3 tips associations can use to start with gamification right away.
Member engagement is serious business. It’s important to keep your members engaged year-round so they see value in their membership, feel connected with your association, and ultimately stick around for years to come.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun with member engagement.
Making member engagement more fun gets members more involved and excited about interacting more with your association and other members. That’s where gamification comes in. Gamification is an effective way to encourage members to get more involved and reward member engagement.
The power of gamification
Gamification is the application of game mechanics – such as challenges, points, and rewards – to non-game situations. And it can be a powerful tool for getting members more involved and more loyal. Just think of how companies like your favorite coffee shops, restaurants, hotels, and other businesses run games and use reward programs to drive customer loyalty, and you get the idea.
Multiple leading brands use gamification as part of their customer loyalty strategies. And there’s a reason they offer these types of programs: They increase customer engagement and retention.
Getting started with gamification for member retention
Gamification is a great way to keep your members around, too. Rewarding and encouraging members to participate in your organization’s activities can get them more involved and more likely to stick around.
So, how do you get going with gamification at your association? Your online member community is a great place to begin, and it can be easy to get started.
For example, here are three simple ideas for using gamification in your online member community:
- Develop custom badges to reward members for their participation – such as racking up time in your online community, asking questions, or providing relevant answers to other members’ questions. Through these badges, members can see their activity levels and how much they’re participating compared to others, which promotes a playful spirit of friendly competition.
- Allow members to earn prizes, such as gift cards or branded merchandise (such as T-shirts or home desk accessories) to reward them for various participation levels in your online community. This approach gives members a tangible gift to work toward.
- Set up automated rewards for membership anniversaries. This adds value to membership longevity and shows members how much you value them.
The tools to support gamification in your online member community
Nimble Communities functionality in Nimble AMS membership management software allows you to easily set up and host a branded online member community for your association. Using gamification features in Nimble Communities, you can automatically recognize your most active members with custom badges on their community profiles. You can also set up dashboards to give you insights into how members are participating in your online community.
Take the next step
Isn’t it time to add gamification to your loyalty strategy? Learn how gamification tools in Nimble Communities can help you acknowledge and reward active and engaged members while encouraging members to engage even more: Request a demo of Nimble Communities.
