How to scale learning content – from one voice to many

We spoke with Leah Webster, Senior Instructional Designer, who told us how she uses Synthesia to streamline the production of her learning videos for UserZoom Academy, an online UX learning resource.

The challenge

Leah has been building the Academy from day one. She and the Customer Education team create training content to help customers learn more about UserZoom's product and general best practices for UX research.

Leah and the team were very successful in scaling learning content. But there was one part of the workflow that slowed down content production: Leah was solely responsible for recording voiceovers.

Although Leah had recording equipment and a tiny cupboard studio under the stairs at home, recording herself came with a number of limitations:

• Lengthy production process: Creating a 1-minute video would take a lot of time. The voice recording would cost Leah at least 1 hour – including editing and any re-recordings needed.
• Lack of flexibility: If the UserZoom product team were to change something as simple as a button, it would take Leah hours to (re)record it.
• Difficult to scale: It's nearly impossible to scale a video production without using expensive third-party voice over providers.

If I had a cold, I could not record. I had to put everything on pause and wait until my voice sounded normal again. This was not scalable. - Leah Webster, Senior Instructional Designer

The solution

With Synthesia, Leah was able to eliminate voiceover recordings. Now she only has to create a script, insert it into Synthesia’s script box and generate the video.

Here's what Leah appreciates most about Synthesia:

• Ease of use: The platform is easy to use and includes all the necessary video editing features to create high-quality training videos without the need for additional tools.
• Flexibility: once created, a video can be easily updated at any time, without having to start from the beginning.
• Cost: Compared to hiring voice over actors or agencies, Synthesia is cost-efficient, flexible and scalable.

Here is a short clip taken from a full-length video, that was created without Leah having to record her own voice 👇

The results

Synthesia has been an integral part of UserZoom's walkthrough video production for nearly a year. And it's paid off:

• Time savings: Leah no longer has to record a single voice over and saves 80% of the time on each video. From 1 hour down to 10 minutes.
• Ability to scale: Leah was able to create 50+ lessons throughout the last year.
• Great feedback: As a research company, UserZoom naturally tested its new videos. Learners were amazed by the quality.

Synthesia helps you scale. You can revise your content, which gives you great flexibility to update and edit. This is especially important for a company like ours. - Leah Webster, Senior Instructional Designer

Looking ahead, Leah and her team are beginning to expand UserZoom Academy to new markets in Europe. She'll use Synthesia to create localised content with the option of 65+ languages.