4 call centre gamification ideas to boost productivity

Imagine the most realistic computer game you can dream of.

In this world, trees look like trees, food tastes like food, and instead of shooting aliens, you win points through the power of phone calls.

Sounds exciting, right? Well, ladies and gentlemen, you too can experience this vanguard of virtual reality. It's called call centre gamification.

The setting: your real-life call centre.

The players: your agents.

The prize: better productivity, improved staff morale, and a hefty boost for your bottom line.

How it works

Call centre work is important. In the right circumstances, it can be rewarding too. But few would claim that it's actively fun.

The reality is that taking or making calls all day is monotonous. This can easily lead to worker apathy, missed targets and a high staff turnover.

How can you combat this? By turning KPIs into a game, that's how.

This could be as simple as "hit a target, win a prize". Or it could be an ongoing competition, where staff can track their progress on real-time wallboards (because nothing incentivises productivity like "I've got to beat Steve on the first floor").

By adding this extra layer of competition and reward, you incentivise employees to smash targets, outdo one another, and – yes – have fun.

Here are four proven ideas to get you started.

1. An "app store" for employee rewards

This is an evolution of the simple "hit target, get prize" idea. The difference? It gives agents a choice of the reward they receive.

Your store could contain juicy prizes like eCommerce vouchers, experience days or – that perennial favourite – paid time off. You set targets for staff to achieve, and if they hit them, they win points to spend in the store.

Need to boost performance across the board? Make these targets competition based, like "100 points for the agent who takes the most calls each day".

Want to motivate underperforming agents? Simply tie the targets to their personal development goals. For instance, if an outbound agent isn't closing enough deals, you could reward them with points for hitting sales goals within a specified period.

Get some smart incentives in place, and – bingo! – your staff will be inspired to work harder than ever.

Which brings us to our next idea…

2. KPI bingo

We're sure you're familiar with bingo. The game where you're given a grid of numbers, and mark them off as they're called out? OK, good.

This idea works on the same rules, though rather than using numbers, you give agents a grid full of KPIs to hit.

Staff can be given small prizes for meeting individual targets and win larger incentives for clearing a horizontal or diagonal line.

This idea's great for encouraging a little healthy competition between teams. Perhaps teams can "win control" of a square for being the current leader in, say, sales or call duration. Then, if they manage to conquer a whole line of KPIs, they're rewarded with a team-wide bonus, such as extra days off or even a stay in a hotel.

3. Charity fundraisers

High-stakes games like KPI bingo aren't for everyone. They're best suited to highly competitive environments like outbound sales, where conversions and call volumes can make or break your bottom line.

If you want to improve results all round, without turning teams into sworn enemies, consider raising money for charity instead. Staff will be inspired to work together towards a common good, and – because personal prizes are out of the equation – they'll be less likely to bear grudges if they don't come out on top.

You could raise the cash in several ways.

For example, you could place a chart in the office that shows how many calls have been taken that month – or any other metric, for that matter.

(You know… like those giant "thermometers" they use on televised fundraising drives?)

As the meter rises and certain thresholds are hit, you make progressively larger donations. Simple.

Or, if you'd rather reward improvements on an agent-by-agent basis, you could dish out donations each time an employee meets one of their personal development goals.

4. Mystery gifts

This one works like the "app store" idea, but rather than letting staff choose from a list of rewards, they pick from a set of pre-wrapped presents instead.

See, we're all big kids at heart. That childlike thrill of opening a gift and discovering its contents never quite goes away.

This sense of intrigue can work wonders for employee engagement.

Think of it this way: is it more exciting to work hard for a box of chocolates, or to work for a gift that could be any of a million amazing things? We'd take the surprise every time.

You could set it up so the best-performing agents get to choose a gift, or so everyone who hits a certain target gets rewarded.

Or you could turn it into a team-versus-team competition, and reward the winning team with a shared prize at the end of each month. To keep staff motivated, you could even drop hints as to the identity of the prize as the month goes on.

Ooh… we're getting excited just thinking about it.

How to make it happen

Of course, to run these kinds of contests, you need to keep a close eye on the numbers. However, as the industry moves towards omnichannel strategies – incorporating voice, email, SMS and more – this gets increasingly difficult.

Here's where we can help.

Our contact centre software is built – from the ground up – to allow for robust omnichannel reporting. It makes "joining the dots" easier than ever, allowing you to access detailed cross-channel reports with just a few clicks.

And here's the clincher – it has robust gamification features built in. Armed with these tools, you can create complex game mechanics that go far beyond the ideas mentioned above.

Want to know more? Learn all about our cloud-based call centre software here.

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