More than 50% of L&D professionals cite poor UX among the biggest barriers to learning technology satisfaction
As with any enterprise software product, the level of effectiveness of the tool is determined by users’ capacity to actually use the software product. It’s no different in L&D, where LMS user adoption represents the weakest link in the eLearning chain.
You can spend tons of time and money finding the right solution, getting internal buy-in, purchasing the software, implementing the solution, and training system administrators and end users. However, if your users don’t use the tool or – worse yet – hate using it, then it was all an exercise in futility. When this happens, instead of trying to enforce user adoption, companies often start the process all over again, seeking an alternative solution.
So, what’s the way forward? The key is to view user adoption as the most integral piece of the pie, right from the outset. Remember, if your learners won’t use your solution, the solution is dead on arrival.
With this in mind, we’ve pulled together 5 best practices to help you make the user adoption journey a success:
- Focus on UX, UX, UX: User experience – or UX for short – is the overall experience a user has with a software solution. UX covers user interface (UI), the look and feel of the solution; navigation conventions; tagging, and more. And, when UX is bad, most organizations will drop the solution for a better alternative. A recent Brandon Hall Group Learning Technology survey – which polled 250 L&D professionals – showed that over 50% of respondents reported that poor user experience was among the biggest barriers to satisfaction with learning technology. An earlier study also revealed that 88% of organizations surveyed called out poor user experience as the number one reason for switching LMSs.Bottom line? Don’t fall into the poor UX trap. Put your learners first and make their experience with the learning technology solution paramount during your consumer research.
- Get end users involved in vendor selection: As an L&D professional, it can be tempting to let your intuition and industry expertise guide you in your tech solution selection. But, going with your gut may not be the right instinct. We know that getting a cross-functional team involved in vendor selection – right from the start – helps make solution selection more effective. Particularly important is the end user, who will be the primary audience for the solution implemented.
- Have a launch party: Seriously! When you launch your solution, make an event out of it. Consider booking an afternoon, complete with refreshments and pizza, that features speakers demoing the new solution, and kiosks for users to get one-on-one training with the solution. Pro tip: make it fun for the users so they can get excited about the new learning technology and you’re already winning half the adoption battle.
- Gamify it: It is no secret that people loves games, and that gamification is a great motivator in our professional and personal lives. The great thing about some best-in-class LMS solutions is that they already come with gamification elements embedded in the technology. Ranging from points systems, leaderboards, and badges, gamification can make a sport out of an eLearning solution, improving the experience for end users.
- Designate a user adoption champion: A good LMS implementation and continued survival requires the involvement of a ‘solution sponsor’ to champion its ongoing usage and be available to support users as they engage with the product. This doesn’t have to be a dedicated role, but it should become a part of someone’s job responsibilities to keep users engaged and supported during the adoption and roll out of the new tool.
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