HeyGen for L&D: The complete AI video jumpstart guide

Welcome to your AI L&D video quick-start guide

Want to create more video content but feel held back

back by limited time, budget or production resources? You’re not alone. Here’s the good news: with HeyGen, you can produce, translate and adapt videos that look even better than traditional productions at a fraction of the cost and time.

This guide is designed for learning professionals, instructional designers, and training content creators who are ready to lift their work with AI video. You’ll learn how to go from concept to course, creating high-quality, scalable content without needing cameras, studios, or on-screen talent.

Top use cases: how learning professionals are using HeyGen

HeyGen is more than a video tool. It’s a creative engine built for learning professionals who need to move fast, scale content, and drive results without sacrificing quality. From courses to multilingual training videos, here’s how learning professionals across every function are using HeyGen to create high-impact videos at scale.

Why video is crucial in L&D today

• #1 medium for increasing learner engagement and knowledge retention is video
• 83% of learners surveyed prefer watching video over audio or text
• 40–60% reductions in learning time can be achieved with video, as learners absorb information more efficiently through visual and auditory cues.
• 95% information retention when learners watch a video compared to 10% when reading text (Insivia)

The challenge

• Frequent updates require quick, easy video edits as policies, processes and industries evolve
• Limited bandwidth and global language or accessibility needs put pressure on production capacity
• Outsourcing is expensive and slow, especially for complex content like compliance or safety

What AI video unlocks

Cost savings

€1,000 saved per minute of training content by Sibelco

80% lower production costs and 50% faster delivery time at Simulations Software

Speed

5X increase in educational video production speed at financial services leader Equity Trust

Scalability

80–90% average completion rates for customer and partner training videos at Komatsu

15K+ live sales role-play training simulations and 2.5K+ hours of training completed at Copient.ai

Localisation

80% reduction in video translation costs and 50% production time saved by Würth Group

5X increase in return on ad spend across Spanish, French and German markets at Rosetta Stone

Personalisation

Hundreds of onboarding videos welcoming new hires by name and in their preferred language at Lattice

Creating your first AI video

Introduction

New to video or trying out HeyGen for the first time? You’ve got this. This section will walk you through each step to help you create a great video, fast.

Prefer learning by doing?

Choose a video type above to open a ready-made template in HeyGen and follow along as you go.

Not ready to jump in yet?

No worries. Skim the steps now and come back to the full how-to when you’re ready.

Ready to get started?

Start with this 2-minute tour of HeyGen's AI Studio Editor, then let's dive in!

For more information, check out our follow-along video tutorials:

→ HeyGen Academy: 101

broad overview of all HeyGen features

→ HeyGen Academy: AI Studio

go deeper into video editing

Step 1: Set up your HeyGen workspace to scale

Smart marketers don’t start from scratch every time – they build systems that scale.

With HeyGen, it’s easy to keep your videos on-brand by setting up a Brand Kit to use your fonts, colours, logos and assets automatically.

Just paste in your company’s URL to get started, or upload your brand elements manually.

In a hurry? No worries. You can always come back and finish this step later.

Pro tip

Once your Brand Kit is armed with your brand’s colours, you can easily update most HeyGen Templates to match. Just swap in your colours so every video stays on-brand.

Step 2: Set your strategy

Before creating your video, take a step back to clarify your learning strategy, especially if this video is part of a larger course or training sequence. Define the objective of this particular video, who the learners are, how the video will be delivered, and how you’ll keep learners engaged throughout.

Step 2: Choose the right AI avatar

Your facilitator sets the learning environment. Choose a ready-made Public Avatar, create a Custom Avatar that fits your organisation or subject matter, or for the ultimate personal touch, create your digital twin in minutes with HeyGen’s Hyper Realistic Avatar feature!

HeyGen offers several options for creating Custom Avatars. Click the links below to explore the details further.

Pro tip

Use HeyGen’s Generating Looks feature to change your avatar’s pose, surroundings or outfit using just a text prompt.

Best practices: creating the ideal custom avatar

Ready to create a professional, lifelike avatar with endless customisation options? Explore the resources below for tips, best practices, and a quick overview of what you’ll need to get started.

When creating a Custom Avatar, remember: quality in = quality out. The better your photos, videos, and written prompts, the more realistic and polished your avatar will be.

Whatever’s in your Hyper Realistic Avatar training video, from gestures to facial expressions to vocal inflection, will be reflected in the final result.

Pro tip

Use HeyGen’s Generating Looks feature to change your avatar’s pose, surroundings or outfit using just a text prompt.

Training goal

What do you want this video to achieve?

Examples: onboarding new hires, reinforcing compliance procedures, upskilling for new tools or processes

Learner profile

Who are you creating this video for? What role or team are they in? What’s their current level of knowledge?

Examples: All employees, mostly non-technical, limited time, varying awareness of security protocols

Primary distribution channel

Where will people access your video?

Examples: internal LMS, SharePoint, Slack, onboarding email services, company wiki, mobile learning app

Engagement strategy

How will you keep learners engaged and improve retention?
Examples: interactive prompts, spaced repetition, relatable scenarios, brief and focused segments to maintain attention and reinforce key takeaways

Pro tip

Need a second opinion on your strategy? Head to ChatGPT, Claude, or another tool of your choice and prompt with the following:

"I’m planning to create a [training video] for [topic or skill]. The goal is [insert learning objective], my target audience is [learner profile], it will be delivered via [platforms or channels], and the engagement strategy is: [engagement strategy]. Can you give me feedback on how effective this plan is, and suggest any improvements?"

Step 3: Write your script

Your script is the backbone of a clear, effective learning experience. Whether you’re creating a standalone tutorial or one module in a larger course, a well-structured script ensures clarity, consistency and learner engagement. Here’s how to get it right:

• Start with context and relevance such as a scenario, question or common challenge to show why the topic matters. This builds motivation and learner commitment.
• Keep it structured and focused, breaking content into logical, easy-to-follow steps with a clear, steady pace.
• Use simple, conversational language, speaking directly and clearly to the learner. Avoid jargon unless it’s explained.
• Reinforce key takeaways and next steps by ending with a simple summary, a prompt to reflect on or apply the learning, or a clear pointer to the next module or resource.

Pro tip

Want to move faster? Check the Best Practices page below for guidance on using tools like ChatGPT to write your script.

Still not sure where to start? Here are a few sample outlines for inspiration.

If you’re following along in HeyGen, these scripts are already built into your template.

Access templates, including these scripts, here:

→ Course video

→ Training Video

→ How-to video

Explore more in-depth script templates and extra tips for popular L&D video types

→ Learning courses

→ How-to videos

→ Explainer videos

→ Corporate training

→ Skills training

Best practices: write scripts better and faster with AI

Want to streamline your workflow and save hours of writing time? Here’s how to use tools like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini to quickly generate clear, learner-focused scripts for your training videos.

Step 1: Start with a clear prompt

Tell the AI what type of training video you’re creating, who it’s for, and what outcome you want. Include context such as:

• Objective: what should the learner be able to do or understand?
• Learner profile: who are they (new hire, sales rep, team lead) and what is their baseline knowledge?
• Distribution: where will the video sit (LMS, Slack, onboarding flow)?
• Engagement: preferred tone and delivery (conversational, scenario-based, direct instruction)

‎

Sample prompt:

“Write a 2-minute training script on how to complete expense reports in Workday. The audience is new starters in finance, with no prior Workday experience. The tone should be clear and supportive. This will be delivered by an avatar inside our LMS.”

Step 2: Add key talking points

Help the AI stay accurate and focused by including a short list of what the video should cover

Example:

• Task or tool being explained
• Key steps or policies
• Common mistakes to avoid
• Any compliance or process notes
• Desired outcome

‎

Sample prompt:

"Cover: where to find the expense tool in Workday, how to upload a receipt, how to submit for approval. Note: emphasise the submission policy’s timeline.”

Step 3: Ask for the right format

Let the AI know how the content will be delivered. This affects tone, pacing and word choice.

Example:

• A spoken script read by an avatar
• Designed for voiceover with on-screen visuals
• Modular, so it fits into a microlearning sequence

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Sample prompt:

"Write this as a script for a talking head avatar, using short, clear sentences and natural pause points for on-screen callouts."

Step 4: Review and tweak

Paste your script into HeyGen and use the preview tool to watch it come to life. Then refine it as needed. Use follow-up prompts like:

• Make this more concise for a 60-second version.
• Add a question to encourage reflection.
• Use less formal language and make it more conversational.
• Include an example of a common error and how to fix it.

Best practices: creating high-quality custom AI voices

HeyGen has a massive library of stock AI-generated voices in over 175 languages, dialects, and emotional tones, but sometimes the perfect video calls for something custom. Below are three ways to create Custom Voices.

For the best voice quality, start with strong source audio. Here’s how to get a great recording:

• Use a high-quality mic or smartphone, held 6–8" from your mouth

• Record in a quiet, noise-free space

• Speak clearly with natural pauses and a bit of emotional expression

• Upload multiple samples with different emotional tones for more versatility (for HeyGen Custom Voice Clones only)

Want to go a bit deeper?

→ Ultimate guide to hyper-realistic custom voice cloning

→ Add emotion to your Custom Voice Clone

Best practices: prompting like a pro

Prompting is the practice of carefully crafting and iterating text instructions (called prompts) used to guide AI tools to create content from scratch, such as images, motion, or audio.

Prompting is a powerful skill for any AI video creator. When paired with HeyGen, prompting unlocks countless ways to create high-impact videos where your imagination is your only limitation. Be prepared to test, adapt, and apply prompts in HeyGen to tailor your videos to match your goals.

Prompting best practices

Be specific

The more clearly you describe what you want (tone, look, gesture, emotion), the better the AI can match your vision.

Start with structure

Use a consistent structure: what, who, where, how. This applies to visuals, voice tone, and motion direction.

Include context and intent

Let the AI know the purpose: is it for a product demo, a social ad, or a tutorial? Context helps tailor the result.

Use descriptive language

Use adjectives that convey emotion, style or clarity (e.g., “confident”, “minimalist”, “high energy”, “calm pace”).

Iterate & refine

Don’t settle for your first try. Small prompt tweaks can lead to much better results across all media types!

Prompting best practices can vary slightly depending on what you’re creating

Explore the resources below to dive deeper into each type and get the most out of your prompts.

• Prompting best practices, common issues and solutions
• Prompting best practices for generating looks
• Prompting best practices for adding motion

Step 5: Create and refine your scenes in AI Studio

Now that your script and avatar are ready, it’s time to bring your message to life in HeyGen’s AI Studio editor where it’s easy to customise, enhance, and polish every part of your video – no editing experience required!

• Design your scenes in minutes using the Brand Kit or Templates you set up in Step 1.
• Reinforce your message with on-screen text or visuals and trigger them to appear or disappear with Animations.
• Browse HeyGen’s stock media library for high-quality royalty-free b-roll video.
• Use Premium Scene Transitions to give your video a smooth, professional finish.
• Add and customise Captions to make your videos more engaging and accessible.
• Translate your videos to reach learners, teams, and audiences around the world.
• Using a SCORM-compliant LMS? Enterprise plan users streamline their workflows with SCORM exports.

Pro tip

Create and compare multiple versions of your training videos to see what improves engagement, knowledge retention and learner outcomes.

Ready to edit like a pro?

Visit HeyGen Academy: AI Studio, an in-depth video course that walks through all of HeyGen’s editing features.

Best practices: adjust pronunciation, emotions, and intonations

Need your avatar to sound just right? HeyGen gives you powerful tools to fine-tune voiceovers for natural, accurate delivery that feels true to life.

Want to see it in action?

Watch the HeyGen Academy: AI Studio - Pronunciation module to see these features in action and learn how to use them in your own projects.

Strategies to grow your impact

Whether you’re reaching new markets, testing what works, or tailoring content to different audiences, these advanced best practices and tools will help you scale your impact with precision.

Go global with translation

Learn how to translate and localise your videos into 175+ languages and dialects, no dubbing or voice actors required.

Use HeyGen’s Brand Voice feature to maintain consistency in translated videos by customising how certain words are handled (i.e., brand name pronunciations, forcing or blocking translation for certain terms).

Enterprise and Team plan users can also make edits directly to translated scripts by using our Proofread feature.

Need some inspiration? Check out how Trivago used HeyGen to simultaneously localise TV ads in 30 markets.

Support change management with flexible, updatable content

Change is constant and your learning materials need to keep up. Whether you’re refreshing a full course module or updating a single training video, traditional content production with re-shooting and editing can turn even a small update into a major effort.

With HeyGen, updating videos takes minutes, not days. Swap out scripts, edit text, change visuals, and generate new versions with just a few clicks. No more bottlenecks. Just fast, flexible video that helps your learners adapt as quickly as your organisation moves. Learn more about using HeyGen for change management.

Accessibility and inclusive learning at scale

In today’s learning environments, accessibility isn’t optional – it’s essential. Learners bring a wide range of abilities, preferences, and digital literacy levels, and your content needs to reflect that.

Explore our guide on how to create accessible training videos that meet diverse learner needs for more info on how to easily adapt for visual and auditory accessibility needs, create microlearning modules, and adjust for cultural differences.

Interactive avatar

Whether you’re delivering compliance training or onboarding new employees, Interactive Avatars transform passive videos into dynamic, two-way learning experiences that boost engagement, personalise content, and drive learner action.

Need some inspiration? Visit our Interactive Avatar demo page and chat with Judy, HeyGen’s 24/7 HR compliance training expert!

Use case #1: Learning courses

Whether you’re reaching new markets, testing what works, or tailoring content to different audiences, these advanced best practices and tools will help you scale your impact with precision.

Customer stories and examples

Ideal for

Ideal for: Instructional Designers, Learning & Development, HR, Sales Enablement

Best practices

Break content into modular sections

Structure your course into short, focused segments, ideally 3–7 minutes each. This supports spaced learning, easier updates and stronger retention.

Script for clarity, not just content

Write in a conversational tone, simplify complex ideas, and avoid jargon. Use storytelling, analogies, and real-world scenarios to bring your content to life.

Make it visually intentional

Use visuals to enhance your message. Combine avatar presenters with relevant graphics, screen recordings, animations, or b-roll to support different learning styles.

Engage with layered interactivity

Supplement your course with engaging videos that prompt reflection, knowledge checks, or follow-up exercises.

Test and refine

Gather and integrate feedback continuously, using HeyGen for straightforward change management.

Top features

• Assets: enhance your learning experiences with helpful visuals like screen recordings and graphics that reinforce your message
• Templates: Keep your course’s visual design consistent by using or creating templates to save time and lift the quality of your content
• Generate Looks: use text prompts to adapt your avatar instructor’s outfit, environment, or pose to suit the subject or audience

Ready to take things up a notch?

→ Explore more with our Practical Guide for L&D Professionals eBook

→ Visit our step-by-step guide to creating engaging learning courses

Use case #2: Training and onboarding

Customer stories & examples

Ideal for

Instructional designers, learning and development, sales enablement, HR, compliance, internal communications

Best practices

Start with the essentials

Focus on the information learners need right away, such as company values, tools, workflows, or safety protocols. Prioritise clarity and usefulness over completeness in early modules.

Keep it short and focused

Aim for short, goal-focused videos (2–5 minutes) that cover one topic at a time. This makes it easier for learners to absorb information and return to specific sections when they need to.

Make it welcoming and personal

Use avatars to create a friendly, human-first tone. Personalise with names, roles, or departments where possible to make onboarding feel relevant and tailored.

Design for different attention spans

Use captions, motion, and bold visuals to support understanding, especially on mobile or when videos are watched with the sound off.

Build confidence, not just compliance

Frame content around real situations learners might face. Show how processes and policies help them succeed, not just what they have to do.

Plan for updates

Company policies, tools and org structures change over time. Use HeyGen’s rapid editing tools to quickly update individual scenes or videos without a full reshoot.

Key features

• Custom Avatars: Give your onboarding a human touch with a digital twin or department-specific presenters to deliver training in a familiar, branded voice.
• Personalised Video: Create personalised videos that greet new hires by name and customise other variables such as department or region to streamline onboarding and boost engagement.
• Brand Kit: Maintain visual brand consistency by setting up a Brand Kit with approved logos, fonts, colours, and assets.

Ready to go a bit deeper?

→ Dive in deeper with our Practical guide for L&D professionals eBook

→ Visit our step-by-step guides on creating videos for: general training, corporate training, HR onboarding, safety and compliance.

Use case #3: Translation and accessibility

Customer stories and examples

Ideal for

Instructional designers, communications, learning & development, HR, compliance

Best practices

Localise for language and culture

Build learner engagement by going the extra mile to offer content in their language, with regionally relevant avatars, accents and visuals.

Support auditory accessibility

by creating multiple versions of your video with captions, subtitles, on-screen text callouts, written transcripts, or by adjusting the voice speed for clearer pacing.

Optimise for visual accessibility

by creating an additional version of your video with high-contrast palettes, larger fonts, and clean, uncluttered visual design.

Create microlearning modules

by breaking longer videos into short, concept-specific sections to make navigation and updates easier.

Improve digital literacy

by starting with a guided orientation video for your LMS or at the beginning of a new course.

Key features

• Translation: Reach global audiences without ever reshooting by translating or localising your existing content into different languages or regional accents.
• Brand Glossary: Maintain consistent pronunciation and translation across all your videos
• Public Avatars: Choose from 700+ diverse stock avatars to find the ideal spokesperson for your target region and audience
• Captions: Automatically add captions to any video to improve its accessibility

Handy tip

If your video needs visuals like screen recordings, make sure they line up with your script. Start by writing your script, then use the preview button to play the audio while you record your screen in sync with the narration for the best timing.

Ready to go a bit deeper?

Check out our guide to creating accessible training videos that meet diverse learner needs.