So, you’ve launched a shiny new training initiative. Completions are rolling in, quiz scores are looking good, job done, right? But if this where your data trail stops, you’re only telling the first chapter of your story.
To truly measure the effectiveness of learning, your analytics should follow the full journey, from first click, to competency, to demonstrable business value.
Here we break down five essential learning analytics, each building on each other to give you a complete, measurable picture of training impact, as well as the individual metrics that will help you get there.
Engagement and progression
‘Engagement’ can sometimes feel like an empty buzzword in this industry, but backed with real data, it can give a picture of how your audience is interacting with content, whether they’re staying on track, and highlight any friction points.
So how can we move beyond completion rates towards demonstrating meaningful participation?
How can you measure it?
- Login frequency and time per session
- Abandonment rates and drop-off points
- Content interaction—views, clicks, document downloads
- Social interactions such as likes, comments, forum participation (if applicable)
- User satisfaction scores and qualitative feedback
Speed to competency
The longer it takes to bring someone up to speed, the more productivity you lose. Speed to competency measures the efficiency of your learning programs. How quickly can someone go from novice to confident performer?
This is particularly important for onboarding or enablement programs, and especially for high-turnover roles or industries.
How can you measure it?
- Time to reach role-specific benchmarks
- Time to first deliverable e.g. first sale, resolved case or task
- Manager assessments of readiness
- Comparison of ramp-up times across cohorts
Learning retention and application
Passing the end-of-module quiz or completing digital scenarios is a great way to demonstrate learning and application at the point of training, but what’s the story six months on?
Learning retention and application looks at whether learners have actually absorbed and remembered the content, and more importantly, whether they’re using this knowledge in the workplace. These are both early indicators of learning effectiveness.
How can you measure it
- Pre and post training assessment and confidence scores
- Spaced practice campaigns with follow up or refresher assessments
- Manager and self assessments of skill use
- Behavior change surveys or observations
Job/business performance
If your learners have retained and are applying training content, you would hope to see a positive impact on individual and organizational performance outcomes. This links learning directly to business results, validating the strategic value of L&D.
How can you measure it?
Identify KPIs that correlate to the desired learning outcome of your program, and observe whether these change before and after the training intervention, for instance:
- Sales figures and lead conversion rates
- Customer satisfaction, retention or net promoter scores
- Production efficiency
- Reported errors or misconduct (remember, this may actually increase temporarily as individuals are more aware of errors and how to report them)
ROI
With L&D budgets increasingly stretched and teams required to do ‘more with less’ demonstrating a tangible return on investment is crucial for proving value to stakeholders and securing budget decisions. While this incorporates many of the analytics already discussed, ROI goes a step further and quantifies the value of performance gains against the cost of delivering the training initiative.
How can you measure it?
- Cost of program development and delivery, including audience seat time
- Monetary benefits linked to training initiative, e.g. increased revenue, reduction in refunds, repair costs or fines, employee hours saved
- Using a pilot phase or control groups to compare the performance of trained vs untrained employees
Discover how we’re on track to deliver £2.5 million cost savings for a leading supermarket brand, all while improving retention and speed to competency. Read their success story.
Ready to move beyond basic completion rates?
Get in touch today to learn how our learning solutions can help you track these key analytics and drive real business value.
Ruby Brooke-Wilkinson is a Learning Experience Pre-Sales Specialist at Learning Pool. With seven years of learning design experience under her belt, Ruby prides herself on developing innovative solutions to organizational learning challenges.
Striking a balance between creativity, efficiency and value she strives to ensure customers receive solutions that inspire, educate, and get results.
