Best Gamification Platforms & Software Overview 

Few people realize that video games gross almost double the sales of movies. There are good reasons for this: while a movie is a passive, and often on-time experience, game, is an ongoing, engaging, and immersive experience. So, it’s no wonder that gamification – using gaming elements in non-game settings, such as employee onboarding and training, or in sales – has become increasingly popular.

In this post to the Centrical Blog, we’ll take a look at gamification platform basics and the best gamification platforms for 2023, with a view to providing you with the most relevant information possible to aid your decision-making.

What are gamification platforms? 

Gamification platforms enable people to access the benefits of gamification across a number of elements. The best gamification platforms for business can motivate employees, keep them engaged, boost performance, encourage retention, and create a happier and more productive team.   

Gamification platforms often comprise a number of elements such as interactive courses, rewards programs, internal competitions, real-time feedback and support, and the recognition of excellence. Often, gamification platforms incorporate other interfaces such as a mobile app. This allows employees to connect seamlessly and easily to the platform and encourages engagement.  

Leading gamification platforms create a “world within a world” where key interactions are gamified. In this highly engaging environment, employees are excited about hitting goals, earning rewards points, and leveling up. Employees can “compete” against themselves, in terms of advancing through gaming narratives or earning points, or against each other in a fun, light-hearted, yet powerful way.  

How to choose the best gamification software for your needs 

When choosing the best gamification software for your organization, it’s important to identify what your needs are. Questions to ask that can help focus you on the ideal gamification platform include: 

Which aspect of my company do I want to gamify? 

The answer to this question is often the onboarding process for new employees or gamification within specific teams such as sales or customer service. It can also include gamification across the enterprise to encourage real-time feedback or facilitate better communication between managers and team members. The more aspects that can be gamified, the better, as this creates a smooth and seamless gamification experience for employees.  

What is the goal of gamification within my organization?  

Gamification for its own sake is not as powerful as when the gamification you want to incorporate has a specific goal. The goal could be to motivate, engage, and reward employees. Or the goal might be to encourage competition within teams or across departments, drive specific KPIs, or to quickly bring new hires up to speed in terms of the organization’s culture and vision.  

What is important to me in a gamification platform? 

For some, the most important element of a gamification platform is ease of use or a quick setup. For others, it’s the security of the platform, particularly when it comes to third-party certifications like SOC2 Type 2 and ISO 27001. It may be the quality of the mobile experience, the pricing, or reviews from other users. The list is endless and will differ among enterprises. 

Once you have answered these initial questions, what you’re actually looking for in a gamification platform will become a lot clearer.  

5 types of gamification platforms 

While there are a number of types of gamification platforms, five major gamification platform types are most common. Gamification platform types include (but are not limited to):

• General Gamification 
• Performance Management 
• Microlearning 
• Coaching 
• Voice of Employee 

Some specific subtypes of gamification platforms are:

• Educational or learning gamification platforms 
• Industry-specific platforms, such as gamification around email security 
• Department-specific gamification platforms, such as those used by HR, sales, or frontline employees 
• Productivity-focused gamification platforms 
• Gamification software for employee engagement 

In some instances, a gamification platform can support all these use cases.  

Gamification platforms can also be split into general and niche solutions. Niche solutions usually focus on a specific area, such as sales or customer loyalty. These are designed from the ground up for that unique area and often integrate with the software systems or tools most used in that industry. For example, a gamification platform dedicated to improving competition among brick-and-mortar franchises will leverage internal, employee-facing leaderboards that might show the number of orders and average order size and nearby locations.  

General solutions are more like “super apps” and are powerful enough to cater to both general and specific business challenges.  

Overview of the best gamification platforms 

Centrical 

Centrical is trusted by the likes of Microsoft and Verizon to support key initiatives and drive value from day one. The Centrical gamification platform is used by contact centers, sales teams, and throughout organizations to engage employees, keeping them connected and performing at their best.  

The platform is comprehensive, offering everything from performance management to personalized microlearning, to AI-powered, augmented coaching. It has been proven to motivate employees, retain top talent, inspire teamwork, and create a fun yet professional and high-performing atmosphere.  

For example, organizations can choose from various game narratives, such as dynamic car races where users progress by hitting their targets. Winners collect points and redeemable coins, earn badges, move up on the leaderboard, and level up when they hit key milestones.  

Centrical has consistently been a top performer on ratings websites such as G2 and has the leading security certifications, including SOC2 Type 2 and ISO 27001.  

Spinify 

This platform is aimed at sales teams, integrating with spreadsheets and other tools (such as Salesforce and Salesloft), adding an element of friendly competition among the sales team. Users can create games and highlight wins using a leaderboard and other recognition functions.  

Influitive 

Influitive is a marketing gamification platform that focuses on the customer and leverages engagement to build a brand.  The platform is dedicated to getting referrals, references, and reviews from customers, at scale. Gamified campaigns create tailored experiences for customers, with personalized onboarding, journeys, and rewards.  The platform has been used by brands to build a base of loyal fans, increase social media engagement, gather customer stories and feedback, and reward loyal customers.   

Qualifio 

Qualifio’s platform enables customer engagement and seeks to build relationships with customers. This platform has integrations with common tools such as Salesforce and Mailchimp and offers both data collection and interaction-based loyalty modules. Qualifio’s platform provides marketing-related interactive quizzes, contests, polls, and animated games. It also uses gamification to reward customers for various types of interactions and experiences.  

Hoopla  

Hoopla, recently acquired by Raydiant, transforms employees at brick-and-mortar stores into brand advocates. This employee gamification platform includes interactive leaderboards, customized experiences and integrations, and competitions across stores, shifts, and teams. Other examples of gamification are rewarding employees who go the extra mile and recognizing top-performing employees with shoutouts and rewards.  

Bunchball Nitro 

Bunchball Nitro from BI Worldwide is a system-agnostic gamification platform built specifically for enterprises. Often used for software adoption, intranet usage, and internal social media activity, Bunchball Nitro offers advanced analytics and is generally geared towards larger companies, where some integration work can often be expected.  

Use cases of gamification platforms 

Gamification platforms can be used for almost any purpose. If there is something you want to improve, it can likely be done using a gamification platform.  

For example, take gamification platforms for contact centers. These platforms help keep agents engaged and effective through gamified goalsetting, guided performance feedback, and personalized microlearning. A good employee gamification platform can dramatically improve KPIs such as handle times and resolution rates, boost sales, and significantly impact customer satisfaction. 

Increasing sales is another classic use case for gamification platforms. The right platform will provide sales teams with the coaching, competition, and training to smash their targets, and provides a key competitive edge without necessarily having to adjust compensation packages. 

Gamification platforms generally tend to have customizable elements, meaning that you can identify areas you’d like to improve and include those in the gamified experience. Examples can range from the data-driven (e.g., critical KPIs) to softer goals, such as a happier work environment. You might also wish to gamify specific goals, such as accelerating employee onboarding or more engaging training on a new software system.  

Key takeaways 

We’ve just had a look at how to choose the best platform for your needs, the types of gamification platforms out there, and some of the best gamification platforms available. A few important takeaways: 

• Gamification platforms are becoming increasingly popular with enterprises across industries  
• When evaluating gamification platforms, it is essential to fully understand why you are looking and your goals 
• There are a number of platform types on the market, including general and niche solutions 
• The right gamification platform can play a major role in ensuring you achieve your business goals 

To learn more about the Centrical platform, and why so many Fortune 500 customers love the platform, see a preview here.