindShift 8/21/2012 Critiques of gamification often come from game designers, pointing out the vast differences between gamification and true games. This article takes a look at games, gamification and simulation in an attempt to parse out the differences and similarities. This is a great read for people thinking about how to add game mechanics to their site who might still be unsure about how best to do it.
Gamification of Scrum Team Practice is More Fun Dr. Dobbs 8/21/2012 This is something we haven’t seen yet! Gamification company Innovation Games has released a game, ScrumKnowsy, designed to help developers improve their Scrum practice. Developers can play challenges or multiplayer experiences to track their alignment with Scrum practices, roles and responsibilities. ScrumTide Partner Jim Complien said of the project, “The goal is to have fun and create value, and ScrumKnowsy helps Agile teams meet that goal.”
Fitocracy Redesign Ensures Your Friends Will Know if You’re Working Out or Not SocialTimes 8/20/2012 Fitocracy, the fitness social network launched last year, has gone through a redesign to fix UX issues that hindered users navigation of the site. The social networking site uses a mixture of gamification and social features to encourage users to reach their fitness goals. Among other redesign features, Fitocracy also updated user profiles, tracking pages and unveiled a new fitness mascot. We love seeing this community grow, as well as see the success of gamification in fitness!
Avoiding Loyalty Fatigue Business2Community 8/17/2012 While we make no secret at BigDoor that we are huge loyalty program fans, we also think this is a great reminder to building smart loyalty programs as well as avoid the pitfalls of bad implementations. Some of the top tips include avoiding too many emails, limiting your terms and conditions and providing rewards with real value to your users. As the internet explodes with loyalty programs, it is important to think about what works, what doesn’t and what companies are nailing their loyalty programs (We have to put a vote in for some of our awesome clients).