eLearning is changing the way people deliver and consume information.
Nobody wants to sit through a 3-hour in-person PowerPoint presentation about corporate policies. eLearning is the hero saving us from that dreadful fate. Businesses are using eLearning to train employees in ways that are faster, smarter, and a lot less painful.
Whether you’re rolling out mandatory compliance training or onboarding fresh recruits, eLearning is a highly impactful way to do it. Of course, there are potential risks to anything worth doing, so we’ll discuss the downsides of eLearning and how to mitigate them. If you’re just starting your eLearning experience, welcome. This is a great place to start.
So, let’s get into the details of it all.
What is eLearning?
eLearning (short for ‘electronic learning’) is education delivered through technology. We’ve come a long way from needing to read endless documents to retain information - not that we retained that information very well anyway. Using laptops, cellphones, and the internet, learning can be a well-rounded and interactive experience that actually engages users. It’s flexible, scalable, and when done right, it’s actually remembered by learners.
eLearning Use Cases
Onboarding
Repeating the same information to every new employee is tedious and time-consuming. Having someone else get them up to speed isn’t such a reliable method when it comes to company policies and role-specific guidance. Plus, you want to give them a warm welcome and make a good first impression.
You would need a solution that gets all of the information across in an accessible and enjoyable way. This is your opportunity to build a strong employer brand, and create a culture that people can thrive in. Also, you probably don’t want their first impression of the job to be absolute boredom. eLearning can ensure the necessary knowledge is ready-to-go for every new employee in an easy-to-update, scalable, and even a fun way.
Ongoing Learning & Skills Development
Professional growth doesn’t stop after onboarding. Upskilling and reskilling are essential to staying competitive in today’s workplace, especially with evolving tools and technologies. eLearning enables companies to offer continuous training that fits employees’ schedules, supports long-term career development, and boosts retention.
Mandatory Training
Compliance training, workplace safety, and industry regulations all fall under mandatory training. This is important to ensure a safe and productive workplace environment. However, these are not always the most invigorating topics. Simply delivering training materials isn’t enough to minimize risks of non-compliance. People need to understand and remember it. So yes, it is usually dry, but eLearning is a great method to make sure this vital knowledge is not only seen by employees, but the information is retained.
eLearning uses visuals, text, audio, videos, quizzes… we could go on. There are hundreds of ways to engage people in important, even if tedious, information. Analytics are also a major asset in this scenario because you can see exactly what employees have grasped and what gaps there may still be.
Remote Training
Using eLearning to train remote teams keeps distributed employees aligned with consistent training materials. No matter where they are in the world, what language they speak, or what device they use - eLearning is an excellent way to keep the team unified and on the same page.
Customer & Partner Training
eLearning isn't just for employees. Training customers and partners can improve product adoption, reduce support tickets, and build stronger long-term relationships. Instead of repeating the same walkthroughs over calls or emails, companies can offer accessible, self-paced training that scales. It helps people get more value out of what you offer - and frees up your teams to focus on higher-impact work.
The Benefits of eLearning for Businesses
Why are businesses ditching traditional training methods for eLearning? Probably because it just makes sense.
Cost Effective
SkyQuest projects the global corporate training market to grow from $176.58 billion in 2024 to $326.84 billion by 2032. However, most of the money being spent on training is not yielding results. Only 25% of information is retained two weeks after training, suggesting the need for ongoing support. Ineffective training is not only a waste of time, it’s expensive.
You don’t need to host costly in-person training sessions or develop printed materials that can never be updated. eLearning can be easily edited to stay up to date with current industry trends and company policies. It’s simple to distribute, and it’s reusable.
Time Effective
Fast and scalable authoring tools can reduce the time of training production by 40%. Employees can train at their own pace, without the need for scheduled sessions that disrupt their productivity. But this also saves time for the employer, since training can be quickly updated and new information is easily distributed electronically.
Improves Performance and Productivity
eLearning is convenient and accessible, so learners can complete their training in ways that work for them. Since barriers to completion are removed, learners are more productive and motivated to complete their training.
Plus, eLearning engages learners in a variety of ways that make the information more memorable, and the learner more skilled. Not only does eLearning improve performance during training, but its effectiveness makes learners more productive in the long run too. According to a study by Finances Online, 83% of employees who undergo gamified eLearning training are more motivated at work, and knowledge retention increases by 30%.
Well-trained employees work smarter, solve problems faster, and contribute more effectively.
Accessible
There are countless ways to make eLearning accessible. It removes geographical limitations, ensuring consistent training across global teams. Information can be quickly translated into multiple languages. It should be able to be accessed on any device - more than 70% of employees report that they use mobile devices for training.
The actual learning experience can be made more accessible, with different modes of training and personalized learning paths that users can navigate in ways that work best for them.
Easy Progress Tracking
Digitizing the experience should be accompanied by analytics. 92% of organizations say learning analytics are important for improving their training effectiveness.
See who has completed their training, who’s excelling, who needs a nudge, and where you may have to fill in the knowledge gaps.
Environmentally Friendly
eLearning removes the need for printed materials and distribution, which can have a heavy impact on the environment. Opting for digital eLearning solutions can decrease carbon emissions by up to 90% compared to traditional methods.
Businesses all over the world are making more of an effort to reduce their carbon emissions, and eLearning is a major step to take toward that goal.
Adaptable
eLearning courses can be fast to develop and instantaneous to share with relevant people. If you need to change company policies and let everyone know, or educate everyone on a new product within the week, eLearning can easily adapt with you.
The Pitfalls of eLearning (And How to Avoid Them)
According to all of those benefits, eLearning is incredible - unless it’s not. These benefits can only apply if training is done right, and it’s very easy to fall into some common traps and mistakes.
Here are some things to watch for, and how to stay ahead of them:
1. Choosing the Wrong Tools
Clunky interfaces, poor mobile support, and outdated UX can frustrate learners and stall progress. The right platform should be intuitive, responsive, and built to scale - especially in fast-moving, hybrid work environments.
In fact, technical and usability issues are one of the top learner complaints. If platforms are confusing, buggy, or poorly optimized for mobile, learners may give up entirely. A survey found that 93% of employees expect training to be easy to access and complete - and when it's not, engagement drops sharply.
2. Manual Administration
Manually tracking completions and nudging learners wastes time and limits scalability. Smart systems automate admin tasks, keep training on track, and reduce the burden on internal teams.
3. Underutilizing Learner Data
Data is more than a progress bar. Used well, it can uncover knowledge gaps, spotlight struggling learners, and inform better training design. Ignored, it’s just a missed opportunity. Tracking learner drop-off points and feedback scores can highlight where courses lose engagement. For instance, high drop-off often correlates with long, static modules or usability issues.
4. Static, Text-Heavy Content
Reading walls of text is probably not the best way to go for an effective training program. Learners engage more deeply with interactive modules, multimedia, and real-world simulations that break up content and bring concepts to life.
Courses that rely too heavily on passive content, especially long videos or text slides, are often labeled “click-next training” by disengaged learners. Without interactivity, learners may multitask or zone out, reducing retention.
5. One-Size-Fits-All Training
Learners bring different skill levels, roles, and goals. A rigid experience that treats everyone the same will never be as effective as one that adapts - offering branching paths, personalized pacing, or role-specific learning journeys. Learners cite frustration when training doesn’t reflect their role, skill level, or time constraints. This disconnect contributes to low engagement and high dropout in optional or developmental courses.
6. Low Motivation and High Drop-Off
Self-paced learning can be empowering, but it also requires strong motivation and time management. Without external accountability or set schedules, many learners fall behind. Studies show that 40% to 80% of online learners never complete their courses, especially if the training is not mandatory. Reasons cited include competing priorities, lack of interest, or simply forgetting to log in. Organizations offering optional learning must take extra steps, like gamified elements, nudges, or certificates, to boost motivation and completion.
7. Lack of Human Connection
One of the most common criticisms of eLearning is that it can feel impersonal or isolating. About one in seven learners worry that the lack of interaction with instructors and peers negatively impacts their education. Without real-time discussion, Q&A, or peer learning, some learners struggle to stay engaged and absorb material.
8. Cognitive Overload
Lengthy modules without breaks or interactivity can lead to mental fatigue. Without live instructors to clarify complex topics or adjust pacing, learners may feel overwhelmed or lost. This leads to lower knowledge retention, even when completion rates appear high. Additionally, learners report screen fatigue from back-to-back digital learning sessions, especially in fully remote or hybrid work environments.
9. Technical Frustration
A confusing interface, poor mobile support, or media that won’t load can instantly derail a learner’s progress. Ease of use is a top demand among corporate learners, and technical difficulties are cited as a major reason people abandon courses. When learners face login issues, crashes, or mobile-unfriendly formats, they lose trust in the training and are less likely to return.
Modern Methods: What Does eLearning Look Like Today?
eLearning is taking on many shapes and forms, and there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. Some examples of eLearning methods include:
Videos: Short, engaging video lessons explaining key concepts.
Social Learning: Forums and knowledge-sharing communities.
Slide-Based Courses: Presentations with multimedia elements.
Quizzes: Not only to test the learner’s knowledge, but for them to get some interactivity and actually retain the information.
Scenario-Based Learning: Simulating the real-world situations in a risk-free environment.
How to Deliver eLearning
Getting into eLearning and effectively training employees can be daunting. All of these things sound great - cost-effective, scalable, engaging, effective… but none of it really matters when you have no idea how to develop and distribute any of it.
Choosing the right tools will make your life a lot easier. Let’s cover some of the core tools you would need.
Learning Management Systems (LMS)
This is a software used to handle course distribution, tracking, and reporting. It’s the interface that learners will see, where they can go through the chapters of their training and view their progress. It’s where your training courses would be stored, and often goes beyond this with supportive features to help you deliver.
There are a few different kinds of Learning Management Systems - they can be custom-built, cloud-based, or installed on-premise. The most popular one, and the easiest to use for online learning, is the cloud-based LMS. This system hosts your content on the cloud and is accessible through the internet, offering flexibility and ease of maintenance.
Authoring Tools
This is where the magic happens. An authoring tool is software to create eLearning content, that would then be delivered through the LMS. Early solutions were often clunky and limited - think static slideshows and long PDF manuals. Now, you should expect a lot more from your authoring tools. Today’s authoring software allows you to create multimedia-rich, interactive learning experiences. Elements like choosing your own learning path, gamification, and scenario-based learning should be easy to create with your authoring tool.
Analytics
You need to know what goes on with your training. Analytics tools provide data-driven insights to measure engagement, completion rates, and effectiveness. Sometimes analytics come built into your LMS, but it’s still an important part to consider when creating effective training.
8 Steps to Deliver eLearning
Developing training that employees love is important, but creating the training should be an enjoyable process for you too. It can get overwhelming, so we’ve simplified the process into 8 steps to give you an overview of what creating an eLearning course would look like.
- Set the goals: Define what you want the employees to learn.
- Plan the content: Identify the topics that you would need to cover for the employees to achieve those learning objectives set out in the first step.
- Choose your learning tools: You know what the goals and the content will look like, so it will be easy to find the tools to serve those requirements. Choose your LMS, authoring tool, and analytics system. Look for solutions that make it easy to create and update interactive content, without needing a whole production team. The right tools should streamline your workflow, not slow it down.
- Create the content: Develop engaging lessons on each topic you’ve laid out. This should be the fun part. Use videos, quizzes, and engaging elements.
- Integrate with LMS or distribute directly: Lay out the content in your LMS so that it’s easy for people to find and follow along.
- Test it: Give the course a run through, maybe get another pair of eyes on it for some feedback, to ensure a smooth experience for the learner.
- Train: Launch the course.
- Analyze and improve: Use analytics to refine and enhance future training.
The Future of Training
eLearning has grown drastically in the last decade, and it’s going to continue to evolve with technology. Organizations are also increasingly on top of technology that improves business outcomes and productivity. This is clearly not a fad.
With developing AI-powered learning solutions creating powerful and personalized learning, the convenience of online training, and the necessity of being adaptive in competitive business landscapes - it is vital for companies to stay up to date with the skills and potential of their workforce. It is vital for companies to stay up to date with eLearning.