Whiteboard videos unlock understanding and open minds.
Key Takeaways:
- Employees find benefits such as HSAs, retirement plans, and compensation structures overwhelming due to their complexity and technical jargon.
- There is a pressing need for benefits information to be communicated clearly and personally to help employees make informed decisions.
- TruScribe’s Scribology method uses whiteboard video animation to simplify complex information and improve message retention through visual storytelling.
- The effectiveness of whiteboard videos is supported by neuroscience principles and taps into human preferences for visual and narrative information, facilitating better comprehension and retention.
Today’s workplace is dynamic and more diverse than ever in terms of demographics and how and where we work. Hiring and retaining the best talent leads to organizational success, and benefits play a large part. The way complex benefits information is conveyed about things such as health savings accounts (HSAs), retirement plans, and nuanced compensation structures is crucial.
Benefits packages can often feel overwhelming, even to the most savvy employees. The technical jargon of HSAs, the myriad options in retirement plans, and the details of compensation structures require not just disseminating information but also ensuring its comprehension. Employees today expect personalization and clarity in communication as they make critical choices that affect their health, financial security, and overall well-being.
Effective benefits communication impacts employee satisfaction, engagement, and retention. Benefits information tends to be presented in a bland, matter-of-fact manner that is, frankly, boring. To overcome these challenges, there’s TruScribe’s unique approach, an innovative solution using whiteboard video animation called Scribology to simplify complex information and boost message retention.
Why whiteboard videos are effective: The science behind Scribology
Scribology sounds like fun. And it is, but while we’re making art, we’re also using neuroscience. Pictures communicate concepts better than words because we are wired to retain more information when presented visually. This is called the picture-superiority effect. We also apply the Von Restorff Effect (aka the Isolation Effect), which posits that when multiple, similar objects are shown, the different one is the one that is remembered.
Whiteboard videos are crafted to harness the power of visual and narrative learning preferences – they create a compelling, engaging, and effective employee benefits learning experience that can significantly enhance both comprehension and retention of information.
The picture-superiority effect
Pictures are remembered better than words, and this applies to recall and retention. One study found that after viewing 2,000 images for just 10 seconds each, participants were able to recall over 90% of them with accuracy in a recognition test conducted days later.
In the human brain, pictures are often encoded in both verbal and pictorial stores. Words are not: pictures elicit naming more often than words invoke imagery.
The Von Restorff effect
German psychiatrist Hedwig von Restorff found in a 1933 study that when the participants were given a list of similar items with one distinctive item on the list, memory was improved for that isolated item. For example, if a list contained the words house, door, window, roof, and banjo, you can likely guess which word is remembered.
Applying this effect means key elements are visually distinct from others by using color or creative visuals for critical information. This has significant implications for how information is processed.
Whiteboard videos utilize the natural human cognitive preferences for visual and narrative content to enhance learning, retention, and comprehension.
Humans are visual learners
We are highly visual creatures. Scientific studies show that 65% of us are visual learners, processing visual information much faster than text. Whiteboard videos capitalize on this through dynamic drawings that evolve as the story unfolds. The continuous line of sight from one image to the next maintains viewer focus and helps a seamless transition of concepts.
Using the art of storytelling
Stories have been used throughout history to convey information. But not all of those stories are verbal: Some of the earliest evidence of stories are cave drawings in Lascaux and Chavaux, France. Dating back 30,000 years, these drawings depict animals, humans, and objects. Some of them represent visual stories.
Today, Scribology whiteboard videos use a narrative structure that builds on this tradition. By presenting information as a story, with a clear beginning, middle, and end, they make content more relatable and engaging, not only grabbing attention but also making information easier to remember.
Synchronized audio and visual
In whiteboard videos, the auditory explanations mirror visual illustrations to create a multisensory learning experience. When people hear information while simultaneously seeing it, they are more likely to retain information.
Simplification through drawing
Complex ideas become more digestible when broken down into simple, hand-drawn illustrations. Whiteboard videos simplify complex subjects in a step-by-step process mirrored by the drawing hand. This not only makes learning more accessible but also reduces cognitive load, making it easier for viewers to absorb and recall information.
Whiteboard videos also reveal information incrementally, which helps maintain suspense and interest – this keeps the audience curious about what will be drawn next. The informal and often playful nature of whiteboard drawings can evoke positive emotions and increase engagement because emotions play a significant role in learning.
The unique combination of voice, text, and drawings in whiteboard videos helps to encode information in viewers’ long-term memory. It also appeals to different learning styles, making it effective for a wide audience. Whiteboard videos are crafted to harness the power of visual and narrative learning preferences favored by human cognition. This means they create a compelling, engaging, and effective learning experience that can significantly enhance both comprehension and retention of information.
The metrics: Measuring communication effectiveness
To gauge the effectiveness of whiteboard videos, organizations can measure four key metrics: understanding, engagement, retention, and behavior change. By systematically measuring these metrics, organizations can refine their benefits communication strategies.
- Understanding
- Objective: Assess employee comprehension of benefits information.
- Techniques: Use surveys, quizzes, and feedback sessions to evaluate clarity and comprehension.
- Metrics: Percentage of correct quiz responses and clarity scores from feedback.
- Engagement
- Objective: Monitor employee interaction with communication materials.
- Techniques: Utilize analytics for online content views and interactions, and check attendance for live sessions.
- Metrics: Engagement rate (interactions divided by total reach) and average viewing time on content
- Retention
- Objective: Measure how much information employees remember over time.
- Techniques: Conduct follow-up surveys and offer refresher programs to gauge information retention.
- Metrics: Retention rate over time, improvement post-refresher courses.
- Behavioral changes or responses
- Objective: Observe changes in employee actions, such as benefit plan enrollment.
- Techniques: Track enrollment and benefit utilization rates pre- and post-communication.
- Metrics: Changes in enrollment numbers and benefits utilization rates.
Tools and techniques to track outcomes
Practical methods and tools for tracking the success of your Scribology whiteboard videos include:
- Knowledge checks using surveys and quizzes.
- For remote employees, measure interaction by views or click-through rates.
- Collect direct, qualitative feedback using video meeting platforms or Microsoft Forms or Google Forms for digital feedback.
- Centralize the tracking of all communication metrics with LMS (learning management system) platforms like Moodle, or HR platforms such as BambooHR or Workday
These methods and tools ensure effective communication and provide measurable outcomes to verify understanding and engagement.
Harness the power of visual storytelling
Scribology-infused whiteboard videos by TruScribe leverage visual storytelling to simplify and enhance communication of complex benefits information. Captivating hand-drawn visuals improves retention and engagement, while complex details are simplified to make information both accessible and clear for everyone. Dry content is transformed into engaging stories, increasing the probability that essential details will be absorbed.
However happy you are with your whiteboard video, it’s important to conduct feedback surveys, use analytics and follow-up tests, and observe behavior changes. This will help you increase effectiveness.
Ready to revolutionize your benefits communications?
TruScribe’s customized whiteboard videos significantly improve how benefits information is perceived and utilized. Request a quote today and discover the effective and measurable TruScribe difference!