We all agree on the importance of continuing education for employees. Right?
But why not also think about Customer Training? Have you ever considered putting together a real training tailored just for them? Think about the concrete benefits this could bring to your company!
In this post we want to talk about the growing importance of Customer Training, especially today, in the midst of Digital Transformation. We can definitely say that Customer Training represents an unquestionable competitive advantage and the great thing is that it is within the reach of every modern company that is oriented towards a learning culture that is not only internal, but extended outward, starting right from the Customers.
Summary
- How to develop a successful Customer Experience?
- Invest in Customer Training: 5 reasons to do it
- Let’s sum up
How to develop a successful Customer Experience?
We know the benefits of continuous employee learning, but let’s not forget that Customers are also “hungry” for knowledge. The fact is that unlike employees – who often have access to an e-learning platform to train themselves properly – Customers do not always know where to find the information and answers they need.
Let’s look at an example: there is a lot of information-usually hidden in FAQs, User Guides, and Terms of Service – that could be better enhanced if used as material for micro-training courses specifically designed for Customers and made available through a customer training portal dedicated to them.
Have you ever wondered how Customers use the product or service they purchased from your Company? What “tips” or “best practices” can help them make the best use of it? How different is the new version of the product you have just released from the classic version that customers have been used to using for years?
Asking these questions is crucial nowadays, as delivering the best Customer Experience is strategic for all companies. The fact is that all these questions result in a lot of information that might go unnoticed or difficult to retrieve if made available to Customers through simple documentation. Imagine how much more “absorbable,” usable and useful they could be if used to create a series of courses designed to provide your customers with training on how to best use what they have purchased.
Increase engagement through Customer Training
The most important reason to train your customers, however, is not the learning itself, but it is the engagement that the training is able to generate. When you create training courses for your customers, you speak directly to them, to their needs and requirements, but in a new language, different from “marketing,” “sales,” or “customer service” language:
a different language based on the teacher-student relationship that will enable you to build a trusting relationship and thus solid brand loyalty-providing your customers with the right answers and information when they need it. Just in time.
Invest in Customer Training: 5 reasons to do it
Data in hand we are going to go over the 5 reasons why Customer Education is important, thanks to the invaluable input of A.J. O’Connel and our partner Litmos.
Let’s get started!
1) Customer Training builds trust
What company doesn’t want to win the trust of its customers? Well, if you want loyal customers…train them! Satisfy their need to learn more about your product.
Remember: you are investing in their success by teaching them how to excel at using your product/service, and customers respond well to this attention.
Particularly for software-as-a-service (SAAS) companies, where churn rate is often an issue, training customers is a great way to engage and retain them. Some companies might also consider offering Certifications paths to their customers (as Litmos does with its Dojo Training). Through Certifications in fact, Clients gain recognition of their skills and professionalism. A concrete contribution to enable them to improve business performance.
2) Help your customers make the best use of your product or service
Never forget: your customers have invested in your product or service, so why not make sure they get the most out of it? For example, think about setting up a training portal for onboarding new customers, to effectively support them right from the start with basic courses. Then, as they become more confident in using your product, you can offer more specific training courses that are always ready to use and accessible right when they need them.
Micro-courses on new features introduced in new releases of your products and tips on how to use your service to the fullest: these are just a few examples of how training your customers can be a key pillar of the Company-Customer relationship. Just think how much value you could share with your customers…to the benefit of customer satisfaction!
3) Constantly training your customers is marketing
Jeannie Walters wrote an interesting post on how a training offering incorporated into your marketing strategy helps increase conversion rates. So remember: delivering training to your customers, offering training pills with tips and tricks, has effectiveness from a marketing perspective. After all, who doesn’t like learning how to best use a newly purchased product or service?
The engagement generated by training allows you to keep your customers engaged, close to your brand and fans of your product. Moreover, through an online training service, you give your customers a way to find out what other products or services you offer, what they are good for, and why they might be good for them! Have you ever thought about this?
4) Customer Training reduces calls to Customer Service
Is Customer Service convenient, isn’t it?
According to a PWC report, however, each time a customer has difficulty using a product and calls customer service, it represents a cost to the Company of at least $4. Complaints handled online cost less – between 10 and 15 cents per contact, but it is still money you could avoid spending if your customers had training available online that could empower them to use the “top” product and service they purchased.
In addition, most customer service calls are about simple issues for which assistance from a customer support person is not always necessary or essential. A survey by Bain and Company found that nearly 70% of calls to contact centers could be avoidable or involved very simple and easily resolved requests.
What does this tell us? Well, we can certainly say that by implementing a series of “How To” style training pills to help new customers solve small problems in using the product, independently and quickly, you could significantly:
- reduce the number of unnecessary calls to customer service;
- make your Customers satisfied and more aware of their ability to use the product;
- solve any small difficulties independently.
Even in this scenario, we can say that microlearning is the best strategy to adopt: short, easily accessible and usable courses whenever clients need them!
5) If you don’t think about training your Clients, well…they’ll do it themselves
Dry question: do you really want your customers to go to YouTube to find a tutorial on how to use your product? According to a recent Google study, more than 7 out of 10 users use YouTube to solve a problem at home, school, or work. If you don’t provide answers through dedicated courses, chances are your customers will go to YouTube to see if someone online has made a video that provides an answer to their question.
The problem? Not all the information in those videos might necessarily be correct, and perhaps some of the proposed workarounds might result in even more customer service calls! Do you really want this? Not really!
Designing an online academy dedicated to educating customers allows you to provide answers, official, verified and always up-to-date, that can help them concretely and effectively, because the information will be the right information.
Always remember: the greatest ‘expert’ on your products is you! Pass this value on to your customers with successful online training!
Let’s sum up
In short, customer training is useful to teach customers how to effectively use a product or service. The goals are:
- improve customer satisfaction;
- reduce assistance requests;
- increase product loyalty.
Effective Customer Training requires a deep understanding of the target audience, as well as continuous evaluation and feedback to ensure that the training meets customer needs and achieves the desired results.
In general, customer training is an essential component of a successful Customer Experience strategy because it helps customers get the most out of a product or service and ultimately leads to increased satisfaction and loyalty.
#neverstoplearning and #neverstoptraining
