Introducing Circle 3.0 with Gamification
Today, I’m excited to introduce Circle 3.0, a significant milestone in our journey to redefine branded communities.
To get started with 3.0, click on the Explore button in the announcement banner at the top.
From this page, you can preview the experience whenever you’d like, and activate 3.0 for all your members when you’re ready.
What’s new with Circle 3.0?
When we launched Circle 2.0 in 2022, I shared our five core product principles:
1) All-in-one: Seamlessly blend posts, events, chat, live streams, payments, and more. Circle brings together everything you need to give your audience a fully integrated experience.
2) Build with blocks: Craft the perfect space with our community building blocks, and make your vision come to life.
3) Own your community: Build long-lasting businesses by owning your community, brand, and audience.
4) Make money on your own terms: Build the perfect experience to suit your monetization goals. Charge via memberships, installments, or one-off payments for access, events, or your content.
5) Be everywhere: Circle is native on the web, Android, and iOS, with support for multiple languages and currencies.
With Circle 3.0, we’re doubling down on these principles, but we’re also adding a layer of dynamic interaction that has been at the top of every community’s wish list: Gamification.
Gamification
With Gamification, you can supercharge your community by giving your members a way to collect points, unlock levels, and earn rewards.
To test Gamification before turning it on for all your members, visit the Leaderboard tab in your header while you’re in preview mode for Circle 3.0, and click Preview gamification.
Gamifying your community is an easy and automated way to reward your active members, celebrate their contributions, and build a culture of fun and friendly competition ⬆️ 🎉 💪
Points and levels
Members gain a point for every like they receive on a post or comment.
As they receive likes and gain points, they’ll be rewarded for their contributions by leveling up from level 1 to 9:
Level 1: 1 to 9 likes
Level 2: 10 to 19 likes
Level 3: 20 to 39 likes
Level 4: 40 to 79 likes
Level 5: 80 to 159 likes
Level 6: 160 to 319 likes
Level 7: 320 to 639 likes
Level 8: 640 to 1279 likes
Level 9: 1280+
A glanceable profile card shows you which level a member is on when you hover over their avatar.
Likes have to be given to members by others, so they aren’t easy to game or fake.
Since likes are the only way to collect points and level up, your members are incentivized to make meaningful contributions to your community by sharing thoughtful posts and comments.
On the flip side, they’ll be incentivized to like others’ posts and comments when it resonates as a way to gift them points.
Leaderboard
Your most active members will be featured on the new Leaderboard tab in the top navigation header, which can be sorted by 7 days, 30 days, or all-time.
Special rewards with workflows
You can set up automated workflows to give your members special rewards as they level up.
For example, you can use the Member unlocked a new level workflow trigger and setup workflows to:
- Assign a fun member tag which corresponds to their level
- Action: Assign member tag
- Send them a congratulatory message
- Action: Send direct message
- Invite them to a space with VIP events
- Action: Add to space
- Invite them to a secret chat space
- Action: Add to space
- Share a secret space with access to exclusive discounts on your products
- Action: Add to space
- Enroll them in a special course
- Action: Add to space
- Invite them to ask privileged questions for a Q&A event
- Action: Send direct message
Since it’s possible to use any workflow action with the Member unlocked a new level trigger to create a reward incentive, there are literally hundreds of possibilities.
Additionally, you can use bulk action workflows to filter members by their Level, and perform any action for members on a certain level.
We encourage you to get creative as you like with workflows, and share your workflows with the Circle community in our Share and Learn space!
Redesigned layout with a navigation header
We’ve introduced a new navigation header so your community feels cleaner and more intuitive.
1. Directory tabs in the top navigation bar: The directory tabs for Courses, Events, and Members have been moved to a top navigation bar, simplifying your sidebar.
2. Customizable header: You can rename and reorder the top-line links in your new navigation bar.
3. Full screen directory tabs: Thanks to the placement of the directory tabs in your top navigation header, the directory tabs for Courses, Events, and Members no longer include the sidebar, giving them more breathing room with a full screen view.
4. Member profile cards: Glance over a member’s profile information from anywhere in the community without the extra click.
Redesigned post viewer
With the new post viewer experience in 3.0, your members can easily browse through posts in a space or feed without having to navigate back and forth.
It’s faster, simpler, and feels a lot more natural than before.
The full screen post page can still be accessed by going to a post URL directory, or by clicking on the Expand icon in the top right corner of the post modal.
FAQ
How do I activate Circle 3.0?
It only takes just a couple minutes to activate 3.0 for your community:
1. Open the Circle 3.0 page
Click on the Explore button in the Circle 3.0 announcement banner to get started (don’t worry: this is only visible to you as an admin.)
2. Preview the experience
Read through the Circle 3.0 page and click Preview as admin when you’re ready.
3. (Optional) Verify your code snippets
If you’ve added CSS or JavaScript code snippets in Settings > Code snippets, we recommend ensuring that the new layout doesn’t affect them. Any changes you make in preview mode will only apply to your 3.0 experience.
4. Activate 3.0 for all your members
You’re done 🎉
How long do I have to activate 3.0?
On November 30th, 2024, all communities will be automatically upgraded to Circle 3.0.
We recommend activating it before then so you can preview the member experience, check that your code snippets are working as executed, and introduce Gamification to your community.
Can I customize my header links?
Yes! You can hide, re-order, or add custom links to your header by going to Site > Navigation in the admin area.
Will the iOS, Android, and Plus mobile apps support Gamification?
Yes! We’ve submitted the latest build of our apps to Apple and Google App Stores, and they should be live shortly.
How do I test Gamification?
To test Gamification before turning it on for all your members, visit the Leaderboard tab in your header while you’re previewing Circle 3.0 as an admin, and click Preview gamification.
When you’re ready to activate Circle 3.0 later, you’ll be asked to confirm whether you’d like to activate Gamification for all your members.
Can I customize my Gamification levels?
The name of each level can be customized by going to Audience → Gamification.
The number of likes your members need to reach a level is set by Circle, and can’t be changed at this time. We set these thresholds by analyzing the distribution of likes received across all our communities, aiming to reflect a reasonable distribution of members across every level.
Can I turn off Gamification?
Yes — Gamification is an optional feature, and can be turned on or off at any time by going to Audience → Gamification.
Needless to say, you can also activate Circle 3.0 without enabling Gamification.
Can I turn on Gamification without 3.0?
Unfortunately, Gamification will only be offered with Circle 3.0.
Dive into Circle 3.0 and gamification at the next Product with Pedro!
Join Pedro Hernandes for a deep dive into what’s new with Circle 3.0 and gamification. He’ll share our top strategies and practical “how-to” tips to help you engage your community like never before.
During this special 1 hour session, you’ll get:
- A review of what’s new with Circle 3.0 and gamification
- Our best tips and tricks on using gamification to boost engagement
- Step-by-step guidance on how to activate Circle 3.0 and set up your rewards system
- And all your questions answered live!
You won’t want to miss this one!
Other improvements shipped in July
Organize your courses with topics
Now you can organize your courses with topics, making it even easier for members to find subjects that interest them at a glance.
Similarly to how topics work across post and event spaces, you can add up to 20 topics per course space and 5 topics per course.
To add topics to your course, click on Edit lessons on your course dashboard. Select the Customize tab and scroll down to Course topics. You can choose a topic you’ve previously created or create a new topic by typing it into the topics field.
Additionally, you can manage all your topics from the Content > Topics tab in the admin dropdown in your community.
Learn more about course topics →
Paywall updates
We’ve made a few improvements to help make managing your paywalls a breeze. Here’s what we worked on in July:
Change subscription billing cycle or plan type for members with upfront payments
Paywalls with upfront pricing can now be included in subscription groups! Now, no matter what your pricing strategy is, members can easily upgrade across your membership tiers, providing you with even more revenue expansion opportunities.
To manage member subscriptions, go to the Paywalls page located on the admin dropdown menu. Select Subscription and locate the member you’d like to make adjustments for, click on the ellipsis menu and choose the desired option. When changing to a paywall with an upfront price, the upfront price is charged in full and not prorated.
Learn more about managing member subscriptions →
First payment date added to checkout
To make it even clearer for your members to understand when their first payment is due after their trial period, we’ve added their first payment date to the checkout page.
New CZK and SEK currency options
You can now charge for your paywalls in Czech Korunas (CZK) and Swedish Kronas (SEK).
Other updates
Allow members to switch view on the events directory: Admins can now enable their members to select their preferred view (Thumbnail, List, or Calendar) of their events directory by switching on the toggle Allow members to switch view.
Reorder questions in quizzes and export data from dashboard: When editing a quiz, you can change the placement of a question by clicking on the ellipsis menu beside any question and selecting Move up or Move down. You can also export quiz completion data directly from the course dashboard.
Access activity logs from member profile page: Circle Plus and Enterprise plan holders can now view a member’s activity logs from their profile when selecting Edit profile and click on the Logs tab. Similarly to how activity logs function on the settings page, you’ll be able to filter results, export them as .CSV, and click into each activity for more details.
Resizable chat thread sidebar: When viewing chat threads, you can extend the size of the screen by hovering over the divider between the chat space and chat thread screens.
Disable camera from participants in live streams: Admins and hosts now have the ability to disable the camera of any live stream participant.
iOS improvements
We also shipped a few improvements toCircle’s iOS app:
- Support for quizzes
- Ability to navigate to spaces from member space view
- Support for hidden participants in live stream
- Support for gamification
- Performance, reliability, and UI/UX improvements
Android improvements
Plus, here are some improvements onCircle’s Android andCircle Plus branded apps:
- Messaging improvements
- Display who voted in a poll
- Support for haptics
- Support for event topics
- Support for gamification on member profiles
- Performance, reliability, and UI/UX improvements