Improving Online Market Research through Gamification - Unit 3

C1 Advanced · Gapped Text · Ready for C1 Advanced 4th Edition Workbook, Macmillan Education

You are going to read a newspaper article. Six paragraphs have been removed from the article. Choose from the paragraphs A–G the one which fits each gap (1–6). There is one extra paragraph which you do not need to use.

Improving Online Market Research through Gamification

Encouraged by these initial successes, we went on to examine ways that rules can transform a boring task into a game. How does a ten-mile hike in the rain carrying a 15 kg rucksack sound? But what about a game of golf? We wanted to explore how rules could be adapted to turn questions into more mental puzzles.

On the other hand, it became clear that each technique had to be adapted to suit the particular needs of different clients. When we attempted to replicate the labelling game with prospective clients of a medical equipment supplier, for example, the results were disappointing, to say the least. Engagement rates fell by 31% and several respondents complained that the approach felt unnecessarily childish.

All of these experiments demonstrated the importance of the language we used to elicit responses, but design and visuals are also important. When we gave respondents a packet of crisps and a series of labels to describe the crisps, and asked them to drag and drop the labels over a picture of the crisps, we found both click count and enjoyment levels improved – 15% more clicks and 50% more fun on the part of the respondent.

We began by exploring how questions could be redesigned to be more game-like in nature. We experimented with the wording of questions, to humanise them, make them more engaging and link them to potential real-world emotional experiences.

With the theory established, the next challenge for us was to put these techniques into practice. We worked with a range of clients from different industries to see how we could apply these techniques to the types of research they typically conduct.

The downside is that a failure to construct the survey properly risks not engaging with the respondent, which can have major implications for the quality of the insights received. But by rethinking the design of surveys, we have found in our own research that the more respondents enjoy the experience, the better the quantity and quality of feedback.

Of course, there’s more to games than questions and rules. We also looked at how video and online games are structured to provide the player with tasks that when put together become a series of quests. For example, we asked respondents which music acts they liked, yielding a list of 83 artists. However, when we asked them to imagine they owned a radio station and asked which of the artists they would put on their station’s playlist, respondents seemed willing to spend longer deliberating. The average number of artists evaluated rose to 148.

It was this enjoyment factor that led us to look to games for inspiration. Our year-long study involved more than 30 research experiments involving more than 5,000 respondents. We believe the findings could fundamentally change the way online research is conducted.

For example, instead of asking somebody to tell us the clothing they liked to wear, we asked them what they would wear for a first date. Instead of telling us where they liked to go on holiday, we invited them to imagine that they had to publish a magazine offering holiday recommendations. The results were instructive: there were two or even three times as much feedback to the more engaging questions and consistently more time taken in providing the answers.

To give a simple example, a question such as ‘describe yourself’ yielded on average 2.4 descriptors and effectively 85% of respondents answered. But when we added the rule that they had to do it in exactly seven words, the descriptors increased to 4.5 and the response rate rose to 98%.

Impressive as these results were, it was when we added a more competitive framework to questions that we saw the most impressive increases in engagement. When we asked respondents to make a list of their favourite foods, we received an average of six items in response. When we gave them a two-minute time limit, not only were respondents conditioned to spend the full two minutes on the task, but it also produced an average of 35 items in reply.

Finally, we explored how we could incorporate rewards into surveys. A typical question like ‘What emotions do you think people associate with this ...’ produced an average response time of eight seconds and a 50% enjoyment rate. When we told respondents that they would win a point for each one they guessed right, time spent rose to 12 seconds and 90% said they enjoyed the experience.

The results were just as positive as in our earlier experiments. Across the board, we consistently saw high completion rates and enjoyment scores, and an increase in the quantity and quality of the responses to our gamified questions, with respondents willingly spending significantly more time answering. The research showed that these techniques really deliver.

In recent years, there has been an explosion in the use of online surveys by marketers and market research companies. The attractions are obvious – online surveys can be conducted more cost effectively than ones that are carried out face-to-face or on the telephone, or those that are printed and sent out. Another advantage is that feedback can often be delivered within much shorter time frames. ___ It was this enjoyment factor that led us to look to games for inspiration. Our year-long study involved more than 30 research experiments involving more than 5,000 respondents. We believe the findings could fundamentally change the way online research is conducted. ___ For example, instead of asking somebody to tell us the clothing they liked to wear, we asked them what they would wear for a first date. Instead of telling us where they liked to go on holiday, we invited them to imagine that they had to publish a magazine offering holiday recommendations. The results were instructive: there were two or even three times as much feedback to the more engaging questions and consistently more time taken in providing the answers. ___ To give a simple example, a question such as ‘describe yourself’ yielded on average 2.4 descriptors and effectively 85% of respondents answered. But when we added the rule that they had to do it in exactly seven words, the descriptors increased to 4.5 and the response rate rose to 98%. ___ Impressive as these results were, it was when we added a more competitive framework to questions that we saw the most impressive increases in engagement. When we asked respondents to make a list of their favourite foods, we received an average of six items in response. When we gave them a two-minute time limit, not only were respondents conditioned to spend the full two minutes on the task, but it also produced an average of 35 items in reply. ___ Finally, we explored how we could incorporate rewards into surveys. A typical question like ‘What emotions do you think people associate with this ...’ produced an average response time of eight seconds and a 50% enjoyment rate. When we told respondents that they would win a point for each one they guessed right, time spent rose to 12 seconds and 90% said they enjoyed the experience. ___ The results were just as positive as in our earlier experiments. Across the board, we consistently saw high completion rates and enjoyment scores, and an increase in the quantity and quality of the responses to our gamified questions, with respondents willingly spending significantly more time answering. The research showed that these techniques really deliver.

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