Encourage Member Engagement Through Gamification with CourseCure

Creating an inviting and entertaining environment within your membership site is an effective way to attract (and retain) members. When someone logs into your site and enjoys the experience, they are more likely to stick around longer and to come back for more. This is an ideal situation for your members and for you as the site owner.

A popular method to create an inviting and engaging environment for your members is through the user of gamification. This simply means adding an element of fun or game-playing to your site. That being said, this doesn't mean you need to add a video game to your home page. Although, that would certainly qualify as “gamification” and some of your members might enjoy the option to get in on that action. With that said, you can actually add some interactive aspects to your site through the use of CourseCure and WishList Member features.

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The Points Add-on and Badges Add-on are both examples of ways to easily add gamification to your site. These options can be used on their own or together to provide members with a fun way to receive encouragement and rewards for various actions throughout your site.

Points Add-on

The concept of earning points is something most everyone is familiar with in some way or another. Perhaps its collecting points at a certain store that can be put towards a future purchase or maybe it's the pride in having the High Score on a vintage pinball machine in the dentist's waiting room. Whatever the case may be, points are easily understood and recognized.

While earning points can be motivating, the ability to redeem those earned points for something is an even better motivator. This is where the Points Add-on comes in. You can create Point Rules to give points to members for actions like logging into your site on a regular basis or for posting their first comment. You can even provide points when members reach certain comment totals.

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You can also use the Points Add-on with the Courses Add-on to award points to members who successfully complete a course.

Your members can be allowed to redeem any points they have accumulated. Their points can be used to unlock additional protected content or can be redeemed for special badges (when also using the Badges Add-on). Or they can continue to earn points to increase their points total and watch it grow on the Points Leaderboard.

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This is only scratching the surface of what is possible when using the Points Add-on. More details can be found in the following Knowledge Base entries:

– Points Setup Overview
– Setup a Point Rule
– Display a Dynamic Leaderboard to Your Members
– How Do Members Redeem Points?

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Badges Add-on

The use of badges to shown an achievement has been reached is something that has gone on for years. This can include winning a sporting event or learning a new skill. An earned badge is a signifier to the owner and to others that an accomplishment has occurred. It is a visual representation of the time and effort that has gone into the completion of a task.

Working towards earning a badge is a significant motivator. The Badges Add-on can be used to issue a special badge to members when they join a new membership level. You can also gives badges to members when they pass a quiz (when also using the Quizzes Add-on). The option to remove a badge based on an action like being removed from a membership level or failing a quiz is also available.

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The Badges Add-on includes a large library of professionally designed badges by default so you can select the badges that best fit your site. The option to create and add your own custom badges is also included.

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These are just a few examlpes of what is possible when using the Badges Add-on. More details can be found in the following Knowledge Base entries:

– Badges Setup Overview
– Setup a Badge Rule
– Create a Custom Badge

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Courses Add-on

A tried and tested method to pass knowledge along to others is through the use of courses. An effective course can be created and provided to a group of individuals in order to efficiently share information with multiple people. You as the site owner can easily configure a course once and allow multiple members to run through that course. The course can now take care of itself which frees up your time for other endeavors.

A sense of achievement is also a motivating factor for members. There is a positive feeling that comes from finishing a task and that definitely applies to completing a course. Members can help others progress through the course and offer encouragement to each other.

Each member can view their own personal progress to see how far they've come.

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You can create as many or as few courses as you want. Each course can also have multiple modules and lessons if that fits your course style. This results in your courses being tailored to fit your site and your members.

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What we've mentioned here is just a start to what is possible when using the Courses Add-on. More details can be found in the following Knowledge Base entries:

– Courses Setup Overview
– Build Your First Course
– Apply Your Style to a Course
– Add a Quiz to a Course

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Quizzes Add-on

We've all taken many tests over the course of our lives and it's safe to say some went better than others. Maybe it was a case of earning a perfect score after not putting in one minute of study time or perhaps a failing mark was the result of a full week of cram sessions. In any event, tests are something your members will be familiar with and you can create your own quizzes for your membership site.

You can decide the difficulty level of your quizzes. They can be as easy or as challenging as you want. This allows you to decide exactly how much effort is needed from your members to achieve a perfect (or passing) score.

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Your members will be able to take the quizzes you provide them and get their results in real time. You can also see the results for all your members to determine who has been passing the quizzes (and how hasn't).

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The details provided above are a sample of what is possible when using the Quizzes Add-on. More details can be found in the following Knowledge Base entries:

– Quizzes Setup Overview
– Require the Passing of a Quiz to Access the Next Lesson
– Add a Quiz to a Course

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Interactive Uses for Add-ons

The Add-on features mentioned in this article can be used individually or together in a wide variety of combinations to encourage member interaction.

A few examples:

• Award points to members when they post their first comment or reach a comment milestone. (More details) 

• Award a badge to members when they complete a course. (More details)

• Allow members to earn points and redeem them for specific badges or access to new levels. (More details)

• Display a leader board of points so members can see who has the most points and can strive to get on the leader board. (More details)

• Display each a member's collection of badges. (More details)

These are just a small selection of options that are possible when using CourseCure with WishList Member. There are many different scenarios and even more possibilities available when you start using all the available Add-ons.