The trouble with being in the learning industry

The trouble with being in the learning industry is that when you do something daft, you get hit with ‘you should know better’.

We’re always looking for simple ways for people to engage with e-learning. We set ourselves the challenge of coming up with something that was relevant and sensitive to the current climate; interesting, growth-focussed but with a healthy slice of fun.

The result? Training Sensei’s bootcamp. A daily mental workout which is easy for businesses or individuals alike to engage with. Complete with a social competitive element and the obligatory amazon voucher for the winner. The reception surprised us but as the title suggests, we should have known better.

The Paradox of Choice

So here’s a thing. All of the courses that we offered in our bootcamp are available in our learning lounge (the area our subscribers go to get their learning), alongside hundreds of other courses. Our bootcamp is a comparable price to a month’s subscription and yet when we did a soft launch in June, it was received better than even our most optimistic of predictions. How come people are more willing to sign up to less?!

The lure of an amazon voucher aside, the campaign served as a timely reminder to us of one of the key points from one of our sales & marketing courses. By removing choice, it often makes it easier for those on the receiving end to make a quick decision – “can it help me or not”.

It all began with jam. In 2000, psychologists Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper published a remarkable study. On one day, shoppers at an upscale food market saw a display table with 24 varieties of gourmet jam. Those who sampled the spreads received a coupon for $1 off any jam. On another day, shoppers saw a similar table, except that only six varieties of the jam were on display. The large display attracted more interest than the small one. But when the time came to purchase, people who saw the large display were one-tenth as likely to buy as people who saw the small display.

So we’ve swallowed our own medicine and used this principle to offer a truly ready-to-go, like it or lump it, take it or leave it product. Whilst some may prefer to spend a bit more time looking through our full catalogue, we have now made the bootcamp a regular feature to help those that prefer this route to get a taste of e-learning without having to sample 24 jams.

Our next bootcamp starts on 01st July 2020 and the theme for this one is personal effectiveness.

If you’re interested, you can see the titles and register HERE.

If you’re not, don’t!

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