Boost training ROI with the power of learning analytics

If you're unaware of how your training programs are performing or how to improve future courses based on past insights, then learning analytics is the solution for you.

Analyzing existing learner data and course performance helps you create targeted learning experiences. Your role as a course creator, instructional designer, or an L&D manager is further cemented as you take full control of learning from start to finish and work towards maximizing ROI. This blog post may just be the first step towards a lifetime of creating relevant learning experiences.

What is learning analytics?

Learning analytics is the process of collecting and analyzing data, patterns, and reports to optimize training and improve learner experiences. Learning analytics can play a key role in the way we structure, design, and deliver courses. They help create training programs that suit learners' needs better. By analyzing these reports, training programs can be optimized to suit organizational strategies and needs fully.

Benefits of learning analytics in e-learning programs

L&D teams are on constantly hunting for ways to create training programs that help the learners attain their full potential. Training analytics is just the tool that lets the team know if their investment is worth it. We've listed some of the benefits of learning analytics below.

Understand your learners' needs

When you start looking into learning analytics, you'll come across the different areas and skills where your participants are struggling. This gives you an opportunity to understand the strengths and weaknesses of every learner in your organization. This automatically helps you create courses that cater to the learners' needs.

Improve learning outcomes

LMS analytics helps show you the kind of lessons and courses your learners are most interested in. By looking at metrics like completion rates and pass percentage, you can tell if a particular lesson is working or not. With that information, you can improve the outcomes by creating courses that are a sure path to completion and success.

Increase engagement and retention

Make use of training analytics to find out the kind of modules that reach your learners easily. Create courses that are specific to your employees' needs and increase engagement within the organization. The higher the engagement, the better the retention and more chances for a good course completion statistic.

Enhance reporting and compliance

Learning analytics helps streamline the reports of your training programs. Compare the before and after of your employees’ knowledge and skill with LMS analytics. Not only can you craft insightful reports, but you can also enhance compliance in your business with the help of learning analytics.

Maximize ROI

The most crucial benefit of learning analytics is to maximize the ROI of training. You can track the knowledge retention and performance of your learners through different learning metrics to gauge the return on investment. Find out the areas of improvement and areas of engagement in training programs and adjust your training programs accordingly to get the most returns on your investment.

5 essential metrics in learning analytics 

Course completion rate

The course completion rate tells you the number of enrolled learners who have finished a particular course. This helps you understand the engagement users have with a particular course. Based on the course completion rate, you can refine your existing course content and deliver courses that reach your learners easily.

When you select an LMS platform like Zoho Learn, you can view completion rates for individual lessons and courses. This helps you assess your learning better and provide solutions that work for all.

Time spent on learning

Time spent on learning is a specific learning metric that shows the actual amount of time your teams spend on their training programs. It's a crucial metric because it shows the complexity of the courses and their reach among the learners. With this metric, you can figure out the courses that require additional help or resources and adjust training programs accordingly.

In Zoho Learn, you can get a deeper look on time spent at the individual learner, lesson, or course level while understanding the average time spent on several courses. This helps you to design suitable courses for your entire organization.

Assessment score

Not only is it important for learners to complete training on time, it’s also necessary for them to understand and retain knowledge. This can be tracked by setting up different assessments throughout the courses and tracking the scores obtained by the learners. By understanding the knowledge retention and comprehension of your learners, you can plan future L&D budgets and initiatives.

With Zoho Learn as your LMS platform, you can conduct two kinds of assessments—quizzes and assignments—and assign a weight to every single question. By tracking this metric, you can identify the knowledge gaps and enhance your training programs.

Level of engagement

The level of engagement is a key indicator and shows the success/failure of your learning initiatives. Engaged learners are naturally motivated and complete their training on time. But learner engagement cannot be measured by a single metric. A combination of metrics, like course completion rates, self-enrollment rates, drop-off rates, course ratings and reviews, can paint a picture of learner engagement and provide insights into the training programs.

Using an LMS platform, you can boost your learner engagement by including video lessons, awarding badges, and more. In platforms like Zoho Learn, you can do all of this while tracking metrics under one roof, enhancing your learning easily.

Organizational performance statistics

It's crucial to look at the impact of training on the entire organization so that you can increase engagement and maximize ROI fruitfully. By looking at learning analytics, calculate how training impacts the overall productivity and skill development in your organization.

You can look into the analytics of multiple courses and many learners at the same time using Reports in Zoho Learn. This helps you optimize training so that you can boost individual skills while focusing on the organization's overall growth.

Strategies to maximize training ROI

Every team leader or manager wants to boost the ROI related to their specific domain. This is applicable to the entire organization, including HR teams, L&D leaders, and training providers. Below, we've listed some common strategies that will help you in your boosting training ROI.

Create targeted training programs

When training is curated for specific job designations or departments, the learners are naturally motivated to complete the courses because the topic piques their interests. Because these courses are directly linked to their daily tasks and responsibilities, learners are far more likely to show interest and work towards their personal development, which in turn leads to the increased ROI and organization's growth.

Give priority to employee engagement

From breaking information into micro-learning modules to awarding certificates upon course completion, a good LMS platform offers a wide range of features that help with employee engagement in training. Include multimedia, encourage social learning, and motivate your learners to be as engaged as they can to increase your training ROI.

Implement different learning analytics metrics

Ensure that your LMS platform has different metrics, like course enrollment data, course completion statistics, test scores, time spent on learning, and so on to ensure that you can track your learner's progress and estimate the kind of returns you can expect from your training programs for specific training programs.

Have an in-depth reporting system

With an in-depth reporting system, you can find an overview of the learners' performance across multiple departments and even the entire organization. Find the areas that your learners are struggling in using individual learner and course progress and make data-driven adjustments to your learning activities accordingly. This helps boost learner engagement, which in turn leads to optimizing your training ROI.

Collect feedback from learners

Create a practice of collecting feedback from your learners directly. With direct opinions and insights from the learners, you can find out what’s lacking in your courses and make improvements in future training programs. This leads to a cycle of feedback and improvement that increases your ROI of training with time.

Wrapping up

Although learning analytics might seem like a backend task, it holds the key to transforming your organization's learning experience. With the future of learning being rooted in data, it’s become a necessity for training and learning analytics to go hand-in-hand. Create a learner-centric future with data-driven insights using learning analytics. Choose an LMS that maximizes your ROI and leads your organization to success.