How To Market Online Training Internally And Improve Completion Rates
Think of your online training as a product that you want to pitch to your employees. What added benefits can you offer to enhance the excitement? How will it help them fill personal gaps so that they’re more productive on the job? Internal marketing is a matter of addressing their concerns and showcasing what’s in it for them. Just as you would with a prospect who has their reservations about making the purchase. Below are 8 tips that you can follow to market online training internally and improve completion rates.
1. Use Social Media To Raise Awareness
Social media helps people interact with one another and is often used as a powerful marketing tool. So how can you use social media to enhance your online training completion rates? Create a private social media group and invite your remote employees. You can share course updates, build the buzz before launch, and post daily tips to keep them hooked. Social media platforms even allow you to post surveys to gather eLearning feedback and improve the online training content. Another great way to use this tool to your advantage is to establish a weekly leaderboard which highlights the top five performers. This will promote healthy competition and increase online training completion rates, as employees will vie for a spot on the board.
2. Add Achievements
Most people love video games, so why not add gamification rewards to your online training strategy. You don’t have to overcomplicate the process. Develop badges or a point-based system to fuel learner motivation. Employees must complete different online training activities or modules to unlock their incentive. This gives them something to work toward aside from the learning objectives, while it is also a way to recognize their achievements so that they’re more likely to participate in future online training courses.
3. Emphasize The Convenience Factor
Employees should be able to access and complete the online training at their own convenience. You don’t want to force them to finish the online training course in a certain time period so that they must rearrange their work schedule. Neither should you make it so that they're only able to access it on a dedicated online training terminal. Emphasize that the online training course is available anytime, from anywhere in the world. This is one of your unique selling points. Let employees know that they can go at their own pace and choose their own online training activities. They’re more likely to complete the online training course if they feel empowered and in charge of their professional development.
4. Tease Your Employees
The best way to market online training is to give corporate learners a sneak preview to generate more excitement before releasing new online training resources. Give them small snippets of the online training content through the social media group or email. You can also highlight the badges that will be available once the online training is completed. A good teaser campaign usually starts 15-20 days before the release of the online training course. Keep in mind, you can have more than one teaser campaigns running simultaneously.
5. Employ Influencers
I’m not referring to social media influencers, but influencers amongst your organization. You can get top performers and management to highlight the importance of online training and what skills can be learned. Another option is to create a video of employee testimonials, highlighting how it helped them achieve their goals. Influencers will serve as your online training advocates before launch. But their job doesn’t stop there, as they’ll also be the go-to person when peers have questions about the online training course.
6. Launch A Newsletter
Publish a weekly newsletter that gradually reveals details about your upcoming online training course. For example, the first edition might include preview images of your newest simulation and offer tips on how employees can start improving their performance today. You can incorporate an "employee of the week" feature that recognizes an individual’s achievements to foster a sense of community. Another section you might consider is a behind-the-scenes look at the eLearning development process, including images, screenshots, and project milestones. Thereby, giving employees a sense of ownership and making them feel like they're a pivotal part of the team.
7. Host A Kick-Off Live Event
Schedule a live event to get things off to an interactive start and welcome employees to the online training program. This kick-off event also gives them the chance to ask questions pertaining to the online training course and how they’re expected to participate. For example, will they get to set their own schedule or do they have formal online training sessions? Likewise, you have the opportunity to hype up the new online training course to improve completion rates. Showcase all the unique online training activities and resources they’ll now be able to access. Explain how the online training will benefit them on the job and all the real-world perks involved.
8. Offer Exclusive Test Drives
Another smart way to market online training internally is to choose a select group of employees from each department and invite them to test out a sample online training course or module. You can even host a contest to see who gets an exclusive spot on the test drive team. Then conduct a focus group to get feedback and ask employees for reviews/testimonials. This is also a great way to identify your in-house influencers. They’ll be able to share their online training experience with peers to build anticipation and enthusiasm.
These 8 tips can not only raise your online training completion rates but also promote healthy competition among your staff. Making the experience fun and engaging is only one component of eLearning development. You must also build excitement beforehand and emphasize real-world implications. Employees need to be aware of how they can benefit from online training and what they stand to gain from active participation. Otherwise, they aren’t likely to see it through to the end or remember what they’ve learned.
What better way to market online training than stressing the tangible benefits it offers? Read the article 8 Ways To Emphasize The Real World Value Of Corporate eLearning to discover how to emphasize the real-world benefits and applications of your corporate eLearning course.
