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Applying Game Mechanics to Customer Service and Support systems

I’ve been having an ongoing conversations over the last few months with Kevin Leahy around applying gaming mechanics on top of enterprise systems. I’m still trying to get my head around a lot of this, so I’m using this post to jot down some of my ideas, some of the background, and to use it to hopefully continue the conversation with others. It’s far different than most of my how-to posts. Mostly, its a brain dump.

 

Can we use gaming mechanics to influence the behavior of users of our system?

 

Would this improve our service? Can we make work more fun? Would this lead to happier employees, thus leading to happier customers?

What is a Game?

 

what is a game? “a rule-based activity involving challenge to reach a goal” (fromhttp://www.changemakers.net/node/1308)

a more informal definition: a structured experience with rules and goals that’s fun

What are Game Mechanics?

 

Most of the following info on Game Mechanics comes from a presentation called Putting the Fun in Functional by Amy Jo Kim. She’s the CEO of ShuffleBrain, and is [according to her bio] an internationally recognized expert in online social architecture. Go watch that presentation – it’s good stuff, and it lays the groundwork.

 

Game Mechanics are the systems & features that make games fun, compelling and addictive.

 

Atari2600

  • Collecting
    • Impressive collection == bragging rights
  • Points
    • game points are given by the system
    • social points are given by other players
    • redeemable points drive loyalty
    • leader boards drive player behavior, and express community values
  • Levels
    • punctuate the game experience
    • unlock new powers and access
  • Feedback
    • accelerates mastery and adds fun
    • social feedback drives engagement
  • Exchanges
    • are structured social interactions
    • basic, primal form of social engagement
    • can be explicit or implicit
    • add friend is explicit
    • comments are implicit
  • Customization
    • character customization
    • interface/environment
  • quick games and games within games
  • spectators

How do we use game mechanics to illicit the desired behaviors from users of a Customer Service & Support system?

 

How do we use game mechanics to illicit the desired behaviors from users (agents, customers) of a Customer Service & Support system?

 

Example:

 

Lets take a concrete example. Many Customer Service systems use some sort of knowledgebase, or knowledge management system. My experience has shown that often, these knowledge systems aren’t as effective as they can be, because folks are not contributing to these systems, keeping them up to date, or even searching and re-using the existing knowledge within them. Less re-use and sharing means we’re working and solving the same issues over and over again. And it means we’re not setting up our knowledge systems for maximum value in self-service scenarios.

 

How can we get encourage the desired behavior? Specifically, how can we encourage folks to create, use, and re-use knowledge within the system?

 

A few bullet point ideas under the different game mechanics categories:

Collecting:

  • KnowledgeBase (KB) articles Created
  • Cases Solved
  • Cases solved and linked to a KB article
  • # of likes (thumbs up) on your KB articles

 

Points:

  • creating a KB article
  • having a KB article approved
  • using a KB article to solve a case (linking)
  • when someone uses one of your articles to solve a case
  • improving a KB article
  • when a customer uses an article to solve a problem (eliminating the creation of a case)

Feedback:

  • comments on solutions from agents
  • comments on solutions from customers
  • thumbs up / thumbs down
  • mark as favorite
  • notifications about when activities occur, including those that generate points
  • trending topics, searches, solutions used
  • points leaderboard
  • dashboards

 

Levels:

(this could use improvement. other ideas?)

  • KB novice – can create, comment, use KB articles. can submit for review
  • KB reviewer – can review articles, submit for public (external) consumption
  • KB expert – can mark for public consumption

Other aspects of game mechanics that could be used within the system:

 

Exchanges

(social interactions)

  • chat, collaborate within a case
  • comments
  • thumbs up/down
  • tagging

 

Customization

  • avatars for customers, and for agents
  • show avatar alongside names
  • themes
  • for agents, for customers
  • custom themes (colors)
  • layouts (i.e. what shows on home page)

 

 

Quick games and games within games

  • tagging

 

Spectators

  • managers, executives, others in the company, customers
  • RSS feeds
  • notifications

 

 

As I said, much of this post is a brain dump, and a way to start getting ideas down to paper bits.

 

I would love to hear from you on this topic. What do you think? Is this interesting? Or am I full of crap? To be honest, I’m not sure myself.