We recently released the eBook "How to Use Customer Training Data to Make Better Business Decisions," where we discussed the state of training metrics in 2017, and where there is still room to improve. Today's post is about how customer training teams are currently measuring the effectiveness of their programs.

This past October, we released a study on Customer Training Completion Rates. This post will be outlining our findings regarding how SCORM impacts these completion rates and whether or not SCORM lessons will benefit your training program.

Customer success organizations are chartered with the mission-critical task of making customers successful. Seems simple enough, right? But achieving long-term, consistent customer success can be anything but. Far too often customer success organizations are unsure of the health of their customers and what they can do to improve the customer experience.  

I’d like to argue that a key factor in determining customer success begins with effective customer training. Unfortunately, customer training is probably one of the most ad-hoc functions in the organization and is often untracked and/or immeasurable.  

In this section, we’ll discuss how to measure the ROI of training as used for post-launch customer success.

After a customer has achieved initial value through onboarding, there are many opportunities to strengthen the relationship via ongoing customer training and education. Examples include:

• Providing product updates, particularly around major new features or releases
• Retraining for your customer’s new team members, new roles, and/or regular refresher training
• Education on best practices with your product
• Resources for advanced topics, certifications, and other related products.

Training is an excellent strategy to deliver continuous value to your customers after their initial launch, combined with regular business reviews. Customers who are engaged with training are more likely to succeed with your product and ultimately grow revenue.

In this blog post, we’ll discuss how to measure the ROI of training as used for customer onboarding.

Onboarding is one of the most critical touchpoints in your customer relationship. Whether you’re targeting SMBs or enterprise, getting your customer to initial product value – as quickly as possible – is vital for long-term customer success and retention.

In our experience, companies typically follow one of these models:

• 1:1 – High-touch onboarding, delivered through instructors or customer success managers (CSMs), either classroom or virtual. Customers are typically at higher price points (mid-market and enterprise).
• 1: Many – Low-touch onboarding, with automated and self-paced components. Customers are typically at lower price points (SMBs).

In either case, onboarding can be free, paid a-la-carte, or paid as part of a services package. Regardless of the pricing model, companies usually find that on-demand training is a very cost-effective way to improve their customers’ product usage and satisfaction scores.

In this blog post, we’ll discuss how to measure the ROI of training as used for customer marketing. First, what does “training for customer marketing” mean?

Content marketers are entrusted with the responsibility of educating potential and existing customers with valuable resources related to their industry, but the content marketing toolbox hasn’t changed in recent years—ebooks, webinars, blogs, and videos.

Today’s customers are expecting more interactive experiences and are also looking to get demonstrated value from the time they spend with your company. According to Demand Gen Report’s 2015 Content Preferences survey, 91% of buyers prefer content that is visual and has an element of interactivity.

So, innovative marketers are experimenting with the next evolution of content marketing – offering on-demand training. This strategy provides your prospects with demonstrated value from the time they spend with your company, even prior to entering a buying cycle.

Increase your brand awareness by offering industry thought leadership that is scalable, convenient, and interactive. You can even offer industry certifications and accredited professional development hours.

Customer success, training, and education teams are frequently challenged on how to measure the ROI of their activities. It's not as simple as measuring new revenue for sales, or number of tickets and resolution time for support. Customer training is highly cross-functional and pays dividends over a longer period of time, with improved product usage, customer value, and ultimately renewals and revenue.

Whether you’re an experienced trainer, a customer success executive, or an innovative content marketer – this eBook is for you. You’ll find helpful information on how to define, implement, and measure the success and ROI of your customer training program. These metrics are vital to ensuring customer success, as well as demonstrating the business case for training to your stakeholders.