How would you want to learn how to do something? Would you want to sit and read a lengthy piece of text and spend ages trying to visualise the steps? Or would you prefer to watch an easy-to-follow training video?
Training videos educate/instruct viewers on a topic to teach a skill, share knowledge, show what to do and/or develop an understanding. They work for a range of purposes – corporate training, education, product demonstrations and more.
Curious about what training videos can do for your business? Read on to learn the three core benefits of training videos, plus ten great uses for your business.
Many businesses worry about the costs of video production. But training videos are actually cost-effective compared to other training formats. With training video, you don’t have to pay to hire someone to continuously run training sessions. Neither do you need to pay travel expenses to send your team anywhere.
With training video, you only need to pay once for a resource that you can use again and again.
The human memory is a fickle thing. And most traditional training methods aren’t suited to it.
In fact, within a week of a training session, the average employee forgets 65% of the material covered.
What happens when you use videos for training instead? Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video – compared to 10% when reading it in text (Invisia).
And 80% of people who watch a video ad can recall it 30 days later (Neil Patel).
Flexible working has become more important than ever in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. When it comes to training, video is the most flexible solution in terms of location, audiences, working styles and learning styles.
In 2021, Wyzowl carried out a survey of workers to learn about their experiences of training in employment.
Of all the workers surveyed, the majority (36%) named video as their preferred way to receive training at work – compared to one-on-one training (25%), shadowing and work-based learning (17%) and classroom-based group training (12%).
To top it off, 89% of people said they felt video is an effective tool for training. By using video for training, businesses can satisfy employees whilst also educating them.
Got existing training material that you don’t know what to do with? Don’t let it go to waste. Instead, make use of this existing material in your training video.
Got old instructional manuals and workbooks? Use text from them to help structure and script your video. Used to hiring an in-person presenter or instructor to provide professional training? Ask them if they’d feel comfortable providing their services on film. Have lengthy PowerPoint presentations stored in your drive? Bring the slides to life with video.
Read about how we helped Skynamo turn its static content into engaging communications material.
Okay, the idea of training and instructional content doesn’t fill most people with excitement. Sadly, a lot of companies rely on traditional, dry material to instruct people. But when you entertain as you educate, you engage viewers more, helping them to remember key parts.
Done the right way, training videos have a lot of entertainment potential. It’s easy to incorporate humour into your training film’s script and tone. Also, with animation, you can use the power of colour and imagination. For instance, instead of a human instructor, have a badger, an alien or a bearded dragon train your viewers.
Check out this animated video we made for SG Systems:
The video clearly breaks down how SG Systems’ V5 Traceability system works, while also using animation and a playful script to entertain viewers.
The first few weeks of any job can feel overwhelming and confusing. After all, there’s usually a lot of new information to take in. Not to mention it takes time to adapt to a new culture.
What’s the best way to welcome and onboard new employees? Whether your new recruits are starting remotely or in-person, video allows for a stress-free and equal onboarding experience. You can create a welcoming atmosphere and provide a sense of the company culture while briefing new employees on key information and practices.
Not only does this provide new employees with confidence, but it also takes the pressure off existing team members to train new additions.
Make training a bit more digestible. Create a digital library of training videos that people can go back and rewatch. You can do this by hosting your videos on a platform like YouTube or Vimeo and creating playlists. Or you can host the videos on your website or shared drive.
Once you’ve got your library of videos, you can further organise them. For instance, you can sort the videos chronologically, by difficulty level, by topic or by the target audience.
Providing informative content is a great way to build a long-lasting and mutually beneficial relationship with your audience. Here are just a few ideas for this:
Many in-person training sessions have actors perform certain work-related scenarios to show attendees what to do in certain situations. For example, scenarios might be used to show employees how to interact with customers. But the cost of hiring professionals for each training sessions can add up.
With a training video, you only need to hire actors for one occasion. Not to mention you can get as many takes as you want – avoiding the slip-ups that can arise in live sessions.
Alternatively, skip any live-action logistics and walk viewers through scenarios using animation.
Want to teach people how to use your software/app? Or are you introducing a new software system to employees?
Compared to text and still screenshots, videos are much more efficient at training people how to use software. A screencast is a video recording of a computer screen or mobile device. It is easy to add voice-over and additional graphics over the top for further explanation.
Take a look at this software demo video we made for Skynamo:
This video uses screencasting to walk viewers through how to place an order and set the configuration in less than three minutes.
You can create screencast videos that each focus on a different feature or use of the software/app. For instance, you can create a video for installing the software, and another one for accessing settings. You can also embed videos into the different features so that users can watch a video on the feature as they use it.
Naturally, over time, things within your company, product or service will change. Maybe you need to introduce new steps or processes or want to update the branding.
When things change, it won’t mean your existing training video content becomes outdated. Instead, you can either create short videos to add to your existing training video library – OR you can edit and update the existing video itself.
As well as updating your training videos, you can also reuse them for other communication purposes – both internal and external. Here is a selection of ideas for repurposing your training video:
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