Case study · Social enterprise — job seeking programme
From 65% to 90%: closing the gap on course completion
A social enterprise delivering job-seeking courses to the public was losing a significant number of learners before the finish line. Through data-led analysis and targeted interventions, completion rates rose from 65% to 90% over 12 months.
Before
65%
Course completion rate — a significant number of registered learners were dropping out before finishing
AFTER
90%
Course completion rate achieved within 12 months through data-led interventions and systematic follow-up
THE CHALLENGE
Too many learners were starting — but not finishing
A social enterprise offering job-seeking courses had a completion problem. Learners were registering and beginning the programme, but a significant proportion weren't making it to the end. Without a clear picture of where and why people were dropping off, it was impossible to know what to fix. The organisation needed both a way to diagnose the problem and a set of practical, sustainable solutions that facilitators could implement across all three of their courses.
MY APPROACH
Diagnose first, then intervene
Rather than guessing at solutions, I built a dashboard to track attendance and eLearning completion across all three courses, then used the data to identify exactly where learners were disengaging — and why.
01
Built a tracking dashboard
Designed and implemented a dashboard to monitor online class attendance and eLearning completion across all three courses simultaneously.
02
Analysed drop-off patterns
Measured registration vs attendance, identified who showed up initially but left early, tracked when they left, and compared attendance week by week across the course duration.
03
Compared courses to each other
Benchmarked the three courses against one another to surface patterns — identifying which approaches were working and which weren't.
04
Implemented solutions iteratively
Made changes as issues were identified over 12 months, rather than a single one-off intervention — allowing each change to be tested and refined in practice.
SOLUTIONS IMPLEMENTED
Practical changes that made a measurable difference
- Standardised communication across the course from each facilitator, ensuring a consistent learner experience
- Added the eLearning link to live session reminder emails so learners always had easy access
- Added an eLearning reminder to the final slide of each live session deck
- Included both the live session link and eLearning link in the welcome email from day one
- Increased and more timely follow-up by phone and email with learners who registered but hadn't started
- Introduced deferral dates as an option for learners who couldn't start as planned, reducing outright drop-out
THE RESULTS
A 25-point jump in completion — sustained over time
Over 12 months of iterative data collection and targeted interventions, course completion rates rose from 65% to 90%. Beyond the headline figure, the organisation now had a systematic way of understanding learner behaviour — and the tools to act on it quickly when engagement dropped.
+25%
increase in course completion rate over 12 months
12 mo.
of data gathered and acted on iteratively
3 courses
improved using a unified Aproach
ADDITIONAL OUTOMES
- Systematic check-ins on course outcomes implemented at 6, 9, and 12 months post-completion
- Outcome data collected and analysed to understand real-world impact on job-seeking success
- Facilitators aligned on communication standards, improving the consistency of the learner experience across all courses
- Organisation left with a reusable tracking and intervention framework for future programmes
Struggling with learner drop-off?
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