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# What is gamification?  How to use it to drive customer engagement
- URL: https://www.customersuccesscollective.com/gamification-customer-engagement/
- Published: 2026-09-10T16:37:24.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-10T16:37:24.000Z
- Description: Let's talk about what gamification actually looks like in practice, why it works, and how you can use it to drive engagement, learning, and long-term customer outcomes.
- Author: Naveenth Thomas
- Tags: Customer engagement, Articles

When I first heard the word "[gamification](https://www.customersuccesscollective.com/gamification/)," I assumed it had to mean something more complicated than it actually does. But gamification is simply the practice of making things fun by using game elements inside something you actually want a person to do. 

What makes it interesting is how you apply it, especially in [customer success](https://www.customersuccesscollective.com/what-is-customer-success/) (CS), where getting clients to engage with the things you need them to engage with can sometimes feel like pulling teeth.

Let's talk about what gamification actually looks like in practice, why it works, and how you can use it to drive [engagement](https://www.customersuccesscollective.com/customer-engagement-plan-framework/), learning, and long-term customer outcomes.

## What gamification really means

The reason gamification matters so much in [customer success](https://www.customersuccesscollective.com/customer-success-support-video/) is straightforward: it increases client engagement. And engagement is, of course, the currency we trade in every single day.

Fun comes in many forms. On one end of the spectrum, you've got something as blunt as, "I'll give you $50 if you answer my survey." *That's* gamification. You're attaching a reward to an action, and people respond to rewards. 

On the other end, you've got something far more sophisticated, like the badge systems companies use to recognize knowledge or achievement. Both work. They just work differently.

Plenty of large organizations already use gamification in [onboarding](https://www.customersuccesscollective.com/customer-onboarding/), training, and certification. That's the obvious territory. But the real opportunity lies in all the other customer engagements we struggle to get traction on, the touchpoints where clients go quiet, drop off, or simply don't show up. That's where gamification earns its keep.

[![Customer engagement plan template](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6f/66/6f66cab9-7939-4355-91c0-409dddffd4d9/content/images/2026/09/Client-engagement-plan-template.jpg)](https://www.customersuccesscollective.com/customer-engagement-plan-framework/)

## The gamification examples worth studying

### How Salesforce uses gamification

Salesforce does this exceptionally well, in more than one place. Their badge system rewards you for the things you do inside the platform. When you're new, they take you on a journey. You:

- Warm up
- Complete something
- Set up your profile
- Open an opportunity
- Close one

Each action carries its own criteria, and each one gives you a small sense of achievement.

When my team built out a [digital onboarding journey](https://www.customersuccesscollective.com/customer-onboarding-framework/) at one point, complete with in-app notifications and online training, I'd be the first person to click "go away" the moment one of those prompts appeared. Believe me, I understand the resistance. That's exactly why the approach Salesforce takes is clever. Clicking through courses on its own is tedious. Wrapping those recognizes the same mechanics in the apps you already use. 

They take this even further with their Trailblazer training and certification program. You pay for the courses, exams, and, in return, you get a badge. A virtual picture. Knowing Salesforce becomes such a point of pride that people happily pay for the privilege of proving it.

You'll recognize the same mechanics in the apps you already use.

### How Duolingo uses gamification

Duolingo hands out achievements. 

Running apps let you level up as you rack up kilometers. And then there are streaks, which might be the most quietly powerful mechanic of all. Miss one day, and you feel genuinely bad about losing your 10-day run. Think about what's actually happening there. 

The app is pulling you back in, day after day, and you're the one having fun while they collect the usage. That's a beautiful arrangement when you're the one building it.

[![Free resources worth paying for: Templates, reports and expert content – no card required – with a Customer Success Collective Insider membership.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6f/66/6f66cab9-7939-4355-91c0-409dddffd4d9/content/images/2026/06/Free-resources-worth-paying-for-Templates--reports-and-expert-content-----no-card-required.--2-.jpg)](https://www.customersuccesscollective.com/insider-membership-plan/)

### Simple gamification

Then you've got the simpler stuff: $11 per [survey](https://www.customersuccesscollective.com/customer-churn-survey-template-framework/). Sure, why not, if you've got the time. Conference booths offering to enter your details into a draw for a Google Home. Nobody actually needs a Google Home, and yet somehow you find yourself thinking, *Yes, I need it.* 

That's short-term gamification doing its job.

### How LinkedIn uses gamification

Now here's my favorite example – and I put this question to the room during my talk at Customer Success Summit Sydney. 

Can you think of a company that gamifies the paid version of its solution? Someone in the audience mentioned a meditation app that rewards daily use, which is a good answer. But the one I keep coming back to is LinkedIn, who do something genuinely impressive. 

When you scroll through a list of people, the ones paying for premium have that little golden badge next to their name. And you find yourself faintly jealous of it. Why? All the badge really means is that they're paying LinkedIn and you're not. But LinkedIn has made that badge feel so desirable that you start inventing reasons to pay for it yourself.

I'll admit it worked on me. 

When I had LinkedIn Premium, I felt good about that badge. When I cancelled, I noticed its absence. That feeling kept me coming back to the platform more often. LinkedIn didn't just gamify the customer experience; they gamified their entire pricing model with one small golden icon. 

You either have it, or you have nothing. There's no consolation blue version. That's a masterclass in using a tiny visual cue to shift behavior.

[![State of Customer Success 2026: Get your copy](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6f/66/6f66cab9-7939-4355-91c0-409dddffd4d9/content/images/2026/07/CSC_State_of_CS_2026_Report_Assets_Article--1-.jpg)](https://www.customersuccesscollective.com/state-of-customer-success-report)

## Gamify your own workflows

So how do you take these ideas and apply them to the work you're doing? The obvious starting point is onboarding.

At Smokeball, a platform that provides legal practice management software, we released an [AI solution](https://www.customersuccesscollective.com/understanding-the-best-ways-to-use-artificial-intelligence-in-your-customer-success-strategies/) inside our product. (Our first reaction was probably the same as yours: *more* AI?) The challenge became: how do you get a 60-year-old lawyer who barely uses a mobile app to genuinely engage with AI?

Our [generative AI](https://www.customersuccesscollective.com/revolutionizing-customer-value-realization-with-generative-ai/) tool reads through enormous documents, sometimes several 200-page files, and surfaces the insights a lawyer would otherwise spend hours hunting for. Powerful stuff. But we quickly noticed a problem. Nobody knew how to ask it the right questions.

Someone at [Customer Success Summit Sydney](https://events.customersuccesscollective.com/location/sydney) used a great analogy for this: tell ChatGPT to "book me a flight" with no other context, and it'll respond with a 6am flight to Madagascar tomorrow. That's precisely what was happening with our lawyers – they'd type "summarize this matter," and the tool had nothing to work from.

So, instead of trying to teach every client how to use our Gen AI one at a time, we shifted the whole approach. We decided to teach them how to use it, and to position Smokeball as the voice of AI in the legal space. We built a certification program. We piloted it expecting five users; we ended up with 65\. That's a 1.3K% result against the target, and the person who ran it deserved every bit of the credit.

### Next: Gamify it *properly*

It's the same playbook as Salesforce: complete the course, earn a badge, become Smokeball AI certified. Nobody else in legal has made that kind of [noise about AI ](https://www.customersuccesscollective.com/ai-for-customer-support-leaders/)yet – we get to own that space, and every certified user knows how to actually apply AI day-to-day.

The same thinking applies to **onboarding drop-off**. 

We built a detailed digital onboarding journey, but we kept seeing people abandon it partway through. So how do you keep them moving? You can go large-scale with tiered certifications and exams. Or you can keep it simple. 

When a large firm is onboarding 20 people and you're not sure they'll all finish, tell them the first five to complete it get some swag or a $10 coffee voucher. Small, easy wins that nudge people toward the actions you need.

But it's worth remembering that **gamification isn't only about getting people to tick boxes.** It's about what genuinely brings value, both to the client and to you.

[![AI for Customer Support Leaders 2026 Report](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6f/66/6f66cab9-7939-4355-91c0-409dddffd4d9/content/images/2026/09/CSC_AI_for_Customer_Support_Leaders_Report_Assets_Article--1-.jpg)](https://www.customersuccesscollective.com/ai-for-customer-support-leaders/)

## The gamification challenge I still can't crack

Here's a challenge I'll happily admit I haven't solved. Getting executives to show up to business reviews.

I have no clever answer for this, mostly because I'm one of those executives who never shows up to the reviews people try to book with me. Which is deeply hypocritical, given I'm forever telling my team to get the executive in the room. The standard advice applies: provide real value and they'll come.

But if anyone has a genuinely good way to gamify executive attendance, I'm all ears. Some problems are still worth talking through over a drink.

## Does gamification actually work?

Let's talk proof, because [engagement](https://www.customersuccesscollective.com/drive-customer-engagement-through-effective-communications/) claims mean nothing without evidence. Gamification has been shown to increase engagement by up to 48%. That number is significant when you consider how poorly some of our standard tools perform.

Take [NPS](https://www.customersuccesscollective.com/is-nps-dead-the-good-the-bad-and-how-to-make-it-work-for-your-business/). We used to send out surveys and get a 2% response rate. When your score is built off maybe six responses, it's not data you can act on. 

So we started small. When a survey went out, the CSM team called clients and asked them to respond. That pushed us to five, then ten percent. Once we layered in more game elements, our response rate climbed to 30%. Not the full 48%, but enough that when I now look at a 66 NPS score coming off onboarding, I trust it.

Now apply that same lift to everything else. [Onboarding](https://www.customersuccesscollective.com/onboarding-checklist-framework/). Training. Business reviews. One-off surveys. Getting your biggest clients to your user conference. This year we've set a target of 400 attendees at ours, and you don't hit that number by sending invites and hoping. It falls to the [CSMs](https://www.customersuccesscollective.com/what-makes-a-good-customer-success-manager-great/) and onboarders to actively incentivize clients to attend. There's a version of gamification for nearly every touchpoint you care about.

[The psychology behind customer successTo speak in layman’s terms: you build a product, you market that product, you then sell that product, and the customer uses the product. In this most basic form, this is the lifecycle of a product and one that most businesses will follow (to a certain degree).![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6f/66/6f66cab9-7939-4355-91c0-409dddffd4d9/content/images/icon/android-chrome-192x192-58ef0ebb-7ad9-4dd6-b5ff-37a5325f9a46.png)Customer Success CollectiveGrace Gupta![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6f/66/6f66cab9-7939-4355-91c0-409dddffd4d9/content/images/thumbnail/vector-rorschach-inkblot-test-symmetrical-abstract-ink-stains-0c28d0e3-7770-4d5d-a744-5c48a68d4061.jpeg)](https://www.customersuccesscollective.com/the-psychology-behind-customer-success/)

## Why it works: the psychology underneath

Three things explain why gamification is so effective.

### 1\. Reward and recognition

We're wired to feel good when we win something. And the genius of a well-designed system, like the Salesforce badges, is that you associate that good feeling right back to the product, even when you paid for the privilege. Your product becomes the source of the win.

### 2\. Visible progression

Think about those mandatory employee training modules, the 40-slide cybersecurity ones you'd rather avoid entirely. 

The progress bar at the bottom is often the only thing keeping you sane. It shows you the end is coming. Now apply that to the long-term things you want clients to do: certification levels, onboarding milestones, product tiers you help them climb over time. Visible progress gives people a reason to keep going.

The streak mechanic sits inside this too, and it's one I'm keen to bring into onboarding at Smokeball. Imagine keeping a login streak alive through the first thirty days. 

Our onboarding leader in the US already uses tasks inside Smokeball to remind clients of what they need to do during onboarding, which is two birds with one stone. You're pulling them back into the product and guiding them through the process at the same time. Bringing users back into the product is one of the most valuable things we can do, so build that pull into your programs from the start.

### 3\. Competition

This one cuts both ways. It works on clients through healthy challenges like "first five to finish wins a voucher." It works internally on your team too. My CSM team is fiercely competitive but genuinely kind with each other, always trying to win together.

When I started, we were barely scratching 100% of target. One of my managers mentioned a bottle of Penfolds Grange she wanted. Offhandedly, I said if her team hit 115% for the quarter, I'd buy it. 

Two quarters later, she landed on 112% and was devastated, even though 112 is an excellent result. Then she went on maternity leave halfway through the following quarter; her team heard about the challenge, and they closed it out at 116%. I'm now out a very expensive bottle of wine! But the point stands. Those competitive elements drive real behavior.

[![Looking to give back to the customer success community? Take the 2026 customer success salary and landscape survey](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6f/66/6f66cab9-7939-4355-91c0-409dddffd4d9/content/images/2026/02/How-to-give-back-to-the-CS-community--4-.jpg)](https://www.customersuccesscollective.com/customer-success-salary-landscape-survey/)

## Thinking long-term about gamification…

Gamification isn't only about winning small moments. It's about crafting experiences that keep customers engaged, encourage learning, and drive the interactions that lead to long-term success. 

Gabe Zichermann's book *Gamification by Design* digs into exactly this: the idea that you can use gamification for short bursts, but the real value comes from building it into a long-term strategy.

Onboarding covers your first 30, 60, and 90 days. But what happens at six months? At 12? You created a great feeling early on, so how do you sustain it across the whole contract? This is where you bring gamification into business reviews, [new feature releases](https://www.customersuccesscollective.com/new-feature-outreach-and-training-template-framework/), partnership announcements, and efficiency conversations.

[Customer maturity](https://www.customersuccesscollective.com/customer-experience-maturity-model-template-framework/) models help enormously here. I used to work at Dynatrace a few years ago, and they have a strong one. You start with the table-stakes functionality and build clients toward higher and higher levels of success. 

At Smokeball, we serve everyone from solo lawyers to 30-user firms, and their value propositions differ completely. A solo lawyer only cares about billing time quickly, so that's our first time-to-value marker. Everything else – intake, matter management, AI, trust accounting – comes later, because bringing in a new solution is hard enough without piling it all on at once.

Show clients where they sit today, show them where your best clients sit, and invite them to climb. At Dynatrace, clients would look at the maturity levels and say, "I want to be that firm." That's how expansion, upsell, and cross-sell opportunities grow naturally out of the journey.

So the next time a three-year deal lands on your desk, ask yourself what you're going to do to keep that client engaged and progressing across all 36 months. That's the real game, and it's one worth playing well.

---

*This article has been adapted from a talk Naveenth gave at Customer Success Summit Sydney 2024\. You can watch his full presentation – and others like it – with a* [*CSC Pro+ membership*](https://www.customersuccesscollective.com/pro-plus-membership/)*.* 

*Simply hit play and catch up on hundreds of hours of elite customer success knowledge-sharing.*