Virtual training

Critical Training KPIs Every Training Manager Should Track

The CloudShare Team

Aug 31, 2023 - 3 min read

One of the first steps in creating an effective virtual training program is to define your key performance indicators (KPIs). This holds true regardless of whether your training is customer-focused or internal. As a training manager, learning and development metrics help you both optimize your training and convey that training’s value to leadership.

What is a Training KPI?

A key performance indicator (KPI) is any metric used to assess the effectiveness of a strategy, program, or initiative. In the context of software training, this typically involves measuring the knowledge and performance of users who have completed a course. In addition to results, training KPIs also assess the training process itself, with the goal of identifying potential weaknesses or bottlenecks.

The Importance of Measuring Training Metrics

Corporate training, no matter its target audience, is a data-driven process. Without analytics, you have no real way of identifying whether or not a training program was successful. You also cannot demonstrate the value of your training to organizational leadership.

Training metrics also have a direct impact on the training process itself, as managers can use data to proactively identify users that require assistance or intervention. This in turn has a knock-on effect on ROI, as it allows managers to achieve better results in both the short-term and long-term.

How to Measure the Success of Learning and Development: Key KPIs

Your training program’s core audience and objectives will largely determine which metrics you should track. We’ve compiled a few common employee training KPI examples below to help get you started.

• Training attendance rate. Calculated by comparing the attendees in each course or session to overall signups. Attendance rate can also be calculated on a participant-by-participant basis.
• Average time to completion. Measures how long it generally takes users to complete your training. An overly long time to completion may be indicative of problems with delivery, content, or engagement.
• Course completion rate. Calculated by measuring the total attendees in a course against the number of attendees that completed said course.
• Engagement score. Calculated through a combination of exit interviews, user feedback, and learner retention rate. This metric provides an overall view of how compelling your training and its content are to learners.
• Return on Investment (ROI). This metric is highly dependent on your organization’s training objective and desired outcomes. Potential ROI metrics could include sales numbers, productivity, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, etc.
• Learner satisfaction. Measures how your users feel about your training program. Calculated similarly to engagement score, and serves a similar purpose.
• Learner retention. Measures how well your training conveys the knowledge it’s meant to convey. Typically calculated through post-training assessments or quizzes. May also be tracked by monitoring the volume of helpdesk/support calls.
• Job performance metrics. Measures your training’s overall impact on job performance. Examples include:
  • Sales numbers.
  • Helpdesk resolutions.
  • Project completion rate.
  • Productivity over time.
  • Pass/fail rate for specific workplace activities.
  • Average deal size.
  • Customer satisfaction score.
  • Internal software utilization.

There are also several KPIs you can use to link customer training with your sales process:

• Customer onboarding time. Measures how long it takes a customer to begin using your software after signing up/finalizing a purchase.
• Time to first value. Measures how long it takes a customer to realize that your software addresses their needs and/or helps them fulfill their business objectives.
• Product adoption rate. Calculated by comparing new active users against total sign-ups. This metric is incredibly helpful for identifying bottlenecks in your customer onboarding process.
• Product usage frequency. Helps measure the stickiness of your product alongside customer satisfaction. Also provides your sales team with insight into who they can upsell or cross-sell to.
• Product usage depth. Identifies customers that are using advanced features of your software and gives insight into the extent that customers are exploring your software’s capabilities.

Keep Track of Your Core Training KPIs with CloudShare

Whether you’re onboarding new customers, training new employees, or offering professional development to existing staff, learning and development metrics are crucial to your success. They not only help you identify shortcomings and weaknesses in your training, but also allow you to convey the value of your training to other departments. Moreover, the right KPIs also provide insight into your best trainees.

For customer training, that means more up-sell and cross-sell opportunities. For employee training, that means finding and recognizing potential leaders and mentors. In either case, it’s not an opportunity you can afford to overlook.

And with CloudShare, you won’t have to worry about doing so. Our virtual training platform is equipped with powerful, comprehensive analytics tools that allow you to monitor everything from user behavior to resource utilization. Intuitive, customizable reporting functionality, meanwhile, ensures that you’ll never have to worry about how you’ll convey ROI to leadership.

Book a demo today to see CloudShare in action.