In 2015, the work management platform Wrike began rapidly growing. With an expanding user base, the company needed a way to quickly create high-quality customer training resources.
Wrike’s need for a scalable training method led them to make eLearning courses. Enter Vyond. Upon using Vyond to create animated eLearning courses, Wrike saw an increase in course completion and even found themselves saving money on training—all without extensive experience using Vyond.
We sat down with Wrike’s head of customer education, Chris Van Reusen, to learn more about the company’s journey with animation and eLearning development.
Why did you decide to create videos at Wrike?
Chris: My team works on three self-service areas: eLearning, online community forums, and our help documentation/knowledge base. We needed a training solution that could scale as fast as our business. We decided to use videos as a method for delivering content because of the huge increase in video consumption as a learning medium over the last two decades.
Why did you decide to use Vyond?
Chris: A Wrike team member had experience with Vyond, so we decided to give it a trial. Vyond seemed like an excellent way to quickly produce high quality and engaging videos to use in our eLearning courses. Turns out I was right. We quickly found that Vyond was quick and easy to use and enabled us to provide great story-based courses. Our team members have an aversion to stock images, so Vyond was a very welcome alternative.
How long did it take your team to become Vyond experts?
Chris: We’ve had a few different people on the team use Vyond, and they each came with varying levels of experience. One of our team members had to start working on a Vyond video the week he started. He was given a complex video involving fish jumping out of baskets. This was very much a case of being thrown into the deep end and learning to swim, but two hours later, he was comfortable with Vyond, and we released the course in record time.
Not only was this Wrike course released in record time, but it also featured complex and captivating animation to boot! Check out the course here.
What was your first or favorite video that you made with Vyond?
Chris: Very soon after shelter-in-place orders were being issued, we realized we needed to provide something to help our customers with the transition to remote work. We ended up releasing an animated course on remote work in early April. The quick turnaround and the ability to meet a customer’s immediate needs (even when it’s not what you were planning for) made the course extremely rewarding.
This course is a great example of a topical subject, covering remote work during a period when many companies found themselves transitioning to a different operations model. Check out the course here.
What is your video creation process?
Chris: We have a template that we follow for each of our courses (i.e., videos), but the main process is: outline goals, create a storyboard, and then create the video. We follow an agile process, so in between each of those steps, there’s a review and room to make changes.
Storyboards and videos are actually made by different people. Making sure there’s a solid handoff and sync between the two people is really important for our team.
How do you keep learners engaged in your video courses?
Chris: In effect, the learner is immersed in the story and actively participates. We introduce a problem and describe how our tool could solve it. Then we pause for a practical exercise where the learner experiences how Wrike solves the problem. Then the user comes back and continues the story to the next problem.
What other tools are in your “video stack?”
Chris: We use a few different things: Camtasia, Adobe Creative Cloud Suite, Wrike (of course!), and Articulate Storyline for the courses.
Wrike uses Articulate Storyline to turn their animations into interactive courses with branched pathways. Check out the course here.
How do you record audio?
Chris: We have a very passionate audio guru on the team, Ivan. Pre-COVID, he worked from a sound studio in one of our office conference rooms to record audio for our video courses. Since mid-March, our office has been remote, and it’s much harder to have multiple individuals record audio from home. Cramped closets, though, can provide somewhat decent acoustics.
How do you measure video success?
Chris: Our customers’ feedback! Ultimately, that’s who we make videos for, and we want them to learn from and enjoy the content they’re consuming. We also keep a close eye on course completion rates. Lastly, we’ve managed to cut costs by reducing the time it takes to create training while seeing an increase in course completion and product adoption.
What is your number one tip for professionals who want to create videos but aren’t sure where to start?
Chris: Don’t start with the video. Outline the video, create the storyboard (keep in mind, some video tools have this functionality built-in,) and add as many details about what you want the video to show at this stage. Then make the video. Making the video should be like following a recipe – it’s an art, but you have guidelines to follow.
What’s your next project?
Chris: We’ve been working on a Wrike product certification for a little while, and that’s our next big release. We created all the video modules for certification in Vyond and are really excited to release it to customers and see what they think.
Creating your own eLearning courses today
Wrike used Vyond to educate their customers in a meaningful, fun way. With a little creativity and handiwork, you can too. Animation with Vyond is simple, affordable, and scalable. But, don’t take our word for it — start your free 14-day trial and see for yourself.
Crush your 2020 goals and keep moving forward with Wrike’s work management platform.
Make a video
