Gamification is more than a buzzword. It is one of the top channel engagement strategies in 2024. When applied well, gamification increases revenues, accelerates growth, and boosts brand awareness.
According to online reports, organizations that use gamification experience:
- 7X higher profits
- 50% more conversions
- 3.5X better sales performance
In other words, gamification is a powerful motivator for channel partners. If you're looking to boost channel partner engagement in 2024, you won't want to miss this short guide. We'll share four ways to use gamification as part of your channel engagement strategy.
What is Gamification?
Gamification is a reinforcement tool used to motivate desired behaviors or outcomes. B2B businesses use gamification to enhance the customer journey and user experience. Channel participants complete activities for points, badges, leaderboards, competitions, and rewards. One online report suggests using these best practices can increase engagement by 150%. Attaching goals to a desirable reward yields high impact results.
Four Reasons Why Gamification Works within the Channel:
Gamification on its own won't move the needle. It's the channel engagement strategies you use that make all the difference. The right gamification strategy can help build stronger channel partner relationships.
Here are a few key benefits of gamification within the channel:
- Increased Motivation - Gamification focuses on goal attainment. It motivates participants to act for the promise of achievement (and a reward).
- Enhanced Data Tracking - Gamification helps you track performance metrics in real-time. This leads to better partner engagement.
- Better Product Knowledge - Gamification is a powerful tool for education and training. It inspires sales teams to learn more about new and changing products.
- Improved Performance & Productivity - Engagement metrics like leaderboards and rewards inspire competition. It fosters a shared purpose to achieve a common goal.
Gamification helps engage your target audience. It also allows you to reach multiple channels at once. Done well, gamification can improve customer experience, customer satisfaction, and customer data. It creates personalized experiences that promote growth for teams within your partner portal.
Using Gamification to Drive Partner Engagement
Channel partner engagement starts with relevant content, a consistent experience, and repeatable results. Each touchpoint should feel seamless and branded throughout the customer journey. Gamification is the perfect way engage new customers within your target audience. It's also an excellent way to expand partner engagement inside your channel ecosystem. Whether you're marketing to one or multiple channels, gamification drives tremendous results.
Let's take a look at four ways you can apply gamification to increase partner engagement:
1) Onboarding
Onboarding is critical to building strong channel partner relationships. It helps establish rapport, trust, and brand loyalty. The right onboarding process empowers vendors from the very first transaction. When you use onboarding best practices, you set your channel up for success.
A key part of the onboarding process is communicating expectations. Partners need the knowledge and skills necessary to sell your products. You must support partners with training, customer-facing materials, and sales and marketing tools. Establishing clear benchmarks, performance metrics, and timelines are crucial to partner success. Gamification allows you to onboard channel partners in a fun and engaging way. It also rewards them for desired results.
2) Learning & Development
Learning and development are crucial to long-term channel engagement. That's because a deep understanding of the product usually complements strong sales performance. As such, it should be a primary focus for your customer engagement strategy. Using gamification during training and development can help boost channel engagement. A recent study concluded gamification increases retention. Applying the right gamification strategy can support learning and development within the channel.
Here are a few ways to use gamification for learning and development:
- Spin to Wins - Participants who complete training modules earn a spin code for prizes.
- Custom Sports Pool - Channel partners make picks for popular sporting events. They earn bonus points for quizzes to help them move up the leaderboard.
- Giveaways & Sweepstakes - Participants complete surveys, quizzes, or other training to win prizes.
Gamification is an excellent channel engagement strategy. It inspires learning opportunities that are team-focused, supportive, and fun. It's also a great way to collect customer data.
3) Tactical Promotions
Standing out is critical to long-term channel success. Combining gamification with tactical promotions builds brand loyalty in your partner portal. Using short, targeted promotions can help increase partner engagement in various digital channels. Consider promoting tactical promotions on social media or other communication channels.
Here are a few examples of how you gamify tactical promotions:
- SPIFF - Motivate sales teams with tiered prizes based on sales performance.
- Incentive Travel Experience - Hit sales targets with a guarantee, like incentive travel.
Other ways to gamify each strategy above is by adding leaderboards, badges, and levels. Have fun with it!
4) Loyalty
Brand loyalty is a byproduct of long-term channel partner engagement. Thus, your engagement strategy should include incentive best practices like gamification and promotions. Consider gamifying your points-based loyalty programs. Offer strategic promotions to engage participants and build excitement.
Here are a few ways to use gamification to boost brand loyalty:
- Fast-Start Bonus - Encourage participants to join an incentive program with bonus points. Create an opportunity where participants can redeem early to build brand loyalty.
- Offer Free Bonus Points - Highlight important days to promote redemptions. For example, offering 500 points for a national holiday.
- Giveaways & Sweepstakes - Increase loyalty by promoting a giveaway when they redeem points.
Creating personalized experiences is key to building brand loyalty. Offering incentives throughout the year is the easiest way to increase mindshare. Points-based loyalty programs with clear goals create brand loyalty.
Boost Your Channel Engagement in 2024
Channel engagement comes down to building the right engagement strategy. Our suite channel and sales incentive tools help you engage your channel partners, increase brand loyalty, and reward desired outcomes. If you're looking for a platform that can help you build stronger channel partner relationships in 2024 and beyond, schedule a demonstration.
