Training and talent development are necessary, as they directly impact internal organizational culture and business results. However, not everything is rosy: poor user experience is a significant obstacle to smooth employee onboarding.
According to a 2020 Gallup study, 47% of respondents to our recent survey cited user onboarding as a top learning and development challenge in their organizations, while 85% of employees reported feeling disengaged.
Add to that a global pandemic, the Great Recession, and a host of other international challenges, and the mission is clear: We need to get employees back to work. But how can we do that in the workplace when tech giants like Meta (formerly Facebook), Google, Apple, and Amazon have previously monopolized people’s attention at home?
By exploring best practices in consumer technology that are setting a new standard for user experience across all digital domains, whether at work or in life, we explore what can drive enterprise-wide user adoption of new technologies and a sustained commitment to learning and development.
New user expectations, old business practices
Today, we are overloaded with information, but we are still addicted to content consumption. Social media certainly affects our attention span and gives us a sense of connection. Our dependence on technology changes the way we think, act, and interact with others. At the same time, it gives us comfort and freedom that we find hard to give up.
There is no doubt that technology has changed our behavior and completely changed our lives. As a result of this radical transformation, our prospects have also changed:
Everything is on-demand
With Uber, we get where we want, wherever we are, whenever we want.
Easy and convenient
With Deliveroo, we deliver fresh groceries to your door in 15 minutes or less.
Great selection
With Amazon’s help, we select the most relevant, highest-rated, or cheapest item from a wide selection.
Two-way conversation
On Airbnb, we leave a review for the host and receive a review as a guest.
User experience gap in B2B edtech
Here comes the tricky part.
Spotify, Uber, Amazon, and other customer tech brands follow this value, continually improving the user experience of their digital products and, as a result, raising user expectations. However, employers often forget to draw this parallel internally. Your employees are also users of your business software.
According to PwC Consumer Intelligence studies, 90% of senior executives believe their companies consider people’s needs when adopting new technologies. Still, only half (53%) of employees agree. While 92% of senior executives say they are satisfied with the technology experience their company provides to do their most important work, only 68% of employees decide.
How can we reduce this user knowledge gap?
Introducing a habit-forming model
To find a possible answer to this challenging question, look at the Hook habit formation model developed by Nir Eyal, a former Stanford professor and author of the bestselling book Hooked and Indestructible.
The Hook Model explains the psychology of user behavior as they become hooked on a particular digital product experience through a four-phase cycle: a trigger to start using the product, a feat to satisfy the trigger, a variable prize for the feat, and approximately investment (time, effort, information, or money) that makes the product more valuable for the next cycle.
For example, in the case of Spotify, users go through the following cycle:
Trigger
The user creates associations to listen to music or a podcast at the right moment, whether at the gym while traveling or focused on work.
Action
The user quickly enters the application and searches for exactly what he needs or browses playlists depending on his mood, occasion, or time of day.
Variable reward
The user receives personalized music playlists at least twice weekly in the Discover Weekly and Release Radar sections and other recommendations based on previous listening history. The handler gets personalized music playlists at least twice weekly in the Discover Weekly and Release Radar sections and other recommendations based on previous listening history.
Investment
Users spend time and effort creating their favorite playlists or sharing their annual Spotify Wrapped updates on social media, adding even more value to the next cycle.
Application in e-learning
The hook model has worked for many consumer technology products and services, defining their success. Sure, some argue that these companies’ success is due to the addictive nature of scrolling and the trap of content consumption. But can we use this perfect for good?
When learning becomes essential for personal and expert growth, here’s how we can apply the Hook model to eLearning software to facilitate learning in the workplace.
Trigger
Every employee’s learning style differs, so learning managers must allocate resources based on their employees’ varying backgrounds, skill levels, and development needs. With a learning management system, you can use personalized learning paths to create customized programs for a specific course, certificate, competency, or skill.
To grab employees’ attention and engage them in this learning cycle for the first time, create eye-catching banners on your learning platform or reach learners who are most likely to respond immediately, such as on a corporate messenger like MS Teams or Slack.
Action
The action should now be as simple and smooth as possible. With specific tasks and periodic reminders, employees can sign up for a course to complete mandatory training.
However, to move to self-paced learning, employees need a comprehensive library of courses at their fingertips, often anywhere, with a mobile version and easy-to-understand content modules. A simple search button and filter by group, title, or skill will help you explore the available learning material and narrow down the courses that interest you.
Additionally, with the built-in authoring tool, learning and training administrators can respond to current and long-term learner needs by populating the existing course library with relevant content.
Variable reward
Accessing content is not enough; usage and interaction must be ongoing. This is where gamification elements such as leaderboards, scoring, or collaborative learning come into play to motivate employees to stay engaged.
Data analysis and reporting are critical for school leaders to understand how to encourage their students to engage beyond the learning management system. Recognize their efforts by linking key learning performance indicators to professional development and assessment opportunities.
Investment
After employees complete a learning cycle, the system prompts them to provide feedback. Learning and training managers can evaluate these reports, take ownership of their team’s learning strategy, and generate more relevant learning.
Students who invest their ideas, effort, and time into communicating what they want to learn next are now more likely to return for more personalized and engaging learning. They save time by not resorting to irrelevant qualifications, gain access to the training they need to improve their productivity and knowledge and feel more connected to their organization.
What defines a modern-day LMS?
Today’s learning management system competes with other learning platforms like TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. That’s why it’s crucial to apply the same engagement strategies and user experience practices to eLearning that might compete for attention from big consumer tech companies.
To do that successfully, a modern-day LMS:
- Think about the business-to-consumer relationship first, even if it is this relationship that determines your market orientation;
- This stimulates employee curiosity, which arises on its own, without any requirement from the manager;
- This goes beyond mandatory training and offers on-demand training that employees can access voluntarily, wherever they are and whenever they want;
- It requires no training with essential guides, tutorials, technical support information, or hands-on lessons, yet it is intuitive and designed with the user’s attention.
- Book a demo with My Learning Center to apply project thinking to user experience and get the most out of training for your employees, customers, and partners.
- Watch our webinar on user onboarding methods: changing the learning process to increase user engagement.
