One of the biggest concerns companies have when starting an online training program is that they need to have all their content ready to launch at once, covering every course their employees or partners could need.
The good news? It is not necessary to release all your content at once; it is more effective to stagger the releases over time.
What’s wrong with putting it all out at once?
- It’s overwhelming for your learners. A 2000 study by Columbia & Stanford Universities found that when presented with 24 jam samples, only 3% of customers ended up purchasing a jar, whereas of those provided with only 6 options, 30% made a purchase. Even if all your content is amazing, an overwhelming amount of choice at the outset may deter people.
- Nothing new. If you put out all your content at once, learners might come in and take a few courses, but they may lose interest if new options are not regularly released.
- It’s overwhelming for you. When you try to have an entire library of content ready before you launch, you’re on track to experience burnout and loss of motivation before your university is even live.
What’s the solution?
- Make a plan. Instead of overwhelming yourself from the outset, make a consistent and manageable plan for when you’ll release new content. For the launch, prioritize introductory content or the training that you feel is most needed, then plan to release the rest of your courses strategically, over time, in an order that makes sense.
- Drip content. When you release content over time, it's much easier to keep learners engaged—rather than taking a few courses and forgetting about your university, they are drawn back in at regular intervals to see what’s new. But be sure to promote new content via your email lists and socials as they come out, or no one will know!
- Feature content. According to a 2018 IESE study, when a preferred or obvious choice is added into a large pool of options, the human brain is instantly less overwhelmed. Even as you add to your university, you can keep learners from feeling overloaded by featuring content you want their attention on.
- Consider learner feedback. When you release content over time, you can gather and use feedback not only to improve your upcoming courses, but to learn what new courses your learners want to see. One easy way to get feedback? An end-of-course survey, like the ones available in the BlueVolt system.
With this strategy, not only will you be able to keep momentum, but your learners will stay engaged, feel heard, and keep coming back for more. It’s a win-win.
To learn more about the benefits of releasing content over time, check out this case study.
Sources: When Choice is Demotivating, Addictive potential of social media, explained - Scope (stanford.edu), New research shows why the human brain struggles with “plenty of choice” - Mediaroom (iese.edu)
