Tips To Create An Effective Customer Training Program
Training your customers on your product or its new features is an old concept. However, the mode and method of training the customer has evolved. Earlier it used to be in the form of manuals accompanying the product. Now it is digital in the form of informative videos, FAQ’s, help forums etc.
It is not only the physical product that the customer needs to get trained on its operations but with advances in technology, a tutorial is required to use and exploit the technology to its maximum. Better the understanding of the product, higher will be chances of customer loyalty. This will in turn enhance the business and increase the brand value.
Considering the benefits, how do you ensure to optimize your customer training program? Let’s start from the beginning. Mentioned below are some of the tips to create an effective customer training program
Know Your Customer: The first and the most basic step is to know your customer. What is the customer base who will be using your product. Whether they would have used a similar product earlier? The language and the content of your training program must be crisp, yet jargon-free. If the need be, you can create two versions of your program to cater to diversified customers. The purpose is to make the customer understand the product and its benefit to the maximum, be it the repeat customer or a first-time user of your product.
Focus On The Value: Never forget while designing the program that the objective is to train on the benefits and value for the customer. So, keep the focus on the value of the product. The customer will be least interested to know how it was conceptualized or what lies behind formulating the product.
Content: Crisp, interesting, focus on the value should be the focus of the content. While you are training the customer on the product, it should not be boring. Use of an effective learning management system like Skilljar can help you design the program in a manner that keeps your customers engaged while getting trained on the product. Include multimedia elements to make it interesting and engaging. Adding a gamification element can make the customer training program fun.
Offer Support: As every customer is different, their understanding level is different. You might have presented your customer training program keeping all the key points intact, yet the customers might have additional questions and queries. To make it a complete success, you must offer the required support post-training or during training. This can be in the form of customer service provided over the call, through FAQ’s, or via social media/web forums. This will also prepare a question bank that will easily answer the queries raised by future customers.
Feedback: Taking feedback about the product is critical. It is equally important to know how well the customer understood the product by following the training program. This will help you know the requirements of your future customers in a better way. Improving your product and your customer training program will build confidence in your customer thus increasing the repeat value of your product. Feedback in the form of surveys can also fetch you more business in the form of additional services. However, the feedback format should also be crisp, short, and preferably objective.
Conclusion: Customer training can be a delight and a means to attract more business. Stay focussed on what the customer wants and the product value. With the help of a learning management tool, it should be fun creating an engaging customer training program with post-training support.
