It’s not exactly a novel insight: We’ve known about the many benefits of customer retention for decades now. Reaching new customers is important, but never at the expense of your existing customer base. Even a 5% increase in customer retention rates can boost profitability by 25% or more.
As you look ahead to future business growth, you should consider seriously improving customer experience and reducing customer churn.
One essential part of that process? Implementing an efficient and engaging external learning strategy. Educated customers are more loyal and more satisfied. They leave customer success managers free to focus on higher-level interactions and issues. And, above all, they’re happy to stay right where they are.
So… what exactly are the retention benefits of customer education and training?
Increased Customer Lifetime Value
Reducing customer churn by keeping your customers happy doesn’t just reduce volatility. It actually boosts the overall lifetime value (LTV) that those customers provide to your brand.
The more loyal they are, the more frequently they’ll use your products or services—and the more likely their usage will take the form of high-value transactions.
Customer lifetime value isn’t just about customer satisfaction, though. You want your customers to be engaged, too. Empowering your existing customers to participate in onboarding and continued education through a learning management system (LMS) helps them build their knowledge base about your brand.
When evaluating LMS options, keep these goals in mind. It should be flexible, with personally customized learning paths, collaborative tools, and a user-friendly interface.
Increased Brand Loyalty and Advocacy
Continuous learning programs help your customers to build deeper connections with your brand. Consumer psychology research has found that customers are more likely to generate positive word of mouth about brands whose customer retention strategies rely on education; many studies demonstrate that customer education contributes to enhanced brand reputation and sustained loyalty.
And that matters—more than 80% of consumers trust brand recommendations from people they know above any other source.
External customer learning is an approach that works across many types of companies and brands. From Hubspot to LinkedIn, companies that focus their LMS strategies on empowering users to educate themselves—and share what they’ve learned with other potential customers—reap the benefits.
Continuous external learning is both a strong customer retention strategy and a surefire way to attract new customers—it’s the best of both worlds.
Stronger Customer Relationships and Trust
It makes sense that customer retention benefits include sustained brand loyalty and deeper, more lasting customer satisfaction. The more likely customers are to stick with your brand, the more happy they are with what you provide.
But nothing truly cements a long-term relationship quite like trust.
That’s why it’s so important that your external learning programs are flexible, reliable, professional, and personalized. Customers need to remain engaged but also want to feel that their external learning environments are consistent with (and complementary to) their existing sense of your brand. Moreover, customers want to trust that your brand understands their needs.
That can mean using any of the following:
- Personalized learning paths
- Distinct learning domains that are nevertheless consistent across platforms
- Scalable onboarding and training options
- Webinars and video guides
- Hybrid events
- User testimonials
Personalizing both content and delivery produces repeat purchases from satisfied customers. That’s what you’re looking for from a strong customer retention strategy.
Better Learning Outcomes and Engagement
When it comes to customer engagement, external learning programs aren’t so different from any other way your customers might spend their time. The more they enjoy themselves, the more engaged they’ll be with your content—and you’ll achieve better learning outcomes.
Consider external learning best practices such as:
- Self-assessments
- Feedback loops
- Gamification
- Innovative, snackable formats
The better educated your customers, the more familiar they’ll be with your brand and its offer. The more familiar they are with your brand, the more likely they are to use its products and services—and to tout them to other potential customers.
Done right, it’s a smooth and frictionless road to happier customers and more successful brands.
Improved Feedback for Product Development
The virtuous cycle continues as long-term customers provide feedback based on what they’ve learned from your learning programs. You can turn them into valuable resources, soliciting their feedback on products and suggestions for improvements or more personalizations.
However, most businesses know how difficult it can be to gather this insight when solely left to the customer’s initiative. So, evaluating any LMS on its reporting and analysis capabilities is crucial—such as dashboards containing metrics like your most popular content, users’ course progression, and monthly active users. Insights like these allowed Yaskawa to double its users in four months.
Customer feedback will also indicate how well your learning programs deliver their promised value. Adopting a ‘customer success’ mindset means monitoring how users feel about their progress toward personal goals.
Competitive Advantage
Since customer retention benefits include reduced churn, cost savings, increased customer lifetime value, and more efficient business growth, it’s only logical that improving your customer retention rates will provide a serious competitive edge.
Loyal, educated customers will bring in more of the same since they’re more likely to become brand advocates. Satisfied users of your learning platform will recommend it to potential new customers, as with any consumer experience.
The bottom line? Modifications and additions to your learning platform should be geared toward creating exclusive benefits and attractions for retained customers who engage with the platform over time. Whether that’s premium features or early access to new content, keeping your most loyal customers in the loop will, ultimately, expand your reach.
Educate, Satisfy, and Retain
Ultimately, it’s simple. Educated and engaged customers are more satisfied. More satisfied customers become organic brand advocates, and brand advocates draw in new customers. Successful learning programs bring those new customers on board quickly and efficiently.
Rinse, repeat, and keep growing! From increased customer lifetime value to reduced customer acquisition costs, the customer retention benefits of successful external learning programs are clear.
Thought Industries provides a scalable, flexible LMS for external learning that will help you boost customer retention and drive business growth. Ready to bring your current customer retention strategies to the next level?
Schedule a demo today.
