Why Learners Forget 90% of Online Training—and What You Can Do About It

It’s the dirty secret of digital learning: most of it doesn’t stick.

Study after study shows that learners forget up to 90% of what they learn within a week of completing training. That’s not a typo—ninety percent. If you’re an L&D professional, that’s painful. If you’re a business leader investing in workforce development, it’s a major leak in your ROI.

But why is it happening? More importantly, what can you actually do about it?

Let’s break it down.

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The Science Behind Forgetting

The first step is understanding what’s happening in the brain. Psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus famously developed the Forgetting Curve back in the 19th century. He found that we lose memory of new information rapidly—within days or even hours—unless we reinforce it.

Here’s what typically happens:

After 1 day, people forget about 50–60% of what they learned.
After a week, they remember less than 20%.
After a month, it’s down to 10% or less—unless something interrupts that slide.

This isn’t because people are lazy or uninterested. It’s how human memory works. We’re designed to forget irrelevant information to avoid cognitive overload. And most online training, as it turns out, is perceived by the brain as irrelevant.

Why Online Training Fails to Stick

1. Too Much, Too Fast

Most online courses are content-heavy marathons. They aim to check all the boxes—compliance, policy, skills—but end up overloading learners. This “info-dump” approach overwhelms short-term memory, leaving little chance for long-term storage.

2. No Real-World Context

People retain knowledge when they can use it. But a lot of training stays abstract. Learners don’t see how the content connects to their day-to-day work. Without relevance, their brain doesn’t flag the information as important to keep.

3. Lack of Repetition and Reinforcement

The brain needs repeated exposure to commit things to long-term memory. Yet most training is a one-and-done experience. You finish the module, maybe pass a quiz, and then move on—forever. It’s like planting a seed and never watering it.

4. Passive Learning

Watching videos or clicking through slides doesn’t engage the brain deeply. Passive learning is easy to forget. What sticks are active experiences—making decisions, solving problems, getting feedback. Without those, the material fades fast.

5. No Emotional Connection

We remember things that move us. Emotion activates the amygdala, which helps consolidate memory. Most online training is flat. It doesn’t engage emotionally, so it doesn’t make a lasting impact.

What You Can Do About It

Here’s the good news: forgetting isn’t inevitable. You can design training that people actually remember—if you work with the brain, not against it. Here’s how.

1. Shift to Spaced Learning

Instead of dumping all the content at once, break it into chunks and spread it out over time. This taps into the spacing effect, where learning is more effective when it’s spaced and revisited.

What this looks like in practice:

Replace one-hour eLearning modules with 10-minute micro-lessons delivered across a week.
Send follow-up nudges or mini-challenges days or weeks later to reinforce key points.
Use a platform that schedules automatic refreshers or quizzes.

2. Use Retrieval Practice

One of the most powerful ways to fight forgetting is to make learners recall the information, not just review it. This is called retrieval practice—and it’s backed by solid research.

How to use it:

Include regular low-stakes quizzes.
Ask learners to explain concepts in their own words.
Use “flashback” questions in future modules to revisit earlier content.

The key is not to make people re-read—but to make them think.

3. Make It Relevant

Learners need to see the “why.” What’s in it for them? How does it help them do their job better? Don’t just present rules or processes—connect them to real tasks, real problems, and real goals.

Tips:

Start with scenarios they recognize from their work life.
Use real examples, not generic hypotheticals.
Involve managers in reinforcing the content on the job.

4. Make It Active

The brain remembers what it does, not just what it sees. Interactivity boosts engagement and recall.

Try this:

Replace static slides with decision-making challenges.
Use branching scenarios where learners choose actions and see outcomes.
Include simulations or role-playing exercises for soft skills.

If learners can practice doing what you want them to remember, they’ll retain it longer.

5. Add Emotion and Story

Storytelling is a memory multiplier. When training includes stories, people are more likely to care—and remember. Emotions like surprise, empathy, and even humor help encode memories.

Ideas:

Start modules with a short story that illustrates the stakes.
Use characters or case studies people can relate to.
Add human moments—successes, mistakes, consequences—to dry topics.

Even compliance training gets more memorable when it’s about people, not just policies.

6. Use Social Learning

We’re social creatures. We learn by watching, discussing, and doing things with others. Yet most online training isolates learners. Fix that.

Ways to bring in the social factor:

Add short team discussions after online lessons.
Use Slack, Teams, or other platforms to run informal learning groups.
Let people share how they’ve applied training in their role.

Peer learning creates accountability—and reinforces knowledge through explanation and example.

Bonus: Don’t Forget the Environment

Even the best-designed training can flop if the work environment doesn’t support it.

Ask yourself:

Are managers reinforcing the learning?
Are people rewarded for applying it?
Are systems, tools, and culture aligned with the new behavior?

Training doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It needs a supportive ecosystem to take root.

The Payoff: Training That Works

Fixing the forgetting problem isn’t about more content. It’s about better learning design.

Here’s what that looks like:

Smaller, spaced learning moments
Practice over passive content
Retrieval over review
Relevance over generic lessons
Emotion over monotony
Social interaction over isolation

When you shift toward this kind of design, you don’t just fight forgetting—you build real capability. People remember more, apply more, and get better results.

And that’s the point of training in the first place.

Key Takeaways

People forget most of what they learn in online training—up to 90%—within a week.
Forgetting happens because training is often passive, irrelevant, one-time, and overwhelming.
To fight forgetting, use spaced learning, retrieval practice, real-world relevance, active learning, storytelling, and social interaction.
Long-term retention depends as much on the learning environment as the content itself.

Final Thought

If you’re spending time and money on online training, make sure it’s doing more than just ticking boxes. Build it for memory. Build it for impact. Because forgettable training is wasted training.

About LMS Portals

At LMS Portals, we provide our clients and partners with a mobile-responsive, SaaS-based, multi-tenant learning management system that allows you to launch a dedicated training environment (a portal) for each of your unique audiences.

The system includes built-in, SCORM-compliant rapid course development software that provides a drag and drop engine to enable most anyone to build engaging courses quickly and easily.

We also offer a complete library of ready-made courses, covering most every aspect of corporate training and employee development.

If you choose to, you can create Learning Paths to deliver courses in a logical progression and add structure to your training program. The system also supports Virtual Instructor-Led Training (VILT) and provides tools for social learning.

Together, these features make LMS Portals the ideal SaaS-based eLearning platform for our clients and our Reseller partners.

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