Digital eLearning is the hottest trends in business training—and for a good reason. Online learning courses are accessible 24/7 from any device in any place. Why do you need Training videos for your brand and how do you create the perfect video that will boost retention?

What are the benefits of a training video?

Training videos boost retention in two key ways: retention of information and retention of employees. You want people to be properly and thoroughly trained, so they can be productive and successful: information retention. You also want your employees to feel they have access to development opportunities, so they’ll want to grow with your company for years to come: talent retention.

How do training videos do this?

1. Versatility and Consistency

Firstly, videos allow for training at any time, any place. Employees can watch training videos on their commute to work or if they need a break during the day. They can watch videos while flying to a conference or while sitting in a room with their peers. This versatility means that they can watch and learn information when it is most convenient and productive for them, thus boosting retention and memory of the training.

Moreover, video flexibility allows training to be more accessible to everyone in the company. The more accessible the training, the more people will use it. This on-demand training encourages employees to have autonomy over their own learning and development.

Moreover, training videos can easily be disseminated in a consistent way. Different teachers aren’t teaching information differently. Employees don’t all need to be in the same room at once. Videos ensure that everyone—even employees across the globe—has access to the same, uniform training.

2. Effectiveness

Forrester Research found that employees are 75% more likely to watch a video than read documents or articles. Video can instantly grab attention and begins the training process more so than traditional forms of learning.

Videos tend to be more entertaining and exciting for employees. With a branded storyline, videos can grab the attention of the viewer for high levels of engagement. This sort of engagement leads to retention and satisfaction for employees.

SAVO Group data found that videos can make employee training more effective than traditional training methods. The average employee will forget 65% of material covered one week after a training session and 90% six months later.

But video visuals were more effective at retention of information. Videos were 9% more effective one week later and 83% six months later. This suggests that videos actually boost long-term retention as well.

3. Cost reduction

Training videos drastically cut the cost of training. A case study on IBM found that when IBM implemented even eLearning for just 50% of their training, they netted $579 million in savings in two years. This comes as a cost savings from events, travel lodging, salaries, materials, and lost time on the job. Microsoft too found that adding a video portal reduced their training costs from $320 per hour per employee to $17.

4. Advanced training

Training videos save so much time and money, in fact, that you can offer more training to your employees for less. This means you can offer supplemental and optional training for top talent who want to continue to grow. Making these kinds of courses available will ensure your best employees stick around as they learn and develop with your company.

So how do you create a training video that will boost retention of information and retention of your employees?

How do you create a training video that boosts retention?

No matter the type of training, whether for safety and compliance or continued leadership development, training videos all need three key facets in order to be successful: microlearning, application, and engagement.

1. Microlearning

Microlearning means that you present small chunks of information at a time. The most successful training videos teach only one particular skill. This helps boost retention by making each training session digestible and understandable. The training will seem less overwhelming and will allow employees to reach applicable short-term goals. Less is more.

For example, say you’re teaching about the selling journey. The first video could be about “Phase 1: Connect.” The second video is “Phase 2: Build A Relationship.” And the third video would be “Phase 3: Maintain Loyalty.” Even these three phases could be broken up further into the specific steps for each part. Phase 1 could be broken into two videos: one about how to dress professionally and another about how to appropriately greet customers.

Bite-sized pieces of information allow for better understanding, recollection, and retention of information.

This United video gives a specific situational training regarding how to handle customers appropriately while they’re checking in. This video uses a narrative to further encourage engagement and retention with the information. This training shows what not to do and then how to resolve it in a quick 2 and a half-minute training video.

2. Application

The training video should provide some sort of call to action that tells employees how to use this training moving forward. How can they continue to practice this new skill that they learned?

Often, this sort of application is accomplished in the video through:

• Practical exercises

• Tutorials

• Scenarios or skits

• In-video or post-training assessments

• Games and competitions (leaderboards

• Interactive questions

The below training video puts bartenders right in the video themselves. It encourages the trainee to walk through the situation to spot warning signs. It offers long pauses so the trainee can think about what they would do before the video demonstrates possible solutions. This interactive skit combines problem solving and a strong narrative to create a highly successful video:

3. Engagement

As discussed in both sections above, there needs to be a narrative. Training videos that simply go through the motions to teach a skill do not increase retention. Videos are not meant to simply put the written training on a screen.

If you want strong engagement with your training, your video should include some sort of entertainment value as well. This means combining visuals, audio, and interactive applications. Use a storytelling component, as narratives have been shown to attract and engage the brain with a heavy release of oxytocin (the happy chemical).

This Wendy’s commercial uses a funny rap to engage the trainee on an otherwise boring aspect of the job—serving soft drinks. Notice also how this video fits in with the two facets from above. Microlearning: it’s specifically about how to serve soft drinks, not all types of food. Application: the ending CTA encourages employees to go out and try serving drinks themselves.

The Bottom Line

Don’t forget to use the four building blocks of video creation to boost your training videos: branding, addressing a problem, CTA, and social sphere.

You want your training to boost retention. Your video should increase info recollection, so employees can use those learned skills to be more productive on the job. Furthermore, you want your trainings to promote a strong culture of workplace learning and development that will retain employees long-term.

If you want a training video that will boost retention, engagement, productivity, and success… request a quote with True Film Production now!

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