The original, the best: the Yarno campaign

Erin McGee, 4 min read

Recently, we did a deep dive into Yarno's newest feature – Bursts.

Now it's time to get into the third: Campaigns!

As a refresher: think of Bursts as a way to get critical information out quickly, and Campaigns as a way to solidify the right knowledge long term.

Into the nitty-gritty of a Yarno campaign

Yarno campaigns are the ol' workhorse of the Yarno platform – they're a fun and easy way to embed knowledge and shift behaviour over time.

They're time-based, with a fixed schedule of quiz questions that are delivered to learners daily. Campaigns can be used for both introducing new information and reinforcing previously learned knowledge over time.

And they're mega effective, too – because they're built on the foundations of the latest in learning research. The campaign flow looks a little like this:

Performance goals

Creating a Yarno campaign begins with some performance goals – a clear set of objectives that outline what learners should be able to know and do differently by completing the campaign.

Primer questions

Those goals are transformed into primer questions, which are basically used as a benchmark for learners and managers to track progress objectively from beginning to end of the campaign.

Campaign questions

From there, it's question time! The number of Yarno questions created will determine the length of the campaign – most managers decide to deliver 2-3 Yarno questions per working day, plus any additional questions from past incorrect answers (it's called spaced repetition, and we'll get to that later).

Dashboard and analytics

During the campaign, learners have access to in-depth analytics about their performance:

  • Badges - earned for performance and question streaks
  • Score and rank
  • Performance over time
  • Answer accuracy
  • Performance by topic
  • Participation consistency over time

Managers have a more sophisticated analytics suite – with both a campaign overview option, and the ability to drill down into individual question and learner performance and history.

Once the campaign has wrapped up, learners revisit their primer questions, take a step back and reflect on the goals they kicked in the campaign!

Why’d we create this format?

Learning research

When Mark and Lachy were researching after pivoting away from Yarno V1 – conducting dozens of interviews with learning professionals and managers – they heard that learning was generally delivered in large blocks, with minimal reinforcement. And unfortunately, this often led to poor program engagement and little performance improvement.

With Yarno we've tried to facilitate a new way of learning, based on the latest learning research. And we really feel that the potential is limitless.

For a quick recap of the research:

Spaced repetition

Research tells us that we learn best when we’re repeatedly exposed to knowledge and skills over time. The practice of regularly returning to previously learned concepts creates new learning pathways, strengthening long term memory.

Active recall

Having to recall what you know rather than simply reviewing it strengthens memory, increasing the chances you’ll remember it again. And when you’re unable to answer a question, you know you need to revisit the material or relearn it.

Immediate feedback

After a learner answers a question, they receive feedback on their answer choice, and further reinforcement in the explanation screen. Providing immediate feedback has been proven to correct misconceptions and help learners build correct mental models.

Interleaving

Much of our learning is presented to us sequentially. We attempt to master one topic before moving on to the next. This approach is called blocking, and it’s very useful for cramming and recalling the next day. Interleaving basically has the opposite effect – it strengthens memory for the long term.

Yarno leverages interleaving by presenting questions from various topic areas in random order. Most campaigns have around 10 topics, so in any given day a learner could be answering 3 to 4 questions across 3 to 4 topics.

Creating an effective Yarno campaign

Our vision is to help staff perform better. And we believe continuous learning via daily quizzes is a fantastic way to achieve this.

Creating Yarno campaigns that inspire long-lasting performance impact requires deliberate thought and planning. It’s easy to add questions to a campaign and launch it in Yarno (naturally - we made it that way!).

However, we know from experience that the most successful campaigns rely on a bit of upfront planning.

We often work with our customers to set Yarno up for success – with a solid plan to communicate Yarno to learners and managers, and effective quiz creation workshops.

Case studies

Below I'll share some key stats from some recent Yarno campaigns. Each with different learning goals and applications, all with impressive results.

Mortgage Choice

Our first campaign with Mortgage Choice (they've run several since then!) was an onboarding campaign for new starters at their North Sydney HQ. The campaign was such a success that they've continued to run the same campaign for all waves of new starters.

Global leader in hygiene

Our customer's technical account management team is spread across the country – and L&D needed a way to get all of the reps across product and solutions knowledge to correctly recommend the best products for their customers.

The campaign was a longer one at 12 weeks, however, they kept participation and completion strong right until the end – completing a whopping 96% of questions!

Ron Finemore Transport

Ron Finemore Transport approached Yarno with the goal of improving driver knowledge around important safety information – namely coupling and uncoupling of trailers.

Stay tuned for the case study for this one.

All together now: Identify, Communicate, Embed

So there we have it, folks! The full Yarno system laid out for the world to see!

If you're yet to check out the first parts in this series, find it here.

We're crazy excited about helping our customers create the most impactful training possible with Yarno. If you'd like to find out more, contact us here.

Erin McGee

Erin McGee

Erin is an ever-trusty wordsmith and resident spreader of good vibes. You'll find her chatting up a storm in Mandarin, yelling kiai's at jujitsu and eating dark chocolate at 2pm sharp.

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Mark Eggers

Mark, our Head of Sales, will organise a no-obligation call with you to understand your business and any training challenges you’re facing. Too easy.