Gamification - adding enjoyment and engagement into Market Research

It’s a wee bit depressing jumping from Covid lockdown into a COL Crisis and dare I say the R word. In the world of doom and gloom, we need to keep the faith and have a little fun with how we approach things. When we think about ‘Fun’ in the context of Market Research it doesn’t need to be gimmicky.

In fact, introducing ‘fun’ into the process of gaining insights can produce more insightful results. Encouraging playful behaviour, via gamification, has proven to enhance many aspects of business, such as employee engagement, but can also build excitement towards a particular common goal which represents a ‘win’ for the team, and perhaps earns a celebration.

Gamification in market research means applying the typical elements of game playing into a discussion guide or questionnaire. This can optimize the participant experience, increasing their motivation, engagement and enjoyment of a survey or focus group. If you think about it, would you try harder at a friendly game of darts or a competitive game where you are vying for leader board position?

Sometimes it can be as simple as presenting people with a challenge or providing a reward for things like ‘best quote / idea / insight of the day’. 

It can also just be about creating a scenario such as

• You are going on a trip and only have room for one ‘treat’ food, which would it be and why? 
• Oh no your phone has deleted all your apps, but you have 10 seconds to retrieve your top 3, which ones will you pick and why?
• You are running a pizza shop and head office are giving bonuses to those who come up with new bestselling toppings, what are your three suggestions?

These simple games can really help focus the mind and get them thinking.

Are you still thinking about Pizza? 😊

It’s also good to build in popular culture, using the basis of reality TV shows such as Love Island, First Dates or I’m a Celebrity. You could get them to imagine what a first date would be like with their favourite brand or retailer, or what food brand they would miss the most if they were in the jungle eating rice and beans! Another favourite is the Apprentice or Dragons Den, where they must work in teams to come up with winning business ideas. We often expect a lot from participants, perhaps too much, after all they are not marketeers. By giving them role play opportunities, or adding a competitive twist, we can help them be more creative.

As it’s approaching Christmas, we’ll be dusting off the board games and these are another great source of inspiration. You could use Taboo to get participants to describe a brand without using key words, or place retailers on a Monopoly board according to their Reputation. 

There is a never-ending number of potential ways you can gamify research, and not only does this make things more exciting for the participants, but it’s also more engaging for the client. Ultimately, it’s not fun for fun sake, it really does work.