Successful customers get more out of your products, and they’re more likely to sign up again when it’s time for a contract renewal. But many companies fail to support their customers with the education that helps them use – and love – their products.
Customer learning guides your clients towards faster product adoption and proficiency. It helps them feel confident in their skills and understand your product’s value in their daily work life. With thoughtfully-developed customer learning modules, you can encourage a lasting, fruitful relationship with your client.
Some companies deliver customer education via online training. It’s a clever strategy because enterprise learning management systems (LMS) make customer course creation and module delivery easier and more effective. We’ll show you how.
What is customer education?
Customer education, unlike customer service training or employee training, trains your clients on how to use your products or services. Depending on the product, customer training can be as simple as a few quick videos or might require a series of in-depth learning modules. Any materials that help your customers learn how to use your products better is considered “customer education”.
Why is customer learning important?
Companies invest in training courses for their clients because it pays. Those customers that receive training are more confident in using the product. They can put it to use safely and effectively, allowing that product to become a more important part of their job function.
As the customer begins to rely on that product in their daily work life, they’re more likely to become repeat customers, and tell others about your products or services. Ultimately, client training is an essential sales and marketing tactic that improves customer engagement and retention, and paves the way for a stronger client-company relationship.
Training boosts customer success
According to a recent Forrester study training your customers offers clear wins on almost every customer success metric. From increases in customer retention to reductions in customer support costs, . Here’s what the study found:
- 96% of companies that responded realize positive returns on customer education
- Product adoption increases by 38.3% with customer education
- Customer satisfaction increases by 26.2%
- Companies realize a 35% increase in average lifetime value per trainee
- Companies see a 28.9% increase in win rates for new customers
- As a result of customer learning, companies enjoy a 15.5% decrease in customer support costs
Must-have elements in a customer training program
It’s clear that customer training benefits companies, but your educational modules need to be top-quality to move the needle. Half-baked, disorganized efforts won’t cut it. To be effective, training needs to be engaging and relevant. Here’s what you’ll need:
A strategy: Think about each category of information that customers need to know to use your product. Then, think about the details and steps involved in each category: each of those steps should be a training module.
Training works best when it’s short, clear, and focused. When you’re planning customer training, sketch the high-level areas of training and then start getting specific on the details. Bite-sized segments help learners learn and retain the material so it goes in deep before you move on to another category.
Versatile media: Chances are, your customers will show the training to multiple audiences within their organization. They may offer your training across different audiences and regions, in short bursts or as part of a longer educational plan. No matter where it’s shown or how many hours it lasts, it needs to keep your audience engaged and interested in learning.
So, when you create your course, do so with a mix of presentation media. Videos, slides, graphics, and webinars each change the learning pace so your training never becomes static or boring. It’s wise to plan opportunities for social learning, too, so learners can discuss the material and ask questions.
Flexible delivery: Make customer training easier to access with a delivery method that works on their terms. Customers might need their training in the field or on the job site rather than in the office, so you’ll need to ensure they can get the information they need however and wherever they need it.
Measurements of successes (and failures): You might not get your customer training program right the first time. As you develop your structure and materials, it’s wise to ask your customers whether the training was useful, clearly worded and presented, and covered the topics they needed. If you receive low scores in some areas, it’s a great opportunity to improve your training so it’s even better for the next clients.
How an enterprise LMS makes customer training easier
It’s easier to meet customers’ diverse training needs with a versatile learning platform. Online courses allow you to:
- Create content that’s branded, professional, and varied. Incorporate media, set up webinars, and add quizzes and games to keep things interesting.
- Present your courses in a well-organized and intuitive user interface.
- Make learning fun with gamification features like leader boards and badges.
- Facilitate mobile learning, so customers can access e-learning courses wherever they need to.
- Offer personalized learning experiences by creating learning journeys that are tailored to each customer’s role or user group.
- Track learner progress with detailed reporting features. Download reports and use metrics to improve your training and promote more effective learning.
Top tip: There are scores of learning management systems on the market, so take a few minutes to learn what to look for in an LMS before you start shopping.
LearnRight – Customers’ favorite enterprise LMS
Customers love how easy it is to learn via LearnRight. From the moment they login (to a branded, custom domain), they can explore the user-friendly interface, navigate to the training they need, and learn how to use your products through the engaging, helpful modules you’ve created.
Plus, our multiple integrations, robust features (like gamification, social learning, and in-app messaging), detailed reporting functionalities, and user admin features make it simple to manage learning for as many customers as you need.
It’s no wonder LearnRight is a leading provider of employee, partner, franchise, and sales training across the world! Take LearnRight for a spin and experience the thrill of effective customer learning. Or, learn how to choose an LMS that will benefit all your learning audiences and make a decisive business impact.
Customer Education & LMS Platforms – Common Questions
What is an enterprise LMS?
An enterprise learning management system (LMS) is large-scale software that allows companies to create, design, deliver, track, and manage training material. It also lets L&D staff manage users and how they access training modules, assign learning journeys to different user roles, and create and download reports on the success of each course.
What are the benefits of customer education for businesses?
Customer education ensures your customers know how to use your products and services correctly. When they feel confident in their knowledge, they’ll use your products more often and they’re more likely to renew their contracts and tell others about your company.
How can customer training improve product adoption?
Customers who know how to use products will adopt them and make them part of their everyday work life. If customers don’t understand how to use your product, they’re unlikely to see its value – and less likely to sign a renewal contract.
Is customer learning different from employee training?
Absolutely! Customer training, unlike employee training, is specifically written with the customer’s needs, problems, and questions in mind. It should help them feel comfortable with the product and confident in how to use it. Remember – customer training isn’t a sales exercise. They’re already bought your product, so now you need to make them excited and empowered to start using it.
Can an LMS help reduce customer support costs?
When customers can avail of on-demand training, they’re less likely to need to speak to a human customer support operator.
Why is customer onboarding important for retention?
Customers who don’t understand your product won’t use it – even if they’ve bought it. Your unused product will remain so until it’s time for renewal, at which point it becomes an easy-to-cut line time. Customer training flips the narrative by empowering customers with product knowledge and skills so they’re excited to use it and convinced it’s essential to their job function, making them extremely likely to renew their contract when the time comes.
Does LearnRight support customer learning and onboarding?
Yep, we’re built with customer training in mind. You can create unlimited instances of LearnRight so that every customer has a dedicated, branded login portal. It’s easy to manage users and outline learning journeys that take customers from “newbie” to “proficient”, and admins can track customers’ learning progress.
