One word – Gamification – is being used to mean such a wide variety of end results. One company’s gamification looks nothing like another company’s gamification. This seems to raise a barrier when explaining gamification to companies who are looking for new marketing strategies and tactics.
I decided to study the various forms of Gamfication and see if I could come up with some basic classifications. My hope is that these classifications can form a logical way to communicate with those outside the game design paradigm to help them understand exactly what Gamfication is and to look at how it might be helpful to their own enterprises.
As this is Gamification, it seemed appropriate that I come up with…
The Four Levels of Gamification.
It’s important to note that while Level 1 is “less” Gamified, then a Level 4, it doesn’t mean that every business should work to achieve the highest level possible. Additionally, a well designed Level 1 Gamification can get greater results than a poorly designed Level 3 system.
Definition
Level 1 Gamification: Adding game elements in a way that does not directly support a companies core business.
Level 1 Gamification can be very effective, particularly for businesses that rely on WOM, eyeballs, and/or web-traffic to bring people to the door of their business. The key element of Level 1 Gamification is that the reward that is given (level/badge/pride/whatever) is NOT doled out for participating in the main commerce of the business. But, rather it is awarded for hanging out near the front door (real or virtual) of a store.
The most common use of Level 1 implementation is one that rewards time on a website. Examples include things like Forum post totals/ranking, Linked in progress bar, free mini-games, etc…
Level 1 Imaginary Client.
Ed’s Carpet Warehouse, we make carpets fun!
In this example, a Carpet Store wants to get more eyeballs onto their website. They want an engaged customer base, they particularly want to keep interior decorators coming back, but in general, they believe that traffic is good for them. They go about Gamification at Level 1. They add a Scrabble-like game to their website, and allow users to play for free. The background for the Scrabble board is a carpet which changes weekly, along with website promotions. You can buy the exact carpet (if you want) from the Scrabble game! If you win a game, you get the icon (swatch) that matches that carpet added to your membership sig file. They add the ability to challenge friends, and maybe put in levels and other gamey things as well. Eventually, they let you decorate a virtual room with carpets that you have swatches from.
The goal here is to keep traffic longer, keep the carpet designs in front of the users as long as possible, and hope, that when the player decides to buy new carpets (an event that doesn’t take place very often), the user decides to buy from Ed’s Carpet Warehouse.
What makes this a Level 1 implementation is that while it could definitely increase traffic, and help their core business, the rewards being doled out are not based on being a customer. In no way does playing the Scrabble game directly get money to Ed, but it does get people to the store and increase the odds of purchase.
Most marketing people would call Level 1 Gamification as awareness and brand building marketing. Level 1 is implementable in almost any business.
Definition
Level 2. Adding game elements in a way that directly supports a companies core business.
Level 2 Gamification is appropriate for companies who have frequent interaction/purchase at a core business level with their customers.
It’s easiest to think of Level 2 as a “reward” program. These have been around forever (long before Gamification was even a word). From ICEE points when I was a kid (loved me the frozen sugary drinks!), to the Frequent Flier points of today, these programs offer game style rewards for purchase. Sometimes, the rewards can be redeemed for cash value prizes like free plane tickets. Sometimes the rewards can be extra special (but impossible to put a dollar value on) treatment – things like getting to board a plane early, or have extra votes in on-line polls. The rewards can also be pure digital bragging rights and pride generators such as forum badges or a star on the college football player’s helmet.
Level 2 Imaginary Client
Clothes by Charlie
Clothes by Charlie positioned itself a high-end boutique super store –north of Nordstroms, but large enough to offer options. Their slogan is “Exclusive
Quality, Infinite Options.” In this business, add-on sales are the name of the game. They want to try some Gamification, but the idea of offering punch cards or a frequent flier point system seems to go against the grain of the exclusive (and not terribly thrifty) high end fashion buyer. But Gamification is about pride – not points - and high-end fashion buyers are all about pride, so it is a situation ripe for some Gamified tactics.
They launch a simple system. If a complete outfit is bought (4 pieces) from the same designer during a season, they are tagged as a “Fan” and they get an invite to preview and order that designer’s next season’s offerings – a week earlier than everyone else. If they are a “Super Fan” of that designer’s fashion (5 outfits), then not only do they get to preview the next season’s offerings, but they get a limo ride to the preview event and they get to purchase on the spot. How close you are to being a Fan or a Super Fan is listed on the customer’s receipts with a progress bar.
In this example, the customers are rewarded for taking part in the business of a clothing store in a way that builds retention and keeps them loyal not just to a designer or two, but to Charlie’s as the place they want to buy that designer’s offerings
Most existing marketing people would call this form of Gamification “retention marketing.”
Definition
Level 3 Gamification: Core business rewards that add value to the user AND grease the wheels of the core company activity.
Level 3 Gamification is similar to level 2, with one key difference. Every participant in Level 3 Gamification adds value to the business. This form of Gamification is best for community or network externality based operations.
Ebay is a good example of this. Ebay rewards sellers with all sorts of game-type rewards – power seller levels, badges, stars, etc… Power sellers can get discounts on shipping as well as other internal rewards. What makes this Level 3 Gamification is that the levels of the sellers are clearly visible to all members of the community, and the level of the seller is something that could affect a buyer’s desire to buy. Those public Ebay ratings grease the wheels of the entire operation; even a first time buyer will care about the badges and levels of the seller.
Level 3 Imaginary Client
Alice’s House Plans
(note: This really isn’t totally imaginary, I challenged my lunch table at a conference that I could gamify any of their businesses, and this was the most interesting challenge. Name has been changed to protect Greg. Oops).
Alice’s business is selling house plans to people who are building homes. She has two core customers/clients. One is the future homeowner. The other is comprised of the various architects that post plans on the site. When a plan sells, part of the money goes to the architect, but due to the non-exclusive arrangements, architects can also sell their plans on their own sites where the architect would receive a larger portion of the purchase price (all of it).
At first look, the business isn’t a good fit for Level 3 because customers don’t build that many houses. But if you turn the Gamification towards the architects, then Level 3 is a fine option. Alice implements a simple rating system for architects and plans. Home builders can create lists of potential plans. Every time a plan is added to one of these lists, the plan receives a vote. If a plan is actually purchased, the plan gets a gold star. Votes and gold stars are attached to the plans and also to the architect (the name of the architect shows up whenever you see a plan).
Architects who level-up through votes and stars appear toward the top when plans are sorted by popularity. In addition, the top 10 plans of the last 2 months are listed on the main page.
This Gamification plan adds value and pride to the Architects. An additional benefit for Alice is that as Architects realize the value of these points and stars, they might start to actually PREFER to have their plans sold on Alice’s site instead of their own as it means more follow on business.
Most existing marketing people would call Level 3 Gamifications “viral marketing” or “viral retention marketing.”
Definition
Level 4 Gamification: Adding game to your core product.
Level 4 Gamification is actually what many people first think about when they hear the word. It’s when you add actual game (not just levels and points, but actual gameplay) to your actual product. Generally, this is most appropriate for entertainment products, but there are other uses.
Sometimes Level 4 Gamification is invented by uber-fans of existing games with little or no input from the owner of the product. Fantasy Football, and Fantasy Baseball are Level 4 Gamification OF GAMES – which kinda makes my head hurt – but they allow non-participants to have a participant like interaction with pro sports. Those golf games that lay on top of golf (that allowing for betting mostly) are Level 4 Gamification as well.
If a company wants to perform Level 4 Gamification, it should be thought of as part of the product’s value proposition and as such, should be designed into the product at a foundational level to have the greatest impact.
Level 4 Imaginary Client
Steve’s Sports Bar
Steve’s Bar wants to put in a promotion for Monday Nights during football season. Going to a bar is an entertainment oriented experience, so he decides to put in Level 4 Gamification. This is what Steve’s Bar now looks like during a Monday Night Football Challenge.
Anyone who wants to play ponies up $20. That $20 is applied to the customers bar tab, so participation is essentially free if you plan to drink $10. Each player is given a hockey puck sized chip that has an image of one of the teams on one side, and the other team on the other. During every third down, the players put the puck in front of them with one side of the puck facing up. If the team shown on the puck is on defense and stops the 1st down or is on offence and makes the first down, that patron scores 100 points. All plays in the 4th quarter are worth 2x points. Each night, a winner (or 3) is awarded free entry into next week’s game, and points are kept throughout the entire season, with the winner of the season winning a flat screen TV.
During the course of the night, random drink and food specials are offered to the winners as well. Why would anyone go to any other bar to drink on a Monday night? And why would you leave before the end of the game if points in the 4th quarter are doubled?
Most existing marketing people would call Level 4 Gamification “product development”
Going Forward
If you are looking to add some Gamification to your overall marketing mix, understanding the 4 levels above can help guide you towards the right types of implementations. It’ll also allow you to check out the best practices done by top shelf companies working on similar levels as about 95% of Gamification fits neatly into one of the above Levels.