Gathering data from your customers is the best way to improve your app and deliver on user expectations. So did Waze, the app that disrupted the personal navigation space in the last decennia, by integrating user-generated content. This meant the drivers could report live traffic conditions and road hazards on the app while driving.

The only challenge was now to motivate users to open Waze and contribute more frequently with traffic updates in real-time. But how?    

When considering what drives motivation and encourages greater user involvement, a single concept stands out: gamification. Waze, recognizing this, effectively employed gamification techniques to motivate their users and foster active participation in updating real-time information.

1. User participation

They increased user participation by introducing points, rewards, and badges to incentivize users to report traffic incidents, hazards, and road closures.

2. A more reliable app

They improved traffic accuracy: with more users actively participating in the app, and giving real-time traffic reports, Waze was able to provide more accurate traffic information to its users, which in turn made the app more useful and reliable.

3. Build community

They built a community by bringing users together in the app, where they can fight against the “traffic monster”. The engine that keeps this community alive is backed by gamification features that also have the power to increase user retention. 

Gamification helped Waze achieve plenty of victories that most apps only dream of. Today Waze has over 140 million active users across 185 countries, and there are made over 18 million map edits to Waze every month. Great job, Waze!