Hiring an eLearning vendor should be straightforward, but most companies make the same five mistakes that lead to disappointing results, blown budgets, and strained relationships.
Mistake 1: Leading with Price
The cheapest option rarely delivers the best value. When you select primarily on price, you often get cookie-cutter content that fails to engage learners or change behavior. Invest in understanding what quality looks like before comparing costs.
Mistake 2: Skipping the Discovery Phase
Vendors who jump straight to solutions without understanding your organization’s context, culture, and challenges will produce generic content. Insist on a thorough discovery process.
Mistake 3: Ignoring the Science
Effective learning is grounded in cognitive and behavioral science. If your vendor can’t articulate their instructional approach beyond “we make it interactive,” that’s a red flag.
Mistake 4: Underestimating Stakeholder Alignment
The number one cause of project delays and scope creep is misaligned stakeholders. A good vendor will help you manage this, but you need to prioritize it from the start.
Mistake 5: Measuring the Wrong Things
Completion rates and satisfaction scores won’t tell you whether behavior changed. Define success metrics upfront that connect to actual job performance.