Big Data, a Side Effect of Gamification

The results of gamification are pretty obvious− increased sales and engagement, better training, you’ve heard it all, but one of the lesser thought results of gamification is big data. Looking at each individually, you may not see how adding game dynamics into traditionally non-game contexts has anything to do with large data sets. However, with the use of gamification to increase interactions, companies are collecting more and more information about their users by the second. At the root of gamification, it’s a solution to analyze large sets of data quickly and react. For example, gamification solutions can quickly divide customers into tiers based on rewards points and create a rich list of a company’s highest spending customers.

Collecting Customer Information

Gamifying external communications can allow you to collect information a consumer normally would not give in a web form. Even gamifying a simple survey has proven to yield more results than a typical survey for market research. With all of these additional fields, companies are receiving more and more information from their customers. For example, even companies such as Foursquare have information such as where a user has checked in at work or at home. Most people would never give out information about where they live and work, but becoming the “mayor” of your own house seems to make the idea a whole lot more appealing.

Actions & Analytics

In the majority of gamified applications, most, if not every action results in some sort of feedback such as points or badges. Every gamification platform whether internal or external has hundreds of potential actions that have corresponding results. Storing and analyzing this data can help organizations see measurable results as well as a ROI on gamification. If you’re looking for easy to understand overviews of your gamification analytics, popular gamification platforms like Badgeville and Bunchball interact with solutions such as Salesforce and Adobe’s Marketing Cloud.

Gamification can be highly successful in collection data, but before you implement a gamification system of any form, make sure you have the appropriate resources to store and analyze the data. If you are already using a CRM solution, most gamification providers can deliver you with a system that integrates your data seamlessly. The big data you collect through gamification is useless unless you store it, analyze it, and use it to make educated decisions about the future of your organization.