Gains from games-New research offers gamification insights tips for program pros

One in four incentive program owners is now actively using gamification in their incentive, travel, customer loyalty, or recognition programs, according to the Incentive Research Foundation (IRF), which recently published a new white paper on how to get the most out of creating and administering game-based programs.

The paper, “Gamification Done Right – The Do’s and Don’ts,” was authored by Dr. Michael Wu, chief scientist at Lithium Technologies. Dr. Wu, an internationally-recognized expert in biophysics, is also known as the creator of the Facebook Engagement Index. He notes the newfound popularity of gamification “comes from the simple recognition that games are extremely good at engaging their players.”

Players, says Dr. Wu “may be customers, employees, students, community members, attendees of a meeting, or simply participants of an incentive program.”

National Gift Card gift is seeing more requests from mobile app and game developers for the use of gift cards and eGift cards to incentivize their users.

“We have several gaming company clients and mobile app agencies that are purchasing iTunes eCodes to use as rewards and bonuses for players within in their applications,” states Eric Thiegs, Senior Vice President at NGC. “Giving the virtual world a ‘real-world’ reward, like a digital gift card (or eCodes as they’re called in the gift card industry), is simple when using our gift card API or purchasing the codes in bulk.”

Dr. Wu’s paper offers readers 10 sections, each comprised of helpful suggestions (the “do’s”). These include understanding the behaviors the incentive program is trying to drive, and the importance of analytics. And, as for the “don’ts,” Dr. Wu warns against “gamifying” a behavior that doesn’t provide value to players, or using gamification to try to fix a broken product or service.

The bonus: each section contains valuable gamification tips covering incentive travel and meetings, as well as reward and recognition programs.

To read the entire research paper, please visit http://theirf.org/blog

To learn more about NGC’s selection of gift cards for mobile games and apps, contact us.