Keeping your employees equipped with the latest knowledge and skills is crucial for maintaining a competitive edge—both for your business and your workers.
LinkedIn’s 2024 State of Learning report found that companies with a strong learning culture saw a 57% improvement in employee retention, while 80% of workers feel that employee training adds a sense of purpose to their work.
But traditional learning methods can miss the mark. Often text-heavy and impersonal, they fail to capture attention. Video training, on the other hand, excels where traditional learning falls flat. A study by TalentLMS and Vyond shows that 72% of employees find short video training content more engaging.
Let’s explore why a video training program is the key to improving employee engagement, performance, and retention. We’ll also share what you need to know to create impactful training videos, including how to use Loom’s screen recorder to create a library of helpful educational content.
Why use employee training videos?
A lack of career development and progression was one of the top reasons employees gave for quitting previous jobs, according to McKinsey. This makes learning and development (L&D) one of the top factors for attracting and retaining top talent, alongside good company culture.
There’s a need for employee training across the board—and video is the most effective way to deliver it. Here’s why video training shines:
Increases knowledge retention
Our brains are wired for visual learning, and video conveys new information in a way that’s more easily digestible. Online learning platform NovoEd surveyed L&D employees and found that 79% believed online video training led to better learning outcomes than in-person training.
One of the most recent confirmations of how well we retain visual information compared to text-based information comes from a TalentLMS L&D trends report, which found that more than 7 out of 10 employees remember video content better than written content.
Using interactive training videos can improve employees’ knowledge retention by presenting critical information in a more engaging way.
Boosts engagement
Speaking of engagement, most of us find video captivating. That’s likely why almost 2.5 million people watch YouTube videos in a single month.
Video is even the preferred method for learning when employees choose to learn on their own time—30 to 41% of people ages 25 to 64 watch online videos weekly to learn new skills.
Improves flexibility and accessibility
Employee training videos are highly effective for sharing knowledge within distributed teams. Employees can access training modules on-demand and learn at their own pace. This flexibility allows team members to learn at their convenience instead of disrupting their workflow and productivity.
Training videos also provide accessibility benefits that in-person training sessions can’t offer. These include captions and transcripts to ensure knowledge is correctly understood, as well as the ability to access training content from any location or device.
This flexibility is highly beneficial for remote teams, where role clarity can become difficult to establish. Gallup found that less than half of employees with remote-friendly jobs strongly agree that they know what’s expected of them at work, which can negatively impact performance and engagement.
Creates consistency and standardization
Producing employee training videos allows you to create educational materials that consistently present the same core information. This lowers the risk of misinformation or vague explanations that might prove detrimental at a later date.
Employee training videos ensure all employees have the same solid foundation when it comes to essential organizational knowledge and skills—regardless of their working location or who trained them.
How to create an effective video training program
Effective employee training videos address specific needs experienced by your workforce. Here are three steps to identify those needs and ensure your training program resonates with your employees:
1. Segment your audience
Not all employees require the same training, and not all prefer learning the same way.
To create employee training videos that address unique learning needs, divide your workforce by role, department, and experience level. Then assess knowledge gaps for different teams and create segment-specific learning objectives paired with personalized training videos.
For example, a remote onboarding training video for new members of your marketing team may cover essential tech tools and how to use them, while a training video for more experienced employees may cover more in-depth aspects of one single tool, such as Google Analytics.
2. Identify training needs and goals
Gather data on skills gaps pervasive throughout your organization via employee surveys and performance metrics. Identify potential future knowledge gaps by interviewing team leaders about their current and future needs.
Once you’ve identified training needs, match them to learning objectives and business goals. This gives employees a better understanding of the “why” behind your training initiative and helps define program goals more clearly.
For example, your goal may be to increase the number of deals your sales team closes, so you create sales enablement training that focuses on negotiation and communication skills.
3. Keep it relevant
Create training videos that focus on practical skills and tasks that your employees need for their daily work. This isn’t to say you should ignore career progression, but rather, don’t waste your time and resources producing training videos with no immediate application.
Keeping your video content relevant and actionable increases your employees’ motivation to learn and apply their new skills on the job.
How to structure your video content for better engagement
Ready to start creating training videos? Consider these structural elements to create a more engaging visual learning experience:
1. Choose a training video format
There are multiple types of training videos, so consider which format best conveys the information and skills you hope to teach employees. Here are some of the most common types of educational videos:
Instructor-led: These often take the form of lectures or talking-head videos that demonstrate a topic or how to complete a task.
Live video: Virtual training sessions can be most helpful when you expect employees to have a lot of questions or need direct instruction, such as onboarding new team members.
Screen recordings: Video recordings are perfect for snappy how-to videos, informal feedback, and training that involves cross-functional team collaboration. By providing visual context of the topic in discussion, they help the presenter explain what’s on their screen.
Animated videos: When training involves complex topics such as conflict resolution and other soft skills, using animations and whiteboard illustrations improves employees’ understanding.
Interactive videos: Quizzes and other interactive elements can be added to your videos to encourage active learning and assess retention.
When choosing a format, keep in mind that asynchronous video training is preferred. TalentLMS found that 65% of employees think on-demand training videos are the most engaging.
2. Deliver content in bite-sized chunks
You can boost engagement and knowledge retention by creating microlearning modules, or short video training sessions that deliver information in short, focused bursts.
Microlearning is ideal for employee training since our brains can only process so much information at once. Shorter instructional videos (ideally 10 minutes or less) prevent learners from feeling overwhelmed.
3. Leverage screen recordings
Screen recordings allow you to walk viewers through specific steps and projects in a clear, concise way. This is a far more effective approach than relying on text instructions or static screenshots. Many screen recording tools also capture your webcam, which adds a personal element to your training that can improve engagement.
Additionally, some screen recording tools like Loom allow you to edit, transcribe, and caption your corporate training videos. This allows you to easily create polished training videos that quickly demonstrate key takeaways and offer instant value.
Loom auto-removes “ums” and “ahs”: Loom AI automatically removes awkward pauses and filler words so your message is clearer than ever before.
4. Include real-world examples
Real-world applications improve knowledge retention by visually connecting the dots between training material and daily work. By using relatable scenarios in your training videos, you can better illustrate key concepts and show employees how their new knowledge applies to their everyday work.
5. Explain complex topics with animations and graphics
More than three-quarters (78%) of employees say visuals improve their understanding of abstract topics. Strategically including images, charts, and animations in your employee training videos helps viewers process and remember key concepts more easily.
Animations in particular can be incredibly powerful when it comes to explaining complex topics. They can simplify information while maintaining attention—and even be fun.
However, don’t get too caught up in trying different visual styles. Consistent imagery, colors, fonts, and overall design aesthetic create clean and professional training videos. You can also use imagery to help employees recognize certain videos as part of a training series.
6. Include interactive elements
Quizzes and exercises aren’t just about testing knowledge—they also promote active learning. These interactive elements break up the flow of your video training and encourage employees to participate. In turn, this keeps them focused and invested in the learning process.
If it’s not possible to include these types of activities in your videos, you can still encourage participation by engaging employees after they complete training. This could include:
Scenario-based activities: Challenge employees to apply the skills they learned in a realistic work scenario.
Simulations: Create online simulations that allow employees to practice skills in a safe environment. Simulations are particularly useful for training safety procedures.
Additionally, assigning employees supervised projects where they put their new skills to work creating real-life solutions is always a good way to promote active learning.
Pro tip: Ask employees to record a Loom while they practice their new skill and then send it to their manager for review and feedback. For example, sales reps can use Loom to record themselves practicing a sales pitch, then send it to their manager for tips on dealing with objections, negotiating, and overall presentation.
7. Include key takeaways and calls to action
A good training video starts with clear learning objectives. This gives employees a roadmap that highlights the most important takeaways, ensuring they retain the most critical knowledge.
You should also include a call to action (CTA) at the end of your video-based training to let employees know what you want them to do after watching. This might involve completing a quiz, practicing their new skill, or discussing what they learned in an upcoming team meeting.
For example, Loom lets you add Auto CTAs to your videos, ensuring you always provide viewers with a link to relevant content.
Measure the impact of your training to demonstrate value
Ensure you’re delivering effective training videos by continuously measuring the impact of your employee training content and get buy-in for program improvements or new training initiatives.
Here are some ways to track the impact of your employee training videos:
Analyze video engagement metrics
Tracking metrics like video views helps you identify which videos—and which parts of your videos—engage employees the most.
For example, Loom’s Viewer Insights provides the following data:
Video views: The number of people who watched your video for at least 5 seconds—or watched at least 75% of the video
Comments: The number of comments left by viewers, indicating engagement with your video
Emoji reactions: The number of emoji reactions viewers left on your video, which is another indicator of engagement
Loom’s Business plan (and up) also includes these metrics inside the Engagement Insights view:
Video completion rates: How much of a video users watched, on average
Call-to-action conversion rate: The percentage of viewers that clicked on an embedded CTA link in your video
You can also use these metrics to understand whether certain videos aren’t engaging employees and may need a rework.
Track performance improvement
Establish a baseline for employee performance, and identify relevant performance metrics that align with the skills taught in your training videos. These could include sales figures, customer satisfaction ratings, or the number of monthly bug reports. Track and compare these metrics before and after training to see if there’s a measurable improvement.
Additionally, insights from managers, peer feedback, and employee self-assessments help you determine whether performance improves.
Encourage employee training engagement by sharing performance data. TalentLMS found that 68% of employees want more data about their training so they can measure and analyze their progress.
Gather feedback
Feedback from employees about the effectiveness of your training videos provides valuable insights into how well your video content resonates and delivers knowledge. Additionally, negative feedback alerts you to areas of improvement for future video training.
Some effective ways to gather feedback after employees complete a training video include these actions:
Post-training surveys: Ask employees about the video’s content, clarity, and overall effectiveness. Encourage them to share what they found most helpful or confusing and what they’d like to see more of in future training videos.
Q&A sessions: Host optional Q&A sessions with employees who complete their video training to gather more detailed feedback.
Whenever you do gather feedback, be sure to thank employees for sharing. Additionally, you should provide transparent communication around how their feedback is used, and let them know when they might see feedback-based changes to affected employee training videos.
Revolutionize your training program with Loom
Developing engaging and effective employee training videos requires time, resources, and budget—three things not all teams or businesses have access to. Loom is an effective solution, a budget-friendly way to create effective training videos that promote upskilling and career advancement.
Loom’s all-in-one video creation suite lets busy teams quickly create high-quality training videos in just a few minutes. Intuitive editing tools and Loom AI help you create polished and clear tutorials—no video editing software necessary.
The Loom Library and instantly-generated links allow teams to create and share on-demand training. Plus, the ability to comment on videos and react with emojis encourages engagement and participation.
Whether you need to explain a complex software feature, demonstrate a sales technique, or welcome new hires, Loom provides easy-to-use tools that let you create clear, engaging, and effective training video content. Download Loom for free today to discover how it can empower your team and boost performance with engaging employee training videos.