​It’s easy to see why video has taken over as the learning tool of choice. Did you know YouTube has more than a billion users? That’s one-third of people online! The same thing that drives people to seek information and entertainment on YouTube is also fueling their use of other social media outlets, like Facebook and Instagram. The expectation for instant, on-demand information has spread to both education and marketing. Video learning is the answer.

The Real Value of Video 
Is video learning beneficial? Absolutely! It’s almost seven times more beneficial than documents or articles alone. Stimulating both audio and visual senses gives the mind far less time to wander and helps maintain focus. Successful learning videos commonly do these three things:

1. Grab attention within the first eight seconds
2. Keep it short (three minutes or less)
3. Engage the viewer — a good instructional video can make any content come to life

Learning videos fill a need in the education market to deliver information in a way people can remember. Did you know our attention rates are less than that of a goldfish? The average human attention span is merely eight seconds, compared to a goldfish with an attention span of nine seconds. The combination of visual and audio versus just reading words is the key to getting and keeping our attention, and superior retention rates.

Not only do we have pitiful attention spans, we only remember 10 percent of what we hear or read after just 72 hours. Those stats rise to almost a 70 percent retention rate when we combine audio with visual stimulation that catches our attention.

You might guess employees, especially Millennial employees, favor video over other forms of learning. In fact, research proves it. Forester research shows people are 75 percent more likely to watch a video than read documents, emails or Web articles. That’s huge in the business world.

They can watch video training as they are able, on demand and from anywhere. Plus, travel costs and schedule conflicts are reduced, conference rooms are freed up for other needs, and your training is consistently being delivered the same way each time.

Do It Right
To make your video learning successful, you must keep it short. Just because something is in video format doesn’t mean people will remember it — especially if the content is dry or the video is too long. YouTube statistics show the average length of an online video watched is just under three minutes. No matter how spectacular your video is, after three minutes your audience has lost interest. Understandably, it can be difficult to keep videos short, especially if you have a lot of content. The key here is to deliver it in “chunks.” Several small, three-minute chunks of material will hit the education sweet spot.

No matter how short the video, dull content will lose your audience every time. People aren’t looking for Hollywood-style video learning with action clips and loud music, but you can’t just read a PowerPoint either. Your employees don’t need an excuse to fall asleep, so be sure the videos are engaging. Instructional designers are out there with the ideas and authoring tools to make any content more engaging and interactive. It might be a good idea to utilize them.

There you have it. To get the most training retention from your dealership team, start developing your own learning videos and start utilizing the multitude of industry learning videos available. Most importantly, make continuous learning through videos part of your dealership’s culture. As a matter of fact, why did I type all of this? I could have blogged it instead!

Jen Schofield – Instructional Designer For AutoSoft