Today, we bring you an exclusive expert round-up that is sure to inspire and enlighten you on how to increase employee engagement using an LMS.
As businesses and organizations increasingly recognize the value of continuous learning and professional development, the role of the LMS has become paramount in shaping the growth and success of their workforce.
However, despite an LMS’s many benefits, getting employees to utilize it regularly can be challenging…
IN THIS ARTICLE...
How to Increase Employee Engagement Using an LMS
To address this common concern of how to get more people to use an LMS, we turned to the true authorities in the field – our esteemed clients! We reached out to our client base to gather insights, strategies, and success stories on how they effectively entice their employees to make the most of their learning management systems.
In this comprehensive round-up, you’ll hear from industry leaders and L&D experts who have navigated the intricacies of boosting LMS adoption. From creative communication techniques to fostering a culture of continuous learning, our clients share their tried-and-tested methods that have yielded remarkable results.
Who should be reading this?
Whether you’re just getting started with your LMS or seeking to revamp its usage, you’re sure to find invaluable advice and actionable tips that align with your organization’s unique needs and culture.
So, if you’re ready to elevate your LMS engagement and empower your workforce through the power of knowledge, read on! Let’s dive into the world of LMS optimization and discover how you can drive more traffic to your learning management system with the wisdom of those who have already achieved it.
How can I make my LMS More Effective?
Take a look at these top tips from industry experts, with actionable insights that will help you to make your LMS more effective. Unlock the potential of your Learning Management System (LMS) and revolutionize your organization’s learning journey with invaluable insights from leading L&D experts, on how to supercharge traffic to your platform, empower your workforce and increase employee engagement using an LMS.
1. Include Links to the LMS in Emails
“Include links to the LMS in Outlook signatures and all your email communications.”
Lida Pinkham – Director of L&D
Including links to the LMS in your Outlook signature and all email communications can significantly contribute to driving more traffic to the learning management system. This simple yet effective strategy can have a profound impact on employee engagement and LMS use. Here are several reasons why this approach works so well:
- Constant Visibility: By integrating LMS links into the Outlook signature, every email sent by the L&D team becomes an opportunity to showcase the LMS. This constant visibility acts as a gentle reminder to employees about the learning resources available, making it more likely for them to explore the platform during their daily interactions with emails.
- Ease of Access: Employees are more likely to engage with the LMS when they can access it effortlessly. By providing direct links in email communications, you eliminate any potential barriers to entry. This seamless access saves time and effort, encouraging employees to explore the LMS without having to search for it independently.
- Cultivating a Learning Culture: When learning resources are consistently promoted through internal communications, it sends a strong message about the organization’s commitment to employee development. Over time, this fosters a learning culture within the company, where continuous learning becomes a valued aspect of professional growth and advancement.
- Increased Curiosity: By incorporating links in email signatures, you pique the curiosity of employees. They may be intrigued by the different courses, webinars, or resources mentioned in the links, prompting them to click and explore what the LMS has to offer. This sense of curiosity can lead to increased engagement and an eagerness to discover new learning opportunities.
- Tailored Content: Depending on the nature of the email communication, you can customize the LMS links to align with specific topics or initiatives. For instance, if an email discusses a new project management approach, you can include a link to relevant project management courses on the LMS. This personalization enhances the relevance and appeal of the LMS content to individual recipients.
- Encouraging Peer Sharing: When employees include LMS links in their email signatures, it opens up the possibility for peer-to-peer sharing of valuable learning content. If one employee discovers a particularly helpful course or resource, they may share the link with colleagues, promoting a collaborative learning environment within the organization.
- Measurable Impact: By tracking the click-through rates of LMS links in emails, you can gain valuable insights into the effectiveness of your communication strategy. This data can help you optimize your approach, identify popular learning topics, and refine the content offered on the LMS to cater to your employees’ preferences and needs.
Incorporating LMS links in Outlook signatures and email communications is a low-cost, high-impact method that can significantly increase employee engagement with an LMS. By leveraging the power of regular communication channels, you can create a learning-centric ecosystem that empowers your employees and drives professional development across the organization.
2. Introduce Regular ‘Hot Tips’ Campaigns
“I’ve launched ‘Tech Tip Tuesdays‘ where I email a newsletter to the firm, this includes a link to the LMS or video I created specific to the tip (it will also include content I’ve made with Intellek Create).”
Karianne Lent – Technology L&D Specialist
Introducing an initiative such as Tech Tip Tuesdays and regularly emailing a newsletter to the firm with links to the LMS and dedicated tech tip videos is an ingenious way to boost traffic to the LMS due to the following reasons:
- Consistent Engagement: By establishing a weekly schedule for “Tech Tip Tuesdays,” employees will come to expect and look forward to receiving valuable insights every week. This consistent engagement helps keep the LMS at the forefront of their minds, increasing the likelihood of them visiting the platform regularly.
- Relevance and Value: The tech tips shared in the newsletter and accompanying videos directly address employees’ needs and challenges, providing immediate value. When users see the relevance of the content, they are more inclined to click on the provided link to access additional resources on the LMS.
- Fostering Curiosity: By teasing the tech tip in the newsletter and encouraging users to find further details on the LMS, curiosity is piqued. Employees will be motivated to click the link to satisfy their curiosity and discover more comprehensive learning materials.
- Personal Touch: The video format adds a personal touch to the tech tips, creating a stronger connection with the audience. This approach humanizes the learning experience, making it more appealing and encouraging employees to explore the LMS further.
- Social Sharing Potential: Engaging and valuable content is more likely to be shared among colleagues. As employees find the tech tips helpful, they may share the newsletter or the LMS links with their teammates, leading to a viral effect that drives even more traffic to the platform.
- Positive Learning Culture: Implementing “Tech Tip Tuesdays” demonstrates the organization’s commitment to continuous learning and development. It fosters a positive learning culture within the firm, encouraging employees to take an active interest in their professional growth through the LMS.
- Measurable Impact: By using newsletters as a distribution method, it becomes easier to track click-through rates and user engagement. These measurable metrics provide valuable feedback on the success of the initiative and help refine the strategy over time.
Implementing ‘Hot Tips’ campaigns with weekly newsletters and dedicated video content will help drive more traffic to the LMS through consistent engagement, providing relevant and valuable content, fostering curiosity, adding a personal touch, encouraging social sharing, promoting a positive learning culture, and providing measurable impact metrics.
3. Encourage Users with Easter Eggs & Treasure Hunts
“Use treasure hunts and other ways to get users into the LMS, looking around, trying to find answers, and winning prizes.”
Bonnie Beuth – L&D Specialist
Incentivizing users with easter eggs or a treasure hunt will increase traffic to your LMS by creating a sense of excitement, curiosity, and engagement, encouraging users to explore the platform, discover valuable content, and increase their interaction frequency with the system in the hope of winning rewards.
4. Remind People About the LMS at Relevant Times
“Remind people about their learning record during reviews.”
Lida Pinkham – Director of L&D
Reminding people about their learning record during annual review time can significantly increase traffic to an LMS because it capitalizes on employees’ intrinsic motivation to showcase their achievements, fosters a sense of accomplishment and accountability, highlights the value of continuous learning in career growth, and encourages further engagement with the LMS to set new learning goals.
During annual review time, employees are typically eager to showcase their accomplishments and progress made over the year. By sending personalized reminders that include a comprehensive overview of their completed courses, certifications, and skill development via the LMS, employees are more likely to access the platform to review and validate their achievements.
This intrinsic motivation of self-recognition and pride can boost LMS engagement as employees willingly revisit the system to refresh their memory on the knowledge and skills they acquired.
5. Get Support from Other Departments
“Find other departments to help you with promoting the use of the LMS, I also identify my LMS ambassadors at practice group meetings that I attend.”
Delores Elias – Director of Talent Development
Getting support from other departments like HR and marketing in encouraging LMS usage helps drive more traffic by expanding the reach and visibility of the LMS initiatives. By identifying LMS champions during meetings, the promotion becomes more authentic and relatable, fostering a collaborative learning culture that motivates employees to engage with the platform.
6. Link to the LMS from Other Internal Systems
“Cross-link to make things easy to find in the LMS.”
Lida Pinkham – Director of L&D
Cross-linking between the Service Desk portal and the LMS enhances accessibility, fosters a culture of continuous learning, and seamlessly integrates learning opportunities into employees’ daily workflows, thereby increasing employee engagement using an LMS.
By cross-linking the Service Desk portal and the LMS, organizations can ensure that learning resources are readily available to employees when they need them the most. When employees encounter challenges or have questions while using the Service Desk, having direct links to relevant training materials within the LMS empowers them to find immediate solutions and acquire the necessary skills to address issues effectively. This convenience not only saves time but also encourages employees to explore the LMS regularly as a valuable knowledge repository.
Additionally, integrating the LMS with the Service Desk portal creates a more cohesive user experience. Instead of treating the LMS as a separate entity, cross-linking allows employees to seamlessly transition between their regular work tasks and learning opportunities, eliminating the need for extra steps or logins. This smooth integration fosters a culture of continuous learning, making it a natural part of employees’ daily routines.
Furthermore, cross-linking serves as a gentle reminder to employees about the wealth of learning resources available to them. Often, employees may forget to proactively seek out learning opportunities, but when they see relevant links within the Service Desk portal, they are prompted to explore the LMS more frequently and take advantage of its offerings.
7. Use Gamification to Increase Traffic to Your LMS
“Intellek’s banner feature, can be used to facilitate a question-based treasure hunt with enticing rewards (such as Amazon vouchers). This has proven to be a game-changer in increasing traffic to the Learning Management System (LMS).”
Chantel Bland – Software Technical Specialist
This strategy has several reasons why it has resulted in a real surge in engagement, driving more traffic to the LMS:
- Gamification Boosts Motivation: Gamification is a powerful technique that taps into the natural human desire for competition and achievement. By turning learning into a fun and interactive treasure hunt, employees are motivated to participate actively. The promise of a tangible reward, like Amazon vouchers, serves as a strong incentive that encourages individuals to not only explore the LMS but also put in the effort to complete the hunt.
- Creates a Sense of Excitement: The idea of a treasure hunt creates an aura of excitement and curiosity among employees. They become eager to explore various modules, courses, and resources within the LMS in pursuit of the answers to the questions. This sense of anticipation and adventure makes learning a thrilling experience, different from the usual routine.
- Fosters Healthy Competition: When employees compete for the reward, it sparks healthy competition within the organization. Colleagues might discuss and strategize together, encouraging collaboration and teamwork. Such interactions can strengthen bonds among team members and foster a sense of camaraderie, creating a positive work environment.
- Promotes Active Learning: The question-based treasure hunt requires employees to actively seek answers and information. This promotes active learning, as participants are not just passively consuming content but actively engaging with it. Active learning has been proven to enhance knowledge retention and understanding, leading to more meaningful and long-lasting learning outcomes.
- Showcases LMS Capabilities: By using Intellek’s banner feature for the treasure hunt, you demonstrate the capabilities of your LMS in a creative and tangible manner. This helps increase participation in the current event and encourages employees to explore other features and offerings within the LMS, ensuring a more comprehensive and continuous use.
- Word-of-Mouth Marketing: The excitement generated by the treasure hunt incentive is likely to be shared among employees through word-of-mouth. As participants talk about their experiences and the rewards they received, others who might not have initially engaged with the LMS could be inspired to join future programs or explore the platform on their own. This organic form of marketing can lead to a snowball effect of increased traffic and engagement.
- Collects Valuable User Data: Running a treasure hunt incentive allows you to gather valuable user data and insights. You can track the areas and resources employees engage with the most, identifying popular topics and learning preferences. This data can be leveraged to tailor future content, making the LMS even more appealing and user-centric.
This question-based treasure hunt incentive, complete with rewards, provides a powerful and effective way to increase employee engagement with your LMS. By tapping into employees’ intrinsic motivation, creating a sense of excitement, and showcasing the platform’s capabilities, you can foster a culture of continuous learning, with a lasting impact on employee engagement and professional development.
Boost Traffic on the Road to LMS Optimization
The insights shared by our esteemed clients in this expert round-up have illuminated a road to enhanced Learning Management System engagement and a more knowledgeable and empowered workforce. As you embark on the journey to increase employee engagement using an LMS, remember that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Instead, the key lies in understanding your organization’s unique culture, needs, and aspirations, and tailoring these expert strategies to suit your context.
From implementing engaging communication elements and personalized learning paths to fostering a culture that embraces continuous development, the possibilities are boundless. Embrace experimentation and be open to refining your approach as you learn from your employees’ responses and preferences.
Always remember that an LMS is not just a platform; it’s a conduit for growth and a catalyst for success. By nurturing a learning-centric environment and providing a seamless user experience, you can harness the full potential of your LMS and witness the transformative impact it can have on your organization.
We hope that this expert round-up has served as a source of inspiration and guidance for you. As you set out to apply these insights, we encourage you to keep exploring and evolving your LMS strategy to best serve the needs of your employees and your business.
Thank you for joining us on this journey through the world of LMS optimization. If you have any questions or would like to share your success stories on how to increase employee engagement using an LMS with us, please feel free to reach out. Here’s to driving continuous learning, unlocking potential, and propelling your organization to new heights through the power of your learning management system.
Intellek (formerly TutorPro) is a founding member of the learning technology industry. With a presence in the USA, UK, Canada, and the EU – for over 30 years we have pioneered the development of cutting-edge eLearning software and online training solutions, with a large and diverse portfolio of international clientele.
Disclaimer: We use all the tools available including generative AI to create relevant and engaging content.
