I traveled to Gsummit on a search to discuss the latest trends and strategies in implementing successful gamification strategies, utilizing cutting edge business intelligence software, sustaining engagement and loyalty and of course see the much anticipated keynote Neil deGrasse Tyson (you can see a video of Gabe Zichermann interviewing him on gamification revolution).
On the second day of GSummit, we sat down with Jerry Filipiak, CEO of Comarch Inc. He detailed the importance of real-time engagement, shared the results of projects with JetBlue and also gave some insight on how the integration of Internet of Things (IoT) technology will benefit businesses in the future.
Filipiak informed us that that his company has a long-lasting relationship with JetBlue that started with a purebred loyalty program. About three years into the program, JetBlue was looking to incorporate gamification into the program in order to engage their customers in a unique way.
TrueBlue Badges was soon created, and Filipiak told us that although it definitely has some gamified elements, Comarch thinks of it more as a “social engagement platform,” an all-encompassing extension of the loyalty program into social channels.
When sharing their progress via social media, members are not only working toward extra points and badges of their own, but they are also encouraging others to interact with those posts. When other members click through the links or interact with a Badges social post in any way, JetBlue is able to track the analytics in real time. This allows the airline to develop rich user profiles and determine exactly where and when digital conversions are taking place. As a result, a dollar value is essentially assigned to each person interacting with the Badges program.
Having already created real-time transaction analytics for social engagement, the next step is changing location-based activities into measurable conversions – which, according to Filipiak, is exactly what Comarch plans to do with its IoT offering. He revealed to us that his company has committed to integrating IoT with its solutions and is currently developing beacon prototypes.
Just as most brands know that social interaction with their customer base is important yet find measuring social conversions difficult, location-based engagement suffers from the same problem. Comarch, through its beacons, will help brands deliver contextualized communication and get real-time analytics for in-store customers. Filipiak used the example of instead of looking at conversion metrics for websites, the beacons will allow you to look at those same conversion metrics for shopping malls and other physical locations.
Filipiak feels that widespread acceptance of beacons and other IoT technology is still about two years away, but he said that Comarch plans to lead this push and has its rollout scheduled for the fall of 2014.
You can also listen here to the full interview with Jerry.
Takeaways:
- Gamification overlaps with social engagement and customer loyalty
- Consumers want personalized, real-time interactions delivered to multiple touchpoints
- Real-time conversion analytics are just as important for location-based settings as they are for online channels
- Beacons and IoT can address the problem of lacking definitive conversion metrics in physical locations
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This interview was provided by Gsummit media partner TechnologyAdvice, an Inc. 5000 company that is dedicated to educating, advising, and connecting the buyers and sellers of business technology. Interview conducted by Clark Buckner.
