On-demand training is an effective way to increase long-term return on investment (ROI) for the resources allocated to customer onboarding and training.
Creating faster, accessible and more effective training leads to improved customer onboarding and long-term success. Salesforce.com, for example, states that “customers who invest in training consistently report >80% higher ROI on their investment. That’s why we offer a wide range of training options, from in-person classes featuring hands-on instruction, to virtual training, self-led courses, private workshops, and more.”
These benefits can be tested and quantified by providing on-demand training to only certain groups of customers, and measuring short-term and long-term impacts on customer satisfaction (CSAT), Net Promoter Score (NPS), upsells, renewals, and revenue.
In the short-term, measuring ROI from onboarding could be as simple as assessing revenue and cost. Read on to learn how on-demand training can improve customer onboarding ROI.
Increase revenue with on-demand training
In our experience, companies sometimes provide free onboarding and training. However, many choose to charge for on-demand training and/or certifications, with the goal of at least covering costs of the program.
Training might be included as part of an implementation (setup) fee or offered as part of a premium support package. For organizations with an education services team, training can be sold a-la-carte or as part of an annual subscription pass.
If you offer paid instructor-led training, another option is to offer on-demand training at a lower cost than ILT as a marketing tactic. This increases training accessibility to a new segment of your customers that were previously priced out of ILT. Customers who have been attracted to training through this lower cost entry point have potential to convert to a more expensive training offering at a later date, particularly if you make the best use of your learning platform’s capabilities and produce attractive and compelling learning paths and materials that showcase what your company has to offer.
We even see some companies charging the same price for on-demand and ILT, recognizing that on-demand offers equivalent (or even greater!) value to a substantial segment of customers.
In addition to training revenue, make sure to track the impacts of training on CSAT, NPS, time-to-value, and long-term customer revenue, as these are the metrics that matter for your organization as a whole.
Reduce onboarding costs
From the cost perspective, on-demand training is a more efficient use of time and resources, when compared to ILT. The training material can be delivered indefinitely and scalably, so upfront costs expended on the initial design and creation of online learning materials can continue to provide value without requiring additional trainer time.
For example, an onboarding process consisting of 4 hour-long instructor-led sessions could potentially be reduced to zero or one session while producing the same results. Customers using Skilljar have reported tripling their training productivity with the same headcount, while also freeing customer success managers (CSMs) to focus on customer health rather than delivering basic and repetitive training.
Long-term this should also result in reduced customer support costs as trained customers use the product more effectively.
Conclusion
Offering on-demand training increases customer onboarding ROI by improving both short-term and long-term revenue while also reducing costs. For your customers, it is also an effective way to improve satisfaction and deepen product usage.
