life insurance and income protection , and we ' re doing that by incentivising healthy behaviour via great tech .”
According to Berkemeyer , although companies are investing heavily in employee benefits tools , they often achieve a low engagement rate among the employee population . This is because these apps , she asserts , “ are built in a way that doesn ' t incentivise and motivate ”.
So , addressing this gap , Berkemeyer advises that the key to resolving this issue lies in encouraging users to implement these apps into their everyday habits . And , one of the most effective ways to drive engagement and participation is by applying game mechanics and game theory .
“ This is what ' s happening in the space of what I ' m calling , ‘ the self-motivated wellbeing tools ’. Some users are your yoga bunnies , people who are going to the gym , and those who already get up and say , ‘ I want to do those 10,000 steps ’. But , where you make real change is by getting the person who ' s doing 1,000 steps to do 2,000 . And that ' s definitely not by just giving them big quantity targets ,” Berkemeyer explains .
“ This is not possible without tech that incentivises and motivates through game mechanics . After all , no one else has really been able to do this in a way that has driven that high level of participation .”
So , how has gamification played into this model ? Berkemeyer says that , in this approach , there are three main areas that need to be considered . Firstly , it ’ s the action itself .
“ When you talk about action , action doesn ' t just mean , ‘ do 60 minutes of meditation a day ’. Action is about simplicity and accessibility . Action is really about making the actual activity attainable . Then , that will drive better participation .”
Secondly , there ’ s motivation . “ And that is where you unlock a much larger population beyond your usual gym-goers . Everyone needs motivation ,” Berkemeyer asserts .
“ People are motivated in different ways , but what we ' ve found is that rewardbased incentivisation is really critical . This could be in the form of financial rewards or in the form of social impact .”
“ You have to give that motivation to encourage the action , and this is very much an underlying principle of game theory and driving that engagement .”
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