eLearning has revolutionized education, thanks to high-speed internet and high-end technological advances. This kind of learning is better, inclusive, exciting, and learners can re-use the materials repeatedly until they understand the lessons. It also helps teachers and instructors have a healthy work-life balance, unlike traditional lectures and long classes that work up their schedules.
Voice over services have largely contributed to the growth of eLearning, from audiobooks, narration videos, descriptive scripts, and instructional tutorials. As the academic, corporate, and manufacturing sectors shift from traditional one-on-one lessons to e-learning, the demand for top-notch voice-over artists has risen.
So how do you deliver high-quality voice-over services for eLearning clients?
We have put together eleven tips for an effective eLearning voice over that will help you deliver exceptional work to your clients.
11 Top Tips for Effective eLearning Voice Over
If you search for eLearning voice over services on your search engine today, you will get hundreds of offers promising to give you excellent services at a fee. There are established agencies, independent voice talents, and freelancers all looking forward to securing that project.
But how do you, as a business owner or content creator, choose the best talent that will guarantee good results?
The following tips will make talent hunting easier for you.
1. Look at the Voice Talent’s Experience
When you hire an experienced eLearning voiceover service provider, you can rest assured that your project will go on smoothly. Look at the voice talent’s portfolio. Does it portray credibility and the ability to deliver what you are looking for? These are the questions you should ask yourself before hiring someone to work on your project?
Experienced voiceover artists handle your work with the utmost professionalism, and they have certifications to ascertain their authenticity. Wordsburg has a pool of certified voiceover artists with over a decade’s experience in the eLearning sector.
2. Choose a Voiceover Artist (VO) that Suits Your Project
There are thousands of male and female voiceover artists (VOs) in the UK and beyond. Each VO has their area of specialization, unique skills, and competence. To get the best suited for your project, choose the one that ticks most of your preferences.
For example, suppose you want an eLearning voice over services for a course on Chinese language mastery. In that case, you want to work with a Chinese native who will do everything naturally, including pronunciation, accents, and translations.
Wordsburg boasts of male and female voiceover artists in over 100 languages. Your eLearning project’s success is a call away.
3. Be Wary of Automated Voiceovers
On your hunt for voiceover services, you might come across cheap voiceover offers from artificial intelligence (AI) enabled software. You might think you strike a deal, but automated voiceovers are generic and flat.
Do you want to risk boring your target audience with a generic and non-relatable voiceover? No? Avoid automated voiceovers if you’re going to make a lasting impression on your audience.
4. Know Your Target Audience
Knowing your target audience will influence the kind of voiceover artist you hire. Who are your listeners? What kind of project is this? When you answer those questions, you can narrow down what your listeners would love to hear and from who?
For example, a mental health project targets people with delicate mental health, self-esteem issues. They need a voice that is reassuring, soothing, and comforting. In this case, a female voice talent is the best option.
5. Always Consider Native Speakers First
When looking for eLearning voiceover services that also offer translations and interpretation, consider the native speaker first. For instance, if your project targets a UK audience, it’s a no-brainer that a native speaker will give better results than an American accent voice talent.
6. Dependability and Professionalism
You may come across A-list voiceover talent who delivers excellent services but with poor follow-up services. For instance, you might need some revisions, improvements, rerecording, or re-editing on your finished project. Will the VO avail themselves to make these amendments? Will they charge you extra for changes?
A good eLearning voiceover services provider will be readily-available, dependable, and professional.
7. Work with an Expert with a Background in the Subject Matter
Voice talent with a background in the service you seek will give excellent services. For instance, if your eLearning course is about marketing, wouldn’t it be easy for a voice talent with some digital and other types of marketing training?
Every subject matter has jargon, technical terms, and other aspects that only an expert with some background knowledge can put across with ease. Go for a voice actor with knowledge about your kind of project.
8. Online Reviews Will Help Big Time
In this internet age, you can tell if a voice talent fits your project by looking at reviews and ratings online. For instance, if you are looking for an expert in medical-based online learning voiceover services, then come across a review from a customer who received such a service, you will have found a prospective match. However, beware of false reviews aimed at tricking users.
9. Get Recommendations
Sometimes, you don’t need to look far and wide for suitable eLearning voiceover services. If you have friends, family, or colleagues who have worked on such a project before, ask them to recommend a good voiceover talent they know. Recommendations from someone close are rarely false because they wouldn’t compromise your relationship by recommending a mediocre service provider.
10. Demos
One of the best ways to know if a voice talent matches your preference is through their eLearning voiceover demos. It might be a red flag if a voice actor does not have a demo in that sector. Select your prospective talents and sample their demos on their websites or ask them to send them to you. Once you find a voice that matches your brand, discuss the business opportunity with the expert and seal the deal.
11. Work Closely with the VO
If you want your project to be seamless, you cannot hire a VO, dump the work on their table, and go underground. You need to work closely with the expert and ask for updates on the project. From the start, you can tell if a voice talent is doing well, and if there are areas that need some improvement, you can correct them as early as possible.
At Wordsburg, we take your eLearning project as our own. We will give you updates, send snippets of the work and ask questions to ensure your work is perfect. We also offer voice over services for other areas such as corporate, narrations, broadcast and webinars.
Wrap Up
Sourcing for eLearning voiceover services is not a walk in the park. There are a lot of voice talents to choose from, and all seem capable of providing what you seek. To get the best suited for your project, consider their experience, dependability, whether they are native speakers of the language, and their knowledge of the subject. In addition, online reviews, recommendations, and demos can help you decide.