Omni-Channel eLearning Applies Tactic Learned from Marketing

The collection and analysis of data underlies afundamental shift in strategy among marketing professionals—one that couldtransform eLearning as well. The ability to identify which campaigns prompt aresponse, along with a shift toward consumer-driven campaigns, has led to Omni-channelmarketing, an approach that focuses resources where they are most effective.Learning and development professionals could find that Omni-channel eLearninghas a similar ability to improve results—and drive engagement in eLearning.

The way companies, marketers, and end users use and applytechnology has driven fundamental shifts in how marketers—and L&Dprofessionals—approach interactions with end users, whether those users areconsumers or learners. These big-picture changes provide opportunities toincrease engagement with eLearning within an organization.

Technology upends tradition

At the tail end of the 1990s, the “build it and they willcome” era of traditional marketing was shifting. In this original approach,marketers, the “professionals,” insisted that if they ran a TV commercial,posted a billboard on the side of the road, or placed ads in magazines ornewspapers, people would likely notice and respond to their messages. The ruleof “seven touches” held sway—the idea that, after seven exposures to a brand,product, or service, a consumer’s mindset was prepared to process a message.With that seventh exposure, someone might say, “I think I’ve heard of you. Whatdo you do?”

However, it was impossible to prove empirically that whatthe expert advised and produced was actually driving business results. This ledto a shift to “integrated marketing” and the dominance of the landing page.

With the rise of the internet, a wonderful development formarketers arose—tracking! Marketers could identify which ads led to whichresponse; they could now say, “This Marie Osmond ad for NutriSystem drove thismany registrations, while this other one did not.” Whether the medium was TVcommercials, direct mail, print ads, or radio spots, advertisers could tie behaviorto a trigger.

Multi-channel marketing or “one voice”

Accessing data about what activity drove behavior anddecisions was a wonderful innovation—yet it captured only the last step of theconsumer’s journey; attribution of influence and understanding of the role ofthe multiple steps that had influenced a consumer prior to that final tippingpoint was sketchy.

A further complicating factor was that a company might havemultiple marketing campaigns going on at the same time. Were consumers respondingto the latest message or to the collective experience?

In response to these questions, multi-channel marketingemerged. This approach used a coordinated effort among marketing channels topromote a related theme. For example, the graphic style would be consistentacross newspaper, website, direct mail, billboards, magazine ads, and TVcommercials. The offer to consumers would be the same, though subtle shiftsmight seek the ideal price point or trigger that would induce consumers toperform the desired behavior (call, sign-up, register, purchase, etc.). Brandshoned a consistent voice, treating the various channels across which messageswere communicated as a unified system.

A fundamental power shift

The age of data collection ushered in other changes. Withmore data,marketers were able to see and demonstrate what was actually working, not justwhat their experience or intuition told them should work. As data offered proofand continually improving results, larger budgets were allocated to campaignsand strategies that worked. Marketers gained more influence in organizations,and their reach broadened.

The move to data- and results-based marketing occurred atthe same time as another transformation: Starting with what was referred to as “Web2.0,” the focus of branding and internet experiences shifted from the contentproducers to the consumers and viewers. Web 2.0 came to mean websites thatemphasized ease of use and interoperability with other products, systems, anddevices—an easier, better experience for end users. It meant that anyone, notjust the “professionals” could produce, distribute, and promote user-generatedcontent. Marketing was no longer about the story that professionals wanted totell, but rather what the users wanted to hear. This changed everything.

Web 2.0 foreshadowed the digital learning paradigm

With power in the hands of the consumer, the whole marketingmodel had to change.

A paradigm shift became evident in marketing—and inentertainment and related industries—that recognized a core insight: Theconsumer is the same person across the various channels. Whether on a cellphoneor tablet, a desktop or laptop computer; whether using a voice-activated device,riding in a car, or viewing content on a streaming service, the consumer is aconsistent person. Lagging a bit in time, L&D is coming to the samerealization: Consumers and learners remain who they are, no matter which deviceor technology they are using.

What this has meant for marketing—and what L&D can learnfrom marketing—is that the audience expects to be able to pick up any device atany time and experience a seamless interaction. While the delivery needs to benative to the particular technology and platform, the experience on one device mustinfluence the experience on the next device.

Take gaming as an example: A person starts playing a videogame on her/his desktop, then switches to a smartphone. The points, the levelin the game, the place in the game where s/he left off should all pick up onthe phone at the exact point where they left off on the desktop. However, theinterface—the appearance, the navigation method—would differ based on thedevice. For example, a mouse or joystick might control certain movements on thedesktop, while the player would move the entire phone to achieve the same orsimilar results.

The parallel in marketing is with data: The data collectedon one platform, website, retail location, or social platform will be used whenthe same consumer is encountered on a different platform, website, etc. Theperson on the other side of the screen is the same person, no matter where onthe web they are or which device they are using. (Learn more about using datato inform eLearning design and development and to drive outcomes at TheeLearning Guild’s Dataand Analytics Summit, online August 22 and 23, 2018.)

The user’s voice now matters much more than the brand’svoice. The dynamic has shifted, based on user attention. What is the user’sdesire? What attracts and interests them—what do they “pull” or choose to watchor click? Marketers track previous user behavior and decisions and then craftcontent accordingly. While marketers still educate consumers and promotedesired behaviors, it is the user’s preferences that matter more, rather thanthe marketer pushing a specific voice. The subject is now the user, not thebrand.

This consistency of experience across devices and platformsand emphasis on the user experience is described as omni-channel marketing.This description of omni-channel marketing sounds a lot like the corporatedigital learning paradigm. That’s no accident; this new eLearning model isbased on learners’ behavior and expectations as consumers. They remain the sameconsistent individuals across learning platforms as they do across media andconsumer platforms, and theways that we develop and deliver eLearning are changing to serve thoseconsumer-learners.

Therefore, an omni-channel eLearning model is needed.An omni-channel approach must go beyond enabling learners to resume a course inthe LMS where they left off. Allowing access on multiple platforms is alsoinsufficient. L&D professionals need to apply what they know—and what theycan learn from marketing professionals—about introducing, reinforcing, andevaluating behavior to devise ways to bridge and combine platforms to achieve abetter learner experience.

Omni-channel learning must:

• Be native to the various devices learners use
• Reflect the typical experience on those devicesand how people interact with them
• Inform each experience with data from theprevious experience
• Create a seamless cross-platform learnerexperience
• Combine individual learning experiences into acoherent learning path

Omni-channel eLearning starts with the needs and desires ofthe learner—not with what the manager or company wants to share. Improvinglearner engagement begins with understanding what people find engaging; withTV, gaming, and other forms of entertainment, the focus is on what peopledefine for themselves as engaging and choose to engage with. Consumers’preferences, their influence on what is created, and their power over what theyconsume impact not only their level of engagement but also their ultimatebehaviors. Digital learners—omni-channel learners—are no different.