Corporate Training Videos: Why most training videos are ineffective and how to make one that gets results (with examples).
Corporate training videos can be POWERFUL. Videos can easily convey complex processes, ideas, and tasks. A well-trained workforce is more efficient and productive. The right training video can create huge results for your business and provide employees with crucial information. They’ll also be an asset that you can continue to use for months and years into the future.
https://player.vimeo.com/video/338995790
Above are a few shots from training videos that we’ve done. I’d love to share full projects, but many of them are for internal use only and contain sensitive information. Luckily, I’m going to spell out everything about our process of creating effective and engaging training videos.
Corporate training videos are powerful if done properly.
Let’s spend a little time focusing on why training videos can be awesome and powerful. Training videos can deliver HUGE results if you leverage them correctly. Then we’ll get in the problems with many training videos (and how you can avoid them).
Safety videos can save lives. Training videos can improve efficiency, teach challenging processes, and increase your employees’ retention of information.
Using videos for your training has 3 main benefits:
•Viewers retain information significantly better in video format vs simply reading or hearing the information. Employees are also 75% more likely to watch a video vs reading text. If people forget what they learned a month later, what was really the point?
•Video reduces training costs: Microsoft found that using their video training portal reduced their training cost from $320 an hour per participant to $17 an hour.
•Videos can be reviewed later. I worked with a college nursing department to create 50 training videos. While they would learn the procedures in person, they were able to carefully review every procedure with a close-up video demonstration. resourc
However, there’s a problem. Many corporate training videos are dry and BORING.
Cheesy corporate music and slow pacing KILL most training videos. The wrong training will leave your employees bored out of their minds and will have 0 impact. They’ll be staring at the clock just waiting for the videos to end so they can be productive. You’ll have wasted your time working on creating the training videos, you’ve wasted your money paying for the videos, and you’ve wasted your employees time by forcing them to watch the videos.
Ouch.
I think all of us have had the experience of being required to do a training and being bored and completely uninterested.
So, I’ll ask a question: what were the 25% of companies doing that other 75% were missing? What can you be doing to create results?
Well, if you reach out to me directly, I’ll work with you to implement the right strategies for your employees.
I primarily work with companies in Denver, Colorado, but I travel as well. 720.670.7353 jacob@jacoblevideoproduction.com
If you want to put in a little more effort, read through this article and take notes. Your employees will thank you.
I’ll be including examples of good (and terrible) training videos throughout this post.
Why sales videos and commercials are often more effective than training videos.
Effective sales videos focus on the customer. How can our product or service impact them? What’s in it for them? Why is it worthwhile for them to watch the video and learn more about you?
People don’t care about you or your product or service. They care about themselves. They care about solving their own issues and problems and meeting their goals. We (hopefully) understand this when it comes to reaching new clients with video.
It’s a huge mistake to not look at these same questions when it comes to your training videos.
You may be requiring your staff and new hires to watch training videos. But just because they’re required to watch it doesn’t mean they’ll pay attention. It doesn’t mean they’ll implement what you’re teaching them. How is the training relevant to THEM?
Why should they pay attention?
You first need to create a desire to learn the information that you’re presenting. Paint people a picture of what their life will look like after they learn the information.
Don’t forget about audio for your videos.
Audio is so important. If your sound is poor quality, people are going to tune out. I could go on and on about the importance of audio. I wrote this full article on improving sound quality that you can check out here.
How to make your corporate training videos engaging and exciting. (5 tips)
1. How relevant is your training video to your employees? How well are you communicating that relevance?
Think of your audience saying what’s in it for me? Why should I care? Are you teaching your employees how to use a new piece of software? How will this knowledge help them complete their job? You need to start out the video by explaining precisely WHY they need to learn the skills they’re about to teach them. Will it mean they’re able to hit their targets with less effort? Will it mean they can spend less hours at the office since they’ll be significantly more productive?
Paint them a very clear picture WHY they’re learning the info and the real world impact that it will have on their life. Always start by convincing people why they should pay attention and way the information will impact them directly.
2. Include stories in your corporate training videos.
People are drawn to stories. There’s all our major forms of entertainment are centered around stories.
Don’t just take my word for it. You can find thousands of articles on the power of story in business. Here’s one that Forbes did recently.
Tell the story of other people who went through the training and got results. Include stories throughout the video. Being able to tell the story of other peoples’ success and struggles is gripping and powerful. People who go through the training need to envision themselves following through and getting results. We want people to visualize themselves getting results by doing the processes outlined in the training videos. The most powerful way to create that visualization is by telling relatable stories.
Use stories to empower your employees to act and get results. You aren’t the hero of the story. The hero of the story is the employee watching it. Give them the tools to succeed.
3. Include humor in your training videos:
Not everything needs to be dry and feel corporate. Don’t take yourself too seriously. If you can make people smile and add some humor it will help with peoples’ attention. However, you need more than humor alone. Humor shouldn’t be forced. It can be painful if you’re trying to be funny. Simply have some fun with the script. You don’t want to create a video that’s funny but doesn’t provide the information that people need. Start by making sure the video is relevant and filled with stories.
Humor will help people be more engaged, but it isn’t a strategy on its own. Here are two examples of the right way to use humor (first video) and a video that is trying way too hard to be hip and funny (2nd video)
You may not have the budget to book Snoop Dogg to be in your video, but it’s a good use of humor to make an engaging video. The video isn’t perfect: I would have liked a little bit more actionable information, it’s a good example of a corporate training video that’s entertaining and engaging from start to finish.
4. Your training video needs to have great pacing
Do not make training videos significantly longer than they need to be. Your employees’ time is valuable. Convince people why the information is relevant to them, but explain things in incredibly clear and easy to understand ways. If possible, break up some of the information with modules. Also, place a lot of emphasis on the really important segments. People tend to zone out every so often. Emphasize the important parts, keep the training videos moving.
Phrases like: “this is SO important so pay attention” can get people to focus on the most important parts of the video and stop zoning out.
5. Music can KILL your corporate training video
A lot of the traditionally “corporate” music is simply lifeless and boring. What kind of music am I talking about?
I’ll give an example. There are worse music choices that I’ve seen, but here’s a track similar to the type of music I hear over and over again:
Personally, I can’t listen to more than 20 seconds without my eyes glazing over. It’s BORING. And if your video is boring, people will tune out. Here’s a good test. Before you decide on a song, you need to listen to a song all the way through 3 times.
Why’s this important? Well, if the song starts to get annoying, boring, or unbearable after a few listens, it is NOT the right choice.
Ask yourself, do you actually need music? At certain times music can be distracting. Don’t include music just because you feel like the video should have it. It should serve a purpose. Music is often the most powerful when it’s combined with stories. It can help form an emotional impact. Successful training videos shouldn’t be one note and bland. There should be some level of emotion, overcoming challenges, and achieving success. Music can help emphasize these emotions.
Finding the right music takes time but it’s completely worth it. There’s videos where I’ve listened to hundreds of tracks and spent hours picking the right song. It really is that important.
Conclusion: Corporate training videos that are fast-paced, entertaining, and relevant.
Now you know our approach to training videos at Jacob LE.
We’ve covered why audio, music, pacing, and humor are crucial to success. But the most important thing is this: you need to demonstrate that the information your employees is relevant and will have a direct impact on their performance. People are also drawn in by stories, so include engaging and powerful stories in any way you can.
Please leave a comment or email me at Jacob@jacoblevideoproduction.com if you have any questions about what we discussed in this post.
Congratulations on making it to the end. You deserve one more hilariously bad training video.