Want to educate your customers through a customer training program or another type of education platform? Let’s explore how to use an LMS for customer education to deliver:
- Training content
- Elearning solutions
- Other programs designed for your customer base
We’ll also guide you in choosing the best LMS platform for you based on certain key deciding factors, including customizability and scalability.
Incorporating a complete customer education LMS can assure customer success and increase customer satisfaction. You might also experience other benefits that come with providing your target audiences with a solid learning experience.
Disclaimer: The information below is accurate as of April 18th, 2024.
Using LMSs for customer education programs
Learning management systems (LMSs) have all types of applications. In the case of a customer training LMS or a customer education LMS, the purpose of this solution is to provide educational content to customers, partners, or other audiences outside of the provider. This audience makes these LMSs different from others, such as those used for employee training.
If you want to know how to use an LMS for customer education, there are plenty of formats for content and functionalities that can help you deliver top-quality content of all types to your customers and other external audiences.
The key is:
- Determining what you want to achieve with your LMS
- Deciding how to make the right selection based on your application’s needs
The advantages of using an LMS for customer education
Knowing how to use an LMS for customer education can bring multiple benefits that make these solutions worthwhile.
Here are some of the specific advantages you can experience with an LMS:
Keep your customers happy
One of the main benefits of learning how to use an LMS for customer education is the ability to increase customer satisfaction and, subsequently, retention. A good LMS can enhance the customer experience. It also shows the value of your brand compared to other less involved competitors.
Whether you use your platform for onboarding, education for students, or another application, you can keep your customers happier and minimize churn.
Studies have also shown the value of investing in interactive, high-quality customer training solutions. This Forrester survey found that such programs led to an 11.6% increase in customer satisfaction.
Cut down on customer support and training costs
If you want to avoid spending too much on customer support staff or training, cloud-based LMS solutions can help.
For example, you can use an LMS to answer questions for your customers that they would otherwise ask customer support teams. Instead of dealing with mounting customer support tickets and relying on a large number of employees to handle customer engagement, you can automate the process with the help of a customer LMS that answers key questions. Create a database of information that can educate customers. This allows you to spend less time, resources, and money on support services.
In addition, online training materials can help you cut down on customer training costs. Historically, you would need to hire staff to train through live sessions or other inefficient and potentially costly formats. Through the use of LMS platforms, you can create and promote training through online courses based on your programs and curricula. You can even eliminate the need for more employees.
Optimize customer training programs
As your business grows and you need to add to your customer training programs, you can easily scale training courses and continually update your content with an LMS training platform.
Using the right LMS, you can automate all kinds of tasks, including:
- Sending reminders
- Keeping track of learner progress and assessment scores
- Collecting data and analytics
Additionally, it’s easy to make any necessary updates to your content to instantly release new content to large audiences. The cloud-based nature of most of this software makes it easy for people to access the training they need anywhere, anytime, including their mobile devices and desktops.
Based on the data you gather and reporting capabilities, you can also gauge the overall performance of your training. What to know more about how customers are interacting with the platform? Run reports that include completion rates and other metrics to help you determine the effectiveness of your training software.
Help customers get the most from your offerings
Another potential purpose in discovering how to use an LMS for customer education is to boost product adoption. By integrating helpful tutorials and product information in an intuitive training experience, you can give people the details they need to get the most from your offerings.
In the process, you can significantly increase overall product adoption and usage. It’s an all-around better user experience. For example, one study from TSIA determined that around 68% of customers who engaged in training programs tended to use products more frequently than those who didn’t. The study also determined that 87% of customers experience more independence with products after training. In addition to that benefit, 56% tend to use more features than they would have without training.
If you want to educate customers as they use a new platform or offering, you can also engage in customer onboarding with an LMS. Allow users to sign up and provide information as you carry them through the onboarding process. As you onboard new customers, you can keep track of their progress. You can also allow them to track theirs, encouraging them to continue as they meet their training needs.
What to consider when selecting a customer education LMS
With a better idea of how to use an LMS for customer education, you should know more about making the right selection for your application. After all, not all LMSs are the same. Some elearning platforms are more conducive to effective online learning and customer retention than others.
Here are some key elements to look for in a good LMS for customer education:
User-friendliness
One of the main considerations when looking for a customer education LMS is a user interface that’s easy for you and your customers to use. The last thing people should have to do is take time to learn how a platform works when it’s the content they should be focusing on. So ensure your LMS makes for an easy-to-use customer learning solution.
Ultimately, the right platform will be easy to navigate and eliminate any hassle during the education or training process. In turn, your customers will have no difficulty in learning how to use an LMS for customer education.
Flexibility
As your business and customer base grow, your LMS should be able to keep up with you through sufficient scalability. Make sure your LMS can handle large numbers of users, including users on the platform simultaneously. Also, choose a platform that can remain cost-effective as you scale. This is a long-term consideration for keeping your solution affordable and capable of allowing real growth.
Security
Another priority to think about when choosing an LMS for customer education is security and privacy. Recent developments in data privacy laws and security regulations continue to tighten security for users, especially as cyber attacks continue to rise. If you’re not using a reliably secure platform, you could put users’ sensitive data at risk, particularly if you require them to enter highly personal details.
In the event of a security breach that leads to data leaks and other issues, your reputation could suffer, and people may not trust your business. As a result, you could wind up losing business—all because of an unsecured LMS.
Customizability
Also, consider implementing a customer education LMS that allows for plenty of customization based on your and your customers’ unique requirements.
For instance, you may be able to develop custom templates and training modules that cater more directly to your audiences, leading to more instances of course completion and engagement.
Look for LMS features that make it easy to develop your very own high-quality learning content that speaks to your customers.
Content versatility
One final element to consider is the versatility of the content you can incorporate into the platform. In some cases, you might want to use text tutorials and articles to relay information. In other cases, you could decide to post videos such as recorded webinars.
You might also want to use live video and other forms of media to connect with your audiences. Depending on the type of content you plan to use, make sure the platform you select makes it easy to develop.
📚 Related: 10 of the best LMS platforms with a content library [2024]
Why turn to Docebo for a reliable customer education LMS
Now that you know more about how to use an LMS for customer education and select the right platform, consider using Docebo as your go-to learning management system. Docebo is easy to pick up and use for a range of applications, including everything from customer education to corporate training, power user certifications, and more. Whether for internal or external use, Docebo is a dependable platform that can give you everything you need in a customizable solution that’s scalable and simple to use on both the back and front end.
Using the right LMS solution for your brand, you can develop clear learning paths for your customers and develop a training program that keeps people happy, boosts retention, and helps you save more money and time in the long run.