Who uses Smartsheet University?

Smartsheet University users run the gamut from those who are new to the product to those who are certified experts in the software.A new user might be someone tasked with managing a complex workstream that was traditionally cobbled together with email and Excel. This user might have been given a license from their company to use Smartsheet to execute a workflow plan. This user needs to access training to know what to do after they log in to Smartsheet for the first time.Similarly, people come to Smartsheet on their own after hearing about it from a friend or colleague or visiting the website. This could be a project administrator who introduced Smartsheet to their company and now they are the system admin and need to understand how to get the most from it.

Some users are looking to self-serve. These users want to learn on their own without waiting for support responses whether they are in charge of the system at their company or a user of it in their everyday work.Lastly, users who are looking to advance their existing skills through certification also come to Smartsheet. They may be advocating for themselves at their company or in the job market. Knowledge of Smartsheet then becomes a key skill they can offer their leadership or that can open networking opportunities for them. Once they have established themselves as an expert in Smartsheet, they may want to take refresher courses to keep up their credentials and stay relevant in the workforce.

Considering Monetizing Your Training or Certification Program?

Designing instructor-led, on-demand paid sessions was uncharted territory for Smartsheet.  Stephanie Barbee is their Sr. Manager for Customer Education. Her team leverages the Skilljar LMS to enable eCommerce through Stripe and offer certifications and badges through Caveon.

Here is how Smartsheet launched a monetization strategy, along with Stephanie’s tips for success.

Smartsheet launched a virtual instructor-led training (VILT) catalog in July 2020. Prior to the catalog going live, customers primarily consumed training through their free “Help & Learning Center” or complimentary access to the self-paced eLearning catalog.

Learners select individual courses or curated learning paths from the available topics, pay for them by credit card, and then choose the date/time that suits their schedule to take the course. Initially, Smartsheet focused on the core capabilities that a new user might need to get started with the product, then added more role-based or use-case specific learning paths. To ensure learners get the most value out of their purchase, they provide 30-day access to the session recording.

Here are Stephanie’s tips for monetization success:

• It’s reasonable to start with 100% free learning, but don’t hesitate to test paid options early in a program’s evolution. Iteration will allow content to improve and pricing to adjust with demand.
• Start small when scheduling VILT sessions to create a sense of paucity to drive behavior.  You can always add more in the future.
  
• Offer blended learning options. The best experiences are influenced and driven by the learner, which means giving them choices and providing content that supports those choices.
• Don’t lowball the price. Setting the session or path price higher enables you to “discount” or run promotions to test the customer price tolerance.
• Customers attribute value according to a “purchase” or “published” price. If they have to pay something for the experience, it will be more highly valued than one that is offered at no cost.
• Success metrics should be part of the planning process when making the shift to paid services. Examples include:
  • Total volume of sales/bookings for the program
  • Recognized revenue (if that is relevant)
  • Impact to product or subscription bookings/sales
  • Growth of product usage or adoption (or both)
• Know where usage data at your company is stored and how it was measured by other teams within your organization. This will help align LMS program performance with already established metrics.
• Set success measures with the C-suite that are not wholly related to revenue/sales. This will help enable the program to show impact and maintain support during the initial rollout of paid/premium offerings. Ask your C-Suite what metrics they find meaningful and enable easy access to that data. More business impact = more leadership support.
• Whenever possible, beta test or pilot your learning experiences.

Why Skilljar is Better Than a Homegrown LMS

The customer education team at Smartsheet consists of  Stephanie Barbee, Sr. Manager, Customer Training; Damani Musgrave, Sr. Learning Experience Designer; Tim Leavitt, Credentials Manager; and Melissa Metzger, Manager eLearning Experience. Here is their advice, based on experiences using homegrown LMSs and other tools available on the market.

Stephanie:

My previous role consisted of 100% instructor-led training without a platform for self-paced consumption. The team would record sessions and share them with clients. I  built a training team that worked to improve the customer learning experience through a major application change. The scalability of an LMS is a tool I would have wanted in my previous work life. The lack of an online learning environment meant training wasn’t as scalable as it needed to be. This would have simplified how customers consumed the learning content.

Damani:

Several years ago, I led a small team that built a homegrown LMS. My biggest takeaway is that the money you spend developing, integrating, and maintaining a custom build can often be comparable to or greater than the cost of a market-tested solution. And then the folks who created that custom build leave the company and nobody understands it well enough to keep it running.

Tim:

At a previous company, we used an in-house LMS that was tailored to our business needs. While it was intuitive for our customers to use, we had shared technical resources so any changes or adjustments to the system needed to be planned out well in advance. My advice would be to look for eCommerce functionality when selecting a product and consider the web tools they offer. How easy is it to administer? How much control do you have? Look at the training offered by the vendor and consume it for yourself before making a decision.

Melissa:

Most of my background is in Higher Ed using tools like ANGEL Learning, Blackboard, Moodle, Canvass, and Smart Author, which is revenue-focused. My background in higher education motivates me to get more people into training and get them learning.