5 Learning Paths that Guide Customers Toward Success

How are customers navigating your training portal? Is it easy for them to find relevant information, or do they click around, then leave out of frustration? One way to ensure customers access the right resources is by creating targeted learning paths.‍

1. Training by Persona

‍Who is your training program designed for? What type of people will likely be taking your courses? If you’re not sure, talk to your Sales and Marketing teams. They should already have a strong idea of the demographics and firmographics of your ideal customer profile. Once you understand these audience personas, you can then incorporate them into your learning paths. To further improve discoverability, consider adding filters to your course catalog. For example, you could segment coursework by:

• Title/job function
• Department
• Company size
• Industry

2. Training by Knowledge-Level

Not every customer will have the same level of knowledge about your product. Some may have transitioned into a new role recently; others may be subject matter experts looking to broaden their skillset or get certified. For this reason, it can make sense to offer introductory, intermediate, and advanced options.

Ask yourself: what does a casual user need to learn to solve their current pain points? Also, how can you help a more experienced user get the most value out of your solution?

‍3. Training by Lifecycle Stage

‍When designing your training program, consider how it aligns with the customer journey. What resources do users need during the following stages?  

• Lead Generation: Some organizations offer training to potential customers. This can be a great way to gather contact information, while also providing prospects with relevant content. If your company has a free trial system, another option is to educate users during this phase to increase the chance of conversion. Check out this post for more on how training fits into the sales enablement ecosystem.

• Onboarding: When a customer signs up for your product or service, what information do you send their way? Many companies have found they save time and frustration during the onboarding process by providing on-demand training. New users can then see value quickly with content that covers frequently asked questions.  

• Support: Create customers for life by driving continuous engagement. Don’t wait until accounts are up for renewal to reach out. Customer-facing teams can maintain a proactive relationship by driving users to training on new or existing features they may not be leveraging.

4. Training by Product

‍Does your company have multiple product lines? If so, organizing your training to highlight these different offerings may be a no-brainer. With a customer training platform like Skilljar, you can even use single sign-on (SSO) to automatically assign learning paths to certain users based on their organization or products purchased.

‍5. Training by Goal

‍Remember, getting someone to click here or there is not the end goal. Even if your training is product-focused, it should be designed to help your customers achieve results. With this in mind, try working backwards. What would you like your customers to accomplish, and what do they need to know to reach those milestones?One final note: there’s not one right way to guide your customers toward success. In fact, many companies use a combination of the above tactics to help customers find content that matches their needs and interests.