A Conversation with Álvaro Mas of Hooptap

The other day, I had a wonderful Skype conversation with Álvaro Mas, business developer at Hooptap. He showed me an interesting product to help gamify learning. He also provided some examples of how they are implementing Hooptap solutions in various organizations. Here is some of that interesting conversation.

Kapp: What is Hooptap?

Mas: Hooptap conceptualizes and develops technological solutions based on our gamification platform with the goal of engaging, activating and retaining users, fans, customers, employees, students and TV or mass media audiences.

Hooptap screenshot. Notice Gamification elements.

Through the application of game systems and game logic in web or mobile environments, Hooptap helps clients offer an added value, allowing them to differentiate themselves from the rest of the global market. Users are immersed inside a fun and positive environment that encourages further interactions. Users are constantly motivated through rewards such as points, badges, prizes, promotions. This allows companies to attract and maintain the interest of visitors and maximize the return of investment.

Companies all around the world such as Travel Club, Master Chef and Heineken, choose Hooptap’s platform to meet their loyalty goals, boost interaction with their brand and maximize their ROI.

Kapp: How is Hooptap different from other gamified solutions a person might encounter?

Mas: Hooptap has a team constantly investigating how to adapt and integrate the latest technology to guarantee that the platform has the most advanced features in the market.

The value of our platform is based on three main features: it’s an extremely flexible platform which adapts to the needs and goals of our clients and it can be also integrated with already existing systems; it is prepared to process a heavy load of requests to the server and data transfer responding in real time; and it allows an agile and immediate activation of multiple environments that include our gamification features facilitating its fast implementation.

In this case, Hooptap’s solution allows an easy integration into an organization’s learning strategy. We can integrate our product into an existing platform or adapt a product which is designed to be used immediately.

Hooptap tracks completion of progress for the learner.

Hooptap’s platform is highly configurable and self-manageable. Through a very intuitive control dashboard, our clients can nimbly create the environment to perform gamification based lessons fully customized according to the organization’s goals. Furthermore, one can adapt the product’s look and feel according to the topics, and also manage the content in real time.

Our product also enables data synchronization and integrates specific communications with external environments to reward any action you can track inside or outside the platform.

Hooptap’s platform enables the creation of a guiding thread through missions for the user to have an interaction guide. This way, users can unlock levels in different areas to finally complete their formation.

Kapp: Why do you think solutions like Hooptap are becoming so popular?

Mas: Gamification consists of implementing game elements and game psychology in a non-game context with the goal of involving and motivating users. It also adds a non-intrusive way of interacting with your audience.

Users are motivated with regard to physical activity, meeting attendance, and other analog behaviors. Technology enables the most efficient interaction.

Learning must implement gamification because it drives value. Gamification increases the performance of students or employees. A pleasant working atmosphere can help make employees more productive. Employees that feel continuously motivated through healthy competition and performance recognition are more productive.

Hooptap’s gamification tool is designed to improve the training of employees, generating habits and processes of excellence in the long term. Therefore, you can integrate it in your training strategy immediately and use it in web and mobile format. Nothing but advantages!

Kapp: What kind of success have your clients found with this kind of approach to learning? Does it seem strange to them since it is not a typical classroom approach?

Mas: Employee or student activity will be guided through the different missions: A mission is a set of actions that employees must perform sequentially to receive appealing rewards such as points, badges, offers. Setting rewards linked to goals helps provide the feeling that you are cared for and valued.

The content through the learning process must not necessarily be modified, but interaction with it will increase and so will the attention paid to it by the learner. It will retain top students and workers and make them strive for a more productive work and increase their motivation and consequently improve their performance.

Hooptap’s gamification platform.

At the same time, thanks to the different mechanics, Hooptap is able to monitor the employee’s activity through the feedback in real time that the platform provides. This way the client can get to know their progression. In company cases, they can get Interesting insights and also identify weaknesses and strengths of staff members in real time.

Kapp: What advice do you have for students as they encounter gamification.

Mas: With this kind of technology, the path to learning is designed, so it requires the attention of committed students who want to learn on their own and follow a path without a traditional supervision.

Our advice is referred to the constancy of the students, who will have to face each lesson as a challenge for them.