Commuting as a game

Driving in traffic is boring.

Or it was, before Waze made commuting a game.

So ‘buckle up’, let’s look at how they did it.

No one wants to report traffic issues, that’s boring. So Waze lets us earn points and rack up scores for doing it. Reports bad. Points good.

No one likes sitting there on their own stuck in traffic. So Waze let folks leave comments on the map for others to find. Lonely bad. Connection good.

No one likes outdated maps. So Waze let users edit the maps for accuracy, and unlock achievements and stuff for doing so. It made for more accurate mapping, and folks enjoyed making it that way.

You weren’t commuting. You were playing.

Yada-yada then they sold to Google in 2013 for over a billion dollars. So, it’s safe to say it worked.

Something to ponder: what seeingly-boring areas of your product or service could you gamify and turn into a source of joy for your customers?