How do you evaluate the return on investment (ROI) of your training communication efforts?

1 Define your objectives

Before you can calculate the ROI of your training communication, you need to define your objectives and expectations. What are the specific outcomes that you want to achieve with your communication strategy? How do they relate to your overall training goals and business objectives? For example, do you want to increase the awareness, attendance, or satisfaction of your training programs? Do you want to improve the performance, productivity, or retention of your learners? Do you want to reduce the costs, errors, or risks associated with training? By setting clear and measurable objectives, you can establish the baseline and the target for your ROI analysis.

2 Choose your metrics

Once you have defined your objectives, you need to choose the metrics that will help you track and measure your progress and results. Metrics are indicators that show how well you are meeting your objectives and how much value you are creating with your training communication. Depending on your objectives, there are various types of metrics to consider, such as quantitative, qualitative, behavioral, or financial. For example, some common metrics for training communication include the number of views, clicks, opens, or responses to your communication messages or channels; feedback, ratings, comments, or testimonials from learners or stakeholders about communication quality or effectiveness; changes in the actions, habits, or behaviors of learners or stakeholders as a result of the communication; and costs, savings, revenues, or profits generated or influenced by the communication.

3 Collect and analyze your data

After you have chosen your metrics, you need to collect and analyze your data to evaluate your training communication. Data is the evidence that shows how your communication is performing and what impact it is having on your objectives and outcomes. You can collect data from various sources and methods, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, observations, tests, assessments, analytics, or reports. You can also use different tools and platforms, such as email, social media, intranet, learning management system (LMS), or customer relationship management (CRM), to gather and organize your data. To analyze your data, you need to compare your actual results with your expected results and identify the gaps, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, or threats of your communication strategy.

4 Calculate your ROI

The final step in evaluating your training communication is to calculate your ROI. ROI is the ratio of the benefits to the costs of your communication strategy, expressed as a percentage or a ratio, and it shows how much value you are creating or losing with your communication efforts. To calculate your ROI, you need to identify the benefits of your communication strategy and quantify them with metrics and data. Additionally, identify the costs of your communication strategy and quantify them with budget, invoices, or records. Subtract the costs from the benefits to get the net benefits of your communication strategy, which shows how much value you are adding or subtracting with your communication efforts. Finally, divide the net benefits by the costs to get the ROI of your communication strategy; this ratio shows how much value you are creating or losing for every unit of cost invested in your communication efforts. For example, if your communication strategy has a benefit of $10,000 and a cost of $2,000, then your net benefit is $8,000 and your ROI is 4 or 400%. This means that for every $1 invested in your communication strategy, you are creating $4 of value.

5 Adjust and improve your strategy

Evaluating the ROI of your training communication is a continuous process that requires regular monitoring and feedback. By measuring and analyzing your communication performance and impact, you can identify areas that need improvement or adjustment. Additionally, you can use the insights gained to optimize and enhance your communication strategy. This could include testing different methods, channels, formats, or styles to determine which works best for your audience and objectives; segmenting and personalizing messages or channels based on the needs of learners or stakeholders; aligning and integrating your communication strategy with your training strategy and business strategy; and communicating results to demonstrate the value of your communication strategy. Through evaluation, you can not only measure the effectiveness of your communication efforts, but also improve the quality and outcomes of your training programs and organizational performance.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?