Trainual Reviews

Pros

It's simple, pretty, and functional. No real complaints.

Cons

There are some nitpicky features and functions that I wish were available or that don't work quite the way I'd want them to. The search functionality gets on my nerves sometimes as it seems to load exactly the search result I'm looking for immediately but then a second later SEVERAL results load and the one I actually want (that's most relevant) jumps further down the list. If you are a speedy clicker and try to click it before the rest of the search results load (like me), it will take you to something completely different as the rest of the results will load right as you click. I do like that it *has* search functionality and when we have had to make wide-sweeping changes it is really nice to be able to hit the enter key and see not just results in whatever category you're in but in every aspect of your company. We have used other comparable software in the past and have never had true search functionality like this before.

Pros

We have high turnover and being able to make initial training part of the hiring process have helped us weed out applicants who are not serious. It also provides a great way to get people to complete training before being eligible for raises and promotions. I like how I can track the progress of my team, and quiz them to ensure comprehension, as well as the different media I can implement to help drive home certain points.

Cons

The pricing model that does not include all of the features unless you pay the premium right off the bat. It takes a long time to get all of the systems into Trainual, and I am not able to release it right away to my team so I didnt want to pay the premium if they were not going to be able to access the features right away. I will probably upgrade to the premium later on and revamp my lessons, but I am a bit conflicted about having my team go through re-training at that point just to see some flashy new features that I would have liked to implement at the beginning.

Alternatives Considered

Teachable and Google Drive

Reasons for Choosing Trainual

Because of the ability to track and quiz applicants and team members and make a more user friendly portal for them.

Switched From

Google Drive

Reasons for Switching to Trainual

It seemed to be the best fit for our company and it was recommended by moving companies in another market that use it.

Pros

In theory, it makes the process of onboarding and training easy and efficient.

Cons

The set up process, even with already having the documentation is burdensome and the flow of how to use the software is confusing. There is no real start and finish or defined, or even suggested, workflow. There are tons of integrations, but no suggestions really as to how to best use them or under what circumstances these things would be useful. It is also incredibly expensive to say that it is ongoing expense that will forever need to be paid for the life of your business. Theres no tapering off or build up. It has to be implemented immediately in order to show it's value and does not account for the set up process.

Alternatives Considered

Google Cloud Operations Suite

Reasons for Switching to Trainual

It's already included in my usage account and by simply creating a table of contents, I can get essentially the same functionality that I was supposed to with Trainual.

Pros

Trainual allows you to easily create a way for your employees to learn of a new subject and then they can take a test to get tested on their knowledge of the subject after going through the training materials. For our large company, it allowed us to get our employees certified, so that we felt confident that they knew the new information on the new product we were rolling out.

Cons

There are no cons that I have been able to find.

Pros

I love how easy it is to use and stay organized and help others get trained.

Cons

I wish there was a search bar that when a keyword was input, it would show exactly where in the modules that keyword shows up in a list. That would be super helpful in updating old information once it's not relevant rather than having to go through all modules to see where information may be outdated.

Alternatives Considered

Basecamp

Reasons for Switching to Trainual

We also use Basecamp, but are hoping to ease out of it eventually.

Pros

How it organizes information easily and tracks whether users have gone through material.

Cons

I wish there was a way to set up a billboard with information we can put info into so that we could easily have access without clicks into things that we can see at all times.

Pros

Trainual is simple, user-friendly and fits our business needs perfectly. We are in the process of switching over from training our teams inconsistently to organizing and standardizing our processes with Trainual and we couldn't be more pleased with the product and service.

Cons

We need more "getting started" support - starting with a blank platform is a bit overwhelming.

Alternatives Considered

ADP TotalSource and Crosschq

Reasons for Switching to Trainual

Ease of use; quick, personalized customer service; beautiful platform design; app designed specifically for training associates

Pros

Easy to use even if you are not familiar with it

Cons

how tow create multitabs

Alternatives Considered

SugarCRM and Front

Reasons for Switching to Trainual

Way easier than the above, you get what you looking for just with a few clicks

Pros

I found that you can easily make corrections, adjustments and complete changes to my documents, allowing them to grow with company.

Cons

I sometimes need to access areas that are restricted to me. I request access, but the [SENSITIVE CONTENT] is slow to respond (that's not your fault).

Pros

Love that we are able to contain all important training materials both internal and client-specific procedures in one easy to use platform

Cons

The search function could be improved. Like if I searched for a specific procedure for a hypothetical client named "Red" the search function will more than likely return values for other procedures that have the word "red" somewhere in the procedure. The first results should be based on of trainual name not what is contained within the body/text of each trainual. Causes lots of issues for us as our company name is Longs Peak. The word "peak" is commonly used in the investment industry both as a way to describe the market and also is used in a lot of different firm names.

Pros

Some things that I love about Trainual are the features where I can add media like videos and gifs.

Cons

There are a lot of ideas I have that would make Trainual more effective. For example, being able to play the videos right in Trainual without having to click a link and open a new tab. COLOR CUSTOMIZATION! I hate the light gray color for all of the buttons (save, next, etc) I wish it was literally any other color. But if it was customizable that would be even better. Also when creating a test there NEEDS to be an option to select how many questions/possible answers for a given test. Clicking “new question” every time and then clicking “new answer” 4 times for each question is just way too time consuming and outright annoying. There could also be different types of quiz questions! What about definition matching or something else more interactive than multiple choice. And I wish you could turn off the feature where it shows the User what they got wrong. And the “essay” exams are NOT FUNCTIONAL because there is no way for the Administrator to review and approve the submissions. It just says 100% no matter what they write. For the Quiz portion of Trainual I rate it a 2/5. There is so much more development that needs to be happening here. Otherwise it’s a good platform.

Pros

Trainual has been great for getting us organized and having all our policies in one location. Assigning subjects and ease of use for employees has been really helpful.

Cons

I would like a signature page option for the agreements and handbook acknowledgement receipts.

Pros

The Trainual platform is easy to use and has allowed us to scale our growth that would have been impossible with traditional training systems.

Cons

We need better testing and certification options. The testing isn't robust enough. Users need certifications to show they've achieved a certain level. This is important for motivation. It seems like an easy add that would add a lot of value. We're currently looking for testing and certification solutions from 3rd parties, but Trainual should be able to provide them quite easily.

Pros

I love how easy it is to use. They come out continuously with updates that help the ease of use, I think. I like the option of incorporating tests/quizzes. It's easy to add in different media formats as well.

Cons

Trainual has great bones and structure. They are constantly evolving and implementing improvements which I appreciate, however, I do wish for a more complex or more functions in the testing/quizzes and a way to organize topics into Categories or Folders (which I know is something they are working on).

Pros

I really enjoy how this software has made updating standard operating procedures so simple. Whenever something is edited it sends a notification out to the team and I just need to give them a due date, this way I know that all information is available to everyone.

Cons

I wish I did not have to pay for the premium membership to do screen recording. Our business pays for Zoom so we just do screen recording through there, but uploading videos are also a process as you need to pay for a account or upload to YouTube to manage videos.

Pros

Trainual offers all of the major features that we desired in a knowledge base/LMS resource. Beyond that, their team continues to actively engage with users to gather feedback and make their product better aligned with our needs. Our team uses this on a daily basis and I expect it to become more and more central to the way we operate our business.

Cons

Any time you invest hundreds of hours developing content within a framework that you do not control, that is always a little concerning. Response time to needs/bugs and the possibility of future pricing changes could become challenges. At the moment, support has met expectations and we are happy with the product and service.

Pros

I love how easy it is to understand and learn to use. The staff that helped set up the software with us was very in depth and helped us understand how to best use this software to its full capacity. It also has useful reports that have greatly made progress tracking a breeze.

Cons

There is a completion report that shows your progress vs the whole company's progress that sometimes shows a near completion on the material assigned to you even though it shows all the material you are assigned to as complete. It is very minor.

Pros

It was very easy to create/implement content for the site. The ability to use the system mobile is great as well.

Cons

The reporting leaves a bit to be desired (not very robust functionality). There is also no back-up system for content that may be accidentally deleted (it is lost for good). The levels of access could also be improved; it would be helpful for some to view answers in the system without having to go to each individual user to look up this information.

Pros

I like how easy the program is to use. It makes learning quick & efficient for all of our staff. It's also set out really well where we can pick subjects we need help with & get a step-by-step instruction guide. It's extremely helpful!

Cons

Nothing noted at this stage. Everything is very easy and straight forward.

Pros

Easy to use and establish a whole training program for our entire team. Love that we can assign certain topics to team members, but also that they can go in and also request permission to other training we have built into the system.

Cons

The few instances where we have had recommendations and brought up to the Trainual team, they have been able to help us with a solution or have shown us how future versions of the software will address.

Pros

Roles management and access levels, course/position tracks, useful templates.

Cons

UX and ease to use may be improved. But they are adding more features regularly.

Alternatives Considered

Google Docs and Notion

Pros

Trainual is a well executed and easy to use solution for moving training onto the cloud. My favorite aspect about using the software is how it trains content creators think more about their work processes, which increases efficiency and scalability.

Cons

There is nothing not to like. For future improvements I would like to see a dark mode, which would help with users who check into content late at night. On mobile, the topic steps stay at the top of the screening the actual step contents require scrolling below the steps list - this UI section could be improved.

Pros

Very easy to use and track progress. Also very easy to add and move subjects and sections from various courses to other courses. in other words easy to build and easy to reorganize when needed as changes in the company occur.

Cons

sometimes difficult in the way things are laid out, wouldnt mind if it were a bit more intuitive on the home screen for reps to navigate through

Pros

I love the ease of use in setting up subjects, topics, and steps and adding users to subjects. It has changed the way our agency systemizes our processes and trains our team.

Cons

I would love the ability to tag subjects so users can sort by tags.

Pros

This tool is excellent for training employees whether you have 1 or 1000 team members. I love that you can always refer back to a section if you forget how to do something.

Cons

Not all modules in the software apply to every team member, I wish there was a way to omit modules that certain employee types didn't need.