Integrating Gamification into Customer Relationship Management

Why have gamification in CRM?

According to a recent CFO.com article, there is a big problem with customer relationship management (CRM) systems – getting salespeople to actually use them. CRM systems don’t always get the expected return on investment because users often don’t want to do the extra work involved; they want to get on to the next sales call.

The research group Forrester put it this way:

“The use of CRM apps is important to the whole sales process, but if salespeople aren’t using the technology, the ability to leverage the technology to generate deals is greatly diminished.”

Gamification to the rescue!

To get salespeople on board, some companies are looking at gamification. Using games in the work environments changes user behaviors and drives engagement. The example in the CFO.com article involves a video game at work where the salespeople work their way up the ranks from being a low-ranked “squirrel hunter” up to the highest rank: a top-level “whale hunter.”

Gamification plus CRM = increased productivity and accurate analysis

CRM systems have enormous built-in advantages. They increase productivity through automated focus on customer activity and sales. They also give those in charge a real-time and more accurate view of what their salespeople are doing and how their customers feel.

Throw in gamification and companies go a step beyond just giving salespeople an incentive to do well. Gamification takes advantage of the salesperson’s natural competitiveness. The ingredient of gamification is the incentive to actually use the CRM system and “move up the chain” towards the highest level – and in a fun way that emulates what the person is already doing on Facebook, for example.

Me! Me! (It’s all ego)

The best salespeople have a driving need to be noticed as well as compensated. They work hard, and while the money is important, they crave the recognition.

Using gamification tools like leaderboards that promote friendly competition is an enormous psychological incentive: no one wants to be in last place on the scoreboard. That anchorman or woman is going to work harder to get a higher rank.

So as friendly competition through gamificaiton takes over, the benefits of customer relation management tools become somewhat more than the sum of their parts with the outcome of higher sales and a competitive and attentive sales staff.

Image by emptyage