Gamification has emerged as a highly effective technique for learning, marketing, and brand loyalty to name just a few. But perhaps a more surprising application comes in the healthcare industry, where gamification is used to aid member communication and improve service levels overall.
In this post, we’ll take a closer look at how gamification works in the healthcare industry, and how it can help healthcare and insurance providers and patients.
What is gamification for healthcare?
For the uninitiated, gamification refers to the integration of game science and gaming mechanics into traditionally non-game experiences. That non-game experience could be school, university, staff training, shopping, eating or – as you’ve probably guessed by now – healthcare.
Gamification for healthcare uses game-like techniques to make experiences more engaging for insurance provider members and patients. At the most basic level, this could be the creation of a game-like environment to help individuals better understand new healthcare plans, changes, or options.
Of course, gamification, whilst game-focused by definition is certainly not just for children. As adults, we too enjoy the release of dopamine that comes from game play and rewards. Additionally, gamification can be exemplified by the use of a quiz and leader board tactics alongside training course videos for healthcare insurance customer service. The result? Employees learn and engage with interactive experiences which ultimately help them be able to better communicate and relate to individual patients.
The advent of embedded gamified experiences
While the examples cited above highlight the basic principles of gamification for healthcare, its potential benefits are far greater. That’s largely down to the advent of embedded gamified experiences, which facilitate more strategic, ongoing gamification for healthcare and insurance providers and patients.
By setting goals, tracking progress and providing rewards, healthcare and insurance providers can encourage patients to complete weekly exercises, gauge their understanding of their coverage options, or help assess wellness needs. The end result is increased engagement with insurance providers or practitioners, with users encouraged to interact, as opposed to dreading interaction.
That’s where healthcare providers and insurers start to reap the rewards. When patients engage, it opens up a two-way communication stream, which was much harder to come by beforehand, and now leads to a number of potential benefits:
Better health
Above all else, healthcare gamification can improve the wellbeing of insurance provider members and patients in a number of ways. Gamification, competition and rewards encourages regular exercise, helps monitors a member’s well-being, or even enables improved communication with healthcare professionals will all have an impact on long-term welfare. That means healthier members and a better reputation for that organization.
Cost-effective
For healthcare insurance providers, being able to communicate plan benefits and plan options in a clear, concise way helps consumers make more educated decisions on their coverage. This helps organizations to meet members’ expectations and build a mutually beneficial long-term and trusting relationship.
Boosted loyalty
Let’s face it – the happier a member is with their overall healthcare experience the more likely they are to continue to stay with the insurer or providers. Not to mention that engaged customers are generally more loyal. According to the Harvard Business School, improving customer retention by just 5% can lead to an increase of 25-95% in profits. Put simply, engaged members lead to improved customer loyalty, which can only lead to improved financial benefits.
Earned Data
Data is highly valuable to companies in all sectors, and healthcare insurance providers are no exception. Earned Data eliminates assumptions, fosters loyalty, and improves ongoing decision making for patients and insurers alike. By providing value to users through gamification, organizations are more likely to gain consent to collect consumer data and use it for their benefit of individuals.
Improved Service
As well as helping to capture enriched, up to date data, gamification offers the opportunity for healthcare and insurance provides to improve engagement and communication which can lead to improved customer feedback. By capturing valuable customer insights providers have the tools needed to improve service, improve customer satisfaction, loyalty and even profitability.
Find out more about healthcare gamification
At 3radical, we provide bespoke gamification solutions for the healthcare insurance and provider sector. Whether you’re concerned about communication, service quality or patient health, we can create an engaging platform that’s tailored to your requirements and your users.
To find out more, simply contact our team.
About 3radical
3radical is a consumer data acquisition and audience engagement solutions provider.
We help organizations listen to their consumers and adapt experiences accordingly by giving them the ability to earn consented data directly from their audience, fostering humanized interactions through choice-driven journeys provided by 3radical’s gamification software.
Supported by comprehensive strategy and execution services, we use game science to shape and help the consumer experience by creating a fair value exchange delivered directly to each recipient and optimized by data and real-time decisioning. Every progressive exchange results in consented, earned data provided by the consumer in a transparent, motivating, and mutually beneficial environment enticing consumers to want to share and engage more.
Through our combined software and services, we can help brands strive towards an earned data culture by identifying where brands can make changes, redesign their processes, and manage their people to maximize benefits
3radical operates globally through offices in North America, the UK, and Asia Pacific and serves major brands across various industries.