Whether you’re a college fan, an NFL fan, or not a fan at all, it’s hard to miss the fact that it’s football season. Game day advertising and promotions are everywhere. If all those signs have you considering implementing gamification as part of your marketing strategy we have a few tips for you.
Don’t reinvent the wheel. Unless you are a programmer, or have one willing to design custom gamification for you, there’s no need to create your own program from scratch. There are a number of customizable solutions out there that you can tailor to your needs. You can review our suggestions for gamification solutions in a previous post. As a matter of fact, this is the approach we took when streamlining inventory management for small business. Flexible, gam'able end solutions and automation.
Decide on your goals before you begin designing your gamification. There are so many options with gamification that it’s easy to get caught up with all that you can do. Before you start any new marketing strategy you need to decide what you are hoping to achieve. The best solution for getting your customers to spend more time on your website will be different than the best option for increasing sales or improving social media sharing. Know what it is you want your customers to do, and then design a game that promotes that action specifically. Inventory management for small business is a redundant, boring task, mostly. Before spicing it up, make sure you know what you're trying to accomplish. For example, one goal of proper inventory management for small business is accurate counts. Give a prize for the person who consistently delivers the most accurate physical counts.
If it’s too easy or too hard to earn rewards, customers will lose interest. Do your homework, review other gamification strategies and see what works best. You want to engage your users and keep them coming back. If there’s no challenge involved, people seldom describe an activity as fun. Likewise, if something is too difficult most users will quickly give up and move on to another activity that they can succeed at.
Several smaller pieces are better than one large one. As with most things, if something is too large or too complex it’s harder to understand. By creating smaller games, you’ll make it more inviting for your customers to get involved. Often, customers will hesitate to start playing a game that seems like it will take a long time to complete. Games that require less of an upfront commitment are easier to say yes to. It will be easier for them to digest the information that you’re providing as well.
Gain likes through gaming. If your customers are having fun and earning rewards they are likely to share that with others. Someone may give your business a try just because your game strategy seemed like a fun thing to try.
Stay flexible. You’ve set your goals, outlined your strategy and implemented your gamification. If you aren’t seeing the results that you were hoping for, you need to be willing and able to adjust. It’s important to track your results and tweak anything that isn’t working. It’s sometimes hard to give up on a strategy that you felt strongly about, but if it’s not providing quantifiable results it just isn’t working. Remember that the point of gamification is to grow your business.
Following the tips above should help you develop a gamification plan that will provide great results for your small business.
Inventory Management for Small Business from Canvus
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