interactive walkthroughs
Interactive walkthroughs are on-screen guides that teach end-users how to use your tool or application, or how to use newly released features through chatbots, pop-up prompt bubbles, and tooltips. They are integrated with onboarding and training programs to create a personalized experiential learning experience that accelerates time-to-competency and guides users to their aha moment.
Walkthroughs and product tours are similar, but they aren’t quite the same. They both guide end-users through processes to increase efficiency, but they have different functions and end goals.
Walkthroughs are used to teach customers and employees alike. For example, when an enterprise company decides to start using a new human resources information system (HRIS), they will create multiple walkthroughs to teach their employees how to use the new tool efficiently. The end goal of using these interactive guides is faster product adoption of new tools or newly released features.
A product tour, on the other hand, is used – usually by SaaS companies and web applications – to increase customer engagement and retention and highlight the most useful features of an application or digital tool. For example, if Salesforce wanted to show their customers how valuable their tool is upfront to increase retention, they would invest in a product walkthrough.
There are a few benefits that make walktthroughs more effective and efficient compared to traditional employee and customer training methods:
Walkthrough software integrates with whatever platform you use – HRIS tools, SaaS products, mobile applications, in-house tools – so that you can host guided walkthroughs easily, without any coding knowledge. Product walkthrough tools increase accessibility and make training more effective.
Choosing the right walkthrough software for your customer onboarding and employee training programs will make your training programs more efficient. Here are some factors to consider:
Most walkthrough software comes as a part of a digital adoption platform’s (DAP) arsenal of application training and website walkthrough tools. They integrate with your platform and allow you to create walkthroughs using JavaScript, a browser extension, or an API.
With a DAP, you can gamify the onboarding experience to make it more effective. You can create a series of walkthroughs and compile them in a single task list for your new hire to check off to show them where to start and which processes are more important than others. When you hire a new human resource (HR) manager, for example, they won’t get overwhelmed by your HRIS. They’ll know exactly where and how to start learning.
DAPs also have application-specific and website walkthrough tools to automate processes and reduce errors. In the insurance industry, for instance, when an agent needs to file a claim, a guided walkthrough can show them what blanks they need to fill in, what options they need to select, and so on using tooltips. Some DAPs even go so far as to auto-fill certain blanks so that there’s even less room for error.
There are five features to look for in walkthrough software:
Creating content for walkthroughs is fast and easy, but building a training program to increase time-to-competency requires a little more thought. Here are some tips on how to build walkthroughs that will help your end users learn faster:
If you’re spending too many hours on customer support, seeing an increase in churn rate, or finding that customers aren’t taking full advantage of your product, you might want to look into interactive help software.
Product walkthroughs increase engagement and usage by showing users exactly how to achieve a certain goal using your piece of software. When users are confused about how to produce a certain outcome, you can redirect questions away from your support team to your self-help solutions.
Here are two walkthrough software use cases that demonstrate how interactive walkthroughs reduce time spent on customer support and training.
1. PlanetHS – A cloud-based software that streamlines middle school and high school athlete registration
PlanetHS created 41 product walkthroughs that helped their users over 320,000 times and eliminated 190,000 support tickets.
2. Corrigo – A computerized maintenance management system that unifies facility management
Corrigo created goal-oriented walkthroughs to provide customers and employees with a personalized self-help solution.
If your team is struggling to adapt to a new digital tool, then that tool is hurting more than helping. Interactive walkthroughs can make sure that your employees aren’t spending more time than they need to learn how to use a new tool. Enterprise companies use walkthrough software to train their users at scale and make complicated processes simpler through demonstration and guidance.
Enterprise companies use walkthroughs to reduce training content creation time and solve support issues.
1. Trotec Laser – An industry leader in laser technology
Trotec Laser trained their employees to use Salesforce using walkthroughs and ended up reducing training and content creation time by 60%.
2. Dimensions UK – A non-profit that supports people with complex cognitive and behavioral needs
Dimensions UK conducted iplanit training with walkthroughs, which led to an 84% reduction in time spent creating training content and a more effective way to solve support issues.