Transforming Retail Training with Storyteller Studio: Closing the Engagement Gap

Our major retail client was struggling to train employees on a new equipment rollout. Their existing training—consisting of PDFs, web-based videos, and in-person coaching—was costly, slow and ineffective. In the particular case of a new equipment rollout that would be going into all stores, they found store employees required multiple months to gain confidence in working with the new equipment using existing training methods, and service tickets for simple issues were piling up, costing the company time and money. As one shift lead we spoke with described, “Overnight all our tribal knowledge for how to do this one part of our job suddenly became outdated. Nobody knew how to do their job.”

With the realization that seasoned workers were suddenly now on the same footing as new hires when it came to using and maintaining the new in-store equipment, our client realized the need for a true modernization of their training and support tools for in-store teams; especially in terms of immersion and real-time availability of tangible knowledge.

Through discussions with their home office training teams and operational stakeholders, it was clear they needed a solution that could:

• Engage employees, activate learning, and build confidence quickly through hands-on training

• Reduce preventable service calls through step-by-step 3D guides that anyone could follow

• Be completed in a short amount of time (~15 minutes), usually right before a shift

• Deploy rapidly on in-store devices (tablets and laptops) without requiring additional hardware investment (like AR or VR), and alongside an entrenched LMS solution

• Have the ability for the home office team to make constant updates to content and update in-field apps at runtime

• Effectively embrace the unique brand standards for the company, including branding, environment and apparel for characters, etc

• Allow them to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of in-field training

Breaking down the problem

From conversations with frontline workers it became clear there is a major disconnect between the training they receive and the skills they need to develop in order to be effective at any job. A 2023 Harvard Business Review report estimated that companies lose over $10 million annually for every 1,000 employees trained due to ineffective training and poor knowledge retention.

“This just isn’t how I learn,” one food service worker told us, in regards to the new PDF training they had received. “I want to practice and try things for myself, but there’s never a good time when serving customers.”

This type of “flat information” like PDFs and videos simply fails to engage us, with our brains retaining little of the disparate facts they’re able to file away. It’s no wonder then workers report low confidence, high anxiety, and repeatedly refrain from tackling even routine issues as they arise.

Learning industry experts have long known that immersive, hands-on learning, whether in-person or virtual, is the fastest way to learn something new. Where 'flat information' is ineffective and gradually burns us out, a well-made simulation has the power to not only immerse learners but engage them on a fundamentally deeper level. This form of ‘active learning’ engages more of our senses, pushes us to want to overcome challenges inherent in mastering a new skill, and is inherent in how humans forge strong and lasting memories that they can rely on in the moment. This is critical to success in most industries, yet most companies do not adopt simulation training solutions.

Why?

The Engagement Gap

In talking to training teams we began to notice a “gap” between the quality of training experience any learning team was able to create, and the compounding risk around complexity and cost associated with the tools and pipelines required to create those experiences. 

For example, simulation may be the best way to learn, but who exactly is going to create this content? How? And what exactly should it do? Do you use the a generic off-the-shelf VR training subscription or hire a team of artists and developers to pursue a goal with no clear outcome? How will you update and expand this content over time? What about accessibility? Privacy? What’s the right balance between playful and professional? Do you need to invest in a thousand VR headsets? How do you discern viability, successfully pitch a strategy, or measure success? As many seasoned learning leaders can attest to, most simulation efforts die in-between the numerous hurdles, or gaps, that a team must navigate. Despite the potential for incredible outcomes, it’s understandable then why most companies still consider simulation learning a risky investment. 

Every year companies invest in flashy proof-of-concept tools like AR or gamified experiences, only to find them too costly, complex or difficult to integrate with existing systems- or even worse, that they don’t resonate at all with workers. Without clear strategy, a seamless deployment plan and simple sustainment strategy, well-intentioned training innovations quickly become obsolete or unsustainable.

At the end of the day the need for engaging, scalable training is undeniable, but most solutions don’t address the many operational hurdles inherent in existing services or DIY solutions. Rather, we believe companies require an enterprise-ready solution that delivers both captivating content and effortless content management in one simple to use platform.

The Hypothesis: Closing the Engagement Gap

Bridging this Engagement Gap requires more than just delivering interactive content. A successful platform must offer dynamic, decision-based learning experiences that engage workers and empower training teams to easily create, update, and manage simulation content at scale. 

Can you imagine a world in which nobody ever complained about boring training ever again?

Key Research Insights

Through customer discovery and conversations with frontline teams, we uncovered three key insights that shaped our strategy:

1. Employee Engagement: Frontline workers engage most when they become the hero of the story. Through cinematic, interactive simulations—especially popular among younger workers—employees build confidence by tackling real-world challenges in an immersive environment.

2. Device Compatibility: VR headsets and third-party hardware are often non-starters for anything beyond initial pilots. Companies need solutions that work on existing devices—tablets, smartphones and laptops—without costly hardware investments. 

3. Content Management Flexibility: No training solution can survive without adaptability. Teams need the ability to create, customize and update content themselves in real time. Self-service content management is critical to keeping training relevant and reducing costly production updates.

“I’m not a technologist. I want this to be as simple as making or updating a PowerPoint.” —Early customer interview

These insights helped shape the design of what would become Storyteller Studio, and with it a new, streamlined approach that allows anyone to create highly engaging and highly effective simulation stories in minutes rather than months, and for a fraction of the cost.

Using this as a new benchmark for what was possible we began to reimagine the first week as a new retail employee, and with it set a bearing for our pilot training experience…