How Strivr Uses Humanized Copy to Popularize Virtual Reality for Finance Training

For better or worse, the finance industry is an inextricable presence in our daily lives. From routine credit card swipes to hefty loans and mortgages, our decisions are made possible by the world’s largest financial institutions. 

In an industry with universal impact, proper employee training can make all the difference. After all, high-stakes threats lurk around every corner: fraud is a multibillion-dollar crisis, as are cybersecurity risks that lead to major data breaches. The right training can also dramatically sharpen employees’ soft skills—clear, sensitive communication goes a long way, whether you’re dealing with clients or other team members.

Enter Strivr, a Bay Area-based information technology company. Its virtual reality (VR) training platform addresses major finance industry concerns, including fraud, customer service, manager-employee relationships, and sales. 

Here, we’ll look at Strivr’s friendly, human-centered approach to copy and marketing—a unique strategy that’s transforming the way mainstream audiences relate to sophisticated technology.  

Strivr’s copy tells its audience that groundbreaking technology is for everyone

As virtual reality continues to break new ground, a growing number of competitors are entering the space. So, what sets Strivr apart? Aside from its impressive client roster, the company incorporates a simple-yet-crucial theme into its messaging: the digestibility of groundbreaking technology. Yes, VR is a state-of-the-art breakthrough—its particulars concern frame rates, spatial audio, and other esoteric concepts—but its copy is also refreshingly normal. 

What kind of experience does Strivr offer—and how? “Enterprise VR training made easy,” its homepage promises. During “immersive learning,” or simulation-based training, employees “make decisions as [they] would in the physical world, activating the same neural pathways in the brain.” As disruptive as it is, VR is as natural as the human body—an experience as instinctive as breathing. 

Relatable language reimagines interactive finance training

Fraud, like other white-collar crimes, is difficult to diagnose. As a precautionary measure, though, many agree that comprehensive employee training is essential—the right kind, anyway. 

According to Strivr, traditional fraud detection training—where new employees simply read through a list of steps—is ineffective. After all, potential fraud is a complex, high-stakes situation; despite prior training, many freeze or panic under pressure, glossing over red flags instead of taking action. 

What difference can VR make? Strivr understands that humans are humans, not robots: “There’s a big difference between reading the steps in a manual and actually applying those steps under pressure with a real customer.” Its copy highlights natural behavioral tendencies, which traditional training fails to address: “Many employees overlook red flags because they feel awkward raising them, especially when the customer looks and sounds innocent.”

With immersive VR training, frontline employees can practice fraud detection techniques on “real” customers in a safe, lifelike environment. To teach employees about a specific check evaluation process, for example, Strivr spotlights intuitive bodily motion, meticulously guiding the movement of users’ heads and eyes. This, Strivr states, “builds their attention to detail and ability to follow the process in the heat of the moment.” 

Later, employees are asked to determine whether the situation warrants escalation—a spur-of-the-moment decision with real-life consequences. “VR, through realistic practice, gives employees the confidence to address issues effectively on the spot,” the company explains. This approach, which reveals a deep understanding of human behavior, highlights VR’s capacity to accommodate—rather than “correct”—natural inclinations. 

Consumer acceptance requires relatability and trust. For ultramodern technology, that’s especially true—which is precisely why this strategy can scale. Whether you’re marketing VR or robotics, humanizing your messaging pulls your audience closer: it inspires trust in a product or service that they might not have looked at twice. In an increasingly tech-driven world, that’s a major win.     

How Strivr pushes past the naysayers

Does all of this—tracking seemingly inconsequential bodily movements, molding personalities, and creating eerily real replicas of human customers—sound a little too Black Mirror for your taste? 

You’re not alone. Many believe that VR-based settings, especially those being developed by Big Tech, are the building blocks of a dystopian future. Others are put off by pure fear: according to a University of Copenhagen study, fast-moving objects or unanticipated motion can produce feelings of anxiety and unease. The idea of conversing with virtual customers—especially those with distinct, human-like facial features and voices—can also be unsettling, as is the disassociation that may accompany total immersion in a strikingly authentic simulation.

That’s precisely why Strivr’s messaging is so powerful: virtual reality for finance training—or perhaps any industry—isn’t scary at all. By streamlining the way we evaluate and modify our natural behavioral tendencies, VR makes learning more intuitive. 

Take Strivr’s overview of biologically driven training, for example. When documenting the subtleties of eye movements, VR finance training elicits “arousal and affect”—that is, the “stress, anxiety, and surprise [that makes] training more memorable and impactful.” In high-pressure situations, the company notes, making the right decision—escalating a possible fraud case, for example—produces dopamine, which reinforces training and boosts retention. Its website touts a “full-body experience” that’s grounded in both “perceptual fidelity,” or natural brain activation, and “emotional fidelity,” or a “sense of presence” that generates a genuine physical response. Strivr’s technology isn’t alien or dystopian—it’s a mere extension of the human experience.

The worlds of the future

VR-based finance training might just be the next big thing. But even if it isn’t, the technology isn’t going anywhere: Goldman Sachs estimates that the augmented and virtual reality market will be worth a whopping $80 billion by 2025. 

What can other tech-fueled brands learn from Strivr’s marketing strategy? Keep it simple—and more importantly, ensure that it’s human. The world’s most complicated breakthroughs can captivate the mainstream—as long as they’re relatable enough to digest.

Thanks to Strivr, we can enter new worlds while on the clock—and ideally emerge as more confident and empathetic people. Today’s eye-catching virtual reality might be one of the world’s most modern technologies—a centuries-old fantasy of the future, now in full bloom. Even so, Strivr wants us to think of it in simpler terms: when the headset comes off and the real world re-materializes, who will you become?

Looking for copy that’s out of this world? Contact the writers at MarketSmiths.