Embarking on instructional design for retail industry training can be a particularly daunting task. Retail has a number of institutional challenges that complicate the creation of training solutions: notoriously high turnover, a reliance on a seasonal workforce, and an employee base that skews young and inexperienced.
Take the case of a nationwide retailer that aimed to revamp its new hire program. The company knew it couldn’t afford to allocate the time, resources, or budget to launch a full classroom training program, so instead the learning function developed a host of eLearning courseware and a few job aids. The eLearning included a few case studies and really focused on driving the customer service mantra.
Upon launch, the complaints started to roll in: “It hangs up at every page!” “We don’t have enough computers on site to support this!” “Modules are too long!” and worst of all, “The new hires just aren’t performing.”
Between the retail industry's intrinsic roadblocks and the often limited time and project funding for training initiatives, many initially enthusiastic learning teams wind up banging their heads against the wall when the training program falls flat. So what gives? It’s all about the learning strategy.
When designing learning solutions for retail, focus on the experience that your organization is aiming to create for the customer. Realize that in this context, training workers on the process—what to do—isn't enough. The how is what really matters in retail training, because it's the subtleties of customer interactions, whether in person or over the phone, that will ultimately determine whether training initiatives are effective. After all, one customer's good or bad experience will influence not only that customer's future purchase decisions, but through word of mouth it also impacts the likelihood of friends and family patronizing the business.
If a proper learning strategy is developed, an in-depth needs assessment will reveal important information about the audience, learning technology, required tools, and environment to help guide you to a sustainable learning program that yields true results.
Create Realistic Scenarios for Optimal Training Impact
The most common customer experience-centered curriculum design method for retail training is the case study, in which the learner is positioned as an outsider who reviews a situation that has already taken place. The value of a case study is in learning from another person's experience.
However, realistic training scenarios often prove far more impactful. After all, interactive learning and storytelling are great tactics to engage learners, especially when they themselves are part of the story. Retail training scenarios can be very simple, or they can be created in an in-depth, branching, choose-your-own-adventure style; that choice is driven by project scope and other factors, like broader learning strategy. Above all, make sure the training scenarios are realistic and applicable to the user's role and experience level. For example, when training on a five-step process, you could choose to present the learner with a drag-and-drop activity where they must place the five process steps in the correct order. Or, you could present a typical customer interaction and offer the learner options for responding, thereby demonstrating an understanding of the process by selecting the answer that allows them to reach the end process.
Realistic training scenarios allow learners to practice making decisions about how, when, and even why to interact with customers and perform certain tasks—how to respond, what to do, when to do it, how to do it, why it's important.
Feedback should be focused on how the choice affected the customer's experience and how the customer would feel afterward. Did the action engage the customer in a positive way? Did it make him or her feel valued? Did it help to build trust and loyalty? Many times, feedback is presented in a generic format, such as “That’s correct!” or “Incorrect. Try again.” But consider how much more informative it is when you present more detailed feedback: “That’s not quite right. Take a moment and say your response out loud. As a customer, did this make you feel that your question was valued, or did it make you feel dismissed? Try again and think about how your response sounds to your customer.”
The training deliverables format for these realistic training scenarios is virtually endless. With a little creativity from instructional designers and guidance from forward-thinking learning leaders, retail training can be successfully designed as eLearning, as various forms of face-to-face instruction and coaching, as virtual learning, or using performance support solutions. A good mix of formal and informal learning allows for greater flexibility around schedules and the influx of new hires.
Team meetings, featuring interactive role play and group debriefings, is one effective method for integrating scenarios. Another method is structured coaching, where a more seasoned colleague or manager asks probing questions and places the learner in the customer's shoes to reinforce certain skills. These informal learning activities can provide ongoing, tailored feedback on both scenario-based performance and real observed customer interactions to build expertise within a team. Additionally, when executed in the spirit of growth, these are opportunities to strengthen team bonds.
While retail training has many institutional challenges, with a thoughtful learning strategy, creativity, and a focus on the customer, your next training initiative can be a great success.
Topics: Instructional Design, eLearning