Gamification in market research

Gamification in marketresearch By @eliasveris R&D consultant – Insites Consulting

He’s not motivated to reach anything. Has zero real hobbies. He has bad grades at school and had to retake a year. He’s every mother’s worst nightmare. Meet my nephew, 18

But he became one of the top 5 players in the Playstation game “Warhawk” 2 years ago. He battled via the playstation network for days in a row, to get to the top. That is the one experience that immerses him completely. The game is absolute chaos for the unskilled. And so he practices, and learns from others by watching youtube screencasts of that one roll with the airplane, that one moving shot,... The one thing that keeps this guy up at night, is gaming. Absolute Chaos

Everybody plays. Consoles like the Wii have democratized console gaming by making it easy for all ages; brining it from the teenage bedroom to the everyday family life. Everybody plays

Average age: 34 26% over 50 Average age of most frequent game purchaser: 40 In the US, theesa does some great work in showing that gaming is for everyone. Although the average age of the most frequent game purchaser is probably influenced by having kids, the mere fact that a quarter of all gamers are over 50 is quite astonishing. Source: theesa.com

Playing Women: 40% 46% of gamers play with other gamers in person Source: theesa.com

Do you know Zynga?(A company named after a dead bulldog ) 50M+ daily active users Farmville: 13M+ daily active users 30M+ farms (only 2M real farms in US) Surpassed by new hit: Cityville (20M+ active daily users) Zynga makes a lot of money with their games. Some of their designers explicitly state that they design for the 43 year old woman; that is the average socialgamer.

So the game industry is pretty big.Let us not forget however, that many things are games. Boardgames have been around since 3500 BC, with the Egyptian game called Senet.And don’t we all have that one relative that always beats you at chess? But why do people play games? STOP! Many things are games And games have been aroundsince3500 BC…

Autonomy I do it because I want to do it Mastery I do it to get better at something Purpose I do it because I want to serve a higher purpose

The learning element in games is what keeps the experience going for you, what keeps you focussed Above all, games are learning experiences

…Whichexplainswhyprogress wars isn’tfun

Learning is a function of Challenge and Ability. If these two are balanced out correctly, you are totally immersed in the experience, something that Mihály Csíkszentmihályi called ‘Flow’. Anxiety Inherent challenge Flow-zone Boredom Player ability

Flow is not equal for everyone. That is why games have the Novice, Skilled and Expert levels of difficulty. Some players need more challenge than others. (ps: Can you spot the wolfenstein 3d references?) I’m death incarnate Anxiety Bring ‘em on! Inherent challenge Can I play daddy? Boredom Player ability

Games have stories, but... “theme is a lure to bring gamers into the experience”

Game Mechanics So learning is key. The elements in gaming that produce learning (and thus enjoyable gameplay) are called game mechanics. Constructs of Rules and Feedback Loops intended to produce enjoyable Gameplay.

I’ve got something boring I want people to do. I want people to flow That is what some people in marketing and market research have been worrying about. And then, they came up with the following concept:

Gamification The process of using game thinking and game mechanics to solve problems and engage users

The people at Volkswagen have used game mechanics to make boring tasks, such as going to the bottle band, a little bit more fun. They called it the Fun Theory. (click image for movie)

The Gamification loop Gabe Zichermann has coined the concept of the gamification loop, on a very tactical level. Give users a challenge, and tell them what they need to do to win. For everything you do (and especially for winning) you get points, that are shown on a leaderboard. Badges are a form of extra virtual reward (think foursquare for instance) that can be granted. The combination of points and badges indicate the users’ status, and is most powerful when shared over a social network. Point system

Elements of the loop can be used in various contexts. Mint for instance aggregates all your spending from your bank account and gives you insights in your behaviour. On top of that, you can set challenges for yourself (saving x amount of $ this year), and mint will give you points and feedback for every step in the right direction.

Some more tactical issues to keep in mind... Multiple long- and short-term aims A long-term aim is difficult to achieve if there is no short-term gain. Therefore, intermediate goals are important. Reward every effort Every small action people do must be rewarded, so that they keep in mind that they are progressing. Points are a great tool for this. Rapid & frequent feedback The best kind of feedback is immediate feedback. I don’t want to wait 2 years to see how you liked my performance, give it to me straight! A tiny bit of uncertainty Remember the variable ratio schedule? Behaviour will be more persistent if the reward strategy is not linear.

To get back to ‘badges’: Do they really matter? They are just a couple of pixels on a screen, right? Badges? Seriously? To these guys, they matter.

Badges? Seriously? To these guys, they matter.

Goal-setting device Where to go Instructions What is possible Reputation Who you are Status & Affirmation What you did Group identification Who is like you Badges have various functions, from giving indications to users what it really is you want them to do (in a fun way) to enhancing reputation via shared symbolism. Antin & churchill

And after all, a lot of people care about a simple 500+ “badge” on linkedin too... Let’s call it “shared business symbolism”? Name available upon request. Or good googling. Name available upon request. Or good googling. Whowouldyouratherbe?

Not all people are equal There are gender differences (the stereotypical risk-averse, social woman versus the risking, competitive man) and player differences, like Bartle’s typology describes. Anyhow, not every person enjoys the same rewards. Gamed design must take that into account.

Playing the same game over and over again is boring. Even for good games. Statistics solve this. They call this Metagames. I played ‘worms’ a lot during college. Not because I enjoyed the game that much, but especially because I played it with my best friend at the time, and we kept a huge scoreboard on our door of who won how many times. The game was ok, the meta-game of beating my friend was THE main driver.

Incentivize well, and people will cheat. Keep in mind that people will try to cheat. Either you give them ways to cheat that fit within your goals, or you keep a very good eye on what’s happening. A very good eye. hmmm…

…Or be too focussed, like in the BMW Eco Challenge BMW challenged people to drive as fuel efficient as possible, in a gamified system. First tests were extremely good, with 0,4l/100 km less fuel used on average. The one thing however that has a huge impact on fuel efficiency is starting and stopping. For traffic lights for instance. When people noticed that, some tried to avoid this at all costs, with traffic violations and collisions as a result. Always keep in mind the possible unintended consequences of your system. Always.

Didn’t you ever try to beat the system? I know highly respectable people that try to beat their GPS every time, getting at their destination faster than it indicates. I also know some that take an alternative route, AND try to get there sooner. Just for the fun of it.

Getting somewhere faster than a deadline can be an achievement. If your GPS would then give you a badge for that, that’s a reward. Not really what GPS systems are intended for, but you get the picture. Rewards are not achievements! Learning is an achievement. Getting better is. Being rewarded for that is just nice.

Keep trying. Iterate. Measure. Improve. Key in setting up a system with game elements is iterating and measuring. It helps you stay ahead of dramatic unintended consequences, and tailor challenges and reward systems to your users.

I work in market research Can I use this gamification stuff?

Response rates have been dropping for years. (It’s notfun) Response quality follows. Speeding. Straightlining. (theydon’tlearn) Good people drop out because they never get rewarded for their effort. (no feedback)

What are drivers of research participation in general? Intrinsic: ,[object Object]

Find research funExtrinsic: ,[object Object]

CharityThis is ourstoryline. Source: InSites Consulting panel study (2005)

What community researchers dream of: A high number of on-topic posts

Communities:drivers of on-topic posts Information Benefit When people get interesting information out of the community, they are more likely to contribute to it. Informational Engagement People spending more time deep-diving into information on the community will be more likely to post on topic. Social Benefit When people like the social side of the community (getting in touch with people), this has an enrichment effect on the on-topic participation. Social Engagement People spending more time deep-diving into the social side of the community are less likely to contribute interesting information. Community & Brand Identification More identification with either community or brand means more engagement & more on-topic posts. Time Cost The more time costs involved, the less people will participate. Starting from these intrinsic drivers, we can reinforce them even more by using them in a gamified community. InSites Consulting internal research

Socialization: what are on- topic-posts? Badges & win conditions: Most valuablecontributorwins! Golden nugget badge for best insight Topic x-expert for high topic contribution ...

Information benefit  on- topic-posts We know getting information drives participation. If information is rewarding, we can make the availability of information dependent on on-topic posts pretty easily.

Informational engagement  on- topic-posts Challenge: “Can you come up with the best summary of the answers on this topic? Rate the best summary up!” Via the same mechanic, we can stimulate people to assimilate and engage with the available information, and reward that behaviour. It’s also a renewed focus on learning. And games are all about learning.

Social Benefit on- topic-posts Challenge: “Battle the other team in sharing as muchquality content as possible” Personal leaderboard The social benefit of an in-group augments the social benefit of a larger group. Therefore, having respondents battle each other on the community yields great results, and increasingly so if it’s coupled with status via a leaderboard.

Design the journey Win conditions – feedback – rewards Learn, Learn, Learn.

Surveys Suck People abandon surveys because: No time anymore (19%) Too long (12%) Don’t feel like it anymore (10%) Too boring (10%) InSites Consulting data, 2011

What influences survey satisfaction? Subject Length of interview Questioning Lay-out

What influences survey satisfaction? Subject ( = .37) Survey Satisfaction (R²=93%) Length of interview ( = .10) Questioning( = .43) Lay-out ( = .18)

Questioning is key “We challenge you” Feedback * 3 “You have 2 minutes” Feedback * 10 “Imagine” 300% more ideas Since changing the subject is not easy, why don’t we look at questioning and making that more fun and game-like? Previous research has shown that great things can be done by using projective techniques and challenges in surveys, increasing feedback by large amounts. Research by @jonpuleston - GMI Interactive

This is a survey. It measures brand identification. Do you like this?

This is a survey. Or do you like this one better?

Few things in life are linear. Should surveys be? Games are not linear anymore. There are mini-games, sidetracks, alternative storylines,... Why not in surveys? We can ask the questions that need routings first, and then the respondent can decide what he wants to answer next. It’s easy. And it communicates autonomy.

Right now, surveys are a black box. Gamification is all about feedback. Why not share results to some questions immediately? Based on the previous 30 respondents f.i. Feedback is most effective if immediate, so let’s give it to them immediately. Zero feedback. Challenges need win conditions and rewards

All this makes no sense. It makes no sense if it isn’t integrated in the whole research process. Remember metagames?

Respondents don’t care about our researchsilos. Quanti = Quali = Communities = focus groups = surveys = ethnography = … If I participate, I get rewarded. If I’m a loyalparticipant, I get rewarded more.

We must gamify the process of research for participants If well implemented, the fun factor can extend engagement in research for a lifetime. Let’s make it fun Let’s think loyalty Let’s reward loyal fun-makers.

Earning points per survey Burning points with gifts (And gifts can be charity) Branded badges Meta-badges (cofee-expert) Visible on the platform Response quality scores A leaderboard with your friends And much, much more. … A gamified platform.

Keep trying. Iterate. Measure. Improve.

Costs. Benefits. Implementation time & cost of that Knowledge building & cost of that Increased focus on measurement & cost of that Renewed respondent engagement Competitive advantage versus DIY research

Gamification in market research

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Gamification in market research