You don’t need us to tell you that one-size-fits-all training just doesn’t cut it anymore. If you’re serious about upskilling your workforce, aligning learning with business goals, and delivering measurable impact (and if you’re reading this blog post, we think you are), then specially designed bespoke eLearning is the way forward.
Whether you’re new to commissioning bespoke eLearning or want to refine your approach to bespoke eLearning design, we’ll walk you through the key steps and things to consider in this blog post.
Let’s get started!
In this article
- Why choose bespoke eLearning design?
- When is bespoke eLearning design the right choice?
- What’s the return on investment (ROI) of bespoke eLearning?
- Six steps for successful bespoke eLearning design
- Ready to explore bespoke eLearning design with Ciphr?
Why choose bespoke eLearning design?
Let’s start with the obvious question: why invest time and money in bespoke eLearning design when there are already so many off-the-shelf courses available?
The answer lies in relevance, engagement, and impact.
Bespoke eLearning is tailored to your organisation’s specific needs, culture, and goals. It reflects your processes, your people, and your challenges. That level of personalisation leads to:
- Higher learner engagement
- Improved knowledge retention
- Faster application of knowledge and skills
- Stronger alignment with business outcomes
- Greater productivity
All of which can help to deliver a greater return on investment (ROI) for your eLearning content.
Our eLearning team specialists in DEI (diversity, equality and inclusion) training: a theme that is often the perfect candidate for bespoke content design.
“For this topic, careful positioning is key to ensure the positive impact of your eLearning,” says Ann Allcock, head of diversity at Ciphr eLearning. “Messaging must align DEI with your organisational goals and values, with clarity around the particular drivers for DEI. What does it mean, and why is it important for your organisation or company?”
Allcock adds: “Learners need to recognise the organisational culture that they experience, and see that reflected in the eLearning content. The topic must be relevant to all employees, with scenarios and examples that resonate. We achieve this in the eLearning courses we design by working closely with representatives of employee resource groups (ERGs) to co-create content.”
When is bespoke eLearning design the right choice?
Bespoke learning design is ideal when:
- You have unique processes or systems you need to train people on
- Your learners face specific challenges not covered by generic content. These challenges might be unique to your sector or organisation
- You want to reflect your brand, culture, and values – especially if you want your eLearning to look and sound like it came from you, or feature your in-house subject matter experts
- You need to build a competitive advantage through specialised knowledge
What’s the return on investment (ROI) of bespoke eLearning?
While bespoke eLearning often requires a higher upfront investment, the long-term returns are compelling. They can include:
- Improved operational efficiency
- Higher employee engagement
- Better compliance outcomes
- Measurable performance improvements
When designed well, bespoke learning becomes a strategic asset, not just a training tool.
“Many of our clients invest in bespoke eLearning design because they want to see cultural change – and not just tick a box,” says David Marshall, managing director of Ciphr eLearning. “For example, we worked with Police Scotland on a bespoke EDI module that aimed to enhance professionalism and improve workplace culture by constructively challenging views and perspectives. The vast majority (89%) of learners said they felt confident about applying their knowledge of EDI in their role after completing the course. We were also proud that they won the Learning and Development Programme of the Year 2023 award at that year’s Inspire Justice Awards.”
Want to learn more about the benefits of bespoke eLearning? Watch our on-demand webinar to discover the benefits our clients enjoy, and our approach to bespoke eLearning design
Six steps for successful bespoke eLearning design
1. Define the business needs
Every successful eLearning project starts with a clear understanding of the business problem(s) you’re trying to solve. You’ll need to put into words how you’ll quantify success and ROI.
Ask yourself:
- What’s the strategic driver behind this training? Is it compliance with external regulations? A new product launch? A process change or system implementation? Something else?
- What happens if learners don’t achieve the course’s learning objectives? What are the risks of a failed training programme?
- How will success be measured?
“We’re often asked how the success of an eLearning course can be assessed,” says Allcock. “Especially with DEI training – which is often under increasing scrutiny, as organisations look for cost-effective solutions that really address business challenges.
“Relating eLearning participation directly to changed behaviour, or to a fairer or more inclusive workplace, is challenging. But there are ways to measure impact,” she adds. “Quizzes, assessments, and before and after surveys all help you to measure success. Blending eLearning with facilitated training, which can be more closely evaluated, is also useful.”
2. Understand your learners
Effective bespoke learning design hinges on knowing your audience. Consider:
- Who are your learners?
- What’s their existing knowledge level? Are they beginners, experts, or a mix?
- Will any of the content be role-specific?
- What are their learning preferences?
- Where are they located? (on site, working remotely, or a mix of both?)
Answers to all these questions (and some more, which we’ll get into next) will help you determine if bespoke eLearning will solve your problems and, if so, how.
3. Create a robust content outline
Before jumping into developing storyboards or eLearning courses with your chosen bespoke eLearning provider, map out a content outline. This should include:
- The overarching business goal
- Specific learning outcomes (LOs) for each section of the course. Ask yourself: what do the learners need to be able to describe, explain or identify to achieve your high-level aims for the course? Go into as much detail as you can
- Key content areas and the internal subject matter experts (SMEs) you’ll turn to for the relevant information
- Preferred media formats. Do they like reading text, listening to audio, or watching videos?
- Ideas to make the course more interactive and engaging. Think about quizzes, gamification, badges and leaderboards (your chosen bespoke eLearning partner can help you with this!)
- The use cases for this course. Will learners need to revisit it annually? Will it form part of a wider induction programme? Do you expect learners to come back to it and use it as a reference tool in the future? Will it be mandatory?
A well-structured outline avoids content duplication, ensures the course will deliver on your objectives, and helps to streamline and speed up the overall eLearning development process.
When you’re writing the outline:
- Be realistic about course duration: how much time would it actually take to cover the essential content? Remember, learners increasingly prefer shorter, microlearning courses. Is everything you want to cover really necessary? If the answer is yes, can you split one long course into several smaller ones?
- Make sure you have the source content and SMEs to supply the foundational knowledge needed to build and design your bespoke eLearning courses. Your supplier won’t know this stuff – it’s up to you to supply this expertise
4. Prioritise engagement
When you opt to design your own bespoke eLearning courses rather than relying on off-the-shelf eLearning courses, you’ll have more freedom to create engaging, immersive experiences. Be sure to use that to your advantage.
Multimedia
Your options include:
- Videos: presenter-led videos can work well to introduce courses. You can also use actors to showcase scenarios and better illustrate key learning points. Combine videos with questions and quizzes to reinforce learning
- Infographics: bespoke diagrams can be used to illustrate ideas such as process flows
- Animations: consider using animated graphics to explain key concepts or case studies. These will often have narrative audio
- Audio: audio scenarios (in ‘mini podcast’ format) can help learners connect with the content or can be used to capture expert opinions
Be sure to record your multimedia preferences and ideas in the content outline. Structure is important here. For example, if you plan to have three videos, distribute them throughout the course to maximise impact rather than sequencing them one after another.
Interactivity
Getting learners to answer questions, solve challenges and apply principles in practice helps to embed their knowledge and understand how it works in practice. Some tips to remember:
- Use questions throughout – not just in an end-of-course assessment
- Offer regular interactive options throughout the course
- ‘Formative’ assessments can teach learners new things as they go, so long as detailed feedback clarifies the correct approach or answer
- Many courses have scenario sections to consolidate key points and explore grey areas
Interactive options include:
- Multiple-choice questions
- Matching and sequencing tasks (using drag and drop functionality)
- Image-based questions, eg identify the correct step in a process diagram
- Scenarios (including video scenarios)
Be sure to note your preferences in your content outline.
5. Collaborate closely with your chosen bespoke eLearning provider and internal SMEs
Most bespoke eLearning designers will use your outline as the basis for writing a storyboard (often in Microsoft Word). This storyboard will provide a script and example visuals for the course’s content. You’ll need to review, edit and approve this storyboard before development of the eLearning course begins.
To keep the project on track:
- Make sure there’s a single point of contact for feedback. This person will need to collate and review internal comments on the storyboard, and liaise with your chosen provider
- Ensure feedback is clear, consistent, and timely
- Review the storyboard thoroughly before development begins. Now is the time to make edits!
A great bespoke eLearning provider will provide you with a clear project timeline and milestones for both sides. It’s up to you to respond to requests for information and approvals in a timely fashion so that your project remains on track.
6. Think beyond the launch
Great bespoke eLearning doesn’t end when the course goes live. Consider:
- How will learners access the course?
- Should navigation be open or linear? Do learners have to follow a series of courses in a prescribed order, or will they be free to pick and choose the content they want to learn, when they want to learn it?
- Is the course mandatory or optional?
- How will you measure success?
- What’s your launch plan for the course? How will you communicate and engage with learners? Will you use your team of managers to drive uptake?
- Will it need updating periodically (eg annually), or is the content evergreen? Remember, one of the key advantages of bespoke eLearning is that it can evolve with your organisation
Do you have an LMS in place to host your bespoke eLearning content? Our advanced system can help you engage learners through gamification, plus enable managers to generate their own reports on completion rates – making compliance and mandatory training a breeze. Discover Ciphr’s learning management system
Ready to explore bespoke eLearning design with Ciphr?
Our experts specialise in creating bespoke eLearning solutions that are as unique as your organisation. Whether you’re looking to upskill your team, support a product launch, improve compliance or encourage behavioural change, we’re here to help.
Our team will work with you to understand your goals, your learners, and your challenges, and design a bespoke eLearning solution that delivers real results.
Contact us today for a no-pressure conversation about your eLearning goals and requirements. Let’s find out if bespoke eLearning is the right solution for your needs.