This slidedeck was for a talk I gave at Digital Shoreditch about the gamification or use of game artefacts within customer service. I am still at the outset of this journey, but there is no doubt in my mind that game elements can be used to influence customer behaviour within customer service. The premise of my talk was exploring the idea of whether game elements (badges, rewards, levelling etc) can be used to influence customers to self-serve rather than call.

1. … a thought in progress… Digital Shoreditch Gamification Workshop: The Gamification of Customer Service Guy Stephens 04.05.2011

2. … a thought in progress… Can we use gamification to influence or change behaviour from a customer service perspective? © Foviance 2011

3. … stream of consciousness… I didn’t want to talk about the use of badges to engender loyalty and advocacy. I wanted to talk about the use of game mechanics to influence or change behaviour, as a directly attributable mechanic for a company to achieve cost savings. After much thinking, I came upon the idea of the use of game mechanics to influence customers to self-serve. Not to self-serve once they are on the self-serving platform, as they are then simply using badges and rewards to encourage someone to simply do more of the same. Gamification becomes an end in itself, it is the destination, rather than being a mechanic to encourage someone to actually take a left turn when they would normally have taken a right turn. What I wanted to think about was, would it be possible to use badges and other game artefacts to encourage, influence, change customer’s behaviour across platforms at the ‘moment of truth’. Self-serve doesn’t start with self-serve. It starts with someone calling up, emailing in…essentially not helping themselves. Could I come up with a mechanic to encourage them at the point at which they might call or email to ‘trick’, ‘dupe’, ‘seduce’ them into changing their behaviour and reward them for their ‘moment of play’. Could I use and understand flow to influence their ‘moment of play’, so that the call or email was understood to be a necessary instigator of the game? In this context, the ‘moment of truth’ becomes the ‘moment of play’. © Foviance 2011

4. My credentials © Foviance 2011

5. Me LinkedIn Twitter Facebook YouTube Brightkite Beingguy1067.com FourSquare Buzz Where social media meets customer service Social Media Governance Forum Gowalla Friendfeed Posterous Delicious Digg Stumbleupon Listorious Gist TripAdvisor Vark Cofacio Focus.com SocialCRM Pioneeers CustomerThink.com Quora Squidoo Econsultancy.com Best ServiceOne.com MyCustomer.com CustomerStrategy.com LinkedIn profile: linkedin/in/guy1067 Google profile: google.com/profiles/guy1067 © Foviance 2011

6. Social customer care Everything is the same Nothing is the same What’s same? © Foviance 2011

7. © Foviance 2011

8. E =  h © Foviance 2011

9. © Foviance 2011

10. Issue to resolution © Foviance 2011

11. Resolution to experience © Foviance 2011

12. I hate this company! No one ever listens Complaints © Foviance 2011

13. Creator Participant Promoter Bystander Voyeur Passenger Listener Passerby Pundit Explorer Roles are changing Prisoner © Foviance 2011

16. A new type of customer service is emerging… © Foviance 2011

17. Blurred lines, fragmented ecosystem © Foviance 2011

18. Elements of gamification © Foviance 2011

19. Transcended into modern day forum mythology $60k - $100k cost savings © Foviance 2011

20. Groubalution “ Gamification at its core is entertainment that engages the user ; period. While they play, they learn intuitively. Most important to note is the fact that the game play in and of itself weighs heavily on what people are thinking, feeling and saying about the largest brands and personalities in the world” Robert Doner, Founder, Groubal © Foviance 2011

21. Gamification is vital! Research by analyst Gartner predicts that 50 per cent of businesses will use gamification by 2015 to encourage staff to be more dedicated and innovative when managing customer relationships. “ Where games traditionally model the real world, organisations must now take the opportunity for their real world to emulate games,” commented Gartner analyst Brian Burke. Source: customerservice.co.uk © Foviance 2011

22. Rewards existing behaviour. I get ‘kudos points’ for being there anyway. But… © Foviance 2011

23. … a thought in progress… Can we use gamification to influence or change behaviour from a customer service perspective? © Foviance 2011

24. Stop calling me! © Foviance 2011

25. Self serve © Foviance 2011

26. … a thought in progress… Can we use gamification to influence or change behaviour across platforms ? © Foviance 2011

27. The easy part of the answer is “Yes”. The hard part is “ How ?” Michael Wu, Chief Scientist, Lithium © Foviance 2011

28. QR codes: Embed resolution © Foviance 2011

29. How can I get a customer to stop using the phone and self-serve instead? The resolution becomes part of the ‘moment of play’? The challenge © Foviance 2011

30. I didn’t want to talk about the use of badges to engender loyalty and advocacy. I wanted to talk about the use of game mechanics to influence or change behaviour, as a directly attributable mechanic for a company to achieve cost savings. After much thinking, I came upon the idea of the use of game mechanics to influence customers to self-serve. Not to self-serve once they are on the self-serving platform, as they are then simply using badges and rewards to encourage someone to simply do more of the same. Gamification becomes an end in itself, it is the destination, rather than being a mechanic to encourage someone to actually take a left turn when they would normally have taken a right turn. What I wanted to think about was, would it be possible to use badges and other game artefacts to encourage, influence, change customer’s behaviour across platforms at the ‘moment of truth’. Self-serve doesn’t start with self-serve. It starts with someone calling up, emailing in…essentially not helping themselves. Could I come up with a mechanic to encourage them at the point at which they might call or email to ‘trick’, ‘dupe’, ‘seduce’ them into changing their behaviour and reward them for their ‘moment of play’. Could I use and understand flow to influence their ‘moment of play’, so that the call or email was understood to be a necessary instigator of the game? In this context, the ‘moment of truth’ becomes the ‘moment of play’. Stream of consciousness… © Foviance 2011

31. Designing the service experience with game elements placed strategically along the way that seduce, motivate, influence, change behaviour becomes paramount © Foviance 2011

32. Customer service is not a game. Badges, rewards and levels of achievement are not a replacement for a resolution, but a means to get a customer from A to B © Foviance 2011

33. © Foviance 2011

34. © Foviance 2011

35. © Foviance 2011 Resolutions as locations: I check-in to a resolution

36. © Foviance 2011 Customer service 2015?

37. © Foviance 2011 customer service ≠ fun

38. Guy Stephens Twitter: @guy1067 Mobile: 07795 387 366 Email: guy.stephens@foviance.com © Foviance 2011