When businesses are on a constant rampage to find themselves an edge, it is no surprise that they are hinging on an effective customer training program. The exceptional outcomes of a customer training module have triggered many organizations to inculcate it in their curriculums.  

Aside from this, it has the capability to take the company’s productivity and profitability to another level. If you wish to know more about the ‘what’, ‘why’ and ‘how’ of the customer training, you have landed on the right page. These are the nuances of the topic that we will be walking you through: 

• What is Customer Training?  
• Benefits of Customer Training  
• How to Implement a Customer Training Program? 

 What is Customer Training?  

Although there is no dictionary definition of the term customer training, it is still subjective to one-to-one. It is basically a method obtained by the company to aim customers by regaling them with relevant materials, guidance, and information to use the product or services. Now, this training can be delivered in a multitude of ways.  

It all depends on the nature of your business and the demands of the customers. While some learning programs and materials are expected to be taught and guided across, some can be disseminated over an online medium. 

Further, it is a given – trained customers are more likely to opt for a renewal. See it as an ongoing routine that will entice and retain clients at every stage of their customer lifecycle stage. Training holds true especially during the first stage, i.e. onboarding, where it is vital for the prospect to know and use your product to convert to a customer. 

Benefits of Customer Training  

• Accentuates Customer Retention Rates: It goes without saying, the more a customer knows your product in and out, the lesser are the chances of churning away, and hence that eventually accentuates the customer retention rates. When your customers are utilizing the best from your products or services, they will tend to receive umpteen value. In fact, the retention rates are directly proportionate to the kind of training you cater to. If the training has no real essence and loses out of some of the crux, you should gear up to see the customers leave as well. 

• Decrease in Customer Support Costs: Think of it in this way – the better a customer knows your product, the lesser will he seek assistance from the customer support team, thereby cutting down on the additional cost range. Moreover, this will free up the service agents to engage in something rather important. That is when a well-designed and effective customer training program comes into play. 

• Enhances Brand Positioning: The second your company starts investing in sound customer training, indirectly you have begun sowing the seeds for an exceptional customer experience. And customer experience is deemed as one of the biggest considerations for most of the forward-thinking businesses today.  A good experience acts as a catalyst for driving brand loyalty. In simpler terms, a great customer experience is followed by many recurring clients. Further, by default, some of them will actively come out and advocate for your brand. And who knows, they might refer others to use your service via the word of mouth technique. 

How to Implement a Customer Training Program? 

There is no right or wrong customer training program. It all depends on what is the nature of your business and what are your customer’s needs and demands. However, what stays intact is efficient planning that will give rise to a solid foundation. Here are 3 such key steps, which when implemented can lead you to a great customer training program. 

Identify and Ascertain your Program Goals 

Before you hire a big team of developers and designers, you must start off by knowing what your customers need from your training. Avoid generic aims and targets. Instead, try to be as specific as you can get.  

On similar tracks, design learning pathways that will augment a better customer experience for the users. Find ways to measure your scope of training to determine what it is and what it is not and how can customers leverage from the module. Over and above, look into some of the related training manuals to get a befitting idea. 

Use the Requisite Technology 

When creating your customer training program, the technology you choose has a lot to do with the retention or churn rate of the customers. Before you conduct the training session just yet, answer some of these questions. Is this technology-enabled software easy to use and flexible? Does it have the option to be customized and set according to the clients’ demands? 

It is crucially essential that the training program you design benefits the users. At the end of the day, that is what matters and accounts for. 

Yes to relevant and engaging Content 

Well-written content has the power to keep a customer engrossed and finally subscribe to your services. There are different touchpoints that you may use to pull out engaging content that goes well with the training module. One such is the infographic, it is a great way to keep the customers entertained and glued to your product.  

Additionally, you can incorporate micro-learning lessons too that will prioritize one feature at one time. Blog and articles are too will be helpful in this regard. Aside from these, you can imbibe virtual sessions. This is where users can put up feedback, queries, and issues with the admins as and when required. 

That’s a Wrap  

There is no other way to say it – training is the most vital element of every customer success program. At the same time, a customer might not have all the time in the world and will make use of the training only when it is really needed. Better yet, all you need to do is start treating your training programs like the products of your company and insert a calculated dollop of creative marketing to serve the purpose right. 

WRITTEN BYSwati Somineni

An implementation engineer with six years of experience is a seasoned professional specialising in implementing and integrating complex systems and technologies for businesses. Possessing a diverse skill set that combines technical expertise, and project management capabilities.

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