The latest episode of iGaming Daily returned to its CRM-focused series, and this time it delved deep into the world of AI-orchestrated gamification with Optimove’s recently appointed Senior Director of Partnerships, Adi Dagan.

Last month, Optimove inked two new partnerships with Captain Up and Gamanza Engage for the launch of an AI-orchestrated gamification solution.

On the rationale behind the deals, Dagan said: “We feel that Optimove is the master in AI-orchestration when it comes to gaming and we feel that in order to provide our clients with the best solution around gamification, we need to bring the best when it comes to gamification.

“Our team has been working to find those partners and at the end of the day we decided to pick these two.”

Gamification is a concept that is used across a wide range of sectors and uses the concept of recognising achievements and creating competition in order to keep a customer engaged with a product.

Dagan explained that an example of “perfect gamification” is the language learning app Duolingo, and described his own experience of using the app when he moved to Spain.

He said: “The holy grail in gamification is Duolingo. At some point I realised that I no longer cared about learning Spanish, I just cared about not breaking my streak and getting recognised for my achievements. If for some reason I forget to do my lesson, their icon changes and they remind me that I’m about to lose my streak. I would do anything at that moment, drop whatever, to accomplish that.

“And I think that this, along with the leaderboards that they implemented, is a fantastic form of implementing those two main drives that I think the gaming community has not yet perfected.”

Dagan added that the aim of the new partnerships with Captain Up and Gamanza Engage is to develop the gaming industry’s use of gamification by plugging a gamification arm into Optimove’s ability, through AI-orchestration, to “differentiate players and knowing how to approach them at the right moment”.

Part of that process is keeping players engaged in what Optimove describes as the ‘Goldilocks Zone’, ensuring that players are neither bored with too easy tasks nor frustrated by tasks that are too hard.

“You can plug in a gamification solution but you need to find the right infrastructure that sits behind it to make sure that you have the proper matchmaking for the players you are catering for,” explained Dagan.

“If you take leaderboards, for example, you wouldn’t want to compete with players that are way out of your league or under your league in whatever achievements that you’re competing for.

“Our AI-orchestration engine knows how to segment and cater to those players at the right time and if you do that right, you bring what we call the Goldilocks point. It’s very interesting to see how impactful these elements are.”