It may seem obvious that the younger generations prefer not to read training materials, but they do love to watch videos on their smart phones. Many organizations persist in using written training and product materials that literally never get read, or if they do, they fail to achieve their educational or informational goals.

We recently worked on a very interesting project that provides a perfect example of how to achieve significant improvement in the delivery of information and at the same time make life for trainers and document professionals considerably easier.

The Starting Point

A national food service organization had a monthly distribution of materials to franchise stores that were intended to introduce staff to new products, services and campaigns. With over 6,000 outlets and a large number of 18-26 year old employees, there was a genuine tension between cramming enough information into the monthly “packets” and getting the staff to read the materials.

The Solution

 

Staff break rooms are, of course, filled with folks on break or at lunch. This is the ideal time to get employees to absorb some training, with little or no impact on day-to-day operations. The idea of putting up a poster  in this kind of environment that attracts attention and has a QR code on it seems completely natural.

Younger staff constantly carry their smart phones and use break times to check email, Facebook and other web  sites. It is easy to see how simple encouragement to scan a QR code and get some information in the form of a video that will help them to do their job better is going to work.

Once they scan the code they are immediately taken to a phone optimized landing page and engaged with a high-quality and interesting video that swiftly communicates the training message in a digestible and entertaining way.  The emphasis here is on entertaining.

Obviously there are limits to what you can achieve in a casual setting and it is easy to see how you could put someone off, if the video is either complicated or too long.

The Outcome

 So, what was the outcome in this instance? Well overall, the program has been a success. Now learning is fun for younger staff. They provide the viewing platform (their phone) and then watch the training on their own time. The “packets” of printed training materials become redundant (or at least are saved for important information that is not suitable for video).

Benefits
  • Video based learning is effective and users report an enjoyable experience.
  • Landing pages can include comments, feedback and surveys for real time data gathering.
  • The material contained in the videos can be withdrawn and modified as needed.
  • Time frames for production match most printing projects, but there’s no waiting on mail delivery.
  • Detailed analytics as to number of views, time watched and percent watched provide actionable feedback data.
  • The production effort can be moved from busy marketing or training staff to a production company.
  • Over time a “library” of marketing information can be offered to new staff and others.
  • Overall costs are reasonable and the ROI numbers stack up.

This technique is effective, has measurable results and is only marginally more expensive than the ineffective mailings. Once the delivery mechanism is established it can be used for a broad range of communication and enhance an organization’s ability to deliver messages quickly, efficiently and effectively.

Oh and the employees welcome the self-serve nature of the programs as well as enjoying watching far more than they do reading.

This is only one of the ways that we can help create programs from concept to delivery. Please email us at info@rcplearning.com for more details and examples.