Using Inclusive Language to Create Successful Sales eLearning
This scenario-based eLearning concept project helps sales associates explore the importance of using inclusive language to create genuine connections with customers to bolster sales. It provides the opportunity for sales associates to gain a foundational understanding of microaggressions to apply when supporting a diverse customer-base with purchasing empowering clothing.
Audience: New & experienced sales associates working in retail
Responsibilities: Action mapping, storyboarding, visual & graphic design, eLearning development & instructional design
Tools Used: Articulate Storyline 360, xAPI, Javascript, Figma, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe XD, Google Docs & Mindmeister
The Problem
The client, Embrace, is an inclusive clothing brand celebrating the spectrum of human bodies and identities. They hired me to better understand how to meet the needs of frustrated customers who didn’t have positive experiences with sales associates. By partnering with the management teams, I identified a need for opportunities to understand the importance of using inclusive language with customers.
The Solution
I recommended a scenario-based eLearning solution as it will allow employees to practice inclusive language and learn what microaggressions are in safe space, independently from the judgment of their peers. Completing the training will then successfully boost the confidence of the employees and increase the quality of customer service, in turn increasing sales in the process.
My Process
This scenario-based eLearning project followed ADDIE to determine the course goals and what the training content should include. I was able to conclude how prior trainings for sales associates failed to address soft skills, especially the importance of language and empathy with customers. The underlying topic of microaggressions united my DEI expertise with my design skills using Adobe Illustrator and Articulate Storyline 360. I acted as my own SME (subject matter expert) and illustrator to create a visually pleasing and low-stakes training to bring the importance of understanding the impacts of microaggressions to light.
Action Map
In order to identify the high-priority actions, a business goal was finalized focusing on formal complaints decreasing 15% by Q4 after the eLearning course was implemented. The actions I identified directly spoke to the use of language by sales associates in order to reach the goal. Additionally, I focused on microaggressions that go unnoticed and apply in customer service interactions. The language we chose to use tends to be intentional and has more power than we realize. I wanted learners to experience how using inclusive language has a positive impact and can ripple farther than expected. We are all capable of reflecting on our verbal habits, but sometimes we need a model on how to do so to build our confidence to change.
Text-based Storyboard
To execute my vision for this project, I created a text-based storyboard to map out the story. It was important that I immersed my learners in the situations to build empathy within the scenarios. I also wanted to make sure the language used was light and conversational so as to not discourage learners if they made a mistake and were open to learning from the consequences. Additionally, I introduced a mentor character, Ivy, to support and give learners autonomy on their journey if they felt like they required additional context to move through the different scenarios. Implementing feedback was crucial throughout this phase to make sure the high-priority actions were tackled appropriately in the learning experience.
Visual Mockups
I was pretty excited to work on the visual design for this project and started with a mood board to gather inspiration for color combinations and fonts. After I was satisfied with the outcome of my mood board, I designed my style guide, focusing on making sure the colors immersing my learners were inviting and calming. I love using Adobe Illustrator and eagerly started to iterate on my wireframes and mockups to breathe life into my fictional store, Embrace.
Custom Artwork
Visual aesthetics are pretty important to me and luckily I really enjoy using Adobe Illustrator to create rich designs. All of the artwork in this project was created by myself, other than the characters, which I manipulated after sourcing from Freepik. I wanted the different settings at the store to feel modern and inviting – true to the brand’s mission of being body-inclusive.
Interactive Prototype
Once the visuals were nailed down, it was time to build an interactive prototype in Articulate Storyline 360. It was important for me to gain feedback on the functionality to make sure navigating the scenarios was intuitive and felt authentic. In the prototype I included the interactive Introduction Slides as well as the first question and its consequences and I felt that the overall UX/UI for the project was represented in these slides.
Full Development
After getting feedback on the prototype, I was ready to begin building the full development of the project. The prototype was essential in allowing me to swiftly develop the rest of the project and use the prototyped slides as a template. In the introduction on the project, it was important to me that the flashback with the mentor character, Ivy, hit the right tone and was easy to digest as it set the stage for the scenarios to come in the project. Additionally, having the story visually flow from different settings in the store was something I paid extra attention to to represent what a shift might look like for a sales associate. Articulate Storyline 360 is such a powerful and gratifying tool, making programming triggers, creating states, and designing animations easy to execute to create an engaging learning experience. My personal background is in film and video, and that foundational knowledge truly helped me to bring the storyboard to life.
After learning how to execute xAPI statements from Storyline, I added in a few xAPI components into the project to gain data on which questions the learners needed support from the mentor character, Ivy. I also wanted insight into learners were answering each of the questions. Creating access to the data to evaluate what questions learners didn’t get right on the first try is an important tool to help design future modules if there’s a need to reinforce the material. Since this data is purely for evaluation purposes, I coded in a random actor into the xAPI statements to allow users anonymity as they went through the learning experience. xAPI is such a powerful tool to evaluate learners to better meet their needs and I’m thrilled learning how to add it into learning experiences was easy to tackle.
Results and Takeaways
Sharing my project with my peers was a step I was both looking forward to and anxious about. Having designed the visuals myself as well as tackling a tricky topic like microaggressions, it felt vulnerable to put it out into the world. I received a lot of positive feedback and my learners easily shared how they learned new information on this topic. One learner wrote, “That was the first time I have ever had FUN completing a training”, truly shining a light on how I executed the vision I had for this learning experience. The process of working on this project has only accelerated my passion for instructional design and I’m looking forward to building out the next topic I’ve been hired to create.