Reputation is something we don’t really think about until it comes time to place our trust in someone. At that point reputation matters. In 2016, the American Presidential came down to two candidates: Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump. The way that Americans vote, as ever, is more influenced by the re
Sympathetic bonding occurs when we perceive someone else’s emotional reaction to be similar to our own experiences. As such, we feel sympathy for that person. It should be obvious that when we are sympathetic to people, we’re more likely to do the things they do and even—to some extent—do the things
We often talk about creating positive emotions through design; we look to make clients happy and users comfortable, etc. but rarely do we talk about making them afraid. Of course, unless you’re selling horror movies, you probably won’t want to terrify your clients; however, there is a good argument
We all like to think that we are consistent; it allows us to feel that we are always ourselves and thus dealing with the universe in a way that is fair and rational. However, under the surface, we’re not very consistent. We adapt to our circumstances, and, as we do so, we become less consistent, and
There’s a voice that most of us will listen to in preference to any other; that voice is our own. If you want to sell products or influence users to take actions, you’ll need that voice to be in agreement with what you want the users to do; get it wrong, and they won’t do it. This alignment of voice
Video isn’t cheap to produce. It’s fair to say, though, that it keeps getting cheaper, and it might be the best investment that you can make in your web project; why? That’s what we’re going to look at here – the potential for video to make a huge impact on your sales. Knowing what is appropriate an
If you can’t measure it, it doesn’t matter. At least, so they say. While it’s probably not true in every circumstance, being able to measure things does provide value, and—in a business context—it is almost essential in all cases. So, let’s take a look at how we might go about that in a gamification
Every form of design features special techniques which can take a design from “OK” to “amazing”. Gamification is no exception. Game mechanics are the vital components of gamification which transform this form of design from “adding features” to “adding fun”. Janaki Kumar and Mario Herger, in their b
If you want to keep your job, you need to be able to demonstrate value in your work. When you run a gamification project, you need to develop the mission or missions for that project. This will enable you to develop a gamified system which will actually make a difference within the work environment.
The best projects in gamification focus on the players themselves. Players, unlike users, choose to become involved with your efforts (or they choose not to). As such, even in a corporate setting, you would have to encourage your players to become involved. In order to do so effectively, you would
Gamification, like many other forms of design, has its roots in user-centred design (UCD). If you’re going to develop awesome gamified systems, you’ll need to get a handle on UCD before you can be certain that your efforts are going to have the desired outcomes. Before You Get StartedImagine you ar
Gamification is not a miracle cure for all your product’s woes. It’s not possible to take a lousy process and sprinkle on some game elements and make it fantastic. Similarly, you cannot become so reliant on gamified ideas that you obscure the original purpose of the product. Setting expectations of
Understanding why gamification is important and how it is relevant to the corporate environment is becoming increasingly vital. Gamification’s purpose in the enterprise environment is to make work engaging and motivating, not to distract from work. Games can solve real-world complex problems, and th
It’s important for anyone involved in gamification design to have a clear understanding of what the business expects to see from the final product. Without such an understanding, the team may develop a highly interesting, engaging and fun system which fails to achieve anything meaningful to the busi
There’s no single corporate culture. Google is a very different place to work at than the Bank Of China, for example. This is important to know when undertaking gamification projects because the kind of gamification that would thrive at the Bank of China is likely to be far less successful than it w
Do you want to have your own business, but you’re not sure what niche to enter? That’s OK; you’re not alone. However, it is important to choose a niche before you get too far along in launching your business. That’s because specialists who become remarkable in a field of endeavour are much better re
The fear of selling is incredibly pervasive in society; unfortunately, if you want to run your own business, you need to learn to sell. The good news is that you can overcome the fear of selling and learn to build your business without selling your soul to the devil. All you have to do is learn to f
The core of any sales call is the sales pitch; the tactics you use to deliver the perfect pitch depend on the situation. Nevertheless, you have rules at your command which you can use to develop an effective sales pitch, giving you the best opportunities in any situation. Learning to craft a sales p
Before you start making sales calls, it’s a good idea to prepare for them. A lack of preparation means a much higher chance of things not going according to plan when you make the call. Of course, preparing for a sales call can’t promise a favourable outcome, but it’ll increase the chances of gettin
We’ve said it before and we’ll probably say it again; the copy used in products is as important to the user experience as any other part of the design. Great graphics, awesome information architecture and simple processes can still be completely wasted if the text sucks.More importantly, from a busi
