In this episode, Sean and Joe discuss gamification as an important part of the system design process, and then have a great conversation with Gregg Gordon, CEO of SSRN.com. Gregg has over 20 years’ experience in gamification, a means for eliciting specific behaviors from your users. This technique depends on the premise that humans are naturally competitive. Some people are more competitive than others, but competition is the basis for our economy and drives many of our behaviors whether we admit it or not. Many products that you use on a daily basis likely employ elements of gamification.
SSRN is an online platform that seeks to make research readily accessible to the masses. Sean, Joe, and Gregg discuss how SSRN uses gamification within the SSRN.com environment to both foster friendly competition and encourage users to increase their usage of the system. Gregg also notes that these techniques can provide value for the user while distinguishing your product from others.
Listen to the full episode to hear more on gamification from Gregg Gordon, including:
- The importance of integrity, reputation, and trust in incentivizing users to do things that they already want to do
- Using product testing to ensure every choice is the right choice
- How it manifests in other industries