How To Develop an Effective Video Onboarding Program

Starting a new job is exciting, but it can also be overwhelming. In the first few days (and weeks), everything feels new: people, culture, tools, and how work gets done. It can feel awkward or intimidating to dive in and ask questions when you’re new, but that’s where a video onboarding program can help. 

Instead of relying only on busy teammates or trying to figure things out on their own, employee training videos give new hires easy, on-demand access to the guidance they need when they need it. It’s a simple way to help people feel more confident, more connected, and ready to hit the ground running.

Effective programs include a mix of content, from welcome messages to role-specific training modules, policies, and beyond. Together, they not only improve new hires’ onboarding experiences but also their productivity and how long they stay with the company. 

But how do you create an effective video onboarding program? Read on to find out. 

Why video onboarding drives better engagement

Video onboarding meets employees’ expectations for accessible, flexible learning—and it consistently encourages higher engagement.

One of the biggest advantages of video onboarding is that it’s easy to scale and standardize. Whether you’re training five, 50, or 500 people, all you need to do is share recorded content. This means messaging is consistent even when different people are handling training. It also reduces the burden on trainers, freeing them up to focus on more strategic tasks like coaching and mentoring.

Beyond scalability and consistency, video onboarding supports engagement in several other ways:

• Clarity: Screen recordings reduce confusion and ambiguity by providing step-by-step visual guides. 
• Emotional connections: Videos can feature real employees, allowing new hires to connect with more than just company processes. 
• Self-paced learning: On-demand videos allow new employees to learn at their own pace and revisit content as many times as needed. 
• Reduced anxiety: Video onboarding allows new hires to learn without performance pressure. 

Key components of an effective onboarding video strategy

A solid onboarding video strategy helps new hires feel more confident and supported from the start. It gives them the clarity they need, answers common questions early on, and makes it easier to connect with the team and company culture.

Here’s what to include: 

Culture and values

While it might be tempting to get straight to job-specific training, starting with your culture and understanding how things work would be a better move. 

Remember, new hires are in new territory. Help them feel comfortable and give them time to get to know who you are so they can build an emotional connection before anything else. 

Consider including the following in your culture and values content:

• Introductions and welcome messages from management and other employees
• Employees’ day-in-the-life segments, featuring their typical workdays
• Growth stories, told by employees
• Real-life examples of your company’s values in action (for example, if you prioritize sustainability or charity, you could include short clips of your efforts
• Unique company policies and traditions, like annual team-building exercises 
• Company history content 
• Virtual office tours

To make these videos feel more authentic, capture candid work moments and feature other employees and team members. Encourage them to share their unique experiences rather than read from a script.

Many organizations use Camtasia to easily create employee-led “day in the life” clips or value spotlights without needing a whole production crew.

Role-specific training

Generic company training isn’t enough. To shorten employee ramp-up time, create targeted video content that explores practical, role-specific information. Think: how to use everyday tools, processes and best practices, software troubleshooting.

You can deliver this content in several video formats, including:

• Screen recordings: Can be suitable for software tutorials
• Scenario-based videos: Ideal for troubleshooting processes
• Over-the-shoulder: Great for best practices
• Peer-led videos: Ideal for insider tips and best practices

For best results, start with the basics before moving to more complex concepts. Get input from current employees to make sure your videos cover real potential pain points. 

Some teams begin by capturing simple first-week tasks using Snagit. These quick screen recordings are easy to create, and they can be organized into department-specific Collections for easy access. As onboarding needs grow, you can expand those clips into more structured training modules with Camtasia for a modular, scalable way to maintain your training library over time.

Accessibility and inclusivity

Ensuring accessibility and inclusivity promotes legal compliance and enhances engagement. While these components may only seem important for learners with disabilities, they’re beneficial for everyone. 

Skeptical? Videos containing subtitles have a 91% completion rate, while those without only have a 66% completion rate. 

Beyond adding subtitles and captions to onboarding content, you can promote accessibility and inclusivity by:

• Using high color contrast that aligns with WCAG 2.1 standards
• Adding video descriptions and transcripts
• Providing keyboard navigation capabilities for interactive elements
• Maintaining a well-balanced pace to allow learners to process complex details
• Optimizing videos for desktop and mobile devices, as well as screen readers 

With Camtasia Audiate and Screencast, it’s easy to bake accessibility into your workflow. Teams can automatically generate captions, translated scripts, and chapter summaries to support learners across different languages and abilities.

Consistent branding and tone

You’re probably thinking, “How are branding and tone relevant to onboarding…?” But it matters more than you think. Maintaining a cohesive image helps reinforce your brand identity with new hires, which can help them connect with your company. It also reduces cognitive load by providing clarity throughout the onboarding process. 

Keep your branding and tone consistent by:

• Defining and communicating your brand’s voice: You could ask training teams to use a precise and professional tone for compliance training, a clear and patient tone for role-specific training, and a warm and enthusiastic tone for culture and values training. 
• Developing brand-specific visual standards: Let video creators know which colors and fonts to use as well as where to add your logo.
• Providing a clear style guideline: Let all team members know how to explain concepts and provide demonstrations. 

Steps to create engaging employee onboarding videos

Now that you know what to include in onboarding videos, how do you create them? Here’s a step-by-step guide:

1. Define clear learning goals

Without clear learning goals, there’s no way to determine whether your videos are hitting the mark. Start by identifying what new hires need to learn and when.

Ideally, your goals should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound). For example: “Make sure new hires understand how to automate invoicing using our system within their first week.”

To set SMART goals:

• Determine what new hires need to know within specific timeframes (like week one, day 30, day 60) 
• Align knowledge requirements with video content. For instance, save tool training for role-specific videos. 
• Define your success measurement criteria. 
• Make sure your goals align with performance expectations. 

Here’s a simple goal-mapping template to guide you:

Video module	Learning Goal	Success metric	Timeline
Welcome video	Understand company culture and learn about different teams	Can tell what your company does and who does what	Day one
Using helpdesk tools	Learn how to use the company’s ticketing system	Completes ticket simulation within 36 hours	Week 2
Troubleshooting procedures	Know how to diagnose and resolve common problems, like login issues	Successfully completes a mock troubleshooting exercise	Weeks 2-4

2. Choose the right tools

You need a few tools to produce, distribute, and track employee onboarding videos: video editing software, screen recording tools, hosting solutions, and analytics platforms. 

Your choices can determine your video production and distribution efficiency, content quality, and ease of measuring video training engagement. So, be careful before settling on any option. Consider:

• Ease of use: Should be intuitive enough for non-experts in video production to use
• Must-have features: Should have user-friendly editing features, provide annotation tools, and support different video formats
• Valuable add-ons: Should offer capabilities like automated translation and transcription, and support branching scenarios
• Integration capabilities: Should connect with existing communication, email, and human resource tools
• Collaboration features: Should centralize content, facilitate version control, and allow trainers and employees to leave feedback on videos
• Scalability: Should be able to handle your company’s expanding video needs and support more users as your teams grow

Camtasia and Snagit offer a complete set of features to do all of the above (and more). Record your screen, edit your clips, add transcripts or voiceovers, and publish everything from one place. 

3. Outline content for each module

Jumping straight into recording without a plan can lead to scattered, unfocused videos. Before you hit record, map out your video’s focus and structure. Here’s an example of a short structure:

• Hook (under one minute): Explain how the video will benefit viewers. 
• Overview (1 minute): Summarize what the video will explore. 
• Core content (5-8 minutes): Dive into step-by-step content and include examples. 
• Practice opportunity: Allow viewers to apply or practice what you’ve covered. 
• Recap: Go over core points and briefly introduce the next module. 

To help organize your modules, you can use Snagit’s Step Capture to storyboard tasks. Then drop those visuals into Camtasia to guide your video production team.

4. Keep videos short and interactive

With the average human attention span at 47 seconds and people increasingly getting used to short-form content on social media, lengthy videos may not be effective with new hires. They’re bound to lose their attention, potentially impacting the effectiveness of your video training. 

Aim for short, interactive videos to maintain new hires’ attention and allow flexible learning schedules. With short videos, they can easily learn concepts during breaks, commutes, or even while working, without disrupting their day-to-day activities. 

5. Test and iterate before rollout

Before launching your onboarding videos to new hires, run a small test with current employees or team leads. Then, use their feedback to fine-tune your content. 

Here’s a feedback matrix to help you:

Feedback type	Collection method	Key questions	Action threshold
Content clarity	Post-video quiz	Were the concepts easy to understand?Was anything unclear?	<80% understanding score
Relevance to role	Survey	Was the content useful to your role?What felt useful?	<70% relevance rating
Engagement	Polls and Analytics	Did you watch the entire video?Did you find some parts too long or uninteresting?	≥20% drop-off rate

With TechSmith tools, it’s easy to adjust your videos based on feedback. For example, Camtasia records your screen, mic, system audio, and cursor separately, so you can tweak just one part of the video without starting from scratch.

Future-proofing your video onboarding approach

Employee needs shift, technology evolves, and workplace values change. Your video onboarding content should keep up. To keep your approach future ready:

• Break your videos into short, topic-specific modules that are easy to update.
• Collect feedback regularly to identify gaps or outdated content.
• Add video training accessibility features like captions and transcripts.
• Follow versioning and archiving best practices, like storing source files, documenting processes, and scheduling periodic audits.

TechSmith tools are built with adaptability in mind, offering features that can help you future-proof onboarding videos. For example, Screencast makes it easy for teams to update specific content by organizing videos into Collections.

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them

No program is perfect, and you may hit a few bumps as you fine-tune your onboarding strategy. Here are some common challenges and how to prevent (or fix) them:

Common pitfall	Warning signs	Prevention strategy	Quick fix
Videos are too long	Low engagement and high drop-off rates	Keep videos short, focusing on a single concept in each one	Split long videos into smaller modules
Outdated content	Processes and tool guides no longer match current practices	Regularly review and update training materials	Add “last updated” dates and update content as quickly as possible
Inconsistent branding	Varying styles, branding elements, and tones	Develop an onboarding video template	Align videos with your guide
Lack of accessibility	Complaints from viewers with language barriers, hearing loss, or vision loss	Include accessibility features like captions and transcripts	Add relevant features

Start building a video onboarding program that works

A video onboarding program is a step up from traditional onboarding, as it promotes training consistency and scalability without overwhelming trainers—or new hires.

But how you develop and implement your program will determine how successful onboarding is. To boost employee productivity and retention, create videos that meet new hires’ immediate needs while building in flexibility for long-term optimization.

With TechSmith, you can build an effective video onboarding program, regardless of your video production or editing experience. Our video creation tools enable you to record screens, edit onboarding content, automatically generate accessibility elements, and tweak your content without redoing entire videos.

Try out TechSmith’s products today to elevate your video onboarding program!