How to use Automated Emails to Motivate, Remind, and Engage

Knowledge Guru administrators can choose to turn on a carefully crafted series of emails that players trigger with various in-game activities. These auto emails are designed to foster repeat play, acknowledge significant accomplishments, and gently nudge inactive users.

Motivate Players

Motivational emails are designed to engage players who have gone at least a week without playing. They may need a reminder to come back and continue their adventure. A player won’t receive the same motivational message twice, and won’t receive them less than seven days apart. Once a player has completed their game or has received six motivational messages, the system will stop automatically sending them to that player.

Players also receive a motivational email the first time they are passed on the leaderboard.

Reward Players

Knowledge Guru will also send out unique reward and progress emails when a player has achieved a milestone. Depending on the game type, these could include the following:

  • The completion of a World (Quest)
  • Finishing the first Daily 3 mini-games (Drive)
  • Achieving the top spot on the global leaderboards

How to Enable Automatic Email Reminders

We encourage using automated emails to help keep players engaged with your learning objectives. This is something you can easily enable or disable as the Game Author.

Follow the steps below to enable automatic email reminders:

1. Expand the Implement option within left-hand navigation pane, and select Automated Emails.

2. Select REMINDERS ENABLED from the drop-down menu.

How to Let Learners Log In With Salesforce.com

Knowledge Guru allows your learners to log into their games with their Salesforce.com account. Once learners validate their account credentials, they can log in with Salesforce and see all games registered to their Salesforce email address.

Desktop

From the main login page

  1. Players go to kguru.co/login or theknowledgeguru.com/login and click LOGIN WITH SALESFORCE.
  2. Players enter their Salesforce username and password.
  3. If it is their first time accessing Knowledge Guru from Salesforce, they will authenticate the connection.
  4. After authenticating, players see a list of their assigned games.

From an individual game login page

  1. Players go to their game link (kguru.co/GAMENAME or theknowledgeguru.com/GAMENAME) and click LOGIN WITH SALESFORCE.
  2. Players enter their Salesforce username and password
  3. If it is their first time accessing Knowledge Guru from Salesforce, they will authenticate the connection.
  4. After authenticating, players see a list of their assigned games.

Mobile

From the app login page

  1. Players open the Quest or Drive app
  2. Players tap LOGIN WITH SALESFORCE on the login page.
  3. Players enter their Salesforce username and password
  4. If it is their first time accessing Knowledge Guru from Salesforce, they will authenticate the connection.
  5. After authenticating, players see a list of their assigned games.

How to Invite Learners to Play on Mobile Devices

Are you launching a Knowledge Guru game that learners will play on their smartphones? If so, using these two links will make the process easier: kguru.co/GAMENAME and kguru.co/apps.

1. If players will type the game link into their mobile browser, use the kguru.co short link

All Knowledge Guru games can be accessed using either the full link (Example: theknowledgeguru.com/sellingskills_quest) or the short link (Example: kguru.co/sellingskills_quest). If players must type the link in themselves, sending the send the short link so it is easy for them to do so. This is especially useful when you display the link on a PowerPoint slide in a live event.

The mobile registration pages for Quest and Drive games automatically direct players to download the appropriate app after registering.

2. If you’d like players to download the app BEFORE attending a live event but do not yet want them to register for or log into the game, use the kguru.co/apps page

The mobile-first page kguru.co/apps has links to download the Quest and Drive apps from iOS or Google Play. You can send this link out prior to a live training event so that players have already downloaded the app before they arrive.

If you will pre-register players before they play:
  1. Instruct players to download the appropriate app (Quest or Drive) at kguru.co/apps.
  2. Instruct players to log in with their email address and the default password that you set for them.
If players will self-register:
  1. Instruct players to visit your game URL on their mobile device: kguru.co/GAMENAME.
  2. Players fill out the form to register.
  3. After registration, Knowledge Guru will provide a link to download the appropriate mobile app.
  4. Players download the app, open it and login with their credentials.

For implementation tips tailored to your needs, speak to your Knowledge Guru Specialist.

 

How to Use the Live Leaderboard in Knowledge Guru

Every Knowledge Guru game has a Live Leaderboard. You can display this leaderboard on-screen in a live event or send it out to players via email so they can check scores without logging in. The live leaderboard refreshes automatically as people play.

The Live Leaderboard includes between four and seven unique leaderboards, depending on the number of custom registration fields you have created. They appear in the following order:

  1. Overall Top Scores
  2. Top Scores Since X Date (use the instructions below to set a date)
  3. Registration Field 1, if applicable (For example, Location vs Location)
  4. Registration Field 2, if applicable (For example, Supervisor vs Supervisor)
  5. Registration Field 3, if applicable (For example, Job Title vs Job Title)
  6. Today’s Top Scores
  7. Perfect Scores

You can view the Live Leaderboard for any Knowledge Guru game using the following link structure:

www.theknowledgeguru.com/<GAMENAME>/leaderboard

To customize your “Top Scores Since X Date” leaderboard, do the following:

  1. Log into the Knowledge Guru game shell you wish to edit: theknowledgeguru.com/login/
  2. Select IMPLEMENT from the left-hand menu, then click LIVE LEADERBOARDS 
  3. Enter the date when your player group will start playing into the text box. The format is mm-dd-yyyy.
  4. Click UPDATE.

Usage Suggestions

  1. If learners are playing Knowledge Guru in a classroom setting, display the live leaderboard on-screen as they play and give a prize to the top performer.
  2. Include the live leaderboard link in promotional emails to learners so they can quickly see the top scores.
  3. Use the “Top Scores Since X Date” leaderboard when you plan to take multiple groups of players through a game over a long period of time. This way, players can see how they compare to other players in their group and not everyone who has ever played the game.

7 Steps to an Effective Knowledge Guru Drive Implementation

Our implementation pack includes timelines, tips, templates and images you can use to implement and promote your game.

You already developed and customized your Knowledge Guru Drive game. Now you need a plan to launch it, promote it, and measure it.

Consider these tips for a successful implementation:

1. Make it mandatory… and integrate into an existing workflow.

Your employees’ time is limited, and most of them only have the energy to focus on the activities that are truly essential to their jobs. Our experience shows us that the organizations that are most successful require that their employees play Drive AND integrate the game into an existing workflow. For example, if your organization uses the Salesforce CRM, you can encourage reps to log in with their Salesforce credentials. You also might include links to the game and to the native app within an existing training portal or intranet.

If you are unable to make your game mandatory, plan a series of communications that promote the game and remind players to play. Offer incentives, recognition and/or prizes. And make sure it is integrated into learners’ workflows.

2. Blend into a curriculum: use as part of a learning solution.

Organizations have the most success when Drive is part of a larger blended curriculum or strategy. Make sure your Drive game works with the other solutions in your curriculum to drive your learning objectives. It is best used as a reinforcement tool (see step 3).

3. Use Drive as a reinforcement tool.

Furthermore, we find that Drive works especially well as a reinforcement tool. Send your game out to learners after they have completed an eLearning course or instructor-led session to help them remember content covered in the training. If you want to use Knowledge Guru as pre-work or a live event training activity, the Quest and Legend apps are better options.

4. Offer incentives and/or provide sufficient motivation. 

We recommend providing prizes and rewards to your employees for completing your Drive game. Encouragement from senior leadership can be even more effective.

5. Create a communications strategy around the game.

Incorporate some sort of multi-part communications strategy to get the word out about your new Drive game. This could include many things, such as a series of emails or even a collection of advertisements placed throughout your company intranet site. Make sure you explain to players how they will download the app and register. Learn more about how to register players in this tutorial.

6. Use reporting and adapt the training.

Identify a specific learning objective that your learners are missing as a group, then adjust your Drive game to better focus on the weak process step. Pay close attention to how confidence compares to performance for each topic and learning objective. Take advantage of the data you gather from your learners and act quickly to adapt their training and processes. Learn more about how to use reports in this tutorial.

7. Gather insights via surveys.

Consider surveying your learners after they complete your Drive game. Surveys can reveal many valuable insights that impact future games you create.

Here are a few more implementation tips for Knowledge Guru Drive.

How to Make a Game Live So Players Can Access It

Once you have created the topics, objectives, mini-games, and decided your preference for automatic email reminders for your Drive game, you are ready to make it live.

Follow these steps to make your game live so players can access it, and enable or disable email reminders:

Quick Steps List

  1. Expand the Implement option within left-hand navigation pane, and select Drive Access.
  2. Under Current Drive Access, select Drive is Online from the drop-down menu.
  3. You will see a confirmation message that your game is live. You will also see your game’s URL.
  4. OR you can click the red power button labeled DRIVE is Offline in the left-hand navigation pane.
  5. You will see a confirmation message that your game is live. The power button in the left-hand navigation pane will turn green and say DRIVE is Online.

Click through the slideshow below to see the steps in action.

Implementation Tips for Drive

Our implementation pack includes timelines, tips, templates and images you can use to implement and promote your game.

To maximize the playing – and learning – experience of Knowledge Guru Drive, you need to do two things well:

  • Spark sales reps’ interest so they take action to download Drive and get started.
  • Provide clear directions on how to access the Drive game and get started with Drive.

We recommend using this implementation timeline:

How to Spark Interest

Think about your target audience. How many of these are true for them?

  • The game is “required” by someone, and someone will be verifying their completion.
  • They enjoy games and are intrigued by playing.
  • They are competitive – and like visible evidence of a competition, such as a leaderboard.
  • They love anything that gives them more information about themselves and how they are improving over time.
  • They want quick hits that reinforce key knowledge or skills that improve selling abilities.

Take time to assess players’ starting motivation – and be honest about what that motivation is likely to be. Your answers can help guide you in planning your implementation and choosing the best strategies for your audience. If the sole motivation to play is “because we have to,” you need to put more thought into your strategy. If Motivators 2-5 above exist for them, you need only make sure you provide clear directions on how to access Drive – and make sure you repeat those directions so everyone “hears” you. If most of these motivators are absent, your strategy will need to go further.

Pre-launch message ideas

  • Plan a series of three to four provocative emails to serve as teasers. Use short, creative subject lines that will appeal to your targets. Teaser subject lines could include:
    • Become a master in 5 minutes/day.
    • 5 minutes/day to better sales results.
    • Join the ranks of the masters.
    • Drive to the top.
  • Include visuals of the Drive app in your messaging, particularly leaderboards or the dashboard. People respond better to visuals than to lots of text. Keep text portion of your message short and provocative.
  • If game-based solutions are new to your organization and people are skeptical, consider offering prizes to underscore the significance of playing. The leaderboard makes it easy for you to award prizes for various things such as biggest leap in rank over two days’ time or top of the leaderboard on a given day. This keeps players on their toes throughout your play period. Prizes do not have to be big ones.

Once the game launches

Send a clear message that explains how to gain access to Drive. Here’s a sample you can modify:

Subject: How to drive to mastery on <insert your topic here>

Dear Sales Rep,

You’ve heard about it; today it’s available! Begin your Drive to Mastery on <insert topic> now. Get started in three easy steps:

Step 1: Use the URL provided to register for the Drive game and create a Knowledge Guru account. Knowledge Guru is the platform that powers the Drive game. Here’s the URL:

·       <Insert game URL here.> It will be something like: www.kguru.co/YourGameName/

Step 2: After registering, you will be automatically directed to a link where you can download the mobile app to your phone. This app lets you access Drive on your phone for maximum ease of use.

Step 3: Start playing to build mastery. Drive will adapt to you as you play, and a session only takes 5 minutes to complete. You can play every day. Every day you access Drive, you get three new games, and updated stats on your progress toward mastery.

Be prepared to resend a variation of the message 1 or 2 more times to ensure all learners see the email. Monitor the Drive analytics to verify that players are getting registered and playing.

Throughout the active play period, monitor player progress. Acknowledge players’ efforts and recognize top scores and engaged players.

Share out final results. Use the reporting capabilities within the Game Administration tool to share relevant results, including the number of reps achieving mastery.

If you have some form of regular sales communication tool, use it to profile top performers and acknowledge their efforts.