What's your strategy? Game Mechanics to navigate your company's products and services

Game Mechanics at Work and Play — Competing on Execution

Meri Gruber from Competing on Execution makes a very good observation about game mechanics with her trip to a kids science fair, one that actually reminded me of what people are doing in location based products like Foursquare.

In thinking through it a bit more it may be as simple as providing a subtle bit of organization, which is the key driver. As noted Meri had two experiences, one in which she attended an event that had a list of all exhibitors (art fair) and another (science fair) that had a similar list in the form of a passport where you collected badges once you had seen the exhibitor.

In the end the passport badge format of the science fair provided a much better experience because she didn't miss any exhibitors and there was a sense of accomplishment at the end, no reward mind you, but just the knowledge that she came to an event and saw all that it had to offer. In the end Meri wrote about the science fair, which in and of itself says a lot.

From a strategic marketing standpoint there are some good takeaways here:

• Are you making it easy for customers to navigate all of your offerings - checklist, tracking process, making a game out of it?

• Are you providing a reward or recognition for being a great customer - Meri was a great customer of the science fair?

• Could you tie into the game mechanics of a partner for both of the above?

I would also add that this is more than just a traditional loyalty club question, it really goes beyond, it's about a higher level of engagement, in essence a game!

Thanks,

Ed Loessi