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eBay | Inside Scoop
Welcome to the eleventh edition of the Gamification Insider Inside Scoop!
What is the Inside Scoop?
A monthly deep-dive into an organisation, product or service and how they are using gamification in their business.
We’ll talk about the specific gamification techniques used, explain what they are, why we think that business is using them and give you some ideas as to how those tools can be used by small businesses.
This issue of the Inside Scoop will be discussed in more detail at our monthly Codebreaker Club, available to Codebreaker level members and higher at 5pm on 29th August 2024
eBay.
August’s Inside Scoop is all about eBay, founded on 3rd September 1995.
“eBay Inc. is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that allows users to buy or view items via retail sales through online marketplaces and websites in 190 markets worldwide.” – Google.
eBay is an auction site, for buying and selling all sorts of new and used items. They are often cited as a fantastic example of a business using gamification well.
In this issue, we’ll focus on some of the gamification techniques eBay uses. However, as you can imagine eBay has a lot we can learn from when it comes to gamification, so there will likely be multiple Inside Scoop editions on this goliath company.
Let’s look at some of the techniques they’re using!
Spotify offers an extensive library of free music to explore. With lots of different music genres to curate the best playlists full of your favourite songs, Spotify is like a huge music store but absolutely free!
Why choose Spotify as your go-to music and podcast app? Here, you can:
Feedback | Gamification technique 1.
The Cambridge Dictionary Definition:
Feedback. Noun: information or statements of opinion about something, such as a new product, that can tell you if it is successful or liked.
Feedback is useful in life and business if approached well. You can receive positive or negative feedback. How useful the feedback is depends on how it is collected/delivered as well as how it is interpreted.
Where do you see Feedback in the game world?
Feedback in games can be very clear; if you take the wrong action you may lose a turn, a point or a life. If you take the correct action you may gain a surprise gift, a new route, or a useful item. Feedback can be shown in games through many senses; running out of tokens in a board game, a vibration in your game controller, a sound to indicate you’re getting close to the edge and more. Feedback is a vital part of games.
How does eBay use feedback and why?
eBay is an auction site, its whole business model is based on people purchasing items from sellers. If buyers or sellers aren’t happy, then eBay loses money. How can they see which sellers are doing well? They offer buyers the opportunity to leave reviews after they purchase.
They have two different types of reviews for products to help buyers see if they are right for them:
Verified reviews – left by buyers who purchased the item on eBay
Unverified reviews – left by customers who purchased the item off eBay
They also offer the chance to report product reviews that are inaccurate, inappropriate or unrelated as a way for eBay to monitor and manage the reviews that may be spam.
This feedback is useful for buyers and if used well, can help sellers to improve too.
This system allows eBay customers to have a better experience, generating revenue for the sellers on their platform and also for eBay.
Could you apply feedback to your business?
This is one of the easiest gamification techniques to apply to your business.
If you are a service business, build collecting feedback into your post-service processes. Even better if you can automate this, and generate feedback without having to manually ask for it. You can use this feedback to promote your services in future.
As a product business, you can replicate what eBay does and allow people to post feedback about specific products, as well as about things like customer service and postage. All of this feedback will help you understand which of your products people like and enable you to sell other similar items.Feedback could also help you to improve your customer service and more!
If you have a team, gathering feedback from them can be crucial too, ensuring that you don’t miss any obvious issues and can tackle problems when they are still manageable.
Progression | Gamification technique 2.
The Cambridge Dictionary Definition:
Progression. Noun: a change to the next stage of development.
Progression is an everyday concept. Moving forward or upward toward the next stage or step in something. It’s not necessarily a positive thing such as a career progression or making progress in traffic it can also relate to the progression of a disease or other negative things. It is simply moving to the next stage.
Where do you see Progression in the game world?
Progression is moving around a track on a board game, getting to the next level on a video game, achieving the next coloured belt in a martial art or being rewarded with the next title in a series. Progression is a very familiar game element.
How does eBay use progression and why?
Linking with feedback, eBay has a system of progression for their sellers; their star system. On a seller’s feedback profile, you can see how far they have progressed in the star system by the colour of the star.
Here are the rankings:
Sellers may work hard to get more positive ratings so that they achieve the next star. Without this system, they may not have had any incentive to improve their customer service, product description, shipping speed and communication.
The more amazing buying experiences customers have on eBay, the more likely they are to return and spend more money – generating more revenue for the seller and eBay.
Could you apply progression to your business?
To gamify yourself, let’s use the idea of gathering feedback from above. If you’ve got a mindset issue about collecting feedback; you’re unlikely to go from gathering zero testimonials to gathering 100 per day immediately.
Let’s break it down into steps to make it easier:
Level 1. Consider your existing customer journey and establish when is best to send an automated email requesting a testimonial from your customers. (If you can’t do it automatically, where in the customer journey can you add a diary reminder for you or your team to manually send an email or message requesting a testimonial)
Once you’ve worked that out you level up to level 2.
Level 2. Write the message you will send to people asking for testimonials. Don’t overthink it.
Then you level up to level 3.
Level 3. Automate the request, or add in some diary reminders AND set yourself a goal for sending out a certain amount or requests per week or month. You will be able to gauge this based on your current customer numbers.
Then you level up to level 4.
Level 4. Use the gamification skills that you’ve learned so far in Gamification Insider to ensure you keep up with this consistently. Until you hit your first goal. HURRAH!
When you reach your first goal you level up to level 5.
Level 5. Share those testimonials on your socials to prove to others and YOURSELF that you are AWESOME.
The more evidence you have that what you do works the more confident you’ll feel in selling it.
This is just one example, you can add progression into lots of areas of your business and we’ll be discussing this more in this month’s Codebreaker Club.
Rewards | Gamification technique 3.
Wait? Didn’t we cover this in a previous Inside Scoop? Yep! There will sometimes be repeats in the Inside Scoop as organisations use the same techniques. It’s always a good thing to see more examples of how different businesses use the same technique, or how they use it differently. Here’s a refresher:
Rewards are incentives or prizes which can be used to motivate or increase engagement. Rewards can be very expensive or cost nothing but time. Different people will find different types of rewards motivating and something that motivates one person might be de-motivating to others.
An example of where I have used rewards to motivate myself was when I completed the London To Brighton charity bike ride. For context; I hate cycling, I find it difficult and quite painful. I’m not designed for it. There were gale-force winds, hailstones and torrential rain and I didn’t want to be there. To top it all off, all of my friends had dropped out, so I was doing it alone with thousands of strangers.
Once the weather turned, I was freezing and my shoes were full of water. I had to find ways to convince my brain to keep going. To motivate myself I simply told myself that once I got to the next planned break stop I could have a hot chocolate and then make a decision about whether or not to continue to the next planned break stop and so on. The hot chocolate was free, it didn’t cost me anything. I used free rewards to help me to complete the race.
Where do you see Rewards in the game world?
Rewards are highly prevalent in the game world. Many video games feature Experience Points (XP) as a reward for completing tasks, defeating enemies or reaching goals. Sometimes they can be exchanged for items, or skills or used to level up. In board games, you may find that when you achieve something you gain resources, special abilities, cards or tokens as a reward, which usually help you to progress in the game. In sports rewards for actions are usually points on the board, which lead to winning or losing.
How does eBay use rewards and why?
Also linked with feedback and progression above is rewards. Sellers who are considered the best by eBay earn Top Rated Level to highlight and reflect their fantastic customer service. They are rewarded with ‘Top Rated Plus’ status which gives them the perk of a discount on eBay fees improving their profit margins.
Here’s what eBay says you need to do to be eligible for Top Rated Plus status:
It is in eBay’s interest to do this as they want as many happy customers as possible on their platform, which they are sure to get with 30-day return windows and fast shipping to compete with other market-leading e-commerce sites.
This feature benefits sellers through reduced fees while improving eBay’s reputation, competitive edge and revenue.
Is the technique of rewards something you could apply to your business?
We’ve covered rewards before. Make sure to check out the previous Inside Scoops about Litter Lotto, the NHS Blood donation service, Amazon shopping and Vitality for more ideas on using rewards in your business.
Something interesting to note about how eBay rewards sellers in this example is that the tasks eBay is asking them to do aren’t necessarily easy, financially viable for most companies or straightforward. (offer a free 30-day return window or longer and same or 1 business day shipping with tracking)
It’s common to think that you should reward people for things which are easy (and often this is something I teach, if you want people to take part make it easy to do so). However, if a reward is worth the effort, people will do what it takes to achieve it.
In your business, consider a behaviour or action you would like yourself, your team, your audience or your customers to take and then think about a proportional reward.
In this instance, eBay is using Top Rated Plus to encourage behaviours that will enable eBay to stand out in an ever-changing market and to live up to buyer expectations established by other shopping sites. Is there a big problem or goal in your business that could be solved by adding appropriate incentives?
Competence | Gamification technique 4.
Wait? Didn’t we cover this in a previous Inside Scoop? Yep! There will sometimes be repeats in the Inside Scoop as organisations use the same techniques. It’s always a good thing to see more examples of how different businesses use the same technique, or how they use it differently. Here’s a refresher:
The Cambridge Dictionary Definition:
Competence. Noun: the ability to do something well.
Competence is an intrinsic motivator (Intrinsic and extrinsic motivators are covered in the Inside Scoop about The NHS Blood Donation service). For some people, achieving and feeling competent are huge motivators.
Where do you see Competency in the game world?
With almost every game you play, you start with zero knowledge and as you play the game your knowledge and therefore competence grows. This is an integral part of game design.
How does eBay use competence and why?
Let’s start with making purchases on eBay. You can buy some items immediately for a fixed price by using the ‘buy it now’ option or bid on items in an auction to try and win it for a lower price.
Some people put a lot of effort into finding the best tactics for winning an eBay auction. Bidding on items that finish in the middle of the night so they are less likely to have competitors or setting an alarm to make a bid at the last possible second.
They do this because when they win, they feel extremely accomplished and competent. Sometimes customers bid more than they planned as they got caught up in the moment and end up paying more than the item is worth. This is a bonus for eBay sellers.
eBay is also capitalising on the idea of competence and achievement through initiatives like eBay Academy for sellers and the eBay Developers Program. These teach users about eBay functionality for selling and more. They include training, events and guides designed to improve user knowledge.
While making sellers and developers feel very competent, eBay reaps the rewards as its users are knowledgeable and can use the platform well, leading to greater profits.
Is competence something you could apply to your business?
You may want to check out the ideas about using competence shared in the Inside Scoop about Amazon shopping.
Is there something you are procrastinating about in your business? It could be a competence issue if you don’t feel you know how to approach the task or have no idea where to start.
A quick Google search could be all it takes to improve your feeling of competence, or perhaps you could purchase a small course or guide to get you started. Sometimes simply getting started is sufficient to improve your perception of your competence.
eBay offers its users a variety of methods to learn from them including in-person conferences, online videos and more. If your members or students are struggling with a concept why not offer them a different way to learn, or break it down to ensure they feel more competent.
Time to wrap this up!
Time to wrap this up! We’ve covered a lot in this issue. A deep-dive into eBay and some of the gamification techniques they’ve used to improve the service their sellers provide, improve customer experience, increase revenue, offer additional services that ensure they are competitive, maintain their reputation and more.
We’ve covered four gamification techniques; Feedback, Progression, Rewards, and Competence
We’ve also given you some ideas of how you could implement these in your business.
We will be discussing these techniques in more depth and workshopping how you could apply them in your business in the Codebreaker Club on 29th August 2024.
In pursuit of truth,
Kimba 🔍