Use "Customer Training Online" – To Increase Customer Engagement
When you educate customers on your products and services they become more engaged with your business. Higher customer engagement is something many businesses are striving to achieve. There are 5 benefits of more highly engaged customers:
- Higher satisfaction levels
- More interaction and honest feedback
- Higher usage levels
- More referrals to other prospective customers
- Lower service and support incidents
The return on each of these items is significant creating the opportunity to leverage what you know in the form of a training course for your customers. Customers are very appreciative when you invest in them to improve the experience of using your products and services.
Examples of Customer Training Online Successes
Case #1 – Training Distributors and Installers
In this example a large international manufacturer wanted to increase the knowledge level of their distributors and contract installers for their products. They know that when distributors know the benefits of the product they will sell on the benefits and not on price. They also know that many of the service failures with their product are a result of improper installation or in some cases an improper selection of the appropriate product.
The challenge for the manufacturer is that they have hundreds of distributors and installers located across North America. The travel costs associated with providing personal training ruled this out as an option. When they enquired about the TrainingToDo.com online training system their main objective was a system that did not require a huge capital investment and could be delivered and managed online.
They had a training course used internally that consisted of PowerPoint and PDF materials. These materials were converted into video and PDF and uploaded to the TrainingToDo.com system. A set of test questions was developed and entered in the system. Within two weeks they were testing the course internally and rolled it out with over 200 distributors a week later.
The response from customers has been very positive. They appreciate the manufacturer giving the knowledge to do their job better, to be of better service to their customers and to increase sales and margins.
Case #2 – Agent or Rep Orientation Training and Testing
In this example a service provider was looking for ways to handle rapid growth and expansion to new locations. They were adding new agents or representatives every day and the process of getting a consistent orientation for each new person was creating a challenge. Without some form of orientation and training many of the reps floundered for a while or quit shortly after starting.
There was a lot of value in capturing the knowledge that their experienced trainers were providing with the newly hired agents and reps. Reducing the turnover would save thousands of dollars a year at each of their locations which was now up to 18.
They created a set of training modules based on the scenarios agents and reps would encounter as they were marketing the organizations services. Each scenario had background material in text, video and PDF format that was uploaded to the system, as well as a set of test questions based on the agent rep orientation training materials.
As each rep is offered a position they are given an access code for their course. Their performance on the course is then used to validate the hire and to identify areas where further training or coaching may be required.
The response from the service provider has been amazing. They continue to increase the number of training scenarios in the system and have added the ability for the system to create custom blends of training scenarios so trainees will experience a different set of materials each time they complete the course.
Ideas for creating your content and materials
Does this look like an idea that would work for you? A typical question we get at this stage is how do you create the training materials, what does it take to get started. We have worked with hundreds of customers creating online training courses. Some start with something as basic as a set of PDF files that they can provide controlled access to their customers to review and be tested. Some have elaborate combinations of audio, video, assignments, quizzes, and testing.
When you want to invest in your customers with online training and testing let us know and we will be happy to answer your questions.
