The Role of Customer Education in Driving SaaS Product Adoption

SaaS businesses often struggle with product adoption. Here's the scenario: new users get intimidated by a complex interface, existing users find it hard to discover (or how to use) advanced features, and the product is underutilized overall. But there's a better way—SaaS customer education.

Customer education is key to increasing SaaS adoption. It is the ongoing process of equipping users with the knowledge they need to confidently use your product to achieve their goals and realize its full value. In this detailed guide, we’ll break down common roadblocks to building a customer education program as well as explore best practices for using an effective, modern LMS as a tool for driving product adoption.

What is customer education in SaaS?

Customer education is a strategic initiative to empower users to get the maximum potential of your product, drive product adoption, increase engagement, and ultimately, improve customer retention. Without a strong customer education program, users might get lost in features and struggle to complete even basic tasks.

Why customer education is important for SaaS companies

An effective customer education program is a lifeline throughout the customer lifecycle. It provides users with the training, resources, and initiatives they need to navigate workflows, master new features, and achieve their business goals. This translates to a confident customer base that's more likely to become long-term advocates for your product.

Common challenges for implementing customer education programs

Here's an overview of some of the biggest roadblocks to training SaaS businesses face.

1. Lack of strategic direction

SaaS companies often fall into the trap of creating generic training content without considering the specific needs of their users at different stages of the customer journey. New users require onboarding that builds foundational learning, while power users benefit from in-depth tutorials or certifications to maximize their knowledge of the product's potential. Without a well-defined customer journey map and customer education strategy, your program risks leaving users lost in irrelevant information. Such a reactive approach leads to disjointed learning experiences, which fail to address the needs of diverse user segments.

2. Disregarding KPIs

Simply creating content isn't enough—you need to track its effectiveness. Failing to define and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) like course completion rates, knowledge retention, and product adoption metrics leave you guessing about the program's impact. Without this data, it's impossible to identify areas for improvement or demonstrate customer education's return on investment (ROI).

3. Mismatched content formats

Text-heavy manuals and endless video lectures may have worked in the past, but today’s users demand engaging and interactive learning experiences. Choosing an ineffective content format creates a disconnect with learners and hinders knowledge retention. The key lies in understanding your audience and tailoring the content to their learning styles. A mix of formats, such as interactive tutorials and bite-sized video modules, keeps users engaged and maximizes knowledge transfer.

4. Siloed customer education efforts

Another common pitfall we see is that companies often treat customer education as an isolated function within the company. Effective programs require collaboration across departments. Customer success teams can provide valuable insights on user pain points, product managers can ensure content aligns with the latest product updates, and marketing can use educational resources to help with user acquisition. Breaking down silos and fostering cross-functional communication is essential to creating impactful educational content for customers.

How to develop an effective SaaS customer education program

Here are four components for building a customer education program that empowers users and drives product engagement.

1. Define the customer journey map

A clearly defined customer journey map serves as the blueprint for your SaaS customer education program. This is a visual representation of the user's experience, outlining the various touchpoints they encounter throughout their interaction with your product, from initial awareness to ongoing use.

Let's take a real-life example from Asana. Asana, a popular project management tool, recognizes that different user types have distinct needs and learning styles. Their training platform, Asana Academy, reflects this understanding by offering a variety of resources tailored to each stage of the customer journey. New users encounter onboarding modules that break down core functionalities into bite-sized, easy-to-understand lessons.

Team leaders, on the other hand, have access to in-depth tutorials on project planning, resource allocation, and team communication strategies.

The journey doesn't end there. IT admins within organizations using Asana have their own set of concerns, such as system configuration, user management, and security best practices, so Asana offers targeted training resources specifically for IT admins.

This tailored approach ensures every user receives the most relevant training at the right stage in their journey.

2. Improve your onboarding process

The customer onboarding process sets the tone for the entire user experience and plays a pivotal role in driving early product adoption. A smooth and efficient setup is key—think single sign-on, simple navigation, intuitive design, and minimal data input. When signing up for a new SaaS tool, the last thing users want is to struggle with a complicated setup.

Then, focus on helping users achieve early wins within the product. This could involve guiding them through a core task or showcasing a feature that directly addresses their pain points. It is important to demonstrate the value proposition of your product as quickly as possible.

Enhance the experience by going beyond static text instructions. Incorporate interactive elements like walkthroughs, in-app messages, tooltips, and short explainer video tutorials to engage users and reinforce key concepts.

The onboarding process doesn't end after the initial setup. Provide users with easy access to ongoing support resources like online courses, a knowledge base, FAQs, or live chat options so they feel comfortable asking questions as they explore the product further.

3. Offer certification and skill development

Offering certification and skill development programs can be a powerful tool for boosting customer engagement and product adoption. Certifications can be used to unlock access to advanced features and functionalities within the product. This allows users to push boundaries, optimize workflows, and complete more complex tasks, which overall, helps maximize their ROI from the product.

While not every SaaS business will benefit from a certification program, individuals who rely heavily on the product and actively seek ways to optimize their workflows are ideal candidates for certification. The deeper understanding gained through the program can enhance their productivity.

This guide from Skilljar explains the types of customers that might benefit from certifications. 

4. Pay attention to ongoing content maintenance

Successful customer journeys are paved with continuous product evolution. New features are introduced to enhance functionality and address user needs. The customer education team plays a key role in updating training materials and resources to reflect these changes. This ensures new customers can use the latest features from the get-go, and existing users can integrate them into their workflows.

As your customer base grows and explore creative ways to use your product, new use cases may emerge. The customer education team can use these success stories to update training content. By showcasing real-world applications, the program becomes more relatable, helping users envision how they can achieve their own goals with the product.

Best practices for using customer education to drive product adoption

Here are some key best practices to ensure your program drives product adoption and user success.

Tailor education to user personas

Segment your user base into distinct personas based on factors like experience level and job function. Develop targeted training content that addresses the specific needs and goals of each persona. This personalized approach resonates more deeply with users and fosters a more engaging learning experience.

Use customer feedback for continuous improvement

Customer education is more effective with continuous improvement, so make sure you solicit user feedback in different ways. For example, send post-signup surveys to capture initial impressions. This can gauge their level of product familiarity, identify any onboarding roadblocks, and get early feedback on the overall program structure.

Alternatively, you can periodically send targeted email campaigns to get feedback from specific user segments. This will help you see any challenges based on users’ experience levels or product usage patterns. For example, an email campaign targeting power users might ask for feedback on advanced training content, while a campaign for new users could focus on their onboarding experience.

Try this Skilljar course to learn how to create engaging on-demand content. 

Metrics to measure the success of customer education programs

Building a winning customer education program is just the first step. To understand its impact and optimize your strategy, you need to track the following metrics. 

1. Product adoption rate: This indicates the percentage of users actively using core features of your product. Track and assess the impact of your customer education efforts by monitoring changes in the adoption rate after launching new training initiatives or resources. Analyze the adoption rate gap between new and existing users. A smaller gap might indicate your onboarding and initial training are effective in equipping new users with the necessary skills.
   
2. Customer churn: Customer churn refers to the percentage of users who cancel their subscriptions within a specific period. While several factors influence churn, a well-designed customer education program can help reduce it. Try to find out if churn is higher among users who haven't completed essential training modules. This could indicate a gap in user knowledge that's contributing to churn. Also, gather feedback on user experiences. Unfamiliarity with the product or difficulty completing tasks might point towards areas where your training program needs improvement.
   
3. Support ticket volume: Collaborate with your customer support team to track the total number of support tickets received over a specific period (e.g., monthly, or quarterly). Look for patterns—ideally, you should develop content that addresses the most common support needs. Then, you should see a decrease in tickets after launching new training initiatives or revamping existing content. Plus, many SaaS companies use customer support ticketing systems that offer analytics dashboards to track ticket volume, categorize ticket types, and even measure resolution times. Use these tools (if applicable) to gain insights into the impact of your customer education program on support ticket volume.
   
4. Course completion rate: The course completion rate measures the percentage of users who finish a specific training course or module. Completion rates offer a glimpse into user engagement with your training content. High completion rates suggest users find the material interesting and valuable enough to invest their time. But completion rates alone don't guarantee comprehension or proficiency. Consider combining this metric with knowledge retention assessments or practical application exercises to gain a deeper understanding of how effectively your program is teaching users with the skills they need.
   
5. Average session duration: This metric measures the average time users spend actively engaged with your training content. An increase in session duration could indicate users find the material engaging and valuable. However, be mindful—very long sessions don't always equal success. Extremely long sessions could signify users are struggling to grasp concepts. So, consider session duration alongside completion rates and knowledge assessments for a more holistic view.
   
6. Revenue generated: While not always relevant, some SaaS businesses might generate revenue from customer training programs. This could be through premium content, certification fees, or subscriptions to exclusive training materials. Track revenue generated to assess the program's financial contribution alongside other success metrics.

Skilljar is your partner in building a SaaS customer education program

Skilljar is a Learning Management System (LMS) for customer education that allows you to create interactive learning experiences that empower users to master your SaaS product. Credentialing features allow you to automatically issue certificates upon course completion or successfully passing a quiz. This feature validates user proficiency and fosters brand loyalty while giving users the option to share their achievements on their social profiles, all through the platform.  

Skilljar also offers built-in analytics—you don’t need a separate tool to optimize your customer education program and ensure it's effectively driving product adoption. Just use Skilljar to track various KPIs directly from your dashboard, including course completion percentage, number of active users, session time, revenue generated, certificates issued, and more.

‍Get a Skilljar demo to learn how our LMS solution helps with building engaging learning experiences that drive product adoption.