Zurmo Adds Gamification Feature to Its CRM Product

Zurmo will include Missions in the upcoming 0.7.5 release of its Open Source Customer Relationship Management software, due out in mid-September. Missions allow co-workers to challenge one another and get rewarded. 

 A Mission is a new gamification concept that allows co-workers to challenge one another in exchange for a reward. An example workflow for how Missions work is the following:

1. Gillian, a senior vice president of sales at a wind farm solutions company, would like the Customer Support team to come up with a better initiative for ensuring clients are completely satisfied before their annul service contracts renew.
2. Gillian creates a Mission in Zurmo CRM, detailing the proposal she would like to see and the problems it should accomplish. The Mission is open to anyone in the Customer Support department. The reward is the full use of Gillian's beach house over Labor Day Weekend.
3. Spencer, a customer support representative, accepts Gillian's Mission. He has believed for some time that a better system should be put in place for gauging and ensuring customer satisfaction throughout the lifespan of service contracts. He also likes the idea of taking his family to the beach house.
4. Part of Spencer's proposal includes social media outreach, email marketing, and online surveys. Spencer does not have much experience with these technologies and could use help. He creates a mission of his own requesting assistance with planning the marketing automation components of his proposal. The reward is one of his famous flourless chocolate cakes.
5. Raquel, a summer intern in the Marketing Department is passionate about chocolate and social media (in that order). She also has a useful understanding of email marketing solutions and online surveys. Raquel accepts Spencer's mission and helps him with his proposal.
6. Spencer puts together his proposal for Gillian. It consists of a drip campaign beginning six months before contract renewals expire. The campaign includes a brief survey checking in with existing customers to gauge their level of satisfaction. A plan is in place for Customer Support to have additional touch points with each client while foreseeing any needs well in advance of contract renewal.
7. The end result: Customers are happy. Gillian is more confident that her accounts are taken care of and no longer needs to enter into contract renewal negotiations wearing blindfolds. Spencer has proven himself as an initiative rep and rewards himself with his family at the beach. Raquel locks herself in her bedroom with the chocolate flourless cake and emerges three days later using the social media and marketing automation technology that she loves.

As demonstrated in the example above, "Zurmo Missions encourage users to step outside of their daily routine to better company processes and keep customers happy," states Zurmo co-founder Ray Stoeckicht, in a statement. "I don't believe anyone has ever had as much fun building a CRM as our team is having right now. We are looking at all kinds of new ways to solve the age-old problem of why people tend not to use CRM systems."

"We are listening closely to the ideas coming from our homegrown community, which is made up by techies, non-techies, business people, and end users alike. Involving this diverse group of people in our product development roadmap is proving to be quite beneficial as we really get into the guts of what needs to change in the CRM industry," comments Zurmo Community Manager Stafford McKay, Jr., in the statement.

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