Online training programs are everywhere now. Companies spend millions on them. But how do you know if they’re actually working? If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it. That’s where KPIs come in. Not the flashy, vague ones you see in PowerPoint slides. Real, actionable numbers that tell you if your learners are engaging, learning, and applying what they’ve been taught.
Why KPIs Matter More Than You Think
Many organizations treat online training like a checkbox. "We launched the course. Done." But without tracking the right metrics, you’re flying blind. You might think your employees are learning because 85% finished the course. But did they remember anything? Did they change how they work? Did sales go up? Did errors drop?
Take a real example: A retail chain rolled out a new customer service training module. 92% completed it. Sounds great, right? But customer complaints stayed the same. Turns out, people were just clicking through to get it over with. The KPI they were tracking-completion rate-was meaningless. What they needed was engagement depth and behavior change.
KPIs turn guesswork into decisions. They show you what’s working, what’s wasting time, and where to invest next.
Core KPIs You Must Track
Not all metrics are created equal. Some tell you what happened. Others tell you why it matters. Here are the five KPIs that actually move the needle:
1. Completion Rate
This is the baseline. It tells you how many people started and finished the course. But don’t stop here. A 100% completion rate doesn’t mean learning happened. Still, it’s a starting point. If fewer than 70% finish, something’s wrong-maybe the course is too long, too boring, or poorly timed.
Best practice: Track completion by department, role, or location. If sales reps are dropping off but support staff are finishing, dig into why. Maybe the content isn’t relevant to their daily tasks.
2. Engagement Time per Module
Time spent isn’t the same as learning. But if people spend 3 minutes on a 20-minute module, they’re skimming. If they’re spending 25 minutes, they’re likely watching closely or rewatching.
Compare average time spent per module to the designed duration. A module designed for 15 minutes but averaging 5 minutes? Red flag. A module designed for 10 minutes but averaging 18? Either it’s too complex, or people are stuck. Either way, you need to fix it.
3. Assessment Pass Rate
Quizzes aren’t just for grading. They’re diagnostic tools. A pass rate below 75% means the material wasn’t clear, the training didn’t stick, or the quiz is unfair.
Look at question-level data too. If 80% of learners miss the same question, that’s your weak spot. Maybe the explanation was confusing. Maybe the example didn’t match real-life situations. Fix that, not the learners.
4. Knowledge Retention (30/60/90-Day Follow-Up)
This is the most overlooked KPI. People forget fast. A 2023 study by the Learning and Performance Institute found that without reinforcement, learners forget up to 70% of new information within 24 hours-and 90% within a week.
Send a short, 5-question quiz to learners 30 days after they finish. Do it again at 60 and 90 days. If retention drops below 50% by day 90, your training isn’t lasting. You need spaced repetition, job aids, or manager check-ins.
5. Behavior Change & Performance Impact
This is the gold standard. Did the training actually change how people work?
For customer service: Did call resolution time drop? Did customer satisfaction scores rise?
For sales: Did conversion rates improve? Did average deal size increase?
For safety training: Did incident reports decrease?
These numbers don’t come from your LMS. They come from your CRM, HR systems, or operational dashboards. Connect the dots. If your training program improves sales performance by 12%, that’s a $2.4 million gain for a company with $20M in annual sales. That’s the kind of KPI that gets budget approved next year.
What Not to Track
There are plenty of metrics that look impressive but mean nothing. Avoid these:
- Number of logins - People log in to check their email. Doesn’t mean they trained.
- Course downloads - Downloading ≠ learning. It’s just storage.
- Survey satisfaction scores - "I liked the videos" doesn’t tell you if they can apply the skill.
- Number of certificates issued - A piece of paper doesn’t change behavior.
These are vanity metrics. They make you feel good. They don’t help you improve.
How to Set Realistic Targets
Don’t just pick a number out of thin air. Use benchmarks and history.
For example:
- Completion rate: Industry average for corporate training is 75-85%. Aim for 80%+.
- Assessment pass rate: 80% is a solid target. Anything below 70% needs redesign.
- Knowledge retention: 60%+ at 90 days is strong. Below 40% means you need reinforcement.
- Performance impact: Even a 5-10% improvement in key metrics (sales, errors, response time) is a win.
Track your own baseline first. If last year’s training had a 65% pass rate, aim for 75% this year. Small, measurable progress beats unrealistic goals.
Tools That Make Tracking Easier
You don’t need fancy AI or expensive platforms. Most modern LMS platforms-like Moodle, TalentLMS, or Docebo-come with built-in analytics. Make sure you’re using them.
Look for features like:
- Automated quiz reports
- Time-on-task dashboards
- Exportable learner activity logs
- Integration with HRIS or CRM systems
If your LMS can’t track retention or performance impact, you’ll need to manually pull data from other systems. It’s extra work, but worth it.
Putting It All Together: A Simple Dashboard
Create a one-page dashboard with these five metrics:
- Completion Rate
- Average Engagement Time
- Assessment Pass Rate
- 90-Day Retention Rate
- Performance Impact (e.g., % increase in sales, % drop in errors)
Update it monthly. Share it with managers. Use it in budget meetings. When you can say, "Our training improved customer satisfaction by 14% in three months," people listen.
What If Your KPIs Are Bad?
Don’t panic. Bad KPIs aren’t failure-they’re feedback.
If completion is low: Shorten modules. Add microlearning. Schedule training during slow hours.
If engagement is low: Use videos, simulations, or branching scenarios. Make it interactive.
If retention is low: Add weekly email reminders. Create quick reference guides. Have managers ask about the training in 1:1s.
If performance didn’t change: The content might not match real job tasks. Talk to frontline staff. Watch them work. Rewrite the training based on what they actually do, not what you think they should do.
Final Thought: KPIs Are About Improvement, Not Judgment
These numbers aren’t there to shame employees or punish trainers. They’re there to help you build better training. Every low score is a clue. Every spike in retention is a win.
Start small. Pick one KPI to focus on this quarter. Measure it. Adjust. Then add another. Over time, you’ll go from guessing to knowing. And that’s how you turn online training from a cost center into a competitive advantage.
What are the most important KPIs for online training programs?
The five most important KPIs are: completion rate, engagement time per module, assessment pass rate, knowledge retention at 30/60/90 days, and measurable behavior change (like improved sales or reduced errors). These show not just if people finished training, but if they learned and applied it.
Is completion rate a good indicator of training success?
No, not on its own. Many people complete courses just to check a box. Completion rate tells you how many people started and finished-but not how much they learned. It’s a starting point, not an endpoint. Always pair it with assessment scores and retention data.
How do I track knowledge retention after training?
Send a short quiz (5-7 questions) to learners 30, 60, and 90 days after they complete the course. Compare scores over time. If retention drops below 50% by day 90, your training lacks reinforcement. Add follow-up emails, job aids, or manager check-ins to help learners remember.
Can I link training KPIs to business results?
Yes, and you should. Connect training data to your CRM, HRIS, or operations dashboard. If sales training leads to a 10% increase in conversions, or safety training reduces workplace incidents by 20%, you’ve proven ROI. That’s the only metric that matters to leadership.
What tools do I need to track these KPIs?
Most modern LMS platforms (like Moodle, TalentLMS, or Docebo) track completion, time spent, and quiz scores automatically. For retention and performance impact, you’ll need to pull data from other systems-like your sales or HR software. Integration tools like Zapier or Power BI can help connect the dots.
Comments (10)
Teja kumar Baliga October 30 2025
Love this breakdown. In India, we see so many companies just push training to tick boxes, but the real win is when employees start using the skills on the floor. One client saw a 15% drop in customer complaints after we added weekly 5-minute refresher videos. Simple, but it stuck.
Fredda Freyer October 30 2025
What strikes me is how rarely organizations connect training outcomes to actual operational data. It's not enough to know someone clicked through a module-you need to know if their behavior changed in the wild. The 90-day retention metric is the unsung hero here. Human memory is fragile; learning isn't an event, it's a process. If your training doesn't survive beyond the first week, it was never training-it was entertainment dressed up as education.
And let’s be honest: if you're measuring certificates issued, you're not measuring learning. You're measuring compliance theater. The real ROI isn't in the LMS dashboard-it's in the CRM, the call logs, the safety reports. Those are the metrics that keep executives awake at night-not completion rates.
Also, the idea of using job aids and manager check-ins? Brilliant. Training doesn't happen in a vacuum. It happens in the messy, noisy reality of daily work. The most effective programs I've seen don't just deliver content-they embed it into routines. A quick reminder email, a one-pager on the desk, a manager asking, 'So what did you take from that?'-those are the invisible forces that make knowledge stick.
And yes, vanity metrics are everywhere. I once saw a Fortune 500 company celebrate a 98% completion rate… while their error rate doubled. They didn't even look at the quiz scores. That's not success. That's a tragedy with a PowerPoint slide.
Start small. Pick one KPI. Measure it. Fix it. Then move on. The goal isn't perfection-it's progress. And progress is measurable.
Zelda Breach November 1 2025
Of course you're going to say completion rate is meaningless. Everyone says that. But guess what? The people who actually care about training are the ones who finish it. The rest are just filling time. Stop overcomplicating it.
Kelley Nelson November 2 2025
While your framework is methodologically sound, I must emphasize the epistemological limitations of quantifying pedagogical efficacy through reductive metrics. The phenomenological experience of learning-its nuance, its affective dimensions-is irreducible to binary pass/fail rates or time-on-task analytics. One might argue that the very act of operationalizing learning as a set of KPIs betrays the intrinsic, non-linear nature of cognitive development.
That said, your emphasis on behavioral change is commendable, though one must interrogate the power structures that dictate which behaviors are deemed 'valuable' in the first place. Is increased sales truly a measure of learning, or merely the internalization of capitalist imperatives?
Still, your integration of CRM and HRIS data is pragmatically astute, even if it risks reducing human development to algorithmic optimization.
Gareth Hobbs November 2 2025
Ugh. Another 'let's track everything' guru. You think these KPIs actually work? I've seen companies spend $200K on 'learning analytics'-then find out the LMS was logging fake data because the IT guy didn't even enable tracking. And don't get me started on 'retention quizzes'-people just google the answers. This whole thing is a scam. The real KPI? How many people actually care. And they don't. Because most of this training is useless fluff written by consultants who've never held a real job.
Also-why are you using 'LMS' like it's a magic wand? Most of these systems are garbage. I used Docebo once-it crashed every time someone clicked 'next'. And you want me to trust its 'engagement time' data? LOL.
Alan Crierie November 2 2025
Great post. I’d just add one thing: don’t forget the quiet ones. The person who spends 22 minutes on a module because they’re rewatching it to understand a concept-that’s the learner you want to find. Not the one who finishes in 3 minutes and passes the quiz by guessing. Check the quiz answers too-sometimes the wrong answers tell you more than the right ones. And if you’re using emojis in follow-up emails? Please. Just send a clear, kind note. That’s all it takes.
Nicholas Zeitler November 4 2025
YES. This. So many companies think training is a one-and-done deal. No. It’s a muscle. You have to use it, reinforce it, remind people. I run training for a logistics firm-after we started sending weekly 2-minute video tips (just one tip!) for 30 days after training, their error rates dropped 22%. It’s not fancy. It’s consistent. Do the work.
Also-kill the certificates. They’re useless. Put the focus on behavior. If someone improved their safety checklist compliance? That’s the win. Not the PDF they downloaded.
k arnold November 4 2025
Wow. You wrote a whole essay on something that could’ve been a tweet. 'Engagement time'? Please. People pause videos to get coffee. That doesn't mean they're learning. And 'retention quizzes'? I've seen people take them while watching Netflix. This is all just corporate theater. If your training was actually good, people wouldn't need all these metrics to prove it worked.
Tiffany Ho November 5 2025
This is so helpful. I’ve been trying to convince my team to stop counting certificates and start looking at actual performance. I love the 90-day follow-up idea. We’re going to try it next month. Thank you for making this so clear.
Aryan Gupta November 7 2025
Wait-did you just say 'sales training leads to 10% increase in conversions'? That’s impossible. I’ve seen the data. The real reason sales went up? They lowered prices. The training had zero effect. This whole KPI thing is a distraction. Corporations use it to justify budgets while ignoring the real problems: bad management, low pay, and toxic culture. You can’t train your way out of a broken system.
Also, your '5-question quiz' is a joke. People forget everything in 24 hours. Even if they remember, they won’t apply it because their manager doesn’t care. Stop blaming the training. Blame the managers who don’t follow up. That’s the real KPI: manager accountability. Not completion rates. Not quizzes. Just-do they care?