What You Should Assess When Measuring E-Learning ROI
Measuring e-learning ROI (return on investment) can help you understand the impact of your training courses, as well as indicating where you can make improvements for the future. Understanding the value of e-learning investments can also help you communicate the benefits and get buy-in from senior management and other stakeholders for future initiatives.
What should you assess when measuring e-learning ROI? What are the factors, indicators, and metrics that will give you an understanding of the level of success?
While every training course and organisation is different, it is usually beneficial to consider the following eight factors when measuring e-learning ROI.
Business Performance Data and KPIs
Any analysis of the success of an e-learning course should be directly linked to the goals identified at the outset of the project. For many courses, those goals relate to business performance data and KPIs. Examples include productivity, sales, product defect rates, rates of accidents and near misses, and customer satisfaction scores.
Where this sort of information is relevant to the course and the goals you want to achieve, they should be considered in your ROI analysis.
Financial calculations
Where you can attribute a financial result to a performance indicator, this should be included in your calculations. For example, not just putting a percentage increase in sales but also the monetary value.
In-Course Assessments
In-course assessments are an important indicator of e-learning success as they demonstrate how well learners have understood the information and concept. The results of quizzes, scenarios, and other practice elements should be part of your analysis.
Learner Surveys and Feedback Forms
Feedback from learners is also important as that feedback contributes to engagement with your training strategy and the wider business culture. Positive feedback on an e-learning course, for example, can indicate an improved learning culture and an increased willingness to undertake additional training.
Getting learners to fill out feedback forms when they complete an e-learning course is one of the best ways to get this information. You can also go into more detail by conducting surveys.
LMS Metrics
The learning management system (LMS) that you use to store and deliver your e-learning courses will provide you with data that should be part of your ROI analysis. Some examples include:
- The number of learners who started the e-learning course.
- The completion rate with further analysis on those learners who started but didn’t finish the course.
- Average time to complete the course as higher-than-expected timescales could indicate the information wasn’t as clear as it could have been.
Business Impact
Looking at the business impact of your e-learning course can also contribute to your ROI and value assessment. A lot of this analysis will revolve around behaviour change and it often applies to benefits and outcomes from an e-learning course that can be difficult to quantify financially.
Compliance topics are a common example, as are soft skills e-learning courses where you want to improve skills like teamwork, communication, and problem-solving.
In these situations, you can observe the business impact and get feedback from those closest to the action, i.e., the managers and supervisors of the learners. For example, have managers seen a noticeable improvement in problem-solving capabilities or communication after learners have completed an e-learning course?
Knowledge Retention
Knowledge retention is another influencing factor on the success, value, and ROI of your e-learning course. After all, employees might get excellent results on a quiz that is part of the e-learning course, but that isn’t worth much if they forget the important points in the weeks and months that follow.
Assessing knowledge retention can be tricky, but it usually involves manager feedback and observation of performance. You can also quiz employees to check how much of the information from the original e-learning course they have retained.
Talent Retention
Talent retention is a key priority for many employers across a range of sectors. Training and development often play an important role in talent retention as employees can feel more satisfied with their role if they know the company is investing in them and they are enhancing their skills.
Of course, there will be other factors that influence talent retention – your training strategy or individual e-learning courses can’t take all the credit or all the blame. If talent retention is one of your training goals, however, it should be considered in your ROI and value analysis.
Measuring Success
The best e-learning courses require an investment of time and resources, so it makes sense to ensure you get as much value from that investment as possible. You will get this understanding by taking a holistic approach where you assess the full impact of your e-learning courses, both financial and non-financial.
