the salvation army - gamification mobile app - trym stene

THE SALVATION ARMY QUEST TO HELP – A GAMIFICATION

POWERED MOBILE APPLICATION

Trym Stene @trymstene - 2013

THE SALVATION ARMY HELPED 30 MILLION PEOPLE IN 2012 (USA)

AS A NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION THEY DEPEND ON DONATIONS CONTRIBUTIONS AND VOLUNTEERING IN ORDER TO HELP PEOPLE WITH THE NECESSITIES OF LIFE.

SAMANTHA SPARROW, KNOWLEDGE AND INNOVATION MANAGER AT VINSPIRED SUGGESTS THAT CHARITIES NEEDS TO FIND WAYS TO ENGAGE WITH A YOUNGER GENERATION OF VOLUNTEERS, SO THEY DON’T LOSE INTEREST.

Source:The Salvation Army Services Statistics (US) bit.ly/HL3QYX

Source:What can charities do to engage more young volunteers?bit.ly/17KOU9j

http://vinspired.com/

http://bit.ly/HL3QYX

http://bit.ly/17KOU9j

CAN WE INSPIRE YOUNG PEOPLE TO DONATE CLOTHES AND HOUSEHOLD ITEMS?

CAN WE MOTIVATE PEOPLE TO VOLUNTEER?

Source:THE SALVATION ARMY FAMILY STORE (iOS)

bit.ly/17KSqAJ

THE SALVATION ARMY HAS AN APP FOCUSED ON DONATING

THE SALVATION ARMY FAMILY STORE APP LETS YOU:- MAKE DONATIONS- FIND A DROP-OFF LOCATION- SCHEDULE A TIME FOR DONATION PICK-UP- GET A RECEIPT FOR YOUR DONATION- GET COUPONS AND DEALS- KEEP TRACK OF DONATIONS

http://bit.ly/17KSqAJ

Source:THE SALVATION ARMY FAMILY STORE (iOS)

bit.ly/17KSqAJ

THE APP IS USEFUL, BUT ..

IT DOESN’T ENGAGE ITS AUDIENCE IT DOESN’T ADDRESS POTENTIAL VOLUNTEERS IT’S NOT EMBRACING THE SOCIAL MEDIA GENERATION THE VOUCHER SYSTEM ISN’T ENOUGH TO ENGAGE IT DOESN’T CULTIVATE AMBASSADORS

IF THE APP ISN’T REMEMBERED AS AN EXPERIENCEIT’S EASY FOR USERS TO FORGET THAT IT EXISTS

http://bit.ly/17KSqAJ

I WANT TO MOTIVATE AND ENGAGE MORE PEOPLE TO HELP, AND HAVE DESIGNED THIS CONCEPT AS AN UPGRADE OF THE SALVATION ARMY FAMILY STORE APP

RE-AMPED DONATING

QUESTINGFOR GOOD

APPLYGAMIFICATION

DISPLAYINFOGRAPHICS

THE SALVATION ARMY QUEST TO HELP

GAMIFICATION POWERED MOBILE APPLICATION

FEATURE #1

DONATING

USER SELECTS ITEMS THAT IS BEING DONATED (E.g. clothes)

USER SELECTS HOW TO DONATE ITEMS (DELIVERY OR PICK-UP)

THE SA-REPRESENTATIVE TYPES IN VALIDATION CODE ON USERS PHONE TO CONFIRM AND UNLOCK THE REWARDS



FEATURE #2

QUESTING

GEOLOCATION BASED MAP

MAP CONTAINS QUESTS CREATED BY USERS AND ADMINISTRATORS

DONATION QUESTS WOULD SUGGEST TO DONATE ITEMS NEEDED AT CENTRES/EVENTS



FEATURE #2

QUESTING(part two)

QUESTS CAN BE TO:- DONATE SPESIFIC ITEMS TO LOCATIONS- CONTRIBUTE AT EVENTS WITH ITEMS, AS MANPOWER, SHOW SUPPORT, TAKE PICTURES, SOCIALIZE, ETC.

USERS IS REWARDED WITH XP, BADGES, AND SOCIAL RECOGNITION FOR CONTRIBUTING



FEATURE #2

QUESTING(part three)

EVENT-QUESTS WOULD ENCOURAGE TO SHOW UP TO HELP AS A VOLUNTEER FOR DIFFERENT OCCASIONS

THE SA-REPRESENTATIVE TYPES IN VALIDATION CODE ON USERS PHONE TO CONFIRM AND UNLOCK THE REWARDS FOR PARTICIPATING



FEATURE #3

GAMIFICATION

PLAYS AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN ENGAGING PEOPLE TO DONATE AND HELP

GIVES VIRTUAL REWARDS GIVES THE USER A SENSE OF

PROGRESSION AND ACHIEVEMENT

RECOGNITION PROVIDES GREAT DATA



FEATURE #4

INFOGRAPHICS

THE INFOGRAPHIC WILL GIVE THE USERS STATISTICS OF HOW MUCH VALUE THEY HAVE ADDED TO SOCIETY WITH THEIR HELPING HAND

A BEAUTIFUL EXPORTABLE INFOGRAPHIC SHOWING THEIR STATISTICS TO USE WITH THEIR RESUMES



NOW FOR A LITTLEEXAMPLE ON HOW THE USER EXPERIENCE COULD BE

JUST TO PUT IT IN A REAL LIFE CONTEXT

User downloads app

Gets optional choice to invite friends

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User logs in through social networks, or registers manually (e.g. e-mail)

QUEST TO HELP – HOW IT WOULD WORK

User is lead through a process where he fills out his personal profile, uploads profile picture, and in general presents himself

– each little action leads to a small XP reward, if profile complete, a badge.


+ 100+ 50+ 150

WHEN THE USER IS DONE COMPLETING HIS PROFILE HE IS CONNECTED TO HIS FIRST QUEST

The user gets directed to the map, where a first-time-only message is revealed

App finds nearest TSA-centre through geolocation and displays it on a small map

Above the pinpoint, is a button«Items that could help us»

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«Hey there! There are people in your area that could need your help – By donating stuff you dont use anymore like clothes, furniture, or household items to the nearest centre you could really help

us out!»

Button leads to some graphic that shows items the centre is in need of. Clothes, blankets, a microwave – and so on.

User can select e.g. ‘clothes’ and that activates the quest to deliver clothes to the centre

The user gets an XP payout for starting quest and gets two options, pickup or delivery – user picks delivery

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9 + 500


When arriving at the centre, the user can select a «donate» option in the app(The app will tell the user to show the phone to a TSA-representative)

The app shows a 4 digit code field. Since only the salvation army employees knows the code – they have to type it in on the users phone upon donation and press «confirm»

When code is validated – user gets XP payout and receives the first badge

+ 1500

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The user can share the badge with the social media world and apply text to it.

User will now level up, and receive the first rank – «Corporal»(An experience bar tracks users progression to next rank)

The user can now navigate the app freely and start a new quest or check out pictures, friends, the map to find events, his statistics, and more.

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NOTES ON THEFUNCTIONALITY &MECHANICS

ACTIVITYFEED

GAIN EXPERIENCE POINTS

GAIN RANKS

EARN BADGES

LEADERBOARD INFOGRAPHICS

GEOLOCATION QUESTING

DONATE

WEEKLY USER PROMOTIONS

QUEST TO HELP MECHANICS & DYNAMICS

TAKE PHOTOS

ACTIVITYFEED


THE SOCIAL LAYER- Friendslist- Activityfeed (shows friend activity)- View public posts by administrators- View friends activity, rank, and photos.- Invite friends- Share received badges, level ups (ranks), photos on social media

GEOLOCATION QUESTING


QUESTING- There could be a small portion of onboarding quests to get the user

comfortable (upload profile picture, write about yourself, share the app, invite friends etc.)

- Different types (Take photo, attend event, different donating-quests, etc.)- Administrators can create quests and give superusers permissions to do so

aswell.- Quests have experience-points payout- Certain quests can unlock special badges- Quests available is based on user nearby area (radius)

GAIN EXPERIENCE POINTS


POINT-SYSTEM- Delivering a donation to a certain SA-centre should pay out the most points

– since that is the main behaviour we want to encourage, if there is a distance from user to a centre, an algorithm could add extra points per mile traveled to deliver donation.

- Rewards points by: donating, doing quests, recruit friends, taking photos, sharing on social media

- Different pointmilestones trigger levels(ranks) and badges.- A progressbar is visible to user, user can see current amount and end-

amount before reaching new level (rank)- Point-score is not visible to other users.

CHECK LEADERBOARD


LEADERBOARD- The leaderboard will show users achieved rank (level), the users username,

and the score is <number of recruited friends>- Leaderboard will focus on the user and friends- But – it will also be possible to see list of all other users- The leaderboard is contributing with data when the app is promoting the

user of the week

WEEKLY USER PROMOTION


PROMOTE THE USERS!- Every week end a new user is promoted in the activity feed- The one that has contributed the most (gained most points and been most

active), gets a featured post in all users activityfeed with some numbers- The app will also post public to all users if one user has received a big xp

payout or a rare badge.

EARN BADGES


BADGES!- Users receives badges by donating different items (clothes, furniture,

household items), doing quests, taking photos, and gaining ranks- There will also be special and rare badges that is gained through

participating in special event-quests.

GAIN RANKS


CLIMBING THE LADDER!- Ranks are decided by each XP milestone.- E.g. 2000pts = Corporal, 5000pts = Seargent etc.- Ranks are visualized by small icons

TAKE PHOTOS


CAPTURE THE MOMENTS- When completing quests you will get the option to capture the moment, if

picture is uploaded to the activityfeed and/or social media, the user gets a xp-payout

- Pictures in special areas or related to different quests can also trigger rare and exclusive badges

INFOGRAPHICS


SHOW THE USERS HOW VALUABLE THEY ARE The infographic will play a strong role in giving the users a visually beautiful

overview of how much they have contributed by doing quests

The infographic should give users export/print options so it could be added to their resume

Another infographic could also display what items the Salvation Army is in need of in the users nearby area.

The Salvation Army administrators would have a backend where they in easy ways can update the needs of their centre, but alsoadd quests and events that is displayed for all users

They would also be able to post news and messages globally to all users activityfeeds, aswell as locally in the spesific areas.

Admistrators could promote superfans and give them permissions to add quests and content

QUEST TO HELP – THE BACKEND

HOW WOULD THIS CONCEPT APPEAL TO THE DIFFERENT PLAYERTYPES?

I suspect the killer would get the least benefits amongst all the playertypes.

The concept is built so that users XP score isn’t visible, and leaderboards are based on friend invites and ranksymbols

KILLER

ACHIEVER

SOCIALIZER

EXPLORER

The achiever would enjoy the feeling of progress, gaining ranks, achieving points, while increasing the numbers on the infographic.

The achiever would have a lot of fun using this application.

The concept isn’t a full blown hyper-social solution, but there is a social layer that provides enough fun for everyone to share their experience with friends and others.

Explorers would love the map and geolocation system that would inspire them to share all their discoveries while doing quests here and there in their nearby area.

WEAKNESSESSTRENGTHS

THREATSOPPORTUNITIES

- Inspires people to help through the digital sphere- Engaging mechanics- Constantly rewarding through challenges and

badges- Gives users a way to promote themselves as charity

givers- Could produce important data

- Will users be engaged enough to actually get out of the couch?

- As the solution is now, it requires Salvation Army-voulenteers to be informed about the app and know the verification code to reward the givers

- The app is sensitive to communication, it must be thought through and flawless. (better than mine :p)

- Easy to expand with engaging features (create teams, geo-notifications. etc)

- Promotes positive behaviour, charity and helping- Positive PR / Virality

- Requires training, capacity and editorial activity amongst web editors and TSA-representatives / employees

- Users could troll the application- High cost

MY REFLECTIONS, THOUGHTS AND ASSUMPTIONS

Gamifying charity is a delicate matter since you dont want to send the wrong messages. Hopefully i have achieved that.

Leaderboard is something you have to be careful about – Every donation helps, it shouldn’t matter who is the greatest charity-giver. Therefore i chose to base the leaderboard on ranktitle, and friend-recruitments (score)

With a lot of activity in one area, other users can get «scared away». «I dont really need to do anything, theres already lots of activity in my area»

I wanted to create the concept without «notifications» – We have already plenty of applications that is craving for attention, i don’t want the app to beg for it, rather let the app be strong with its own intentions.

the salvation army - gamification mobile app - trym stene

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