Win-Win with Data Disclosure Gamification

It’s nothing new in consumer research to show how shoppers become more willing to reveal their personal information to you when you state how you’d use the information to make their purchase experiences more efficient and fruitful, and how you’ll safeguard the information. Now studies at University of Passau in Germany identify a way to increase that willingness further when the shopper has not yet come to fully trust you: Illustrate the rationales and reassurances with a game.
     Revealing information involves risk management, and risk management is an essential element of many games, so there’s a fit between the request and gamification. Still, to be influential, the game must be an obvious supplement to the textual or verbal material. Gamification of any sort usually keeps people involved with a marketer. But when the trust in the marketer is not yet solid and the person is being asked to disclose sensitive information, a game which seems to be no more than irrelevant entertainment will decrease trust rather than build it.
     The game used by the researchers asked the shopper to move sliders on scales to report what would best fit them and their situation. As the sliders were moved, a representation of the shopper reflected how the measures would influence the design of the item offered by the vendor.
     We’ll want the shopper to feel they’ve won the game. The most significant win is getting an item which meets their objectives. Beyond this, the researchers propose that other elements of games, such as points and badges could serve as motivators which, in the process of earning them, cultivate trust.
     Badges earned and displayed by the vendor also can build the trust useful for persuading prospects to reveal themselves. An example is how the home page of online mortgage lending service LendGo showed Better Business Bureau, VeriSign Trusted, and TRUSTe logos.
     A recommendation of the company by Consumer Reports would have been a great additional badge of honor. However, as it turned out, LendGo wasn’t featured in a lender comparison in that magazine. No, the highlighted mention was instead in a bloopers collection.
     The message on the LendGo website asking you to enter your private information, including your telephone number, concluded with, “We’ll call you shorty” rather than “We’ll call you shortly.” Consumer Reports showed a screen shot of that and then added their own caption, “And we’ll call you chubby.”

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