How We Gamify the CTM API to Increase Team Productivity

At CallTrackingMetrics, we pride ourselves on maintaining a casual, fun working atmosphere. We’re a family-owned company that started out small, yet has doubled our revenue and staff each year so that our now 30 employees can rival the performance of much larger organizations. That means each team member is working really hard in their role! So, while we’re hustling away in the office together, we try to make it as positive and enjoyable as possible.

One of the ways we manage to work hard without burnout is through gamification.

Gamification: The process of taking something that already exists, like a daily task or process, and integrating game mechanics into it to motivate participation, engagement, and loyalty.

One of our developers, Jeremy Curcio, worked with Kate Preston in our Professional Services department to build a fun tool to help drive sales activity, built via the CallTrackingMetrics open API.

What’s this tool? Well, it’s a bot… and it’s named Chatsworth.

Jeremy, tell us a little about Chatsworth.

Chatsworth is a mostly friendly bot, sometimes a little teasing, who uses audio indicators to keep the sales team aware of customer actions. He says certain phrases, and plays fun sounds when activities take place. For example, he plays a different sound each time someone signs up for a new account (based on the account type), and will even say a phrase when someone abandons the sign-up process. If too much time passes without any activity at all, Chatsworth makes sure the sales team knows by saying something snarky, or playing a “crickets” noise. Basically, we use it to add a bit more color and fun to our office atmosphere, while still keeping our team on track and hitting their sales goals. 

So how does it work?

It is a NodeJS project that polls the CTM API at regular intervals filtering recent calls for ctm-signup form submissions. Every 60 seconds it polls our API to look for the most recent signup form submission, and it compares that submission ID against the last one that Chatsworth has seen. If it isn’t the same as the last signup, it checks to see if the submission came in the last 30 minutes. If it has been more than 30 minutes, it triggers the abandoned alert, if not, it checks to see if the submission has been scored. If the submission wasn’t scored, it is ignored as that means it wasn’t completed yet, and Chatsworth will check it again in a minute. If it is scored, it takes the score tag (which is the name of the plan), and plays the proper sound for that plan. So, that’s how it can tell if it was an abandoned or completed sign up, and what type of sign up it was.

We have him running pretty sneakily on a little Mac mini hidden in the sales area. He speaks through the Mac mini’s internal speaker.

What kind of feedback have you gotten on the bot?

The sales team enjoys the audible feedback of signups coming in, even when they aren’t watching the call log. 

The addition of cricket noises was a request to let the team know that Chatsworth is still alive, and that nothing has happened recently. So, I’d say that it does provide a source of motivation, and more importantly it boosts morale when they get to hear “WOOHOO!” after a big sale.

Have you gotten any special requests for additions to Chatsworth’s behavior?

I get a bunch of requests, mostly for more sound effects, but not always with a reason. From time to time, Chatsworth will play an Arnold Schwarzenegger clip just for fun.

The biggest request has been a way to play sounds when customers upgrade their account type, which I haven’t been able to build yet, since we don’t currently expose those via the API.

Kate, how do you see Chatsworth evolving over time?

Well, there are a few features that I think would be pretty cool to add. For example, I think it’d be helpful to hear sounds if a missed call doesn’t get returned within a timely manner, if a particular customer you’re expecting to hear from appears in the call log, or if you hit a certain threshold of calls, purchases, etc. in one day.

Do you feel like Chatsworth is more than just fun? Has he actually helped you guys?

Oh, definitely! The audio indicators are great way to stay aware of what’s going on, since we’re routinely on calls, or working in other applications. Plus, who doesn’t like having mini celebrations throughout the day?