Why Customer Education is Important Now More Than Ever

A successful customer education program can help you increase customer satisfaction, improve product adoption, and turn users into brand advocates. As a result, customer education has become increasingly important, especially as an organization grows. Sixty-six percent of customers expect companies to understand their needs, and businesses that prioritize customer experience grow 1.7x faster than those that don’t. 

Understanding how to build an effective customer education program and measure the ROI can be a challenge. Tony Vaughn, the Director of Customer Education at Qualified, discussed these topics and more in a recent webinar. Discover Tony’s approach when launching the all-new Qualified University, a one-stop shop for guides, articles, and courses designed to build advocates out of customers and prospects—and learn how you can apply these tips to your program.

Why is customer education important now more than ever?

Customer education is still a relatively new function, but it has rapidly increased in organizations of all sizes. Based on a survey from 2021, 90 percent of customer education programs grew within the last two years, and 60 percent of respondents increased their investments by more than 30 percent. 

“In times like these, organizations are looking to identify cost centers to be efficient about spend,” Tony shares about the rapid growth. “It’s more important than ever to invest and be able to do more with less.”

Organizations have realized that you can’t afford to be passive with your customers. You have to be active and continue to train them to extend their lifetime value as long as possible. In the past, customer education focused on instructor-led training (ILT), but there’s been a shift. Now, it’s no longer just about giving users information but changing behaviors and nudging your customers to take action that will provide the most ROI for them. 

Customer education programs have shifted from solely learning and development focused to emphasizing building a community, awareness, and product adoption. 

How can you measure the ROI of your customer education program?

Like any initiative that requires funding, headcount, and stakeholder buy-in, it’s essential to demonstrate the results of your customer education program. Tony explains that at Qualified, customer education metrics fall into three main categories:

• Engagement. How many people are engaging with your content and materials?
• Reactions. Is your content valuable? Does it help customers feel more prepared to use your product or service?
• Outcomes. Does your program drive the result you’re looking for?

Using this lens, Tony shared some examples of items you can track to measure the impact of your customer education program.

Engagement

• Track the number of users trained or course enrollments. Is your content sticky, and are users consuming it?

Example: The number of unique visitors to Qualified University.

Reactions

• How are users reacting to your materials? 

Example: 90 percent of visitors rate articles/courses as 5/5 CSAT

• Ask yourself: are we delivering what our customers want, or are we delivering what we want?

Outcomes

• The number of hours returned to the Customer Success team
• The number of certified learners sharing their badge(s) on LinkedIn

Example: Qualified set a goal that trained accounts are 20 percent more likely to renew.

Why should you invest in customer education?

Customer training empowers your users to get the most value out of your product or service and helps them excel in their roles. By doing this, you can turn customers into brand advocates, and they will spread the word about your product or service.

“We want customers to market for us; they should be shouting from the rooftops about our product,” Tony shares. “Customer education is a type of marketing we can’t pay for. Your program can drive product adoption and build awareness.”

An effective training program can help you generate leads and identify expansion opportunities. The future of customer education is about leveraging customers to be advocates for you, and when you turn your customers into champions, they can help you propel your brand forward. 

Watch the full webinar with Tony here. Then, request a free demo to learn more about how WorkRamp can help you drive engagement and revenue through scalable customer training.