Nothing makes your busy employees switch off quicker than being faced with training that’s irrelevant. Want to stop them just clicking through and start getting them engaged? Make passive learning experiences a thing of the past by harnessing the power of scenario-based learning. Let’s dive into why it works and how you can use it to deliver long term impact.

What is scenario-based training?

Scenario-based learning brings training to life by placing learners in realistic situations and enabling them to put their knowledge and skills into action. Whether they’re building soft skills or mastering product training, learners can make decisions and see how their choices play out in a risk-free simulated environment. 

It’s hands-on, people-centered, active learning that boosts competence and confidence. Leaving your learners ready to take on their work in the real world. 

In essence, it’s learning by doing and it can be incredibly effective.

Why scenario-based training works

Scenario learning is proven to improve skills and increase confidence. But how does it achieve this? 

Here are its 4 key benefits:

• It gives context: 38% of learners say they’re more engaged when training reflects their reality. Realistic training scenarios make learning easier to apply on the job.
• It keeps things practical: Whether you’re sharpening decision-making skills or driving behavior change, practice creates progress. Learners take action, get feedback and see the impact of their choices, so they can improve.
• It increases engagement: Humans love stories. Compelling digital storytelling immerses your learners and keeps them engaged. They’ll be eager to explore what happens next and see how their decisions affect the outcome.
• It’s a safe space to fail: Making mistakes is part of learning. With scenario-based training, people try new things without fear of real-world fallout. It’s a great way to tackle sensitive or high-risk topics too tricky to practice in person. 

Key elements of effective scenario-based training 

Effective scenario-based learning isn’t just about telling a good story. If you’re going to maximize the impact with immersive learning scenarios, you need some key building blocks in place.

• Realistic context: Establish scenarios and characters that are relevant to your learners. Present realistic challenges that put their skills and knowledge into practice.
• Decision points: Give learners the freedom to make choices. Let them explore different paths, experiment with their choices, and see how things play out.
• Consequences: Make sure each choice has clear, immediate consequences. This is where the learning happens – feedback is key for improvement and knowledge retention.
• Moments to reflect: Encourage learners to pause and analyze. What worked? What didn’t? What can they do better next time?

How to build a scenario-based elearning course

If you’re going to incorporate all these elements, you need a robust scenario process. 

Like any digital learning project, there are 4 steps you can’t go without.

1. Capture – Start with a clear plan

Rather than diving in and risking rewriting your elearning scenarios later, take the time to make a plan.

• Understand your learning needs: Start with a clear understanding of the problem you’re solving and who you’re training. This insight will help keep you focused and shape your scenario approach to deliver maximum impact.
• Explore critical situations: Talk to your learners to uncover their key challenges and pain points, as well as what good looks like in reality. The situations they highlight will be the foundation of your scenarios.

2. Conceptualize – lead with a prototype

With the learning needs clear in your mind, you can set about generating some ideas for how they can be met with scenario-based learning.

• Determine your approach: From simple linear situations to complex, branching experiences, there are different ways to approach scenario-based learning. Choose the format that best suits your learners and training goals. Make sure your authoring tool provides the functionality you need for the approach you’ve chosen to take.
• Prototype: Whether it’s a simple wireframe or an interactive elearning walkthrough, prototyping a small piece of scenario-based learning allows you to check that you’re heading in the right direction. 

3. Create – Build with confidence

Once prototyping has confirmed your thinking, it’s time to get stuck into developing your full learning experience. When designing your scenario, make sure you’re including the key elements: 

• Realistic context: Select a setting, characters and situation or task that will resonate with your learners and deliver the greatest impact. 
• Decision points: Map out the situation and pinpoint key decisions your learners need to make. 
• Consequences: Identify the common mistakes, the impact these have and the feedback that learners will need to get back on track. 
• Moments to reflect: Highlight where there’s opportunity for your learners to reflect on their own experiences and how what they’ve seen relates to their work.

For simple linear scenarios, work straight into your authoring tool. With more complex branching scenarios, it’s important to map out how this will work. It will save time in the long run and avoid headaches later.

4. Cultivate – Improve and refine

Once your scenario is built, test it with a small group of learners. Gather comments on everything – from the context to the feedback. Then refine your scenario based on their input to ensure it delivers the best results.

Explore more practical tips in our blog on designing branching scenarios.

Examples of scenario-based training done well

Ready to dive into planning your scenario-based learning? Here are five powerful elearning examples to spark your creativity.

1. Linear scenario-based learning 

In this example, the learner chooses from one of two scenarios based on where they work. The linear scenario sets up a discrimination dilemma and asks the learner to investigate. They need to get input from different people, before making decisions about what to do next. 

Explore this example

Why it works:

• In large organizations with diverse teams, one scenario is unlikely to suit all. A role selector personalizes the scenarios that learners see.
• Complex topics, such as ethics or discrimination, require multiple viewpoints and inputs into decisions. 
• By allowing learners to investigate and draw their own conclusions, they’re empowered to take control of their learning journey.

2. Immersive branching video scenario

This branching simulation-based learning builds soft skills around mental health. The learner watches a video before they’re asked what they think is going on and what action they would take. Personalized results analyze the approach chosen, compares it with others’, and sets out how other approaches would have played out.

Explore this example

Why it works:

• Learners control the story and feel the impact of their decisions on others.
• Feedback comes at the end, making the branching seamless and the experience more authentic.
• Comparing their approach with others’ choices adds another layer of real-life learning context.

3. Audio-driven, first-person scenario 

This audio-driven, first-person scenario helps salespeople learn by practicing in a simulated environment. Adding game mechanics – like points and timers – taps into a fundamental aspect of human behavior: motivation. In this case, it’s the competitive nature of salespeople.

Explore this example

Why it works:

• Taking a first-person perspective puts the learner in the hot seat, experiencing the scenario instead of observing it.
• Using audio keeps costs down while creating a highly engaging experience, simulating the real-world environment learners work in.
• Game elements bring a competitive edge, replicating the urgency and pressure of a fast-paced sales floor.

Want to see more examples? Read our blogs on simple branching scenarios and more complex branching, and explore some other scenario-based examples.

Common pitfalls  of scenario-based learning

When done well, scenario-based learning can maximize your impact. However, to achieve this you’ll need to avoid some common pitfalls. 

Overcomplicating branches

More complex “deep branching” can take learner engagement up a gear, but only if it’s thought through. Branching can quickly get out of control within a few decision points. Before you know it, you’re facing a complex build and risking errors creeping into your digital learning. 

• Do balance the complexity of the scenario with the impact it will achieve.
• Don’t assume that complex branching automatically means more impact.

Lack of relevance or realism

Remember, you’re the learning expert and not the Subject Matter Expert (SME) so you won’t automatically know what scenarios work best with your learners.

• Do use focus groups and user testing to check that your scenarios are realistic.
• Don’t get carried away with developing exciting scenarios which few learners will relate to. 

Forgetting feedback

While seeing the outcome of decisions can engage learners in your scenario, they can only build their critical thinking skills with feedback on their choices. 

• Do provide clear feedback either after each question or at the end of the scenario.
• Don’t just show the outcome of the learner’s decisions and leave them guessing how to improve. 

Summary

Scenario-based training is a powerful way to boost engagement by immersing the learners in interactive scenarios where they can apply their decision-making skills. It provides context, connects theory to practice, fosters engagement and creates a safe space to build confidence.

If you’re going to achieve this, you need a robust process for developing your training scenarios: 

• Capture: Start with a clear plan based on your learners’ needs and the situations they face.
• Conceptualize: Prototype your ideas to test the direction of your scenario before full development.
• Create: Design your scenario using key elements: realistic context, decision points, consequences, and opportunities to reflect.
• Cultivate: Test and refine based on feedback to ensure maximum impact.

With the right approach, scenario-based learning can get your learners engaged and deliver real world impact.

Find about more about scenario-based learning and other ways to deliver truly engaging digital learning in our elearning best practice guide and How to create engaging elearning course. 

Ready to start creating scenario-based learning experiences with impact? Book a demo of Elucidat and start your free trial today.

Everyone loves a good game, especially when it makes learning more fun. Want to use the power of games to – quite literally – level up learner engagement?  It’s easier than you think. This guide explains how to incorporate gamification into your corporate training, whether you’re a seasoned gamer or a total noob. 

What is gamification and how does it help learning?

Gamification is when you add gameplay elements into a non-game activity. In this case, learning. 

You might reward learners with virtual badges, add a countdown timer to create urgency while they complete an activity, or get them competing against colleagues for a spot on a leaderboard. 

The benefit? Think of how engaged people are when they’re playing a game. 

The most gripping games have people playing late into the night as they push to level up or complete a quest. While you don’t want to deprive your learners of sleep, gamification done right can significantly boost intrinsic motivation to engage with your content.

The stats say it all. 83% of people who receive gamified workplace training feel motivated, compared to just 28% who receive non-gamified training.

Gamification vs traditional learning: what’s the difference?

Gamification exists on a spectrum. On one end, there are fully immersive games designed for learning. On the other, there’s learning with a single gamified element, like rewards for completing modules. 

Whether people are learning online, in-person, or through a blend of both, the line between gamification and traditional methods is fluid. How far you take it is entirely up to you.

Types of gamification elements for elearning

What options are available for gamifying your elearning? Read on to discover the top ways to add gamification to digital learning. 

Storytelling

Not all elearning games include immersive storying, but it’s a powerful way to give context to other elements of gamification. 

Try positioning the learner as the hero. Start with a high-stakes mission, where their success depends on completing a series of tasks. The narrative unfolds as the learner progresses, with each activity bringing them closer to their goal. 

You could even incorporate video-based branching paths, where learner choices shape the storyline and final outcome:

What’s the point of training without results? Learning should deliver real impact for your organization – and that starts with knowing your learning outcomes vs objectives. But what do these terms really mean? How are they different? And can they work together to drive training effectiveness? In this article, we break it all down.

What are learning outcomes and learning objectives?

Learning outcomes vs objectives: what’s the difference? 

A learning objective is what a learner will be able to do by the end of training. 

Example:

By the end of the training, learners will be able to describe the global warming process, list emissions sources, and explain how to stop global warming. 

These actions can be achieved immediately after completing the course or program. Learning objectives describe the knowledge, skills, and competencies gained straight away. 

A learning outcome, on the other hand, is the result of training in the real world. It’s about learners applying what they’ve learned in practice. 

Example:

Learners will change their everyday behaviors to save energy, reducing the organization’s electricity use by 10%. 

The best learning outcomes are measurable like this one, so you can see whether the training is having the desired impact. 

When it comes to learning outcomes vs objectives, it’s not a case of choosing between them. Instead, they work best together. Learning outcomes define the desired results of the training, while learning objectives tell you what to include in the training to reach those results. 

Learning outcomes vs objectives: Why the distinction matters

Learning outcomes and objectives may seem similar, but they’re not the same. And it’s crucial to keep them distinct. Here are three reasons why. 

Clarity and focus

Learning outcomes focus on the long-term impact you want your training to achieve. Learning objectives clarify the specific content needed to reach those outcomes.

Measurement and evaluation

Learning outcomes evaluate the overall success of training, linking it to organizational goals through performance metrics or KPIs. In contrast, learning objectives let you track progress during the learning experience through tools like assessments.

Design and implementation

Learning outcomes bookend a project. They define the training you need at the start and measure its impact at the end. Learning objectives come in the middle, guiding content creation based on the desired outcomes.

Create your learning goals with the 5C Framework

Not sure where to start when it comes to learning outcomes vs objectives?

The 5C Framework is a simple process for creating successful learning. The first step, Capture, is all about making a plan. Here’s how it can help you create learning outcomes vs objectives. 

What are you doing?

Start by identifying your training goal: what are you trying to achieve and why? What will your project do in the real world that you can measure? These answers will guide the creation of your learning outcomes.

Who is it for? 

Next, define your target audience, what you need them to do differently, and any barriers that stand in the way. This helps you create the behavioral change part of your learning outcomes. Knowing learner gaps and challenges is the foundation for developing learning objectives too.  

What will make it a success?

Success might go beyond learning something new. Perhaps you want to drive motivation, awareness, or engagement too. If so, include these goals in your learning outcomes and design your objectives to support them.

Follow this structured planning process to align your learning outcomes and objectives with your organization’s needs. The result? Maximum training effectiveness. 

Find out more about using Capture and the 5Cs to plan your project. 

How to write learning outcomes vs objectives in corporate training

What about writing learning outcomes vs objectives? Having a general idea is one thing, but putting it into clear, actionable words is another.

Don’t worry. These tips and examples can help.

Creating learning outcomes

Create your learning outcomes before your objectives. Think of it as starting with the big picture, and then drilling down into the steps needed to achieve it. 

Good learning outcomes describe two things:

• The change you want to see in your learners 
• The measurable impact this change will have on your organization 

Example:

Learners will be able to identify workplace hazards and act appropriately, reducing on-site incidents by 20% over the next six months. 

Always align your learning outcomes with organizational goals – such as improving workplace safety in this example.

Creating learning objectives

To help write learning objectives, a specific set of verbs – action words – is often used. These are based on Bloom’s Taxonomy, a model that categorizes learning into levels, from basic knowledge to advanced skills. 

Corporate training typically targets the lowest two levels: remember and understand. That’s because learners often haven’t yet had the chance to reach the next highest level and apply what they’ve learned. 

Here are the verbs for those levels:

Understand

Describe, explain, paraphrase, restate, give original examples of, summarize, contrast, interpret, discuss.

Remember

List, recite, outline, define, name, match, quote, recall, identify, label, recognize.

Using specific verbs helps you create clear, actionable, and easy to evaluate objectives. Let’s use them to write three learning objectives that align with the earlier learning outcome: 

By the end of this training, learners will be able to list common on-site hazards, describe the correct process to address each hazard, and explain the potential consequences of failing to do so.

Notice how each objective directly supports the broader learning outcome. Together, they create a roadmap for learners to achieve meaningful, measurable change.

Conclusion

Learning outcomes vs objectives: they’re not the same. To create learning that delivers the right results for your organization, it’s essential to distinguish between them.

The good news? It doesn’t need to be complicated. Start defining your learning outcomes and objectives in simple steps using the Capture guide from the 5C Framework. 

Ready to create training programs that deliver real results? Book a demo with Elucidat and see how our elearning authoring platform helps organizations, like yours, achieve measurable success.

Did you know that 62% of organizations are now embracing blended learning? As more teams balance synchronous vs asynchronous learning, understanding the strengths of each is crucial. In this article, we break down both formats and show you how they fuel engagement, social connection, and flexibility – so you can choose the best approach to supercharge your learning strategy.

What is synchronous learning?

Imagine learners gathered in a physical classroom or engaging live in a virtual training session. These are both examples of synchronous learning, where everyone learns at the same time. 

The biggest advantage? Real-time interaction. Think of learners messaging during a live webinar, acting out scenarios in a team workshop, or asking questions in a coaching session. 

No surprise, then, that synchronous learning paves the way for active participation, social learning, and immediate feedback to clarify anything that is misunderstood. This makes it great for team-based training, live discussions, and hands-on learning experiences. 

What is asynchronous learning?

Picture learners fitting elearning around their schedule, watching videos in a spare moment, or consulting digital documents on the fly. These are all examples of asynchronous learning, where learners access learning material at their own convenience.

While social interaction is possible with asynchronous learning, it’s not live. Learners might connect through comments, discussion boards, or shared tools. 

The main advantage of asynchronous learning? Flexibility. Content is accessible anytime, anywhere, and learners can progress at the speed that works for them.  

This makes asynchronous learning perfect for on-demand training, microlearning that fits into busy days, and spaced learning for better retention. 

Comparing synchronous vs asynchronous learning: Key advantages and disadvantages

Which approach is best? Let’s compare synchronous vs asynchronous learning and see how they stack up.

Engagement and social connection

Synchronous learning is social, lending itself to engaging conversations, team activities, and a sense of community. Often, instructors can identify disengagement and address it on the spot.

Social connection in asynchronous learning requires more creativity. Elearning features like gamification and social polls can bridge the gaps between learners. But the true key to engagement lies in carefully crafted, interactive content.

Flexibility and accessibility

Synchronous learning poses scheduling challenges, especially for remote or global teams. Time zones, work schedules, and logistical issues can create barriers. If a learner can’t attend, they miss out. 

Asynchronous learning removes these obstacles, letting learners engage at their convenience. It’s especially valuable for accommodating accessibility needs. Content can be tailored to diverse needs without relying on live participation.

Scalability and implementation costs

For small groups, synchronous learning can be quick and cost-effective. But as the audience grows, so do the challenges. Scaling to larger groups brings higher costs, more complex coordination, and a greater risk of technical hiccups. 

Asynchronous learning can be costly to create upfront. But when it comes to scalability, that’s where this format truly shines. Once created, content can reach thousands of learners with minimal extra expense.

Blended learning: Combining synchronous and asynchronous learning

Choosing between synchronous vs asynchronous learning isn’t always necessary. What if you could use the best of both?  Blended learning does just that, combining multiple approaches into a single learning experience. 

Imagine you’re delivering product knowledge training. Here’s a potential blend: 

1. Start with an asynchronous digital activity to assess existing knowledge.
2. Follow up with a synchronous discussion of the answers in small groups.
3. Conclude with an asynchronous elearning module to provide detailed product information.

You get the flexibility and scalability benefits of asynchronous learning. Meanwhile, synchronous interactions boost engagement, encourage social learning, and offer opportunities for feedback and clarification. 

Find out how to build successful blended learning. 

Choosing between synchronous vs asynchronous learning for your training strategy

Deciding between synchronous vs asynchronous learning, or a blend of both? Make the right choice for your training strategy by asking yourself three simple questions.

1. What’s the purpose of your learning?

Work out what you’re trying to achieve and why.

• For hands-on skills that benefit from live demonstration and practice, synchronous learning that gets people together is ideal.
• Asynchronous learning works well for detailed information, spaced learning, personalised learning, on-demand training, or content learners may need to revisit.

Don’t forget to consider goals beyond learning. Aiming to boost motivation or foster team connection? That might also influence your approach.

2. Who is the audience?

Understand who your training is for by asking:

• Who are your learners, and what challenges do they face?
• Where are they located, and what are their schedules?
• Do they all need the same content, or are there variations?

When weighing up synchronous vs asynchronous learning, consider both practicality – scheduling, accessibility, scalability – and learner needs.

3. What other factors shape your choice?

When choosing between synchronous vs asynchronous learning, organizational considerations matter too. Ask yourself:

• What’s your timeline? Synchronous learning is quicker to implement. Asynchronous takes longer but is reusable long-term.
• What’s your budget? Synchronous costs less upfront, but needs ongoing instructor time. Asynchronous costs more initially but less over time.
• What’s your technical infrastructure like? Stable internet is crucial for virtual synchronous learning. Asynchronous usually requires a reliable content-hosting platform.

By addressing these three questions – purpose, audience, and practical constraints – you can confidently choose between synchronous, asynchronous, or blended learning to meet your goals.

Conclusion

When it comes to synchronous vs asynchronous learning, each approach offers distinct benefits. 

Synchronous learning drives active participation, real-time engagement, and social interaction. Meanwhile, asynchronous learning excels in providing flexibility, supporting self-directed learning, and reaching large audiences. 

Why not take advantage of both? A learning blend combines the strengths of the two types of learning to optimize engagement, flexibility, and scalability. 

With Elucidat, creating personalized, blended learning experiences has never been easier. Ready to explore the possibilities? Book a demo with Elucidat today.

If you work for an enterprise organization, you will understand the pressures that come with this territory. You have a rapidly evolving business to keep up with, thousands of employees to train, and globally dispersed teams to involve. It’s no wonder many enterprise organizations are looking to streamline their L&D approach, often turning to elearning as the obvious solution. But what exactly is enterprise elearning? Why is it so suitable for these work environments? And how do you choose the right tools to make your elearning strategy successful? Read on to find out. 

What is enterprise elearning?

Enterprise elearning is a broad term that might mean different things to different organizations. As a loose definition, it refers to using digital content, software, and cloud-based platforms to facilitate learning within a large corporation. This learning could be delivered to employees, third parties, customers, or any other type of stakeholder.

An enterprise elearning strategy typically involves creating online courses through an authoring tool and then organizing and delivering them through a Learning Management System (LMS). 

Examples of enterprise elearning 

You can create and host any kind of learning experience for your organization with elearning. But the types of elearning courses you might expect to see within enterprise organizations include things like:

• Compliance training: Elearning authoring tools can quickly create informative compliance courses, allowing you to keep up with the regulatory and legal landscape. These courses can be rolled out company-wide, providing employee certification in key areas such as health and safety, financial crime, and data protection. Check out this example of compliance training.
  
• Product knowledge training: Using enterprise learning tools, you can create engaging courses about your organization’s products and services to help your sales and marketing team understand their key features, thus enhancing the impact of your enterprise learning academy. An example of product knowledge training can be seen here.
  
• Sales training: In addition to product knowledge, sales employees and third-party distributors need the appropriate soft skills to promote these offerings and close deals. Elearning courses can help with this, using techniques like interactive scenarios so learners can practice navigating real customer conversations. You can see an example of sales training here.
  
• Process training: Enterprise organizations will likely be hot on SOPs and policies. Whether that’s how to manage a project, implement change, or conduct a risk assessment, these things are important to get right. Elearning can help break down these tasks into smaller parts and provide fun and engaging ways to reinforce key information. Plus, courses can be created and rolled out quickly, aligning with your evolving business needs. You can see an example of process training here. 

Find more great examples of enterprise elearning courses here. 

Why is enterprise elearning important?

For 96% of learning leaders, digital learning is rated as important or very important to their overall L&D strategy. But why is elearning so essential for enterprise organizations? 

Firstly, think about the number of learners. You may have tens of thousands of employees spread across the globe who need to receive training in an accessible way. Your target learners might include customers and third parties (such as suppliers or distributors), increasing this number even more in the enterprise learning industry. You need cost-efficient and accessible methods of reaching these audiences. 

Then, consider the diversity of training needs; Your organization will be split into many business areas requiring specialist knowledge and skillsets. With so many competencies to deliver against, you may need to develop and deliver many courses quickly. 

Then think about how dispersed your experts are; You may have SMEs across different locations, business areas, and time zones, whose knowledge needs to come together to produce the most informative and relevant content. You need a central location – a single point of truth – through which SMEs and L&D experts can develop content together.

Then look at things from a learner’s point of view; Within a large organization like yours, employees are likely to feel overwhelmed with training for things like onboarding, processes, systems and software, and compliance. They may have monthly training assignments to tackle – and firm deadlines in which to do it. They need courses that will inspire rather than drain them whilst giving them the information they need. 

You can learn more about corporations’ training needs in this article. 

6 benefits of enterprise elearning

You’ve explored enterprise companies’ L&D needs. Now, let’s focus on how enterprise elearning can meet these needs. Here are just some of the benefits of implementing an elearning strategy.

1. Improve business performance 

Enterprise elearning makes it quick and easy to develop and roll out training. Most authoring tools have a user-friendly interface and offer pre-configured templates to help speed up your course production. This means you can respond to your organization’s ever-changing needs and close skills gaps promptly, allowing you to stay ahead in a competitive market. 

Furthermore, learning online makes it easy to deliver and track online assessments, so you can be sure your learners have acquired the skills they need to tackle your latest business challenges. 

2. Engage employees 

Enterprise elearning solutions put the power in your learners’ hands. They provide them with relevant training content that can be accessed from any device and location at their own pace. This helps ensure all your employees are fulfilling their roles to the best of their potential and have the opportunity to further their careers. Which in turn will boost engagement across your organization.

And of course, with the right tools, your content creators can develop learning experiences that aren’t just informative but motivating, using things like personalized learning and gamification. So, instead of feeling entrapped by long-winded classroom training or archaic ‘click-next-to-continue’ courses, your learners will have an interactive approach to learning and development.    

3. Reduce turn over

82% of employees who have access to relevant training at the point of need and who feel engaged and inspired by these materials are more likely to stay in your organization. 

Closing skills gaps and ensuring employee competency will also make life easier for managers, who will feel a greater sense of job satisfaction and loyalty to your brand.

Happy employees and happy managers mean reduced staff turnover.

4. Reach global audiences 

Elearning platforms enable you to host content in one location and reach employees worldwide. All your learners need is an internet connection. 

Moreover, most platforms can be accessed in different languages, making them a great choice for global enterprises. Many will also provide features to support elearning translations so you can tailor your courses to learners worldwide.

5. Meet compliance requirements

Elearning transforms compliance training, making it both accessible and engaging. However, creating courses is only one aspect. Hosting and tracking these courses on an enterprise elearning platform ensures all employees complete this essential training. 

This approach helps you tick all the boxes to meet regulatory requirements.

6. Pool resources and expertise 

Elearning within enterprise settings offers substantial benefits by pooling resources and expertise across the organization. Using software, like elearning authoring tools and LMSs allows for the collaborative creation and sharing of knowledge, leveraging employees’ collective skills and experiences. 

By harnessing the diversity of expertise available within the organisation, elearning facilitates the development of comprehensive training materials that cover a wide range of topics and perspectives. This enhances the learning experience and promotes a culture of continuous learning and development.

How to implement enterprise elearning

So, you’ve decided you want to implement enterprise elearning. What are the key considerations and decisions that need to be made?

Decide on your needs

Before you pick your tools, you should consider your business needs.

Firstly, think about your users (that’s your learners, your content creators, and your content administrators):

• What languages do you need to support?
• Are your target learners all employees, or will they include suppliers, distributors, and/or customers as well? Do you need to target these groups separately? 
• How many learners, content creators, and administrators do you need to support?
• What are your content creators’ and administrators’ capabilities? Will they need tools that are easy to set up and configure? Will they need advanced technical support?

Think about what content you have or need to create: 

• Will you be creating bespoke training or using out-of-the-box courses? 
• Does your content lend itself to particular formats (systems training, videos, or microlearning)?
• Do you have virtual classroom sessions or other types of training content, such as PDF guides, videos, PowerPoint decks, etc., that you’d like to host alongside your elearning courses? 
• How much content do you need to create and/or host?
• What data and insights will you want to obtain regarding these learning experiences?

Then consider technological factors:

• Does your organization use other software and tools that must be integrated with your online learning platform/s?
• Will your content creators have a decent internet connection and bandwidth to access the elearning provider’s resources without interruptions? 
• How do your learners usually access content? Will they just be using PCs, or might they want to use mobile devices?

Pick an LMS

Then, you need to choose an LMS. Administrators use these platforms to house and manage their content, deliver it to learners, and obtain data about course completions and reach.  

In looking for an enterprise LMS, keep an eye out for these capabilities:

• Enabling fast and easy content updates to reflect the changing nature of your business and training needs. 
• Delivering a solid mobile learning experience so learners can access content on the go and at the point of need (some may provide a separate mobile app).
• Integrating seamlessly with other applications enables you to house and track content from other platforms and use applications to schedule events, access databases, join video conferences, and more. 
• Enables you to pull this content and experience into learning pathways that can be assigned to learners. 
• Tracking content completion and providing detailed reports about who is accessing and completing what, as well as learner certification. 
• Making content delivery fun. (Many LMSs now use gamification elements, such as leaderboards, points, and badges, to drive learner engagement.)
• Using cloud services with unlimited storage space to host your content.
• Being highly customizable, so you can accurately reflect your organization’s brand. 
• Being available in different languages to support globally dispersed learners and administrators. 
• Offering advanced features to support social learning and user-generated content. 

In deciding whether an LMS is right for your organization, consider requesting a product demo, exploring case studies on the company’s website, and reading third-party reviews. 

This article about alternative to LMS can help you understand more about elearning plaforms.

Pick an authoring tool

As an enterprise organization, you might have existing content (PDFs, videos, PowerPoint decks, and virtual training sessions) that you want to host via your LMS. However, your learning strategy will mostly consist of online courses, which means you’ll need an authoring tool to create them.

In picking an authoring tool for an enterprise organization, look out for a product with the following capabilities: 

• Providing a vast scope for customization, so you can design your layouts, colours, fonts, etc, to match your brand. 
• Offering a rich authoring toolkit and the ability to create elearning experiences, such as games and personalized learning.
• Providing options to simplify the authoring experience for your novice content creators.
• Offering features dedicated to speeding up content development.

• Facilitating a streamlined approach to content reviews and collaboration, preferably using cloud storage. 
• Allowing authors to share templates and assets easily.
• Offering payment plans that reflect economies of scale.

To decide whether an authoring tool is right for you, inquire about a free trial, see a product demo, and look for case studies of success stories. 

Top three enterprise elearning authoring tools

We have given you a head start in picking your authoring tool by reviewing the three top products below.

Elucidat

Elucidat is designed with enterprise organizations in mind. Here’s why…

For a start, Elucidat makes content creation a breeze so you can match the pace of your evolving business needs. It offers a what-you-see-is-what-you-get interface, automatic mobile optimization, and ready-made templates so your authors can create courses as quickly and easily as necessary. 

Unlike many other authoring tools, with Elucidat, speed and usability are not at the expense of content quality. It supports a wide range of learning experiences, such as personalized learning, gamification, and social learning, so your authors can create highly engaging, people-centred content to retain your learners’ interest.

What’s more, Elucidat makes collaboration between team members seamless; cloud-based authoring means authors, graphic artists, and SMEs can work on the same course simultaneously, and all their contributions can be published instantly to a live version. You can even use Advanced User Management to control what each type of user does, ensuring everyone works to their strengths. 

It’s easy to ensure consistency when your teams are working at scale; your authors can set up your Brand Style and make it available for reuse across projects. What’s more, with Guided Authoring, your design experts can share pre-approved company templates packed with inline guidance with your authors, helping you open up production across your organization.

Finally, Elucidat is great for global businesses. The interface is available in multiple languages, and the Auto-Translate feature instantly translates course content into one of 75 different languages, making it one of the most competitive authoring tools for course translations. 

Try Elucidat today

Articulate 360 (Storyline 360 and Rise 360)

Storyline 360 is a desktop tool with a PowerPoint-style slide-based approach to learning development. Pretty much any type of interaction can be created in Storyline 360, meaning content can be as bespoke and people-centred as required—it’s just about taking the time to learn the ropes. However, because Storyline is a desktop tool, collaboration can be very difficult. Authors will have to work locally and upload their courses for review, and there’s no easy way of sharing assets or branding between teams.

If you want to work faster and more collaboratively, Rise 360 is a better option. It provides a more simplistic, cloud-based approach to authoring. Plus, courses are saved centrally to be shared and edited amongst team members easily. However, there’s not much you can do with Rise 360 beyond the set interactions, which means the main drawback of using Rise 360 to create courses at scale is that the learning experiences may start to feel quite repetitive to your audiences. The interface is also only available in English, making it unsuitable for global teams.

Overall, the Articulate 360 package may be good for enterprises who want to switch between Storyline 360 and Rise 360, but if you need one tool to cover all bases, you’ll want to look elsewhere.

For a full review, you can check out our Elucidat vs Articulate review.

iSpring

iSpring Suite is a desktop authoring tool built into PowerPoint. It serves the general needs of enterprises well, mostly because it’s designed to simplify course creation. It offers straightforward video and audio creation functions, a PowerPoint converter, and an AI assistant, all of which help speed up authoring. 

However, creating people-centred learning experiences with iSpring can be more challenging, as there aren’t many interactions available, and the customization options are limited. Moreover, being a desktop tool means you can’t instantly publish courses or share templates or content between authors, so it may not be the best choice for working at scale. 

We have reviewed Elucidat vs iSpring Suite in this article.

For a wider snapshot of the best authoring tools on the market, have a look at our latest review.  

Why choose Elucidat for your enterprise elearning needs?

Elucidat is designed specifically for enterprise organizations. It is easy to use, so you can onboard new authors quickly, meet your ever-changing business needs, and create high-quality, people-centred courses.

Even better, Elucidat makes it easy for teams to collaborate and work at scale. Your authors can share elearning templates, instantly publish courses for review, and roll out global content updates while your administrators have the controls to keep everything in check. 

So, when it comes to enterprise elearning, while other authoring tools may just tick a few boxes, Elucidat fully passes the test. 

Find out more about Elucidat for enterprises by booking a demo or starting a free trial today.

Good training can have a transformative effect on an organization. It can improve performance, efficiency and, ultimately, revenue by giving employees the requisite know-how to succeed. Ineffective training, on the other hand, can have the opposite effect. A training needs analysis is often the difference between good and bad training.

Creating a training course without a needs analysis is the L&D equivalent of trying to set off with the parking brake engaged. Without one, training is aimless and is unlikely to yield the results that you set out to achieve. A training needs analysis provides purpose. 

With that in mind, it’s an incredibly important concept for training leaders to understand. Here, find out what a needs analysis is, what its benefits are, how to conduct one, and more.

What is a training needs analysis?

A training needs analysis is a process which identifies skill gaps and opportunities to enhance knowledge for the purpose of improving employee performance. It is the foundation of any training program, outlining which factors you need to prioritize while shaping the direction of your L&D strategy. 

Fundamentally, a training needs analysis recognizes the difference between current performance or knowledge levels, and desired employee output. It highlights everything from types of training required to the cost and resource outlay necessary to make it happen. It’s a crucial concept for any L&D professional to consider.

Types of training needs analysis

There are two main types of training needs analysis – knowledge and skills. Both can be analyzed at the same time, or you can focus your analysis on one subsect. 

A training needs analysis of knowledge base is crucial for getting to grips with how informed an employee is about the industry in their job role. Training needs analysis can help identify knowledge that employees need to progress, and comprises of issues such as compliance and regulations while also covering general best practice. 

For those with a broad knowledge base, a training needs analysis of skills can assess how equipped they are to actually carry out the job at hand. As well as practical skills, this can cover soft skills such as communication and empathy.

What are the benefits of conducting a training needs analysis?

The primary benefit of a training needs analysis is that it allows you to identify potential issues at the root. Knowledge gaps can become a problem, if left unaddressed, and these are highlighted plain and clear by a training needs analysis. This allows you to plug these gaps and tackle them head-on, rather than only becoming aware of them when issues arise down the line. 

As well as being proactive with pain points, it also helps you plan ahead. Putting a long-term training plan in place is exponentially more straightforward when you clearly know which employees or departments need specific training.

Another benefit is that it ensures no one’s time is wasted. There are only so many hours in the workday, and you don’t want employees to be taking part in training they don’t need to. A need analysis identifies exactly which training is suitable for which employees, creating a personalized training plan in the process. 

Finally, it helps L&D teams to prioritize training needs. The analysis will earmark priority levels, giving a clear view over which training areas are most important and which can be completed further down the line.

How to conduct training needs analysis

When it comes to conducting a training needs analysis, there are various methods which can be used. Not every method will be appropriate to your requirements and there’s no black or white rule for which type is best. You can use any number of different training needs analysis methods that best fit in with your goals. These can include:

• Interviews
  • Interviews provide personalized insights through one-on-one or group discussions, revealing specific skills gaps and challenges. They offer a platform for employees to share their concerns and aspirations directly.
• Work examination
  • This method involves analyzing job descriptions and work processes to pinpoint discrepancies between current practices and desired standards. It’s effective in identifying areas where training can directly improve performance and efficiency.
• Assessments
  • Assessments are structured evaluations of employee skills and knowledge, offering quantifiable data on their capabilities. They are particularly useful for measuring technical skills and job-specific knowledge.

• Observations
  • Observations involve monitoring employees in action, revealing practical skills gaps and behavioral patterns in real-world scenarios. This method is invaluable for understanding the application of skills and knowledge on the job.
• Questionnaires
  • Questionnaires allow for scalable feedback collection from a large employee base, assessing their self-perceived training needs and preferences. They are useful for identifying common training themes and employee elearning styles.
• Competitive analysis
  • Competitive analysis involves researching industry benchmarks and trends to understand essential training standards in your field. It helps in identifying critical training areas for maintaining a competitive edge.

Whichever methods you choose to utilize, putting a needs analysis together requires a few common considerations. Here, we’ve provided a brief step-by-step guide to conducting a training needs analysis.

Step one: determine desired outcomes

Prior to kicking off, articulating expected business outcomes of the training is a must. The ultimate goal of training informs the process of the entire needs analysis, linking it to a business objective. Here, consider the question ‘what are the indicators that training has been successful?’ and gear your expectations around the answer. 

Step two: identify employee behavior needed to reach the desired outcome

At this stage, recognize the competencies that are linked to the business outcomes at hand. To do so, you can collect data from SMEs in the form of interviews, surveys or focus groups. 

This weeds out competencies that aren’t critical and ensures the most important behaviors are considered throughout the needs analysis. For example, a survey featuring rating scales such as the below question, could be used to link employee behavior with role success:

How important is empathy for successful performance in a team leader position?

1 – Not at all

2 – Slightly

3 – Somewhat

4 – Considerably

5 – Crucial

Step three: Evaluate trainable competencies

With competencies and behaviors outlined, you need to determine which ones are trainable. Some are competencies which should be in place prior to being hired, such as sales people being able to initiate conversation with strangers. Those which are suitable for training can then be evaluated. 

Determine the extent that your employees possess these competencies through performance evaluations and assessments. You can also use multiple assessors, such as peers or supervisors, to provide 360 feedback.

Step four: Identify gaps

Use the results of the previous step to assess where the need for competency improvement is evident. This will also help outline how many employees require training and in which exact areas. 

In order to achieve this, however, you need to establish what meets the threshold of a performance gap. This will, of course, vary from organization to organization based on personal standards. Those who fall below your set threshold will require targeted training.

Step five: Training needs prioritization

With performance and knowledge gaps identified, employers should then determine the pervasiveness of different needs. Consider the business-critical nature of the competency, as well as the percentage of the workforce who require training in it before deciding which direction to go in. 

Once your training is prioritized, you’re nearly there. All that’s left is to determine which training methods will gain the best results, as well as putting the frameworks in place for training evaluation.

Asking the right questions when conducting a training needs assessment

When you conduct a training needs analysis the process isn’t just about identifying specific training needs; it’s about asking the right questions to ensure the training content is effective and truly beneficial for employees. To get you on the right track, here are the crucial questions that form the backbone of any effective training needs assessment.

1. What’s the actual problem?

Understanding the core issue is vital. Is the goal to drive sales, enhance customer satisfaction, or retain top talent? Identifying the real problem is the first step in the needs analysis process.

2. Who is it for?

Knowing your audience is key in training and development. Assess who the training is aimed at, what they need, and what will engage them effectively.

3. Why isn’t the target audience doing that thing you need them to do already?

It’s important to understand whether the audience is aware of the need for change. Assess if they have the necessary skills, or if there’s a gap in understanding or motivation.

4. What is likely to actually help people make change/improvement?

Consider what type of resource or task analysis will truly aid in making the desired improvements. This involves aligning the training method with the audience’s needs.

5. What’s worked before (and what didn’t)?

Look at the data from previous training initiatives. Analyze what aspects contributed to a successful training program and what aspects fell short. We have a guide on how to create a training program that you can dive in to optimize your learning.

6. What one thing are you going to do really well?

Focus is crucial. Determine where to concentrate your efforts to ensure the investment in training yields substantial returns.

7. Are you sure they need you to actually create something for them?

Sometimes, the required content already exists. Assess if guiding employees to existing resources might be more beneficial than creating new content.

By conducting a training needs assessment with these questions, you ensure that your training strategy is not just a shot in the dark but a well-informed decision that aligns with your organization’s goals.

Final thoughts

A training needs analysis is arguably the most important part of the entire training process. It establishes the gap between where you are and where you want to be, while outlining the roadmap of how to get there. The importance of training needs analysis cannot be overstated. 

Once you’ve conducted your analysis and know exactly where you want your training to take you, you need a helping hand to bridge the gap. You need to determine how you’ll bring your training to life. If elearning is part of your plan, Elucidat’s authoring tool is here to help. Packed with features which can facilitate elearning creation at scale, our industry-leading platform takes training to the next level.

The transformation of the modern workplace continues at pace. Whether you’re a large business or a smaller enterprise, your employees are unlikely to be based in one office, city, or country. Getting everyone together in a classroom isn’t feasible. Unless it’s a virtual classroom, of course. This is where corporate elearning solution comes in. But how do you pick the right platform for your organization? Read on to explore the best online training platforms for employees.

What is an online training platform?

There’s no shortage of great tools and technology to help you deliver digital learning. But finding the perfect platform or a bespoke elearning solution for your people isn’t easy. If you dive straight in, you could quickly get lost amongst the wide range of options (not to mention all the acronyms). So, before you explore the available online training tools, you need to get clear on what an employee learning platform means. 

An online employee learning platform is software that helps companies digitally deliver employee training programs. From onboarding new hires to compliance training, these tools are designed to create, host, and/or deliver digital learning courses and other training materials. This enables your employees to access learning and professional development whenever, wherever, and at their own pace.

Types of online training software for employees

There are lots of different software available for training employees, but we’re going to focus on the three main types of elearning platforms:

• Learning Management System (LMS): Learning Management Systems are platforms that allow you to host and deliver learning, track your learners’ progress, and analyze basic data about your training (such as its completion). With an LMS, you can manage various online and traditional face-to-face learning experiences. However, if you want to create an elearning course to sit on your LMS, you will also need an authoring tool.
• Learning Content Management System (LCMS): An LCMS combines some of the functionality of an LMS with authoring tool capabilities. It enables you to create, as well as host, manage, and deliver learning content (often via an elearning portal). As LCMSs tend to focus on digital content, it means they can track these online learning experiences in much more detail than an LMS. Detailed analytics can include time spent in a module, the device used, and much more.
• Learning Experience Platform (LXP): Like an LMS or LCMS, an LXP hosts learning content for employees. However, rather than the content being assigned by a Learning and Development (L&D) team, the learner discovers the content for themselves. It offers adaptable learning paths through your online courses and curated and user-generated content. Some LXPs also use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to learn about the employee’s needs and preferences.

Benefits of online training platforms for employees

Whichever type of platform you decide on, you’ll find there are plenty of benefits to using online training software for employees’ development.

• Reduced training costs: Moving to an online elearning platform pays off. Increasing your capacity for online learning reduces your need for more expensive face-to-face courses. Add elearning authoring into the mix, and you can also avoid using more costly agencies to produce your learning content.
• Easy to access: Employees can log on to your platform wherever and whenever. That means they can complete digital learning at their own pace. If a skill gap appears, they can even do some training on the job. Easy to fit into and around work, digital learning can also reduce the time they need to spend away from their everyday duties for training.
• Increased impact: When we surveyed learners, 62% said relevant content was the most important factor when it came to the effectiveness of elearning. Employee learning software with content creation capabilities allows you to start developing elearning solutions in-house. Say goodbye to generic off-the-shelf content, and start meeting changing employee development needs with relevant digital learning.
• Standardized: When you can’t get people together in a room to train, it’s difficult to ensure they’re on the same page. An online learning software allows you to roll out employee elearning courses across locations. So, you can create consistent skills and knowledge across your business and globally.
• Empowered employees: With access to an online platform full of great training modules, it’s easier for employees to take responsibility for their own development. They can select from a range of online training and personalize their learning experience. Powered by AI, some LXPs can even learn about and predict their learning needs. Serving up relevant content before your learners even know they need it.
• Tracked: An online training software enables you to easily manage and monitor the rollout of digital learning to large numbers of employees across locations, sectors, and departments. This doesn’t just allow you to monitor the progress of employees. It also provides an audit trail that can prove compliance with regulations.
• Continually improving: Feedback, data, and analytics from your employee learning software allow you to understand whether your training is meeting your business needs. By interrogating this information, you can find out what is and isn’t working so you can adapt and improve your approach. 

What to look for when choosing an online employee training platform

Online employee training tools can offer plenty of benefits, especially those integrated into a business training platform. But if you’re going to maximize the impact, you need to make sure you choose a platform that’s right for your business. 

Step 1: Get clear on your requirements

Before you get too deep into your research, take some time to get clear on your key requirements. For example:

• What type of training will you need to deliver on this platform?
• What quantity of digital learning content are you aiming to deliver in a given time frame?
• What is the level of skill, experience, and availability of your team for managing this platform? Will they need training and support?
• What other training systems will this platform need to integrate with?
• Do you have a set budget for implementing the platform? And what would a good return on investment (ROI) look like?

Step 2: Focus on key features

With a clearer understanding of what you’re trying to achieve, you can start to consider how an employee learning platform can best meet your needs.

Here are some things to look for in the online learning platforms that you’re considering.

Ease of use: Evaluate how easy it is to use the platform – both from the end user’s and administrator’s point of view. What support is available to help you and your team get up and running? Consider all the ways you will use the platform. For example, creating content, assigning training, and checking completion, to name just a few.

Key considerations:

• Ease of accessing and using the platform for the end user
• Level of skill and experience required of administrators 

Scalability: Explore how the platform can help you efficiently deliver the quantity of digital learning you need. Find out if there are any limitations to the number/size of online employee training courses or their storage. Consider the number of employees and administrators you’ll need using the platform.

Key considerations:

• How easily can you create and/or deliver digital learning at scale
• Cost-efficiency that can be achieved by simplifying or automating any processes

Technical capabilities: It’s unlikely that this will be the only tech you use. Find out how easily and effectively the platform can integrate with your other systems. Explore how responsive the platform is (e.g. whether it has a mobile app). Find out how it uses, gathers, and presents data so you can measure your success.

Key considerations:

• Integration with your existing tools and any related requirements (SCORM compliant? xAPI enabled?)
• What kinds of data can be collected and how this will be presented

Quality: Ask the provider for a demo to understand whether this platform will deliver quality learning experiences. Understand the look, feel, and usability that can be achieved. Gauge the types of learning experiences that can be created and/or delivered.

Key considerations:

• Whether look and feel can be adapted to your brand(s)
• Variety of effective learning experiences that can be created and/or delivered

Maintenance: Find out how easily and quickly you can update digital training. Explore what impact any changes or new versions can have, such as loss of completion status and data. 

Key considerations:

• How easy and quick it is to update your elearning content
• Any knock-on effects of adding new versions of content to the platform

People behind the tool: When investing a lot of money into a platform, you want to be sure support will be on hand when needed. Will the provider support you through implementation? Does this support continue when you’re up and running and it’s business as usual?

Key considerations:

• Will you have a customer success or support contact
• Are there any other services on offer (such as consultation on your digital learning strategy)

Step 3: Create a list of key features

It’s unlikely that you’ll find one business training platform that ticks every box. So, you need to decide on your priority features. For example, is it more important that the platform is easy to use or has more advanced technical capabilities such as training needs analysis tools? Do you need a mobile app, or will most employees access learning on their desktop or laptop? Put together a list of must-haves and nice-to-haves.

Step 4: Evaluate each platform

Armed with a list of priorities, you can do some research to identify tools that appear to meet these key needs. Once you have a short list of the platforms that you think could work for your organization, you should:

• Check out reviews (on trusted sites like elearning Industry) and comparison articles
• Explore any customer testimonials to understand people’s real-world experiences of the platform and partnering with the vendor
• Ask for a demo and sign up for free trials so you can try the things out for yourself
• Weigh up the value for money and ROI each platform could offer

Save time comparing tools with this handy authoring tool comparison template.

Step 5: Make the business case

When you’ve identified the platform that comes out on top, it’s time to share your decision. Discuss it with your team and any key stakeholders to get their thoughts and feedback. 

Once everyone is happy with the decision, you may need to make a formal business case. This provides the rationale for investing in your chosen online learning program. It serves to convince budget holders and stakeholders of the business benefits of this purchase. If you’re going to make a compelling case, you need to do it in their language and show it aligns with the wider business priorities.

Find out more about how to implement an elearning authoring tool successfully.

10 best employee training platforms

Ready to start your research? The employee elearning platform market can feel like a complex place. Before making a decision, it’s important to fully understand all your options and thoroughly review any possible candidates. 

To get you off to a good start, we’ve compiled an overview of some of the best employee training software platforms and why you might choose them.

LMS

1. LearnUpon – A customer-centric learning management tool with an easy-to-use interface

LearnUpon is a cloud-based LMS with a focus on the end user – both the learners and the L&D teams. A user-friendly interface makes it easy for both admins and learners to get the most out of LearnUpon. Customer feedback influences the product roadmap and shapes the platform’s development.

2. Docebo – An LMS platform combining innovative tech and methods to support different learning styles

Docebo Learn is an easy-to-use and configurable cloud-based LMS. By using different learning approaches and the latest technologies, such as social learning and AI, Docebo supports the different ways that people learn. Its pricing model is based on monthly active users, which can mean Docebo is an affordable option.

3. Cornerstone – A holistic solution to learning management that offers world-class support

With Cornerstone’s corporate LMS, everything related to employee training and development is found in one place. This holistic solution enables you to manage different formats, including face-to-face workshops and informal development, as well as multimedia video, audio, and VR learning content. Cornerstone’s world-class customer service means the platform implementation is fully supported.

4. Litmos – Globally popular employee training software that easily integrates your content

Litmos is a digital training software used by many major corporations worldwide. It offers tools to easily integrate a training library with your systems and measure progress among learners through assessments. 

LCMS

5. Elucidat – Empowers big employers to deliver impactful and scalable elearning experiences.

Elucidat started life as an authoring tool, but over time has developed a much broader set of key features to enable collaboration, hosting and delivery. Elucidat is designed for scalability. With Elucidat, you can build, review, and deliver all in one place. Cloning your course makes reuse, rebranding, and translation simple. And keeping a parent course avoids version control issues. While not technically a full LCMS, Elucidat is still a great option. 

6. EdApp – An all-in-one training solution and LCMS that focuses on microlearning

EdApp is a LCMS workplace training solution. The package includes an admin portal, learning portal, and analytics suite for smooth and effective learning delivery. Its creator tool includes an editable course library and features – like microlearning, gamification, and spaced repetition, as well as AI course creation and translation.

7. Xyleme – An elearning platform that brings the entire elearning together in one place

Xyleme is a comprehensive elearning platform and LCMS that brings the entire learning content management lifecycle together in one process. Xyleme provides a single source of truth by streamlining content authoring, publishing, updates, delivery, tracking, and analysis into a collaborative platform.

8. iSpring Learn – An intuitive learning platform interface with basic authoring capability

iSpring Learn is an LMS with simple content creation capability. Its intuitive interface makes it easy to find training content on any device (and even offline) using a mobile app. Its authoring tool is PowerPoint-based. It’s a great option for novice learning designers who don’t have to worry about updating content regularly.

LXP

9. Valamis – An elearning platform and LXP providing end-to-end capabilities 

From learning creation to management and delivery, Valamis is an elearning platform and full learning ecosystem. It’s an LXP first and foremost, but as a package, it also comes with an LMS and basic authoring capabilities, which give it an edge over other LXPs.

10. Degreed – An LXP connecting learners to resources they need

Degreed integrates new skills insights and different types of people development to connect learners to the resources they need. It also provides learner insights with analytics so organizations can collect, understand, and build skills for greater impact.

Want to find out more about these platforms and explore other tools? Download our authoring tool comparison template or read our full online training tool review.

Summary

The modern workplace has changed the way we deliver training. An online employee learning platform is now a must-have tool. It gives your employees easy access to relevant and effective learning materials wherever they are. But if you’re going to maximize your impact, you need to make sure you choose the right platform.

Training employees online with Elucidat

LMS, LCMS, or LXP? Each type of platform offers different benefits. But you’ll need an LCMS if you want to combine content creation and delivery. With Elucidat you can do just this and a lot more. New authors and experienced designers can create impactful, responsive elearning programs that meet your standards. 

Efficient workflows mean multiple authors and reviewers can work on a project simultaneously. Publishing and releasing online courses is easy. And once your course is being used, you can track employee engagement at page level. So, you can gain insight and iterate your online learning content on an ongoing basis. After you update your course, you can re-release without worrying about version control issues and any data loss.

And just as you’re empowered to iterate your elearning, Elucidat is constantly improving. Whether it’s streamlining your feedback collection process or auto-translating, you can maximize the impact of implementing staff training software with Elucidat.

Want to see for yourself? Book a demo of Elucidat to get started with a free trial.

Does your organization overlook soft skills, such as communication, in favor of hard skills like qualifications and industry-specific expertise? This can be an easy trap to fall into. Fortunately, many companies are now recognizing the importance of soft skills in the workplace and having the right blend of hard and soft skills for building effective, collaborative and dynamic teams. After all, an employee’s soft skills can determine how they apply their hard skills and work with others… So how can you as an employer provide your employees with the opportunity for soft skill development? Read on for our guide to soft skills training, including:

• What is soft skills training?
• Benefits of soft skills training
• Best soft skills for improving employee performance
• How to conduct soft skills training
• Using elearning for soft skills training
• Planning your soft skills elearning 
• Cost of soft skills training
• Elucidat & soft skills training

What is soft skills training?

Soft skills training is training that focuses on the development of abilities such as communication, teamwork and problem solving as opposed to hard skills which focus on an employee’s technical ability. Other soft skills include emotional intelligence, a positive attitude and taking the initiative. Developing soft skills in the workplace is often underappreciated. However, it’s just as important as hard skills.

Unlike hard skills, soft skills are not industry or role-specific, rather skills that relate to personality and behavior. While hard skills such as data analysis, reporting or mathematical ability, can be taught with relative ease, soft skills training can be more challenging as it involves teaching new behaviors and ways of thinking. 

The effectiveness of  soft skills training in the workplace can also be more difficult to measure as it is generally less quantitative. Creating an effective soft skills training development plan and choosing the best online training platform can be the difference between success and failure.

Benefits of soft skills training

Soft skills can be highly desirable for businesses and are important components of a resilient, empathetic and motivated workforce. The key benefits of soft skills courses and training include:

1. Improved teamwork and rapport

Developing important skills such as communication and teamwork can help to build stronger and more effective workplace relationships and boost collaboration, resulting in higher levels of team productivity.

2. Empathetic leadership

Professional soft skills are critical at every level, and that includes leadership. Leaders with emotional intelligence and great interpersonal skills are more likely to get the best out of their employees by understanding their needs and building valuable relationships.

3. Happier employees and better staff retention

Investing in employee soft skills training demonstrates that you care about their development and provides them with useful skills that can make them better at their job and more fulfilled. Developing important soft skills can also help to create a more pleasant working environment, further bolstering the opportunities for staff retention.

4. Better customer service and client satisfaction

Soft skills training teaches employees how to communicate effectively and tackle problems more confidently. Soft skills training in the workplace can also help to develop their listening and empathy skills which are key when dealing with customers or clients, especially if faced with a potentially complex problem.

5. Enhanced problem solving

Employees can benefit from enhanced problem-solving skills from soft skills training. It can help them to approach problems in new ways, communicate challenges more effectively and implement alternative solutions.

Best soft skills for developing employee performance

Not only does soft skills training make for happier and more fulfilled employees but it can also have a positive impact when it comes to employee performance. These are just some of the most desirable soft skills for improving employee performance:

Communication

Great communication is among the most important soft skills for professionals. Whether it’s day-to-day team communication, or interacting with clients or customers, having great communication skills are essential for working efficiently and effectively – and building rapport with those around you.

Teamwork

Teamwork is a critical skill for all members of teams, especially in a business environment. Soft skills training can help employees to understand their strengths and weaknesses within a team and learn how to best communicate with others for the best outcome. 

Time management

For efficient operations and cost savings, good time management is important. Spending too much time on one task or neglecting another can lead to inefficiencies and disgruntled clients. Deploying soft skills course to teach employees how best to manage their time and juggle different tasks is a very useful skill for employees to master.

How to conduct soft skills training

Like with any learning and development program, auditing your current skills gap is a good place to start. To pinpoint opportunities for soft skill development, speak with employees at all levels of the organization to identify whether there are obvious areas of improvement and consult with managers to determine whether there are any common soft skills that come up in appraisals often, e.g. communication or organization. 

The next step is to decide the format and delivery method of your soft skills training. Do you want to conduct face-to-face training, offer interactive online courses via an LMS, or offer a blended learning approach? The team at Elucidat have extensive experience with delivering impactful training at scale, using a wide range of formats, so if you’re not sure of the best approach for your employee soft skills training, speak to one of our learning experts. 

If you decide on digital learning, the next step is to choose an authoring tool that offers everything you need to develop soft skills for professionals effectively. Depending on your experience with elearning authoring tools, budget, and complexity of your project, some types of soft skills courses may be a better fit than others, so be sure to take a demo of a few to find the best solution. You can see a full review of the best elearning authoring tools here. 

Once you have selected your authoring tool, you can then go on to build out your content, using pre-built templates or building from scratch. Be sure to engage Subject Matter Experts from across your L&D and HR teams to ensure your content hits the mark. And, for the best results, choose interactive formats such as quizzes, branched scenarios and video to keep employees engaged. 

Alongside digital soft skills courses, you could also consider one-on-one coaching sessions, workshops and peer mentoring. You can explore different types of blended learning here.

Using elearning for soft skills training

Corporate elearning can be a highly effective method for soft skills development. Not only does it allow employees to do the training little and often, but it also allows them to test their soft skills as they go with scenario-based training. Here are some of the key benefits of soft skills elearning:

1. Manageable and digestible learning

Soft skills aren’t something anyone can learn overnight, it is learned behavior developed over time through repetition and ongoing training. Creating a dedicated soft skills course allows employees to access it regularly, in bitesize chunks, from their laptop or smartphone. That way, it doesn’t interfere with their day-to-day work and is more likely to become a habit that sticks.

2. Innovative and engaging formats

Unlike an in-person talk or reading materials, elearning allows employees to engage in simulated scenarios, answer questions in real-time and put their soft skills to the test. It also enables them to receive instant feedback and analyze their performance to understand which skills they can improve further.

3. Learning by observation

Video is a useful format for teaching soft skills as it allows the learner to observe soft skills in real-life scenarios and translate them into everyday life. It encourages employees to immerse themselves into a situation and reflect upon how they would react.

If you’re looking for new ways to level-up your elearning soft-skills courses then try this certified course in engaging elearning design.

Planning your soft skills training

We’ve touched on some of the ways you can approach your soft skills training, and how this can benefit your organization. Now let’s break down how these methods might look.

1. Soft skills training modules

Elearning modules for soft skills training might include one or more of the following:

• Scenarios or case studies, that demonstrate the soft skills in practice and how these skills impact on people. 
• Video drama that captures best (and worst!) practice, so learners can master the skills through observation.
• Interactive videos that set up a scenario with characters and ask learners to make a decision that taps into the soft skills. The learner can then see how this decision plays out for the characters.   
• Social polls which ask your learners to answer a question and then compare their response to their peers. These questions can be used to explore the gray areas associated with soft skills when there’s not always a “right” or “wrong” way of applying them.
• Assessments placed at the end of a module to help consolidate learning and ensure learners are ready to apply their skills to real life. 
• Microlearning, built as single elearning pages, to be accessed by learners on mobile devices as just-in-time performance support. 

2. Soft skills training examples

Here are some examples of the above, so you can see these approaches in action:

• Bullying prevention training, with interactive scenarios
• People and performance management training, with social polls
• Sales skills microlearning, to be used as performance support
• Emotional support training, with interactive video  

3. Soft skills training material

In addition to elearning modules, you can create a range of other training materials to support your learners, including:

• Fact sheets for learners to download and refer back to on-the-job, summarizing the component parts of the soft skills
• Workbooks, including exercises for learners to complete that will get them to apply their newly acquired skills
• Observation records for coaches and managers to complete, providing feedback on the learner’s performance and progress

4. Soft skills training programs

As we’ve mentioned, your soft skills training program could take a blended learning approach, pulling together a combination of the items above. How might this work? 

Let’s use an example – you are training your salespeople to be able to demonstrate active listening in their customer conversations:

• You might use an elearning module to deliver the bulk of the information. It could explain what active listening is, list out the verbal and non-verbal skills involved, and show a video drama of these skills in practice. (You could also re-deliver this as refresher training later on.)
• You could then use classroom workshops to get learners to practice their active listening skills in a series of role plays. For example, the learners could get into pairs, be given a conversation topic and be assigned the roles of salesperson and customer. The “salesperson” will need to convey their active listening skills to the “customer”,  they could do this by holding eye contact, and being able to recall the main points that the customer shared at the end. The pairs can then feed back to each other, with the support of a facilitator. 
• You could deliver a digital checklist to learners, listing the verbal and non-verbal cues they should express in active listening. They can refer back to this before they enter their next real customer conversation.  
• You could issue learners’ workbooks, providing space for them to reflect on how they performed in their customer conversations. These could include pages for coaches or managers to record their observations about that learner’s performance.  
• You could send quarterly emails to your learners, reminding them of the key headlines. For instance, a simple message like, “Have you been truly listening to your customers? Remember, active listening is about being patient – about truly understanding, rather than just responding. Don’t interrupt your customer or change the trajectory of the conversation before they’re ready.” This will help refresh their memory and drive long-term behavioral change. 

Cost of soft skills training

The cost of soft skills training will depend on the size and complexity of your project, as well as the delivery method you choose. If you need to create elearning content that’s scalable or if you need to adapt your training for global audiences, ensure your chosen authoring tool has built-in localization capabilities to save time and keep costs down. 

Eluciat provides different pricing options for organizations of all sizes. Check out the different pricing plans here.

Elucidat and soft skills training

Elucidat is a great option for creating engaging and responsive soft skills training. With Elucidat, you can choose from a range of attractive pre-built templates, build customized branching scenarios and incorporate a variety of interaction types such as polls and gamification. It’s suitable for authors of all levels, and allows you to produce high-quality elearning, fast. We also have an outstanding support team who are on-hand to offer support and expert elearning advice. 

Book a demo to get started with Elucidat today!

Flexible and cost-effective, employee elearning is a great way to develop the skills your business needs to succeed. But if you want to maximize your impact, it isn’t just a case of moving training online. You need a digital learning strategy designed to meet your organization’s needs. Our guide to effective employee elearning is here to help you get started.

Why is employee training important?

Employee training is all about helping staff learn and develop in order to improve their performance. But its impact can be more far-reaching than individuals acquiring new skills and knowledge.  

Improved retention: Employee training leads to greater job satisfaction and a stronger commitment to your organization. 68% of employees have changed jobs because of a lack of learning and professional development opportunities. Although there’s a financial investment in training existing employees, it’s far less than finding new hires and onboarding new employees. 

Enhanced standards: 80% of employees say that training has boosted their confidence. When employees feel more confident in their abilities, they produce higher-quality output and make fewer mistakes. In turn, this increases your customer satisfaction.  

Increased efficiency: When your employees are trained in using the most effective methods, they’re able to complete tasks more efficiently. This maximizes your Return On Investment (ROI) and creates a better customer experience.

The role of elearning in employee training

Employee training can come in different formats and take all kinds of approaches. Traditionally, corporate training took the form of large workplace learning programs. These tended to use face-to-face techniques such as instructor-led training, mentoring, and on-the-job coaching. And although elearning and other training materials or resources were used, they played a supportive role. 

However, when organizations had to pivot their approach to keep working during the pandemic, digital learning was rapidly adopted as an essential Learning & Development (L&D) tool.

Benefits of elearning for employees

So, why has elearning become a go-to for many busy L&D teams? Here are 8 key benefits of elearning for your employees and businesses:

1. Responsive: You can respond to emerging skill gaps and new employee development needs at pace by developing elearning programs in-house with an authoring tool.
2. Cost-effective: Online courses reduce your need for more expensive in-person training sessions and face-to-face mentoring, so these can be used where they have the most impact.
3. Convenient: Employees can complete digital learning at their own pace – wherever, whenever and on any device. 
4. Efficient: Easy to fit around other work, digital learning reduces the time employees spend away from their everyday duties for training.
5. Relevant: You can create a more personalized learning experience by providing a range of online training to meet your employees’ needs. 
6. Consistent: Roll out employee elearning courses across locations, sectors and departments and you can create consistent skills and knowledge on a global scale.
7. Tracked: With access via a Learning Management System (LMS), elearning provides an audit trail that can prove compliance with regulations.
8. Continuous improvement: Feedback, data and analytics from your online training platforms allow you to continually improve your approach.

Challenges of elearning for employees

Although using elearning content for staff development offers plenty of benefits, it also has its challenges.

Isolation: Digital learning may be convenient, but it can also feel isolating. One of the key benefits of face-to-face training is the sharing of knowledge and experience with colleagues. Add elements of social learning to your digital courses by including social polls or create a blend with elearning and face-to-face touchpoints.

Time management: Employees have around 20 minutes a week dedicated for learning at work. That’s a mere 1% of their working week. When time is limited, learning must be easy to find and complete. Searching through large catalogs of long elearning modules will not work. Taking a microlearning approach provides maximum flexibility and holds your learners’ attention.

Motivation: Who hasn’t excitedly signed up for an online course only to find their enthusiasm fade as the course progresses? Without teachers, classmates and dedicated lesson times, it can be easy for elearning to slip down to-do lists. Maintain employee engagement by making sure your elearning is relevant and impactful.

Practical experience: Employees want training that they can easily relate to and apply in their work. By its nature, elearning is less hands-on than face-to-face practical training. So, make sure your elearning isn’t all theory. Add context, scenarios, questions and opportunities for your learners to try things out.

Read our corporate elearning blog to learn more about the advantages and disadvantages of online employee training.

Key elements of an employee elearning strategy

An employee elearning strategy is a great way to maximize the benefits and overcome the challenges of online learning. It’s a plan that shapes how your business will use digital learning in all its forms – from blogs and social media videos to webinars and online courses. It also outlines how you’re going to measure and deliver business impact and see a clear ROI.

A successful strategy for developing elearning content for employees contains four key elements:

1. Goals

Start by establishing clear objectives. Talk to senior stakeholders, but also consult your colleagues and end users. A clear set of goals to work toward will enable you to prioritize your digital learning projects and measure their success.

2. Software

As with any new tech, you want to be sure you’re making the right choice and investing wisely. Your choice needs to meet the needs of a wide range of stakeholders: your team, any contractors, business leaders and, most importantly, your end users. You need to define two main elements: a content authoring tool to create elearning, and a deployment method such as an LMS or learning portal. 

3. Measurement and improvement

The success of any learning experience is based on how relevant and engaging it is. Define the data you will gather to gain insight into how well your training content is performing. Remember, learning needs will change over time. The easier it is to curate and improve content, the greater the impact it will deliver over time.

4. Timings

Understanding when and where your employees will engage with elearning is essential for effective training. For instance, providing training on a new product only after its launch may reduce its impact.

To boost elearning engagement, determine the most convenient and accessible training methods for your workforce. Identify when you’ll “pull” or direct employees to training and when training is “pushed” to them as part of a schedule.

What to look for in an elearning platform

When it comes to online training software, there’s certainly no shortage of great platforms, tools and technology for you to choose from. But with so many options, where do you start? To make the right choices, you need to know what these tools can deliver.

1. Ease of use

Consider how easy it is to use the tool straight out of the box and what support is available to get you to the next level. Explore all the ways you will use the tool: creating content, carrying out reviews, making edits, publishing and uploading.

Key considerations:

• Level of experience required for an author to use the platform effectively 
• Ease of having multiple authors working on a project simultaneously

2. Efficiency and scalability

Evaluate how the tool can help you efficiently achieve the quantity of projects you need to complete. Find out if there are any limitations to the number/size of projects or their storage. Consider the number of authors you’ll need working in the tool.

If you need to collaborate on projects and streamline your processes, look for a cloud-based tool, rather than one that’s desktop-based.

Key considerations:

• How quickly you can produce high-quality elearning
• Collaboration options for streamlining the production and feedback process
• Cost-efficiency for producing elearning content at scale

3. Technical capabilities

Assess how well the tool integrates with your other systems to create a seamless experience. Find out how it uses, gathers and presents data so you can measure your success. 

Key considerations:

• Integration with your existing platforms or LMS and any related requirements (SCORM compliant? xAPI enabled?)
• The kinds of data it collects and how this is gathered, stored and presented back

4. Quality

Ask the provider to demo lots of output examples. Try to gauge not just the look, feel, and usability offered but also the types of learning experiences that can be created.

Key considerations:

• In-built design guidance 
• Variety of formats and interactions to choose from and level of customization available

5. Maintenance and future-proofing

Evaluate how easily and quickly you can make changes to work-in-progress projects or published courses. Find out what steps are involved to update and translate projects and what knock-on effects any changes or new versions can have.

Key considerations:

• How easy/quick it is to reuse, edit, update and scale your elearning content
• Import and export features
• Translation options

6. People behind the tool

The people and services behind the authoring software make all the difference. If you’re investing a lot of money into a tool, you want to ensure the people behind it will support you every step of the way.

Key considerations:

• Whether there is a customer success or support contact
• Any services beyond just the software they offer (such as consultation on your elearning strategy or coaching on learning design)
• Templates and ready-made projects

Top elearning platforms for employee training

The employee elearning platform market can feel like a complex place. Before making a decision, it’s important to fully understand all your options and thoroughly review any possible candidates. So, here’s an overview of some of the best elearning authoring tools and why you might choose them.

Elucidat helps big employers drive down the cost of business-critical training

Elucidat is a cloud-based authoring tool packed with features and tailor-made for collaboration. With a selection of ready-made learning templates, it’s quick and easy to use. You can create mobile-friendly employee elearning – whatever your level of expertise.

Designed for scalability, with Elucidat, you build and review all in one place theatre you do it on a smaller scale or enterprise organisation level. This means people can work on the same project at the same time while you stay in control. Cloning your course makes reuse, rebranding and translation simple. And keeping a master course avoids version control issues.

Get started today

Articulate Storyline 360 is ideal for users who prefer PowerPoint, with an added layer of customization.

A collection of cloud-based apps, Articulate 360, uses PowerPoint as its base. If you know your way around PowerPoint, you won’t have much of a learning curve with this tool. 

There are two key apps in the suite. If you’re new to employee elearning and want to keep it simple, Rise is the Articulate app for you. If you’re experienced in instructional design, Articulate’s Storyline app provides more flexibility. You can create customized interactions and have more branding and visual options. There’s an export feature which helps you translate. But don’t forget, you’ll need to adjust new languages to make sure they fit.

Lectora gives traditional, capable authors an effective tool for producing HTML5 content.

Lectora Online is cloud-based elearning software that outputs in responsive HTML5 elearning content. It comes with a graphics library and has a ton of templates that you can use as they come or tweak. This can be a straightforward change or more complicated customization, which requires other software.

Although Lectora can work across devices, this isn’t automatic. Creating new views for each device is very time-consuming. If you know what you’re doing, you can create great-looking elearning. But, if you don’t, there’s a steeper learning curve with Lectora than some other tools. 

As it’s cloud-based, the review process is quick and easy. Keeping all comments in one place. The translation feature helps you turn one course into many languages. But, as each language course is separate, this can cause version control issues.

Top LMSs for your employee training 

LearnUpon: customer-centric learning management tool with an easy-to-use interface

A favorite of training and development teams and users alike, LearnUpon is a cloud-based LMS with a real focus on the customer. An intuitive interface makes it easy for both admins and learners to use LearnUpon. Continuous feedback and roadmap input means customers can help shape the platform.

Docebo: LMS platform combining innovative tech and methods to support different learning styles

Docebo Learn is a cloud-based LMS that’s easy to use and configurable. Docebo applies new approaches and technologies, like social learning and Artificial Intelligence, to support the different ways people learn. A monthly active user price model makes it an affordable option.

Cornerstone: a holistic solution to learning management with world-class support

From HR to course content, you can find everything employee training related in one place in Cornerstone’s corporate LMS. It provides a holistic solution that enables you to manage different formats, including informal learning, video, audio and virtual reality – to name a few. With world-class support, Cornerstone is also easy to roll out.

Taking employee elearning further with Elucidat

New technologies have changed the way we deliver corporate employee training. Responsive and relevant, convenient and cost-effective. With so many benefits, it’s no surprise employee elearning is now a must-have. But if you’re going to maximize its impact, you need the right digital learning strategy.

One key element of this strategy is a content authoring tool that empowers you and your team to expand content production, capture expertise, and increase learning quality. With Elucidat, you can do that and much more. Experienced authors can leverage the full power of Elucidat to create tailored elearning experiences. New authors can use Elucidat’s guided workflow to create impactful elearning that meets your standards.

And at Elucidat, we’re constantly improving our platform to ensure you can create impactful elearning at scale and with ease. Whether it’s streamlining your feedback collection process or auto-translating, you can take your employee elearning further with Elucidat.

Learning and development in the retail industry has its own unique set of challenges. The modern retail employee needs support on the job. They’re not at a desk. They don’t have much time. They’re faced with constant change. But they still need training and, in this environment, digital retail learning is your best friend. Online retail courses helps to fit around their schedules and circumstances.

Here, we take a look at six retail staff training ideas, with real examples to inspire you.

Why retail staff training is important

Whether we’re talking about customer service employees with online retailers or floor staff in large retail stores the goal of online retail training remains the same. Your retail staff training always aims to create well-trained, engaged and motivated employees who’ll deliver a great customer experience as a result.

Let’s look at six effective retail staff training ideas with real-world examples to help you create impactful learning experiences. Whether you’re equipping new hires, refreshing product knowledge, or enhancing customer service skills, these strategies will inspire your next training initiative and help your retail business to upskill and train employees.

Some of the retail learning examples here have been produced using Elucidat’s best-practice elearning templates. This feature helps you create high quality engaging content 4x faster! It’s available to all Elucidat customers (and free trial users).

6 retail staff training ideas and examples

1. Quick onboarding for practical tasks

Getting new hires and short-term contract staff up to speed quickly is vital for any retail organizations. You can ease the learning curve by pulling together a series of short retail microlearning onboarding topics that can be delivered before their start date or on the day they are about to start that particular task.

A microlearning example on replenishing perishables.

• Concentrate on a single task to make training focused, memorable, and easy to view on mobile.
• Include a video of a real staff member doing that task – it’s a quick, easy way to show what to do.

Elucidat ready-made templates| See this example

2. Scenario-based retail sales training

When you introduce new products, you need employees to not only get to grips with those products but also be able to sell them to your customers. Product training itself isn’t always enough, and that’s where scenario-based elearning comes in. This form of retail training brings the content to life and puts the product knowledge into context. When it comes to sales training, retail organizations are among the most well-suited to taking a scenario-based approach.

You can view this interactive demo (for both shop-based and call center sales staff), and keep in mind:

• Scenarios don’t need to be complex; even simple ones can turn a fact-checking quiz into a challenging test of how well the learner can apply knowledge in real situations.
• You can direct the learner back to the product information if they don’t respond well in the scenario, reinforcing the learning further.

See this example

3. Time-saving tailored learning journeys

In retail, confidence, knowledge and experience levels vary a lot between employees. Where some will need in-depth training information, others will only need a refresh.

You can cut down learning time and deliver a better experience by offering choice.

This Returns 101 example starts with an open exploratory menu that allows workers to pick the path that’s right for them. They have the option of a quick refresh, more detail or skipping straight to the quiz. This retail elearning elearning example respects time, but also offers the depth of information if needed.

See this example

4. Point-of-need performance support

Sometimes, though, you don’t want to take retail staff away from the shop floor to learn about new products. Imagine a store where the stock changes regularly, though not drastically – like a shoe shop. A solution that lets staff check details when they need (just-in-time performance support) rather than swotting up ahead of time (just-in-case training) can be a much better investment. It’s also quick to produce and easy to update type of training for retail staff.

Take a look at the ‘Arthur’ Brogue sales resource as an example, and remember:

• The focus is on putting key information literally in the palms of their hands, so prioritize responsive design, perfect performance across mobile devices, and visual design that allows easy scanning and quick navigation.
• This is about point-of-need information delivery, rather than deep learning or behavioural change so interactions may not be necessary; any you do include should be quick and easy to complete on a small touch screen.

See this example

5. Get retail staff onboard with in-depth processes

Whilst fast, focused onboarding resources like the one we shared first are great for getting people into their job quickly, sometimes more in-depth process training is needed. For example, your in-store customer service, running refunds, accepting deliveries in a warehouse and more. Yes, you’ll need to go through it step by step, but break it down into short chunks accessed by a menu.  And don’t just tell – show what good (and bad?) looks like throughout your online retail training and make it active with contextualized questions. 

This example of in-depth retail process training takes new starters through in-store customer service, starting with effective ways to greet customers. It’s built from an Elucidat template so the content can be switched out for whatever your process is about. 

• The learning is broken down into discreet topics, marked on a menu with clear labels and icons, so users can do a small chunk at a time – we recommend <15 mins per session, max. 
• Each topic has a different, focused purpose – an overview of the process; a walkthrough of it; showing how it’s done with a video; a practice scenario; and a helpful recap at the end. 

Elucidat ready-made templates| See this example

6. Make product knowledge stick with games

Product knowledge is, well, knowledge, which can make it hard to stick. No one remembers a manual or info sheet! Look for opportunities to contextualise product knowledge with realistic customer scenarios – pick the right product for this person, for example. Also look to bring it to life with quizzes and games. Games can work particularly well with competitive salespeople!

This example of a product knowledge game is quick to create using an Elucidat template and includes fun feedback, scores and bonus badges.

• Rewards learners with points and badges, and incentivises them to try again until they get a top score, whilst giving you a SCORM score.
• Great as a refresher, or as a way to embed or learn new knowledge. Works really well on mobiles on the shop floor, so peers can compete and see who scores the highest.

Elucidat ready-made templates| See this example

Benefits of authoring tools for retail organizations

More and more retail businesses are choosing to purchase the best authoring tools to bring their elearning production in-house. These tools are becoming a cornerstone of modern retail learning and development (L&D) strategies.

Here are some key reasons why authoring software have the potential to be the next wave of L&D strategy in the retail industry.

1. Ongoing learning is now expected

Effective, relevant online learning is sought after and frankly, expected by modern employees. In the same way modern consumers expect online shopping as standard, retail employees expect online training content to be accessible and engaging.

As employees ensure they’re up to date with the latest products, processes and health and safety regulations, the demands for more accessible, ‘available-when-I-need-it’ elearning, is only going to rise further.

2. They help you manage learning at scale

With digital learning, a piece of content is produced once and can then be rolled out to a huge audience. This is especially important for large retail organizations where thousands of stores have to make changes at once.

If you’re already heavily using elearning as a learning tool in your organization, but are outsourcing the production of it, you’re probably finding the content you receive from a vendor has a very short shelf life (yes, pun intended).

By evolving from this model to a more self-sufficient, in-house production model, your team will be much more responsive to swift business changes. You can also onboard employees faster, meet mandatory regulations more quickly and increase performance and productivity at scale.

3. Authoring tools support multiple languages easily

We know many retail businesses have complex learning landscapes, many of which have to deliver learning content in multiple languages across the globe.

With the right tool, you can create one piece of content, adapt it and translate it to meet the needs of global and varied audiences. This extra step makes a huge difference to how personal and relevant – and therefore how effective – your elearning is. How much might you have to pay a vendor to do this?

To take control and reduce costs seek out tools which enable you to easily swap out elements, support multiple languages and provide personalized learning pathways at a minimum.

4. Extend skills for now, and the future

Businesses need to evolve alongside the complex needs of the consumer, and the pace of change is something many struggle with.

The need for agility, responsiveness and quality customer experiences means retail teams must develop new skills to bolster sales and secure their business’ future. It can’t be a given that soft skills such as communication, interpersonal skills and sales techniques are readily available in the young, transient workforce which can be common in retail environments.

So what’s the solution? Modern elearning, produced by your in-house team. An authoring tool for retail will enable you to produce personalized or adaptive solutions which target an individual user’s role, needs and skills gaps.

5. It meets people’s growing demands

People learn on the fly, in the moment, on their lunch break – basically when they can or when they want to. Digital learning is always on. More to the point, it can be delivered in bite-size learning pieces that allow it to be used flexibly, and with the right technologies, on any device. With the average employee having just 20 mins a week for workplace learning, digital solutions let you think outside the box on how you can best help busy people develop their skills.

Those needs can be met by outsourcing your requirements to vendors, sure. But you know your employees best, and by keeping production within your L&D team you are able to produce a higher volume of relevant content, helping you to stay connected and there when your people need to learn.

6. Development is much, much quicker

It goes without saying, but we’re going to anyway. Owning the production of elearning within your own business means that you can deliver high-quality content much more swiftly. Some of our retail customers have seen production speed increase by as much as four times, which is a staggering impact when you consider how many hours that actually frees up.

With an authoring tool in retail, you are able to rapidly produce learning when there is a real and legitimate need for it; this ability to pivot and move quickly ensures skills gaps are met without delay and employees are able to get up to speed with new information immediately. 

7. It relieves pressure on L&D

Believe it or not, often times we see our customers release pressure on L&D teams with the introduction of an elearning authoring tool. We know this sounds like a head-scratcher, but it draws back to some of our earlier points.

In retail environments, the volume of elearning content needed is consistently high and the onus is entirely on the L&D team to build that content. The pressure is on and the bottleneck is real.

With an authoring tool in place, L&D teams actually extend their abilities and provide opportunities for SMEs across the business to contribute (and possibly even build it if it’s easy to use). This empowerment allows you to unlock the knowledge and expertise within the business easily and at scale.

The world is your oyster, especially if your authoring tool has no limits on users or authors.

Choosing the right authoring tool for retail staff

It helps if you have a consistent measurement method when weighing up different tools – it’s another good thing to include in your business case too. To help you navigate retail elearning tool demos and dialogue with reps, we’ve put together a six-point scorecard. Within each of the six criteria, make notes and try giving each tool a score out of 10.

These scoring elements include: 

• Ease of use
• Efficiency and Scalability
• Technical capabilities 
• Quality
• Maintenance and future proofing 
• People behind the tool

Step 1. How easy is it to use?

According to Towards Maturity’s Benchmark report, 66% of organizations are struggling to build teams with the development and learning design skills needed to use some of the legacy authoring tools. 

The reality is, you must consider the skills which your teams already have. Is producing staff training content quickly important to you? Do you have a lot of retail elearning to create? Then something more straightforward might be a more logical solution.

To judge ease of use, you have to consider how easy it is to use out the box and what support is available to help teams take it to the next level… if there is a next level that it goes to! When considering your requirements, It’s a bit like weighing up ease of input vs quality output. 

Some aspects to consider when weighing up the ease of use:

Authoring:

• How easy is it to use the tool? What are your first impressions? Does the interface feel logical? What’s the user experience like? Does the workflow make sense?
• Does it come with pre-built themes, page types and interactions?
• How easy is it to achieve high-quality results?
• What skills does it take to achieve good results? Can anyone do it? (Or do you need graphic design or coding skills, for example).
• How long does it typically take to produce a 5min piece of content?
• How long might it usually take a novice to get fully up to speed with the tool?
• Does it automatically make content mobile-friendly, or does it require additional authoring?

Wider team:

• How easy is it to carry out reviews, make edits, make comments?
• How easy it is to publish/upload content?
• Is it collaborative? How easy is it to work together on a project in the tool?

Support:

• What support is available to help your team?
• How quickly could you get up and running with the basics?
• What about becoming a master of the tool?
• What is the availability of any support teams and average response times/ratings?

Step 2. Understand efficiency and scalability

Due to the sheer volume of retail elearning you have to create, evaluating how efficient a tool is will be the key to your success. How well will the tool help improve the abilities of your team whilst increasing quality output? Could it keep up with production on a global scale? Consider the following:

Efficiency via re-use

• How does the tool make high scale production more efficient? i.e. what features does it have that support:
  • Duplication and re-usability of interfaces, layouts, whole projects
  • Translation into multiple languages (all languages?)
  • Ability to create variations of the same course for different regions and users?
  • Customizable branding so one course can be switched to an alternative on-brand look?
  • Bulk assets upload and management?

Limitations

• Are there any limits to the number or size of projects?
• Are there any limits to how many authors can work in the tool?
• Does it support contractors using licenses for short periods?

Collaborative/streamlined working

• Can authors work together on projects, at the same time?
• Can teams ‘jump in’ and edit other people’s projects easily?
• Can reviews and suggested edits be carried out in the tool, by non-authors?

Step 3. Evaluate technical capabilities

It’s vital you take the time to understand how well each tool integrates with your existing systems both now and in future. 

Integration

• Does it integrate with your required platforms or LMS?
• Does it need an LMS or platform in order to publish content?
• Is it xAPI enabled? (Ask for case studies)
• Is it a SCORM-compliant tool (if you need this)?

Data management and project evaluation

• How does it gather, store and present back data?
• What kinds of data does it collect/present?
• Does it include in-built data dashboards that tell a story about projects?
• Does it require downloading and manual manipulation of data to grasp trends?

You should also consider how important data will be for you; is it something you need? If so, how easily does it use and present data to help you recognize successes? Could you easily utilise the data to understand performance, improve and iterate?

Step 4: Dig into quality potential

Be wary of providers who can’t show you lots of output examples! Ask the provider to show you examples of projects created in the tool, so you can experience them from the end-users’ point of view. Interact with them and try to gauge the look, feel, usability and range of what’s offered to you.

 Examine what kind of outputs the tool produces, out of the box:

• How easy is it to quickly produce high-quality content?
• Does it have a specialist area? Most tools will be particularly good at a certain type of design approach e.g. branching scenarios
• What does it offer that’s more sophisticated? Do you need these items? e.g.
  • Ability to embed and use videos and audio
  • Personalization features
  • Gamification features
  • Ability to create immersive scenarios and branching
  • Range of ways to ‘score’ and track learning
  • Social elements – such as social polling
  • Ability to animate content
  • Ability to create custom layouts, navigation devices, interactions, templates
  • Any others that are important to your requirements.

Step 5: Maintenance and future proofing

Ease of authoring projects is one side of the coin – on the other is how easy and quickly you can make changes to projects, whether they are already published or still being worked on. Suss out what steps exist to update projects and find out if anything gets ‘disturbed’ by doing so. You should have the freedom to make changes to live projects without users or data streams being affected – so ask lots of questions!

Making edits

• How easy/quick is it to update content?
• How easy/quick is it to re-publish content?
• Who has the rights to do it, within a project team?
• Are there any downsides to updating content i.e. loss of historical data?

Future-proofing

• Based on where you want to be, will this be the right tool for you in 2 years’ time?
  • What’s on the tool’s development roadmap for the next 12 months?
  • How far has it come/what’s been added in the last 2 years? (Ask for retrospective roadmaps)

Step 6: Get to know the people behind the tool

Yes, you’re buying a tool. But the people and services behind that authoring software make all the difference. We’ve all experienced bad customer service – and it’s even worse when it’s with things we’re tied into. It’s not fun. If you’re investing a lot of money into a tool to create online retail training courses, you want to ensure the fit with the people behind it is right and that they’ll support you every step of the way.

Get a feel for their approach and values

• Who are the company and what’s their background? i.e. are they all ‘techies’, are they learning design specialists? Have they worked client side before? What’s the mix?
• What do they believe in? – i.e. what are the company values and what’s their mission?
• How do they come across when you talk with them?
• Have you been to visit them? What’s the vibe in the office?
• Are they loud and proud of their design outputs and customer stories, and are happy to share?

Do they go that extra mile?

• Do they share advice, tips, and ideas willingly?
• What do they offer to help you get started as quickly as possible?
• Do they give you a dedicated customer success or support contact?
• Do they offer services beyond just the software i.e. Professional Services in digital learning design. Can they help you with design ideas? Coaching new authors in learning design? Consulting on your elearning strategy?

Remember, the best tool isn’t just about features. It’s about how well it integrates with your team’s needs, scales with your business, and delivers exceptional value.

Weighing up the benefits

Only now can you truly weigh up value for money. Make a note of the costs, but don’t judge on face value. Use your scorecards and notes to help you. In theory, you should have scored higher where the tool best meets your needs – and this is where the value comes in for you.

Make sure you fully understand the true cost for each tool. Try to sum up how much it will cost for your team of X people to use the tool for X projects for X time period – you need to find a way to create a like for like comparison.

If you whittle your decision down to two tools, or even just one, consider bringing in other stakeholders to experience them too. For example, consider bringing in some authors, graphic designers, novice designers into the mix to run some tests. After all, these are the people who will be using the tool with fervour.

Just remember that trialing a tool solo can be a narrow experience of a true tool, as it might not show the full support offered by the provider to holders of a real license.

The golden rules for retail staff training

There you have it: six ways retail elearning can help train staff and a six-point scorecard to aid you in determining the best authoring tools! Why not explore our Showcase for more examples of effective retail elearning? You can also save time by downloading our authoring tools comparison template.

Responsive design and point-of-need performance support are the two cornerstones of success when it comes to delivering learning and training to retail employees. Give them what they need, when they need it. (Actually, this is good advice beyond retail! Download our guide for elearning best practices for free.)

Those topics that do need to be covered ahead of time, just-in-case style, like customer service and other ‘softer’ skills? Scenario-based elearning can be a great way to train your employees, ensuring relevance and encouraging transfer of learning to the shop floor and interactions with customers.