We created gamified learning to help Boots train their 45,000 retail staff

As Boots wanted to change the way their employees felt about their training, it was decided to introduce a learning game utilising our Articulate Storyline game engine, which would specifically tap into the promotion of an emotional reaction from players through game mechanics such as competition and reward.

Boots’ retail stores and colleagues naturally compete with each other in terms of sales and store successes, so they leveraged this sentiment this by adopting internal store leader boards of the game scores. This helped to promote healthy competition and collaboration amongst staff, as well as encouraging learners to repeat the game more than once; increasing their knowledge and score whilst exhibiting what’s possible with perseverance.

As gamification allows the learning content to be presented in an entertaining way, the employees at Boots found that learning was an enjoyable experience and so they began to willingly opt into training. Steven Evans comments:

“Gamification brought an element of fun that was lacking in our previous L&D offer. We wanted people to be excited about the breadth of new products at Christmas and feel differently about the learning we offered around those products, and the game really did that.”

The Articulate Storyline game engine is fully customised to suit Boots’ branding and it was entirely Christmas themed to reflect their seasonal promotions. When beginning the game, the learner selects a Christmas themed avatar and their store location; then they make their way around the board using a die to unlock 10 mini challenges. This is where the learning content is incorporated within the game: a suite of 10 unique, gamified e-learning modules were created by the Boots in-house team which work with the game engine to highlight some of the key products, promotions and services that Boots were offering around Christmas. These modules complimented the gaming environment without feeling excessively gamified and ultimately still focused on learning outcomes.

After each mini e-learning challenge the learner is awarded a blue or grey star for their efforts, with grey suggesting that particular module must be taken again. Each star is worth a certain amount of gems, with the aim of the game to collect as many gems as possible throughout the 20 minute experience. This incentivises users to repeat the game more than once, increasing their knowledge and beating their high score. Each learner’s score was also recorded on an internal store leader board to promote natural competition amongst employees.