How to use videos for training
Using videos for training is a really effective way to get across information about your organisation or help consumers understand your product or service. Using video instead of face-to-face training can save time and money as well as help people to retain information better. Whether you need to train staff in important health and safety-related work issues or want to train consumers in how to use your products, use engaging videos to deliver vital information to end users while saving time and money.
Why use videos for training?
Video is widely recognised as being one of the most popular ways to consume content. According to Statista in 2022, YouTube has over 2.6 billion users worldwide and is the second-most popular social network after Facebook. So it makes sense to deliver important training to people in a way that they recognise and respond well to. “Videos help make concepts real.” says Dr Nsisong Bassey, Health Writer, Consultant, Coach, and Mentor. “They translate ideas from abstract to concrete. I struggled to teach my students how to write introductions based on comments and short paragraphs. We kept going back and forth trying the bridge the gap between what I wanted them to know and how they understood it. A brief video helped clarify exactly what they needed to do. Now I always use video when I teach. It adds another layer of context and detail. And is awesome for people who think in pictures or need to ‘see what you mean’ to understand.”
Typically, in-person training can be a real drain on resources. The costs can quickly mount up when you consider venues, travel, trainers’ fees, etc. And these costs will be repeated each time the training is needed. If you switch to videos for training, then you will have one upfront fee and be left with a resource that can be used time and time again. It also allows trainees to learn in their own time. Taking in a lot of information in one go can be tricky but often necessary when organisations are paying to deliver a training session within a specific timeframe. Having a training video means trainees can stop, pause, rewind – whatever they need to do to digest the information and really take it on board.
Using videos also means that training can be adapted more easily for those who might have accessibility issues like hearing or visual impairment. A video will be much easier to adapt to ensure they can access the same information as everyone else.
Videos for staff training
Delivering staff training via video is a much more efficient method of delivery, especially for large organisations. The logistics of getting all staff to attend a classroom-style training session can be a nightmare and cost a lot of time and money to both the organisation and staff. Our studies show that companies with video training take 40-60% less time than those with traditional classroom methods to train staff, with efficiencies generating 218% higher revenue per employee.
With many organisations now having adopted flexible and/or hybrid working, an expectation for remote staff to attend in-person training at a specific time can be unrealistic at best. Providing training via video means it is accessible to all staff to watch at their convenience and they can refer back to it for a refresher at any time.
In some cases, staff training is essential for safety. “At Spacecare, we provide the highest level of estate maintenance and facility management for our clients. As a rapidly growing organisation, a key challenge is ensuring that our exacting standards of service, care, and safe operations are maintained throughout our workforce and that means having a razor-sharp focus on staff training and development.” says Matt Sayers, Commercial Director at Spacecare. We worked with Matt and his team to produce a series of health and safety videos for staff, “Bigtank understood our challenge perfectly and were able to develop our existing risk assessment documents into engaging, easy-to-digest training films that allow our workforce to operate the machinery we use on-site safely, efficiently and effectively.”
Videos for consumer training
Training staff, where you have a captive audience is one thing, but training consumers in new products or services can be a bigger challenge. A Pew Research study found that 87% of users said that YouTube is important for helping them figure out how to do things they haven’t done before. Providing accessible, engaging, and easy-to-digest video training that is readily available to consumers is a great way to provide them with the information they might need.
Our client, Safespaces, provides products that support people with complex needs. Delivering in-person training to use the products was not feasible, so it was essential that end users were able to access training that ensured they could assemble and use their products safely in a way that was user-friendly and accessible. We put together over 30 videos to cover all aspects of their product range to ensure that end users were able to use and benefit from their products easily and safely, and without having to read through pages of confusing written instructions.
How to make great training videos
To get the most out of your training videos steer well away from just taking your classroom-style training and filming it. Training videos should be approached in a completely different way if they are to be engaging enough to keep the attention of your audience. It also makes editing the videos to update information almost impossible without refilming the whole thing.
Avoid using slide decks which will quickly make for a dull video. Instead, use scenario-based training where possible, identify the learning outcomes early on and make sure the information is easily digestible, focused, and engaging.
Plus you can avoid large costs later on by ensuring the videos are created in a way that is easy to edit, so any information that needs updating doesn’t require starting from scratch. This is where working with a partner like Bigtank can make all the difference. We understand how to make training videos that will achieve your required outcomes and work for your organisation. We use our knowledge and experience to help you increase your staff or consumer knowledge in a compelling way so that your essential training is understood and applied as needed.
We’ve helped many clients achieve their training goals using video. Get in touch to find out how we can help you take your video engagement to the next level.
