Practical steps to raise engagement in ongoing security awareness training.
Many users aren't used to ongoing security training. Their first reaction to daily, weekly, or monthly training is often negative. This guide shows you how to change that narrative as quickly as possible.
Microlearning improves knowledge retention by 20% and drives roughly 50% more engagement right from the start. By simply shifting to a microtraining format, you give yourself a 70% better chance at a stronger security program.
What to do:
Break topics down into 30-second to 1-minute trainings
Use multiple training types: video, audio, conversational AI, and more
Make training accessible across multiple tools
Traditional learning management systems (LMS) can only be accessed in one place, limiting day-to-day use. By extending reach into Slack, Teams, web logins, and mobile, you give employees the opportunity to learn the way they want, when they want.
People lean in when training clearly connects to the decisions they make every day.
Start by segmenting users into high-impact groups based on risk and behavior — who clicks, who reports, who has sensitive access — not just job title.
In Herd, segmentation can be done by creating groups based on existing user attributes (department, role, etc.) or by importing groups from your identity provider — Okta, Azure AD, or Google Workspace.
For each group, answer: "What attacks are most likely to hit them, and what mistakes would hurt us most?"
Finance
Invoice fraud, vendor impersonation, payment redirect
Engineering / IT
Access abuse, OAuth consent phishing, technical phishing
Executives
Spear-phishing, urgent requests, data handling scenarios
Instead of assigning one universal program:
Finance — Modules and simulations using invoice, vendor, and payment language
Engineering / IT — Examples referencing their tools (GitHub, cloud consoles, admin panels)
Executives — Short, story-driven examples mimicking "from the CEO" or "from Legal/Finance" requests
After a month or quarter, review which simulations your groups failed or reported — then swap in new content that targets the gaps you find.
Scenario: Your phishing report shows the Finance group is consistently clicking on invoice-themed emails from fake vendors.
Motivation is driven by the dopamine response — triggering a reward or learning experience in the brain. Immediate feedback, both positive and constructive, is one of the most effective levers you have.
Examples:
A user completes a training → it gets announced in a team channel
They earn points on a leaderboard in Slack
They successfully report a phishing simulation → they receive a message in Teams
Completion rates and behavior change both improve when users can see their progress and feel good about it.
Use multiple choice questions within trainings. These dynamically show users whether their answers are correct or incorrect — instant reinforcement.
Use leaderboards displayed via Slack Canvas to make progress visible to the whole team.
These frameworks are the foundation for building secure behavior across your organization — while maintaining the compliance required to pass security audits.
Ready to put this into practice? Open HerdAI and generate your first micro-training in seconds.
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