Many companies stick to learning and development for internal employees and team members, but producing learning outcomes for customers is emerging as a new, exciting trend. It’s not without good reason – when organizations handle customer training effectively, they stand to substantially boost the bottom line.
In fact, for every dollar companies spend on customer education per year, data shows that they have the potential to earn $6.70 in return. Active customer accounts have also been shown to be 34% more profitable than those without strong customer engagement. These numbers correspond to major return on investment (ROI) and highlight the importance of working alongside customers to produce real results.
In this post, we’ll preview how you can take advantage of the best LMS for Customer Training and how to discover which features are most suitable for your business culture and growth.
Overview of customer training programs
When companies think about learning management systems (LMS) or platforms, decision-makers and instructors usually focus on the objectives that are central to employees. Whether it’s onboarding, upskilling, or professional development, the purpose of training programs is to deliver new knowledge and skills internally.
The same is true for customer training programs, but these focus on the individuals who are actually using the service or product. Customers grow in their implementation skills and have the opportunity to become experts at a particular tool, software, or platform. According to UserPilot, customer training is:
“The process of educating your customers on successfully using your product and achieving their goals with it. End user training, as it’s alternatively called, increases your engagement and helps you retain customers more.”
When businesses invest in robust customer training, they’re more likely to benefit from a community of highly engaged, skilled users who are excited to represent the brand.
What is a Learning Management System (LMS) platform?
An LMS, or learning management system, is a software that allows you to create, deliver, and report on training courses and programs. Business News Daily defines the LMS ecosystem this way:
“A learning management system is a powerful training and professional development software resource that organizations of all sizes can incorporate into their employee onboarding process. Many LMS platforms are hosted in the cloud, allowing for remote access. An LMS combines database management within a digital framework to manage curricula, training materials, evaluation tools, course scheduling, regulatory compliance, and more.”
Although traditional LMS platforms offer one-size-fits-all training processes that lack customization, modern options like CYPHER, deliver personalization and sophisticated, competency-based learning pathways. With AI-powered content creation, assessment, and reporting, CYPHER gives instructors more time and energy for big-picture tasks.
Benefits of a Learning Management System (LMS) for customer training
Many businesses stand to gain from using an LMS for streamlined content delivery, but there’s an opportunity for more organizations to hone in on these perks for improved customer management.
Not only does the right LMS create a systematic way to deliver information, but it also improves business relationships. Businesses accomplish this by increasing engagement and putting even more power into the hands of the end user.
Let’s take a look at a few more goals you can accomplish by choosing the right LMS.
Perk 1: Centralize the user experience for learners
With an intuitive LMS, learners have access to one centralized system. This is different from navigating separate onboarding or training experiences, which leads to confusion and slower product adoption. With a centralized platform, businesses eliminate customer frustration and common pain points, making accessible content easier to manage and oversee.
Perk 2: Create a scalable on-boarding process for new customers
To accommodate a growing user base, businesses need flexibility. Regardless of how many new customers you acquire at a particular time, a scalable LMS option lets you put everyone through the same training modules. In doing so, you can keep the process consistent and take a more hands-on approach to branding, training, and just-in-time learning.
Perk 3: Personalize the experience throughout the customer journey
Learner expectations always hold power. This is especially true when your team is focused on creating and publishing curriculum that makes a tangible difference. All too often, poor platform adoption happens when a customer training LMS fails to measure up to the needs of modern, digital learning expectations.
With CYPHER, businesses have access to tailored learning paths for customers to ensure that content is relevant, timely, and accurate. Additionally, personalized paths guarantee that everyone has access to faster skill development throughout the learning process.
Perk 4: Automate to become more productive
Organizations can (and should) leverage LMS platforms to automate administrative tasks that would take valuable time away from other influential tasks, such as strategic planning or developing real human relationships. As you consider this advantage to using an LMS platform, consider which tasks an LMS can handle—and which ones are best left to hands-on, manual processes.
An intuitive platform assists with tasks related to user registration, enrollment, progress tracking, compliance monitoring, and certification. Plus, with CYPHER’s AI-powered technology, you can conquer 80% of the more tedious tasks like competencies and skill development mapping. Devote your resources to the foundational goals of your business, instead.
Defining your learning and development (L&D) goals
An underlying strategy is the foundation of every effective learning and development plan. That’s because strategic thinking is always critical for successful implementation, particularly when it comes to serving end users who aren’t employed by your organization.
Form your L&D goals on what you need to meet requirements and how you can invest available resources into more in-depth customer training. This requires taking a step back, looking at your use cases carefully, and finding the balance between over-investing or investing too little in a platform.
At CYPHER, we know that there are a few key pillars for learning and development, which may vary based on your particular industry and use case. These pillars include:
- People – Who’s doing the learning?
- Content – What’s most important for them to learn or take away?
- Administration – Who’s monitoring progress and feedback?
To define your learning goals for customers, move through the sections below, as you keep these core priorities in mind.
Tip 1: Identify areas of improvement in your current training program
The first step to replacing or improving your customer training initiative is to identify current gaps. Why do you need to fix what’s broken in your existing learning strategy? Are there bottlenecks, points of frustration, or lack of resources? Do you have buy-in from decision-makers or stakeholders?
The up-front questions make it easier to create practical solutions that solve real issues. Keep in mind that while these problem-identifying discussions happen behind the scenes, they still have an impact on customer relationships and decisions. That’s why having a proven method for identifying and handling concerns is the first step for success.
Tip 2: Establish new outcomes for modern LMS implementation
As you consider your target market or current customer, think about new LMS goals with the end in mind. What are the tangible, practical, and achievable goals for your program?
Many companies measure the following outcomes as a way to gauge the customer experience and generate growth in revenue metrics.
- Mastery of the product – How well do customers know and use the product or service? Are they growing in their knowledge of how to make the most of it?
- Brand loyalty – Are customers benefiting enough from your programs that they are willing to stay loyal for a longer timeframe? What is the lifetime value (LCV) of current customers?
- Productive feedback cycles – Are your customers comfortable with delivering feedback in productive ways? Does the feedback make it back to the right internal players so that the company can institute changes?
Examining LMS customer training features and programs
LMS platforms are equipped with key features, allowing instructors and course designers to adapt the curriculum for unique purposes.
When evaluating LMS features for customer training programs, consider your desired outcomes and the types of people (or learners) that you’ll be instructing.
An in-depth examination also ensures that you can customize the separate pieces that are most important to those big picture goals.
Social learning capabilities
For customers who are not necessarily connected to your internal operations, it’s important to forge personal connections that give more meaning to the learning process. Learning in community is essential for connection and knowledge retention. That’s why CYPHER prioritizes a social learning experience that helps remote learners and external users excel.
As you train, having the chance to interact with others can boost motivation, help learners achieve better results than they would in isolation, and create a more positive environment and learning experience than you’ll find in the status quo.
Learner engagement
Customer training programs generate better learner engagement by offering interactive content, gamified elements, discussion forums and feedback outlets, and real-world scenarios. These examples are most engaging when they’re incorporated throughout each training module or concept.
Discover how to automate and gamify your learners’ experiences
Regular updates, personalized learning paths, and responsive design also contribute to user-centric experiences, fostering active participation and knowledge retention.
User interface
A productive user interface (UI) is crucial for customer training programs since it has the potential to completely change the learning experience—for better or worse.
Well-designed interfaces always enhance accessibility, improve navigation, and foster engagement. When customers can leverage clear layouts, intuitive controls, and interactive elements, it makes content more digestible.
Plus, user-friendly features kickstart learners’ confidence by encouraging exploration and promoting a positive end result. These features also reduce friction and encourage greater participation—a win-win for learners, instructors, and observers.
An intuitive UI also changes the level of knowledge retention and successful learning outcomes, which are the end goal of any trustworthy customer training solution.
Reporting and analytics
Within customer training programs, reporting and analytics tools are essential if you hope to use data-driven insights for tracking and decision-making. Reports track learner progress, identify which content is most influential, and highlight any weak spots in the curriculum.
Analytics and reporting tools are also critical for measuring engagement, completion rates, and assessment scores.
Better data provides a clear view of your training program's impact on customer success. Plus, regular evaluation ensures that your training efforts actually align with real customer needs while improving knowledge and delivering a superior experience.
Content creation and distribution options
Content creation for customer training programs shouldn’t be time-consuming, tedious, or confusing. Delivery and distribution should also be seamless and well-designed to best meet the expectations of learners who don’t have the convenience of existing within the organization or business.
Content that’s well-crafted and easily accessible supports the needs of customers while supporting knowledge transfer and building trust. On the other hand, distributing that content across multiple channels enables broader reach and flexibility, accommodating different learning preferences and schedules.
Automate course creation, gamification, assessments, etc. so you have more time to train and connect with customers and partners. With CYPHER Copilot, you can build comprehensive, competency-based, gamified courses in under 10 minutes.
Tracking progress and performance
With CYPHER (LMS for customer training), instructors can stay informed with helpful charts and reports to track progress. These graphs display important data such as module progress, course status, course completion, and more. Users can save favorite or regularly-used reports and schedule them for delivery at certain times and dates.
In a customer training context, reports enhance the team’s understanding of how customers are using all available courses, pathways, and features. When comparing platforms, look for reporting that provides a variety of fields, filters, data sorting capabilities, and output methods.
Achieving trackable ROI with customer training
Why should companies invest in customer training here and now?
As companies invest in programs to educate customers, measuring effectiveness is the only way to prove value. A data-driven approach illustrates what qualities customer training brings to the table in terms of customer satisfaction, revenue, and brand loyalty. Ultimately, trackable ROI links customer training programs to strategic business goals.
By measuring learner progress, engagement, and behavior, business leaders and instructors can quantify the impact of new curriculum and programs. This allows for greater optimization strategies so that high-paying efforts can easily be reproduced or duplicated. Plus, pinpointing the return on investment allows businesses to:
- Replace outdated legacy solutions or training that no longer deliver on value
- Empower L&D professionals and trainers with better tools to equip customers
- Incorporate more gamification for modern learners as a way to stay competitive
Behind the Scenes: At CYPHER, our goal is to deliver major benefits for customers and businesses that rely on LMS platforms to empower HR and L&D professionals. We’re honored that eLearning has named CYPHER one of the top LMS tools to help businesses measure ROI on training this year.
Give customers the training they want and deserve
Customer training platforms are emerging as indispensable tools. Not only do they help customers fully understand the product, they also help everyone maximize return on investment.
With complete training and development, today’s businesses can also generate customer loyalty, reduce service requests or tickets, and improve user satisfaction. To bridge knowledge gaps, product and service leaders must stay committed to the impact that customer success has on brand reputation.
To invest in well-rounded training solutions? It’s no longer a matter of preference. For businesses that want to thrive in a customer-centered market, implementation is essential. Let’s start empowering customers from day one.
