PayBay Intervista Fabio Viola su Loyalty ed Engagement

Il nostro Fabio Viola, top 5 gamification designer al mondo, è stato intervistato sul blog di PayBay sul tema dell’innovazione nei programmi di fidelizzazione ed engagement, e più in generale su come la gamification può aiutare le aziende a migliorare i processi interni ottenendo benefici concreti in termini economici.

PayBay è una giovane azienda italiana (n.b. nata dal gruppo Qui Group famoso per i suoi buoni pasto) che sta facendo parlare di se per la capacità di innovare nel settore dei pagamenti digitali e servizi a valore aggiunto. Iniziative come il programma sconti Banco Posta li hanno visti protagonisti così come il prossimo Loyalty Expo ad Orlando dove saranno gli unici italiani presenti.

Il mondo intorno a noi sta cambiando a velocità mai viste prima. In 10 anni abbiamo assistito a cambio demografico (millenials acquistano potere numerico ed economico), virtualizzazione e smaterializzazione dei beni, società iper connessa, social networks, user generated contents, geolocalizzazione, crisi economica mondiale, tutto questo ha minato il modo col quale le grandi aziende storicamente si interfacciavano con dipendenti e consumatori. Diretta conseguenza dell’incapacità di giocare con questa nuova situazione è una curva di partecipazione non più soddisfacente all’interno di moltissime inizative di loyalty, engagement e retention. Nonostante i profondi investimenti compiuti negli ultimi anni dalle aziende per adeguare i propri software di CRM. engagement, training, sales molto spesso il ritorno sull’investimento non è soddisfacente, è necessario un cambio strategico e mentale prima ancora che IT.

Vi ricordo che sarà possibile approfondire i temi dei loyalty programs 3.0 e loyalty gamification al Fidelity Forum 2015 dove il nostro Fabio Viola sarà chairman della sessione pomeridiana e terrà una esercitazione!

All’interno di questa cornice nasce la prima serie di interviste di PayBay agli innovatori, e siamo particolarmente orgogliosi che per aprire le danze sia stato scelto il nostro Fabio Viola. Invitandovi a leggere l’intervista completa in lingua inglese, riportiamo alcuni passaggi significativi tradotti in italiano:

• [PayBay] What is the key for the realization of the gamification strategy?

[Fabio Viola] During +10 years spent in the video-games and engagement industry, I learned that there are mainly two key moments for a successful product launch by design.

Design: Starting from the company’s brief, the brainstorming phase should focus on a series of progressive steps: breakdown measurable user tasks, identify the player personas and the motivational drivers. Only after this process, it is time to decide which game mechanics and dynamics to implement. The gamification designer role is crucial, he helps the company understanding hundreds of gamification available techniques and choosing the most appropriate to create and/or amplify customer behaviors and habits. I often use a “tailor made” game deck with over 70 mechanics (each one with a description, a case study, target group and benefits), making inclusive and participatory the marketing/IT/product manager brainstorming experience.

Brainstorming ends with the Gamification Design Document (GDD), a step by step “Bible” which contains all the user interactions and experience.

Data Driven Development: Digital games industry has standardized a data driven cycle of development and management where the project release is the starting point, not the end of the process. In the enterprise field this “ongoing” logic has not yet been refined.

The product should evolve according to the metrics and customer feedback. We track users in real time, create clusters and adapt the experience according to the user behavioral patterns. In a free to play game in which I was involved, metrics indicated an high percentage of non paying users. We stopped to borrow them with pop ups inviting them to purchase virtual currency, instead we forced them to share their achievements and milestones bringing on the system new users without marketing costs. You can imagine the benefits in the loyalty programs industry.

• [PayBay] Which is the difference between Gamification and Loyalty program and how can the loyalty program evolve integrating the Gamification’s programs?

[Fabio Viola] Gamification converges game design, behavioral sciences, psychology to create a super user experience in many different market segments. Loyalty is one of the achievable goals and verticals, and today the gamification based loyalty programs are becoming a standard in response to the generational change and to the growing disaffection towards this tool.

Video-games have shown the world how to create deep loyalty and engagement (average player spends 21 hours/week) without the aid of extrinsic (and expansive) motivators. One of the secrets of this strong emotional connection is what I call the “Gamification Reward Framework“. The types of reward, and the schedules upon which they are delivered – form a framework which maintains a player’s interest in the program. Unfortunately the actual loyalty program design avoids intrinsic motivators (inexpensive): narrative, psychological, emotional, rank, status, access, power. This entire new reward typology matches perfectly with the way to act and think of the millenials generation. Furth more loyalty industry should take advantage of a more structured reward schedules going beyond the fixed ratio (buy 10, get one free). “Uncertainty is the real neurological gold mine so far as gaming is concerned. Dopamine elevates when you get a little prize for doing something, but what really lights up the brain is the unexpected reward (variable or interval ratio schedule): the one that couldn’t be predicted. And so the right amount of well-calibrated uncertainty can create intense engagement in all manner of tasks”. For more about this topic check my “Loyalty Gamification Manifesto”

• [PayBay]Which are the advantages of the Gamification in a training process?

[Fabio Viola]I had an outstanding experience in English-Attack where I served as Country Manager Italy. Putting together game designer, neuroscientist, cognitive researchers, and marketers, the company introduced a new way of teaching English. Since then this game based learning approach has been increasingly used in the B2C and enterprise market. The key points to keep in mind for increase the quality for learning and, at the same time, reduce the costs are:

– Rewards: People should be credited for everything they do in the system. Positive reinforcement all the time and make everything count towards a clear measure of progress.

– Failure: Failure is, by design, part of the game; you advance by failing, by understanding why you failed, and by taking corrective action on your next attempt.

– Meaningful Choice: The training contents are conveyed in a non-linear structure, it gives to the “learners” a feel of autonomy and sense of protagonism. Finally they are, in a certain way, the decision makers of their training.

– Missions: Especially “Millenials” need to be constantly motivated and driven, they have a profound genius that it is difficult to channel according to patterns of the past century. The experience should be designed with missions and sub-missions, shorts and variable tasks to accomplish that help people take ownership of their progress and success.

– Social Pressure: Social tools amplify the challenge and status advantages of progressing within the game. Introduce cooperation and versus modes or buddy list, chats, forums, leaderboard.