Benefits of an Online Training Platform

Because Skilljar specializes in powering self-paced online courses, we often get asked about the benefits of using an online training platform versus other types of customer support.

Many companies begin investing in customer success by creating support resources like the following:

• A knowledge bank of support articles
• How-to video tutorials on YouTube
• Virtual webinars or office hours

These are all useful ways to help customers answer specific questions. However, offering training provides incremental benefits. We define "training" as including these additional elements:

• Learner registration (whether public, private, free, or paid)
• A structured sequence of content and learning objectives (curriculum)
• Demonstration of knowledge through course completion, certification, a project, or an assessment.

The Benefits

Now that we've defined training, let's discuss the benefits of using an online training platform, above and beyond what what other types of support can provide.

1. Per-User Analytics

Knowing who is taking what training courses is very useful data that can be fed back to your sales, marketing, and CRM systems (such as Salesforce or Dynamics). In addition, using an online training platform provides access to an unprecedented level of per-user analytics and reporting. Examples of new insights include:

• The ability to tie training engagement with long-term success metrics: increased revenue, product usage, and decreased support costs
• New sales opportunities from customers who view training for additional products
• Attributing training revenue to upstream marketing channels by using enrollment keys

Using an online training platform provides you with rich per-user analytics that help form a complete picture of your customer.

2. Learning Experience

Online training platforms are designed specifically for the learning experience. Unique features include:

• Structured curriculum and learning paths
• Multimedia options within a course
• Interactive elements like quizzes
• Downloadable attachments
• Discussion forums
• Gamification
• Certification

The resulting learning experience leads to higher ease of use, trainee engagement and knowledge retention. For organizations that sell training for revenue, the quality of the experience is especially important. Using an online training platform produces a much more professional, high quality, and streamlined experience.

Make Training a Success

Support articles and YouTube videos are a great, low-friction way for learners to get answers to specific questions. A more comprehensive training experience is necessary though for more involved learning, such as training for customer onboarding or advanced feature support. An online training platform will ensure the best trainee results, and provide many benefits including per-user analytics and a best-in-class learning experience.

Want to learn more about how offering on-demand training can benefit your company? Download our free ebook 3 Reasons Why You Need to Offer On-Demand Training.