Online Research and Gamification

The research industry needs researchers to start questioning the type of knowledge they are producing and the tools they are using for it. With the advance of technology, it is impossible for market research industry to hold on the old techniques. The internet has become one of the most important communication channels in the world in recent years, and now, mobile devices accompanied with VR glasses giving a fascinating mobile experience to the people. In addition, the growing internet usage and mobile devices are creating wide changes in the consumer purchasing process.

Today, consumers get used to see the results of innovation in their daily life, promoted through every single channel. So, consumers seek unique experiences from their buyer-seller interactions. They also look for the unique experiences of co-creating the product with producer-consumer engagement. In short, consumers today, seek much more than a product or service, or even a brand or its company to satisfy them; they want an engagement, an experience, and an excitement. Experience suggests the elicitation of higher levels of emotion than those associated with either satisfaction or delight.

Today, there are many companies that are using online or mobile panels, or CAWI to get the best out of the advanced technology and to be within sight of consumers. However, online research is not without its challenges. While conducting an online research you can face with poor completion rates, a reduction in panel numbers and potentially overuse of panelists, all of which have implications for obtaining a representative sample.

If you manage to avoid uncompleted interviews, don’t think you achieved qualified data. Keep in mind that there are always risks of straight lining, speeding, and random responses. Random responses are particularly faced in poorly designed surveys with pages and pages of grid-style questions. All of these challenges are particularly results with what we are avoiding: poor data.

So, there is a need for good survey designs and in addition to that an “excitement” for the participants. What can be done to excite the “potential” consumer? How to avoid circumstances like participants’ de-attachment with the survey we propose, to eliminate strait lining, speeding, random responses in grid style questions? The answer is gamification. To put briefly, gamification is the application of gameplay mechanics into online surveys to make traditional surveys more fun and to bring excitement to the participants. Gamification can be conducted through two ways: soft gamification and hard gamification. The difference between the two is in hard gamification, survey can be really embedded in a game, participant may not even be aware of taking a survey. In soft gamification, the aim is to make question more interesting and encourage participants to answer your questions with a clear mind.

Currently there is a lack of empirical data on how and how much gamification provides benefits to our industry, but evidence will become clearer in the near feature. To sum up, in order to get participant attention and avoid biases in traditional online research, you can entertain both your participants and you on the way!