evaluagent - 10 critical rules of contact centre gamification

The 10 Critical Rules of Contact Centre GamificationEvery good game needs rules to play by contact centre gamification is no different

Based on our experience, here are the 10 rules we believe will make gamification

a success in your contact centre

Rule 1

Think long and hard about the culture you want to create

When it comes to changing behaviour, gamification can be very powerful, so before you start, it is important to think about the behaviour you want to encourage. This comes back to having the right building blocks in place and creating a very clear link between people, performance and business outcomes.

Rule 2

Enhance, recognise and reward results rather than actions

Actions may speak louder than words, but results mean more than both. Make sure you recognise and reward the outcomes of actions, rather than the actions themselves. Make sure you don’t become prey to the rule of unintended consequences; for example, if you incentivise agents to close cases, you’ll get lots of closed cases, but you may also get lots of customers who are dissatisfied because their queries haven’t been fully addressed.

Rule 3

Focus on improvement and consistency as well as high

performance

Gamification in the contact centre should be as inclusive as possible. It is vital to reward consistency and improvement as well as high achievement. Gamification is about improving performance across the board, not just for your start performers. In fact, gamification’s ability to motivate new starters and under-achievers is one of it’s main benefits.

Rule 4

Auto-assign points and minimise the manual allocation of points

We know that keeping track of metrics on flip-charts and wallboards can be an administrative headache. So ensure you have the systems in place to auto-assign points rather than allocating them manually. Aside from minimising the effort required, automating the allocation of points ensures that recognition is fair and consistent.

Rule 5

Minimise the chance of cynical employees gaming the system

We have alluded (in rule 2) to the unintended consequences of rewarding actions rather than results. Unfortunately, one of those consequences can be agents gaming the system. Make sure you set up anti-gaming controls and create a reward structure that ensures you don’t end up incentivising the wrong behaviour.

Rule 6

Encourage inclusive, healthy competition

This really goes back to the point about culture, but we can’t stress it too much. Competition might seem daunting to some agents, but by making it transparent, inclusive and healthy, no one has anything to worry about. You can do this by teaming up your high performers with low performers to encourage peer support and collaboration. Encourage everyone to work together by creating supporting programs, and involve agents in coming up with their own challenges and targets.

Rule 7

Include real rewards

As we said earlier, rewards don’t have to be expensive, but they do have to have value to the recipient. Think about rewards that will encourage a more positive culture. A half day off, parking spot closer to the office entrance where a written letter of congratulations from a CEO makes a huge difference. Involve the agents too by asking them what rewards will motivate them.

Rule 8

Keep it simple

Like your customers, many of your agents may be at home with the latest technology, but they are quickly going to lose interest in a system that is difficult to use. A simple and efficient user interface is especially important for those less tech savvy team members.

Rule 9

Make it fun, compulsive, but not distracting

Gamification is meant to increase your agent’s focus on customer service, not distract them from the task at hand. By keeping it simple and easy but focussed on results, you can ensure gamification doesn’t become another ‘gimmick’ or an additional piece of reporting software that is detracting from your agents’ focus.

Rule 10

Create a people-centric contact centre

This is the most important point. Gamification is a fantastic tool for motivating agents and achieving great customer satisfaction, but it is just that: a tool. It will work if it supports clear operational goals and if your leadership team embraces it with enthusiasm. Remember for a call centre to be truly people-centric it must recognise the needs of people, not technology.

EvaluAgent Contact Centre Gamification

Use EvaluAgent's game-based recognition & reward features to create a contact centre culture where employees are rewarded in fun and engaging ways for a job well done! Through a largely

automated process, this module ensures reward and recognition is totally transparent and fair. And best of all, the

process requires little or no administrative overhead.

Find out more at http://www.evaluagent.net/