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What is Customer Training?

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Thought Industries
July 12, 2017
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Customer training provides your organization’s customers with the tools and learning materials they need to be successful using your product or service. Software organizations are best equipped to use the customer training learning model and can do so by leveraging online learning technology.

How to Use Online Learning for Customer Training
If your organization struggles with prospecting, onboarding or reducing churn, maybe it’s time to find a solution. One way organizations are doing so is by investing in robust online learning technology. This technology enables organizations deliver information and training at every stage of the customer lifecycle — from prospecting all the way to delivery:

  1. Prospecting: Online learning technology can help your organization deliver unique product education to individuals or organizations considering your product or others like it.
  2. Acquisition: This kind of pre-purchase education can also convince prospects to take a closer look at your product and sign up for a trial. To acquire customers, make sure they are well-engaged and educated throughout this phase of the lifecycle.
  3. Purchase: Giving your prospects a closer look at your product or service and how it can help them increase productivity or generate more revenue for their business might just convince them to make a purchase. Once a purchase is made, onboarding can begin.
  4. Onboarding: Using online learning technology in the onboarding process can help your organization drive product usage and speed up adoption.
  5. Delivery: After customers are onboarded, learning shouldn’t stop. Organizations can use online learning to monetize different training programs, reduce customer support costs, and certify their users as “experts” on their product or service.

Here are some ways that different online learning technology features can help your customers better understand your product or service:

  • Fully-branded learning experiences: Customizable online learning technology can help your organization create a learning experience that matches every aspect of your product’s brand aesthetic — or maybe match their organization’s brand aesthetic. Drag-and-drop widgets and page templates help to create unique learning sites, landing pages, and more.
  • Course and content authoring tools: The best online learning technologies allows your organization to author content directly in the platform which streamlines content production and helps you create interactive, engaging online learning experiences.
  • Learning pathways: Learning paths can help your customer better understand their education plan — including different steps in the onboarding process, specialized training, and more.
  • Custom branded portals for enterprise customers: Content licensing tools like Thought Industries’ ‘Panorama’ functionality can help your organization craft custom branded portals for different groups of enterprise customers. Your organization can distribute the same learning content to those different customers in their branded portals, while controlling those learning experiences — i.e. provisioning access, managing entitlements, and tracking client usage — all in one place.
  • Certifications, badging and awards: By using certification, badging and award features within an online learning technology, your organization can keep learners engaged after onboarding ends. Use these features to set customer engagement and proficiency definitions, then create badges, leaderboards, or official certifications.
  • Reporting:  Tracking, reporting, and analytics tools within an online learning technology can provide detailed visibility across all aspects of your organization’s learning and training programs
There are many other ways in which your organization can leverage online learning technology to improve your customer training process at every stage of the customer lifecycle. To learn more, schedule time with a Thought Industries’ representative.
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