Are you eager to gamify your upcoming survey but just don’t know how to? If so, don’t worry! Because we’re about to take you on an exciting tour of all things survey gamification. And with that, you’ll soon be able to master this subtle art.

Do you think everyday life would be more fun if it was all a game? Let’s say your daily activities came with leaderboards and badges. You do your chores on time? Well, here’s a badge for you! And to the top of the list, you go! Sounds like a lot of fun, doesn’t it?

When it comes to surveys and questionnaires, it certainly is doable! Gone are the days of dull surveys that just sucked the life out of your customers. Today, with the latest gamification technologies at hand, your surveys can keep your users engaged till the end.

So now, if you’re all strapped in, let’s begin!

Understanding The Art Of Survey Gamification

Now that we’ve got you on board, we’ll make our first pitstop! Here, we’ll tell you all about what gamification means.

So, what is survey gamification? Simply put, it’s the use of gaming techniques in your surveys. This often includes a bunch of things like:

• Leaderboards
• Rewards and badges
• Avatars
• Virtual currencies
• Challenges for your respondents, and more!

It’s pretty clear why this would be a win-win, right? Because now, you’ve managed to give your respondents a fun experience even while answering some simple questions. So, next time you need to ask them something like, “How likely are you to recommend our company?” you can do so with these features! This way, they’re less likely to leave your surveys in the middle.

Why Does Survey Gamification Work?

Gamification is definitely one of the hottest topics in the tech industry today. So, if you’re eager to jump on this bandwagon, we understand! But before we tell you how to do that, aren’t you curious to know why it seems to work?

Well, one reason could be that gamified online surveys allow users to feel like they’ve accomplished an exciting goal. So, the more questions they answer, or the more rewards they get, the more fun it is for your respondents. But that’s not all! Such surveys also let people take a quick break from their routines and engage in a fun activity. And so, when you gamify your own surveys, you’re urging them to keep playing, or in this case, answering your questions.

If you’re keen to set up a customer or employee reward program, why not create your own gamified survey? SurveySparrow has a nifty integration with Rybbon that lets you reward your respondents with coupons and e-cards directly from survey responses. You can create an account to try it for free for fourteen days.

How to Gamify A Survey

If you’ve stuck with us this far, you’re probably curious to know how to gamify your own surveys. And that’s why, below, we’ve shared some of our own gamification tips and tricks! With these at hand, you’ll be more than ready to get your own surveys going.

So, without further ado, let’s dive in! Jump to the section that interests you:

• Gamified Survey Questions
• Set Up The Competition Well
• Creative Rewards Are Key
• But Don’t Overdo It!
• Rope In The Experts

1. Gamified Survey Questions

If you’re new to the gamification arena, you may be finding your way through it still. If you feel a little out of depth, it’s nothing to worry about! But rather than dive deep into it, we’d urge you to start with something small. So go ahead and reword your questions, turn them into fun quizzes, or more!

For instance, let’s take a company that makes and sells video games. To correctly gauge the success of their customer experience strategies, they may need to ask a question like this: ‘What is your favorite video game ever?’

Sure, such a question seems to get the point across just fine. But wouldn’t it be better if we tweaked it to sound more like this? ‘If you could play just one video game for the rest of your life, what would you choose?’ This way, you’ve now turned your survey into a fun quiz. And who wouldn’t want to answer those?

And while you’re at it, you may even go one step ahead and turn it into a whole game. So, for your next one, why not turn it into a Mad Libs-style fill-up-the-blanks, sort of survey? It’s sure to bring in more responses!

2. Set Up The Competition Well

Now, there’s no doubt that gamified survey questions are a lot of fun to answer. But what’s the point if it doesn’t challenge you at all, right?

So when it comes to survey gamification, you’ve got to offer some sort of competition. Here, you can put in some leaderboards, give out rewards and badges, and so on, to keep your customers hooked. And now, if you’re curious to know, we’ll tell you how to go about doing these!

• Leaderboards – If you choose to go the leaderboard route, there’s a lot that you can do to pipe up your respondents. For instance, you could rate them for the quality of their answers, the time they spent on each question, and so on, and put them on the board. You can also encourage users to climb up the ranks by sharing your gamified surveys on social media platforms.
• Badges and Rewards – Now, these would work amazingly well when coupled with the leaderboard. But even on their own, they’re pretty helpful. So, if you have someone who answers all the questions or shares the survey a set number of times, you could give them a badge that indicates this achievement. And to make it more fun, you could also turn these badges into discount coupons and other rewards.
• Avatars – Here, you can let your respondents create their own avatars to answer your questions. So let’s say a fashion company wants to know the latest trending choices in clothes and accessories. Now, rather than ask your customers what they like, why not have them design an avatar that reflects their preferences? This way, you’ve now got your answers, and your users would have enjoyed the experience!

3. Creative Rewards Are Key

Since there are only so many rewards that a company can give, they may quickly get a little repetitive.

So when you plan out the incentives and point systems for your gamified surveys, don’t hold back on the creativity! And if you do run out of new ideas for a coupon, you may just need to dress them up in new guises.

For instance, rather than give out a badge or reward immediately, why not let your users play a game of spin the wheel at the end of a survey? This way, even if the gifts and vouchers are the same, it still adds an element of intrigue to the whole process.

4. But Don’t Overdo It!

While it’s great to give out incentives to answer a survey, it’s also crucial that you don’t overdo it! For one, it’d be impossible to keep funding countless rewards. And on top of that, you really don’t want people to give you false answers just to get some free vouchers.

So, here are some cases where you CAN give out a reward.

• The Non-Responders – Even with some cool survey gamification, you may have a few non-responders amidst your clients. And to entice them into taking your survey, you may feel free to unleash the power of some discount vouchers. In fact, we’d urge you to do so in your follow-up survey emails!
• Churn Surveys – These are surveys that you’d typically deploy after a client has moved away from your products. Here, your aim would be to find out why they don’t use your products anymore. So, even if you offer clients a reward for taking these, it’s less likely to affect the results. And what’s more? With just the right amount of incentives, they may even be tempted to use your products again!

Apart from these, most other cases may not even need a reward at all. So, before you give out some discount coupons, do take a second to think about it!

5. Rope In The Experts

As fun as it might be to implement the tips given above, you may still find the actual process of designing a survey a little hard. But there’s no need to worry! Because with the help of online survey platforms like SurveySparrow, this is now a piece of cake.

So, if you feel stuck at any point during the process, just rope in the pros and let us work our magic! With our easy-to-use cloud software, no-code platform, interactive surveys, and more, your response rates should skyrocket in no time!

Is Survey Gamification Good or Bad?

Indeed, survey gamification does have a lot of good and bad sides to it. However, there’s no doubt that the benefits often outweigh the drawbacks. Now, if you’re still trying to wrap your head around survey gamification, a look at some of its benefits may help. So, here they are!

• More Responses In Every Survey
• Spruce Up Your Customer Retention Rates
• Incomplete Surveys? Well, Not Anymore!
• Better Surveys For All
• Make Your Respondents Think Deeper
• It’s More Fun This Way!
• Gamification Made Easy

1. More Responses In Every Survey

With the prevalence of online surveys, it’s hard to find a question that has never been asked before. So, in the end, the recycling of questions could severely affect your response rates.

Now, if only there was a way to remedy this, right? Well, worry not, because there is! With gamification strategies, you can now reword your questions, add in scoreboards, and offer some incentives that will soon drive up your response rates.

2. Spruce Up Your Customer Retention Rates

Are you struggling to keep your customer retention rates up? If so, some gamification strategies can help, even in your surveys.

And once you’ve done that, you’ll have made buying and reviewing your products more fun for your clients! Who wouldn’t want to stick around then?

3. Incomplete Surveys? Well, Not Anymore!

Let’s be honest. Incomplete responses are the bane of any company’s survey program because it affects data quality. And with time, your users may lose interest in answering your questions.

So what can you do to combat this? Well, it’s easy! Just gamify your surveys. Since gamified surveys can help your respondents enjoy filling them out, you’re less likely to get more incomplete answers.

4. Better Surveys For All

What does an ideal survey look like to you? Is it a string of questions with one-word answers? Or a bunch of witty queries with well-thought-out and in-depth responses? If you chose the second one, ding, ding, ding, we have a winner! And this, dear readers, is where survey gamification can come in handy.

Gamification helps you bring out more reliable results in your surveys through better questions, improved engagement, and an overall fun experience for your users. And soon, dull survey questions will be a thing of the past!

5. Make Your Respondents Think Deeper

Now that you’ve seen some examples of gamified survey questions, you can understand why they are great at eliciting good responses.

When you ask your customers to design an avatar or turn your survey into an interactive chat, they are more likely to think deeper about their answers. And this way, you’ll be able to make them spend more time on each question and give you some detailed responses.

6. It’s More Fun This Way!

Let’s face it. Gamified surveys are just more fun than regular questionnaires. Various studies have shown that a sizable population around the globe enjoys all kinds of games.

And so, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that this would be the case for surveys as well. So, with better questions, intriguing prizes, scores, and challenges, your respondents are bound to engage more with your questionnaires.

7. Gamification Made Easy

Now, here’s the best part! Given how far the tech industry has come, gamification of surveys just gets easier every day. So now, with a touch of no-code software, a bit of help from an omnichannel experience management platform, and some thoughtful questions, your survey can be gamified in no time.

Testing is crucial, and we recommend sending out pilot surveys to see how well your users respond and fine-tune the survey accordingly.

Play-testing your game ideas with potential customers can feel like walking over hot coals.

Painful… & transformative. #innovation #startups #gamedev #gamethinking pic.twitter.com/nlRWSEeyPw

— Amy Jo Kim (@amyjokim) June 29, 2021

Wrapping Up

Now here’s the million-dollar question. Is survey gamification really all that helpful or is it just a gimmick?

The answer is simple: gamification is not a magic wand, but another tool in your survey toolbox. Because as engaging as it is, you still have to work to retain your respondent’s attention with a mix of good survey design and the right incentives.

With this quick guide at hand, you’re now one step closer to mastering the art of gamification. So, next time you need to send out a gamified survey, you can do so with all the confidence in the world.

Kate William

Content Marketer at SurveySparrow