You can spend months toiling away on your learning programme, fine-tuning every aspect until you have a real killer solution.
You might be hearing voices telling you that if you build it, they will come. But the truth is that first impressions count, so if you fail to generate enough buzz at the start, all of your hard work could end up going to waste!
But once again, personalisation is the key to getting things right at this early stage. We’re going to share not one, not two, but THREE ways that personalisation can generate initial excitement for your training programme.
1. Personalise the invite
We’ve mentioned that first impressions count, which is why it’s important to get the invitations spot on. Sending out a blanket mass email to everyone is a big no-no!
At the very least, you should be including each learner’s name in any messaging you send. You can also send different messages to different departments since it’s likely that they’ll be having different training experiences. Use the invites to tell each learner how they personally are going to complete this training.
But you can get much more creative than that! One of our clients, GAME, created a teaser campaign for their new online Academy. They knew that their game-savvy staff would be particularly receptive to this, since it’s how the video game industry reveals the biggest releases.
They commandeered the store bulletin system to their Academy’s key features (badges/levels/leaderboards) without saying anything specific. With hype levels at maximum, they sealed the deal by putting up posters to keep the new platform at the front of everyone’s minds.
This really paid off. In the first three weeks of their programme, their 3,300 learners logged into their Academy more than 10,000 times and completed more than 20,000 pieces of content!
You can download GAME’s case study here!
2. Personalise the incentives
You can force your learners to begrudgingly work their way through your training programme, but chances are that they’re going to resent you for it.
Incentives are a great way to reward learners for their efforts. They’ll be encouraged to put in extra work, they’ll be more engaged with the training itself, and they’ll feel like you value them enough to give them a prize.
But while incentives are great, personalised incentives are absolutely blooming fantastic! Imagine how thrilled your learners will be to find out that the rewards being offered to them aren’t just some afterthought, but things that they actually want.
Speak with line managers and they might be able to give you some insight into the interests of their employees. So you could find out that Erica is particularly receptive to gig tickets, whereas Paul would really appreciate a voucher for the local Italian restaurant.
Alternatively, you could survey your learners to find out what sorts of rewards they might appreciate. Then you can give them what they really want!
3. Make the benefits clear to each individual learner
As you launch your training programme, your learners will inevitably have one question on their minds – ‘What am I going to get out of this?’
It’s absolutely imperative to make the benefits clear to each learner at this stage because if you don’t then they’ll have no motivation for giving it their all.
Show each learner how this training programme will help their own individual development. What are their current strengths and weaknesses (discovered through the training needs analysis) and how will this training transform them into well-rounded performance powerhouses?
You should also make it clear how this training programme will impact their career development. Show your learners how it will teach them necessary skills which will let them take advantage of future opportunities for promotion.
Once a learner knows how they will personally benefit from the training, you’ll find that their levels of engagement will surge almost instantly!
Want to know more about delivering a personalised training programme? Get in touch! Click the banner below to book a free demo of our Academy LMS, and we’ll show you how to personalise everything to your heart’s content:
