We all need that spoonful of sugar – something that sweetens the deal or helps the medicine go down. That in-built ‘Fun-o-meter’ that makes kids so fickle with their attention doesn’t just go away as we get older. True, we’re a little better at coping with mundane things like queues and long car rides, but our attention spans are still more apt to pursue fun, engaging things than the dull, dry, and downright dreary alternatives.
What’s this got to do with running a successful B2B customer loyalty programme? Everything. Here’s why…
The Power of Gamification
This is the basic, boiled-down explanation as to why gamification is as powerful as it is. App Store best-seller Duolingo has pulled in more than 500 million users as a result of its ability to gamify the daunting task of learning a language. More than 70% of employees feel that gamification is a motivator for tackling tasks and working harder. Even Starbucks utilizes gamification in their My Rewards programme, turning the simple task of buying a coffee into something compelling, tweet-worthy, and memorable. Many of the features built into our own B2B customer incentive platforms are there because we’ve seen first-hand how strong a motivator gamification is.
After all, any good customer incentive platform is all about creating that irresistible rush of dopamine, one of the key happy chemicals that strengthen relationships and make us more inclined toward long-term loyalty. It’s the spoonful of sugar businesses need to get their customers on-side for the long-haul without ever shrinking their margins.
But it’s not just about that direct boost to loyalty. Building gamification and promotion into your channel incentives also unlocks more opportunities for gathering rich, insightful data on your users. And, the more data you have, the better you can make the customer experience – and the stronger your relationships with channel partners will be.
Here are the key promotional and gamified features we build into our B2B platforms, and how they lead to richer data.
Quizzes
When you’re looking to motivate and educate an entire marketing channel, things can feel like an uphill struggle. It takes consistent work and training to get the very most out of your channel but, if you can get there, the ROI is high.
Through your loyalty platform, you can use the quiz module to engage your channel partners, and create key learning opportunities that ensure you get more out of your channel. Points can be awarded for participation and performance – a great motivator, and the perfect way of creating a fun, regular touchpoint between you and them.
Customer surveys and other interactive media are great for gathering data and actionable insights, but you know what they say: you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. Survey response rates vary a lot, but a good response rate can be as low as 5% – and one key reason why customers don’t complete surveys is that they don’t have the motivation.
With quizzes and interactive surveys, motivation is an integral element, and gathering data is that much easier.
Pop-Up Quizzes
Who doesn’t get that little itch of temptation when there’s a prize draw to enter? The trick is to keep it simple – a single, multiple-choice question that enters users into the draw, with the promise of points or a physical prize to be won.
It doesn’t have to be over-the-top – the trick is to run these pop-up prize draws regularly to maintain engagement, so don’t go giving away sports cars or £1,000 cash prizes. In fact, steer clear of cash altogether – it’s impersonal, forgettable, and easily squandered on mundane things.
You can manage this through the prize module on your loyalty platform.
Prizes
The great thing about practicing the ‘little and often’ approach to prize draws is it’s a lot more sustainable. If you’re offering points or a relatively small (nonetheless exciting) perk, you can afford to do it every day and enjoy consistently high engagement from your users.
Our prize module uses ratios to randomly assign prizes to users. A little goes a long way with customers, and builds those all-important positive memories around your brand brick-by-brick. With more reasons to log into their platforms each day, you can enjoy a richer supply of data and key insights into your customer’s behaviours and interests.
Events Calendar
Events and training courses are fundamental if you want to get the most out of your marketing channel, but how do you get your customers feeling enthused and ready to learn? You guessed it: a little gamification.
Our platform enables users to book themselves or their teams onto courses and events, and award points for attendance. You don’t need to go overboard, but a little extra incentive can be exactly what the loyalty doctor ordered, and it makes it easier to promote upcoming events and boost attendance. You can then promote this externally, too, through the usual B2B marketing channels.
From your events calendar, you can also keep track of attendance and monitor the success-rate of your events.
Promotions (Ways to Earn)
Don’t let points allocation stagnate. From the Promotions module, you can showcase new ways to earn points, and any current/seasonal promotions you’re running. Our brains are hardwired to work toward goals and milestones, so regular updates will always go a long way.
Every promotion that you run will appear as a pop-up box in the Earn Points section, giving users a great reason to check-in regularly and stay engaged.
