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On the birthday of the gentle giant, John Lucas there are more reasons to remember him. An athlete who towers over the rest of the mortals always gives moments to cherish for his fans and well wishers from time to time. One such remarkable moments that really earned him respect is during the BodyPower 2016. Representing ESN supplements and Omtex Sports at the expo, John gained quite a lot of fans. The popular giant with a friendly smile is one of the most patient athletes and who never miss out a chance to give his fans a reason to smile.

During the 2nd day of the BodyPower Expo, John Lucas and Sanesh Singh took to the stage dancing to popular Bollywood music that made the crowd go wild. The athletes were escorted from the stage to the VIP section by the security as soon as the show was over. And as he was leaving the stage, the plight of a young fan who was trying to reach him caught his attention. The child was unable to reach near his favorite athlete and was visibly disappointed. His mother was trying hard to console him. Then to the surprise of the crowd, the #GiantNation athlete himself reached out to his young fan through the crowd. John spend enough time to bring a cherishing smile to his face. That was not the end, John patiently posed as his mother clicked a photograph of her son with the gentle giant. And on this day 30th May I wish the Gentle Giant a very Happy Birthday :)

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In the modern day business environment, the entire gamut of client relations boils down to the point of client experience as a vital element of business excellence. By delivering the finest experience, the business can leverage smoother transition of operations with minimum chances of conflict. When it comes to client experience, gamification is one of the most sought after process that can leverage automation into a positive experience.

To start with, Gamification is the process where the user is encouraged to interact and engage with aspects of the brand or product through elements salient to game-play. Each interaction will typically earn points, placings and rewards similar to a game play environment leading to increased levels of interaction and engagement with the brand. The elements of gamification takes away the monotony from repetitive tasks managed through automation and enhance levels of interactivity while developing opportunities for the users explore the brand in detail.

Nudge is a concept in behavioural science, political theory and economics which argues that positive reinforcement and indirect suggestions to try to achieve non-forced compliance can influence the motives, incentives and decision making of groups and individuals, effectively than direct instruction, legislation, or enforcement. Nudging can provide a directional stimulation without directly engaging the user. In other terms nudging reinforces the judgement of the user to act according to the best option available. When gamification is designed to nudge the customer into a positive experience, the results can be unlimited. However the entire process revolves around how the gamification is designed to create the user experience.

If the customer is not efficiently nudged or nudged too much, it could result as a negative experience or as a hindrance to the overall user experience. If nudged too much, the customer is intimidated to seek alternatives since the experience makes the message aggressive. The optimum level must be ascertained per user by assessing their individual behavioural aspects by using artificial intelligence. However this could get too intrusive and can let the users feel their privacy is curtailed. When it comes to nudging, balance is the key for success.

The key aspects of successful gamified nudging strategies are that they must be gentle, empowering, directional, purpose oriented and invitational. The strategy must compliment the end goal of the user and guide the user to follow the process with least resistance.

The key idea is not to redirect the user but to stimulate the drive in user behaviour towards seeking the best option available. Since gamification can subliminally drive messages across powered by effective nudging, it is the right tool to engineer a result oriented user experience.