Amid technological breakthroughs, companies and organizations are striving to get higher on the market’s ladder. In order to keep up, they have to make their customers loyal and engaged to their products and services. This need is amplified on the utility market, where it is not just that profits are high and potential loss of customers is critical, but also the necessity of engaging customers into sustainable behaviors is urgent. Thus, a tangible challenge emerges: How can utilities “nudge” their customers to shift their pro-environmental habits while maximizing their perceived value so as to “lock-in” them in the long term? Intelen’s answer is: Gamification.

Till now, multiple approaches to gamification have been piloted and commercially deployed within the energy sector.  Each leverages different gamification techniques and different core objectives. However, not all gamification recipes can lead to positive outcomes.

Take for example rewards, a core element of gamification. Most of gamified experiences rely on a system of external rewards that is restricted to points and badges. However, research reveals that such rewards have negative impact on users’ engagement. Since rewards and punishments are just two sides of the same coin, joy of the short term could be easily turned into disappointment and dissatisfaction if such elements are seen as incentives. Thus association between rewards and users’ activities should not to be taken lightly.

Intelen has developed such an expertise on gamification that can take engagement one step further. By incorporating points that are redeemable and can be translated into personalized prize as well as badges that are shared between peers or can be shared on social media, utilities customers’ long term interest, motivation, satisfaction and engagement, are ensured.

But Intelen does not stop there. Intelen also integrates in an optimal way other elements like peers’ ranking, levels and leaderboards, and mechanics such as short-term and well-defined goals, positive reinforcement, subtle feedback loops and features’ unlocking mechanism, so as to make sure that triggers directly user’s emotional level and deliver the maximum gamified experience.

At its core, Intelen’s gamification takes into account multiple learning theories that indicate evidence on motivating users perform sustainable behaviors. Among them, task based learning that assumes practice and action as essentials in order for a desired behaviour to be taught, subliminal learning that suggests knowledge to be acquired even in an unconscious way as well as social learning that implies people to learn not only from their own experiences (trials, errors), but also from other social models and other people (ex. family, friends, colleagues and people in the public eye).

Lastly, by utilizing granular and real-time energy data, Intelen provides instantaneous feedback on energy consumption and feed a recommendation system that reverts to users personalized tips on how to achieve energy efficiency and reduce their peak demand.

By turning energy management experience into a game, Intelen promises to deliver engagement boosting, loyalty and behavior changes associated to the inefficient skyrocketed energy consumption.

Source: http://www.utilitydive.com/news/gamification-track-energy-goals-and-engage/343531/