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Working with a virtual team situated all across the globe from the comfort of your living room? You're not the only one. Remote work is the new normal.
The rise of remote working has already brought about big changes to the way we work and communicate. Tools like Slack have made it easier for coworkers to keep in touch with one another, wherever they happen to be working. While remote working became popular during the pandemic, it looks as if it’s here to stay.
Likewise, remote meetings - with colleagues and clients alike - have become an everyday part of our working lives. The long-term effects of shifting to remote work will only become clearer in the fullness of time, but they’re possibly life-changing. There are few areas which are likely to be left untouched.
One thing that’s already clear is that with remote working, employers have a much wider pool of talent to draw from. Previously, they were restricted to hiring people who lived within commuting distance of the workplace or were prepared to relocate. Now, they can hire from more or less anywhere (regardless of time zones).
Video can therefore be a useful tool in training remote employees. But it’s also proving highly useful when training office-based workers, too. Online teaching is also a type of training video that's gaining a lot of traction now. Some online course platforms can turn training video content into a learning experience that can include quizzes, feedback, and more. Whether you’re training employees for mobile security, walking them through new software, or giving one-on-one feedback, video is an increasingly popular one.
In this post, we’ll list seven of the top benefits of using video - including chat video and pre-recorded content - in the training process. Let’s get into it.
1. Better engagement
If you’ve ever sat through a lengthy presentation or been asked to sift through a long written guide, you’ve probably had trouble retaining focus. Video can be much more engaging as a sales training tool, helping to keep users involved and interested, and retaining their attention - which helps to ensure they don’t miss anything important.
The popularity of video tells us something important in this regard. Research has revealed that 78% of people watch videos online at least once a week, and 55% of those do so every day. Indeed, 72% of consumers prefer to learn about a product or service by watching a video.
It makes sense, therefore, that employees would generally prefer to learn in the same way. Of course, the simple fact of using a video to train people isn’t guaranteed to hold their attention - videos have to be themselves engaging and interesting. But it makes sense to present training content in the way employees have already become accustomed to.
2. Versatility and flexibility
With video content, you can present information in all sorts of different ways. You can use them to convey important practical information - such as quality assurance for call centers, for instance - or simply to introduce your company’s history and general ethos to new recruits.
Video gives you greater flexibility in how you present and deliver training content. For example, you can use it for:
Introducing new recruits to different facilities
Tutorials for different types of software
Explaining key customer service skills
Providing an overview of relevant products and services
It also provides new members of your team with enhanced flexibility in how they learn. After all, we all have different ways of learning and taking in information, and with video it’s easier for employees to learn in a way that works for them.
3. Measurable results
With traditional training methods like presentations, tutorials and seminars, it can be difficult to decipher exactly how effective they’ve been. You don’t really know how well they’ve worked until later, when your employees are trying (or not) to put into practice what they’ve learned (or haven’t).
Video makes it easier to measure how much people are engaging with your training content. You can check the number of views and how many have watched it all the way through. If you’re not getting the engagement you were hoping for, then perhaps the video needs reworking - or your employees need a nudge.
4. Cutting costs
Anyone who’s ever run a business will tell you that budget-wise, it can be filled with danger and difficulty. There are all sorts of costs to worry about, and they soon mount up - from finding affordable web hosting to finding cheap office space.
Luckily, using video in the training process can also help you reduce costs. Traditional, instructor-based training methods are expensive; repeated costs such as travel can pile up over time. With video, it’s much easier and potentially much cheaper. You can use pre-recorded video or video chat to deliver training.
Pre-recorded videos, of course, can be used again and again. You can share them with employees as many times as you need to, without it costing you any more money. Employees can then watch the video in their own time, in whatever location suits them best.
5. A better way to introduce yourself
Videos can serve a number of different purposes. As we’ve discussed, they can be used to deliver specific training modules or to provide a general overview of the job employees will be doing and the company they’ll be working for.
If you want to introduce a new recruit to your company’s philosophy and purpose as well as its history, small business videos can be a very effective and engaging way of telling your story. Reading an ‘about us’ section on a website can be pretty dry and dull by comparison, where a video helps to really bring things to life.
A quick introduction such as this can help new recruits get a better idea of what your business stands for, what it’s achieved in the past and what it’s striving to achieve in the future.
6. Improved accessibility
We mentioned earlier that everyone has their own distinctive ways of learning and getting to grips with information. Not everyone, therefore, responds well to traditional, instructor-based learning methods and may simply prefer to learn at their own pace. Video can make training more accessible for these people.
Say you want to train employees in the finer points of shift planning, to take one example. Sending them a video on the topic, which they can watch more than once and take notes if they need to, may help them absorb and retain more effectively than if they were being run as standard tutorials.
Videos are also, as we’ve discussed, potentially more convenient for employees. Instead of having to make themselves available for a training session, they can watch a video at a time that suits them. They can also access videos from anywhere, rather than having to physically travel to the office in order to be trained.
7. Better retention
Think of all the times you’ve tried to absorb a piece of information that seemingly refuses to sink in. Perhaps someone sent you a first call resolution definition and, for whatever reason, you couldn’t quite get properly to grips with what it meant for your everyday working routine. You’ve probably wished there was a more attention-grabbing way of presenting it.
Well, this is where video comes in. A well-presented, clear and concise video can be a much more effective way of presenting information - including detailed technical information - when compared to text or tutorial-based training methods. It stands to reason that many people simply learn better when information is communicated in a visually stimulating way.
A study from the SAVO Group found that the average employee will have forgotten 65% of the material covered in a typical training session within just seven days of that session having taken place. By contrast, according to Insivia, people retain 95% of information they receive from videos. This compares to a rate of just 10% of information retained by text.
Easy to understand visuals are also very good for breaking down complex information and delivering it in a way that’s simple and straightforward to digest. Confronting a wall of text can be intimidating, and maintaining focus can be difficult. Simple presentation and attractive visuals can make videos a much better option. A strong video script is important too.
Another added bonus is that using videos for training purposes can help to deliver a more consistent all-round training experience. Everyone concerned will be watching the same video, with the same content, rather than having different instructors or being interrupted by various distractions.
Conclusion
Now that we’ve run through the key advantages of using video as a training tool, perhaps you’re wondering how to create an effective training video. There are a few questions you should ask yourself first, namely which aspects of your training process would benefit from the use of videos, and how you might present the appropriate information.
Just how you’d spend time researching things like the top 3 alternatives to Trello when implementing project management tools, so too should you make sure you’re using the best programs for your video calls and recordings.
It’s important not to neglect the quality of the videos. We’ve emphasised that videos are so effective as a training aid because they can be used to present complicated information in an engaging and visually attractive way. You must ensure that your videos match up to this standard, otherwise neither you nor your employees will get the most out of them.
All that said, the case in favor of using videos as part of the training process is clear, and lots of businesses around the world are already reaping the rewards of doing so. And as you get more confident with video-making, you can start to experiment with other things as well - including making promo videos to entice potential clients and customers. Good luck!
