4 Ways to Evaluate Your Customer Training Program

So, you’ve launched an amazing customer training program. The next step is to determine what’s working (and what’s not). If you have a strong understanding of your customer base, you might be able to make some accurate assumptions about their behavior. But trust us, you’ll be much better off taking a truly data-driven approach. Read on to learn about 4 ways on how to evaluate a customer training program:‍

1. Ask for customer feedback

‍Before your customer training program goes live, we recommend doing a beta test with a select number of your best customers. This should help you work out some of the kinks in your minimum viable product (MVP).But don’t stop there; one of the best ways to ensure your customers are getting true value out of your program is to ask for their opinion periodically. This can be done through informal conversations with your Customer Success team, or training surveys, which users can take upon course completion.

‍2. Analyze course-level metrics

‍In addition to surveying customers, you may want to consider metrics, such as your course registration and completion rates. If there is a huge discrepancy between them, it may be sign that you need to take a closer look at your content.For example, some customers may be dropping off if your courses are too long to maintain their interest. If you’re seeing low registration rates, on the other hand, you may need to ramp up your marketing efforts, or broaden the scope of your content to appeal to a wider audience.

‍3. Review against business goals

‍Most training professionals know what they’d like to achieve, but surprisingly few are able to measure the actual business impact, or ROI of customer training. To name just a few examples, your team may want to indicate how customer training has….

• Increased product adoption
• Increased customer retention
• Decreased support costs

If this is your goal, the key is to collaborate cross-functionally. Talk to your Product team to find out whether trained customers spend more time in your product. Work with your Support team to track how many tickets trained vs. untrained customers submit. And of course, sit down with senior leadership. Success means different things to different organizations, so you’ll want to set the right expectations.

‍4. Test strategic changes

‍At a recent digital marketing conference, one of the presenters said, “If you’re not testing, you’re losing money.” Although she was talking about A/B testing marketing campaigns, the same idea can - and should - apply to your training strategy.Don’t be afraid to make small, strategic changes. If you’re offering paid training, for instance, try adjusting the price of select offerings to maximize sign-ups. You can also update the color and placement of calls-to-action (CTAs), or the length of your course descriptions. The possibilities are endless.One final note: it’s easy to be impatient, but you can’t expect to see results overnight. After making a change, you may need to wait, and revisit your data a few weeks later.