About SmartBuyGlasses
SmartBuyGlasses is one of the world’s largest designer eyewear e-commerce companies, with a presence across Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa, and the Americas. With more than 15 years of experience in the industry, the eyewear e-retailer has taken a leadership position in more than 30 countries worldwide and offers an extensive range of eyeglasses, sunglasses, and contact lenses at accessible prices.
Its mission: To help people see and be healthy, regardless of their budget. A mission achieved through an integrated supply chain, close relationships with some of the world’s leading eyewear distributors, technological innovation, in-house opticians, and careful consideration of their customers’ needs.
We spoke with Penelope Matshete, Customer Service Team Lead at SmartBuyGlasses, about how she incentivized training for a distributed workforce.
White labeling TalentLMS for internal training
The company needed a tool that would allow them to create training content easily and keep it updated over time. Paired with the goal of deploying courses to a remote workforce in different locations and time zones, the company chose TalentLMS as its eLearning platform. “Our team is based all over the world, working across different time zones. With TalentLMS, we can easily go into the system and look over the content to check that everyone is completing their training as required.”
The company wanted to ensure their tool allows them to customize the look and feel of the training portal with their brand visuals. White labeling TalentLMS allowed the company to make it a natural extension of the brand in the learners’ eyes, especially with new hires.
“We wanted to create our own content and ensure our company’s branding came through for learners.”
Seamlessly onboarding remote employees
Employees are introduced to the company’s training portal when they first join the company. Before any department-specific training is assigned, new hires go over general courses regarding the brand and values of SmartBuyGlasses.
“TalentLMS really allows new hires to find their feet.”
Once they complete introductory training, they are assigned courses based on their role in the company. Throughout the experience, they are encouraged to refer to TalentLMS to verify whether they understand certain information properly. “New employees ask many questions, and TalentLMS is invaluable to us during their onboarding.”
This helped the company streamline its training and save time while providing new hires with a reliable repository of knowledge to refer to. The company also complements online learning with one-on-one coaching to ensure everyone is on the same page.
“What’s really been helpful to us is that there’s a TalentLMS representative dedicated to our learning portal. For example, we’ve renewed our plan recently. Our Success Manager gave us a detailed breakdown of each plan. This made it really easy for us to choose the right one for our needs.”
“We have worldwide accessibility with TalentLMS. That’s why we use it as a learning tool for all our new hires.”
PENELOPE MATSHETE | CUSTOMER SERVICE TEAM LEAD AT SMARTBUYGLASSES
Learning as a rewarding & engaging experience
For their employees, online training isn’t only focused on learning new things about SmartBuyGlasses and their products. Learners are incentivized to finish their assigned courses through an internal reward system that encourages timely training completion. “We want to ensure everyone takes their courses and understands them because it affects how they apply what they learned later. A reward system is our way of doing that,” Penelope explained.
She further stated that she likes to roll out training in batches so that it’s easier to manage and keep track of when working with a distributed workforce. Clear structure and incentives have clearly paid off, as their platform depicts high learner engagement.
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Dynamic learning with a rich assortment of content
For SmartBuyGlasses, their learners must assimilate the material quickly. To that end, the company mixes different types of content to create a dynamic experience for learners. Training is not a one-size-fits-all solution—some learners better engage with written content, whereas others do so through audiovisual experiences. Penelope takes this into account when creating content on TalentLMS.
“We want to ensure that everyone has access to this kind of learning–then we follow it up with different kinds of tests and assignments,” she added.
Webinars (or ILT-led sessions) are a form of training that caters to new and seasoned employees. “It’s a great learning tool if you use it to its full potential,” Penelope said. Even though the company prioritizes eLearning, they provide diverse training methods to reach their learning goals effectively.
“Practical application of knowledge is crucial for us. Everyone needs to know certain information and how to use it.”
Curating training with learning paths
The company found TalentLMS’s learning paths helpful in organizing the employees’ learning experiences. SmartBuyGlasses organize the courses in a way that allows everyone to have a standardized experience as they go through brand-new information.
“New hires must complete the first three courses before moving on to the next. That way, they learn in a pattern they can easily adjust to.” With three to four hours of daily learning, new employees can learn everything they need to know systematically. With people automatically enrolled in courses they must complete based on their roles, the company streamlined their upskilling despite being a remote workforce. “We have courses labeled A to M, so our staff must complete each one sequentially before moving on to the next.”
Branching training for worldwide learning
Penelope described customer service, marketing, logistics, merchandising, and opticians as some of the departments needing unique content based on their roles in the company. Therefore, having distinct eLearning ecosystems was crucial for business and learner needs. “We use TalentLMS across the company as it allows us to segment departments that need specific training.”
Penelope described being able to tell how long it takes to complete specific courses as a valuable perk of using TalentLMS’s branches. She uses this feature to test new courses before deciding whether they’re a good fit for company-wide use.
“It’s an incredible tool to have when so many people work together.”
Beyond the horizon with TalentLMS
Penelope is enthusiastic about exploring new capabilities on the platform, which can further enhance L&D initiatives. One such feature is course creation leveraging AI. “We are in the generation of AI. If we could encompass all our content creation in a single tool, that would be amazing.”
Additionally, with the introduction of TalentLMS’s revamped interface, she emphasizes how great the ability for more streamlined content management is. “Our future with TalentLMS looks quite bright.” Lastly, Penelope explained that the company will continue to look for new and engaging ways to interact with their learners through their portal beyond training.
“TalentLMS is a powerful tool. We’re learning more about it as we go along.”
