Recently, we talked about how to build customer loyalty in WordPress with gamification. In this article, we will extend that discussion and look at how to add points system to ignite user engagement in WordPress. The goal is to reward users for interacting and engaging within your website. We want users to register, comment, share articles with friends, invite friends etc. In return, users get points which they can use to view premium content, access downloads, and/or win prizes.
Before we start, your site needs to be open for user registration. In your WordPress admin area, click on Settings. Under the General settings tab you will find Membership option. Check the box next to “Anyone can register”. Right below that, choose the subscriber role under the New user default role.
Now that your site is open for registration, you need to let users know where they can register. Go to Appearance » Widgets and add “Stripped Meta” or “Meta” widget to your sidebar. This widget will display the links to register, login and logout pages.
Now we will move towards setting up the points system. First thing you need to do is install and activate CubePoints plugin. Upon activation, you will notice the CubePoints menu item in your admin sidebar. This will take you to CubePoints configuration page.
Setting up CubePoints System on WordPress
By default, CubePoints allocates points for commenting, posting, and registration. You can adjust the number of points users earn for these actions.
CubePoints is a modular system which means that it allows other WordPress developers to write code for extra modules and features. Currently, there are a good number of modules available for you to activate. These modules allow you to give points for different types of activities that users perform on your site. There are also modules which allow users to exchange points for rewards, exchange with other users, or buy points using paypal. To use these modules you will have to activate them from the Modules tab under CubePoints settings.
To display points for logged in users, go to Appearance » Widgets and add CubePoints widget to the place where you want to display user points. There is another widget to display top users with most points.
Setting up CubePoints for BuddyPress
You can also integrate CubePoints in BuddyPress which allow you to create large communities. To integrate Cubepoints system on a BuddyPress site, you will need to install CubePoints Buddypress Integration plugin. Once activated, this integration plugin allows you to run contests and giveaways on your BuddyPress site using the CubePoints system. It also allows you to give users points for activities specific to BuddyPress such as creating and joining groups, status updates, replies, comments, adding friends, etc.
There are further advanced options and supported plugins for CubePoints which you can learn more about by using the plugin and visiting the CubePoints Support Forums. We believe that point systems can easily increase user engagement on your WordPress site. What are your thoughts? What are you doing to keep users engaged on your websites?
Cool, thanks for writing about this. Maybe you could do a follow-up article with a case study of contests or other things you’ve done with a points system?
Do you have examples of sites that have implemented this successfully?
Are you guys going to do this for your site? If not tell me why
We might do it in our site over the coming months. We are trying to figure out a way to best manage users first.