There’s a lot of talk about customer experience these days, and rightfully so. Consumers expect more from brands than ever before, including personalized experiences, brand-relevant content and access to information on demand — all of which requires brands to invest in their customer education strategy.
The good news is that many brands are already investing in their customers’ education. But for those that have yet to take the leap into this strategy, here are five reasons why you should.
What Is Customer Education?
While education and support are similar, they’re not the same.
Think about the timing of each approach. Customer support is reactive. When a customer reaches out, the support team is ready to answer and resolve issues.
Customer education, on the other hand, is proactive. Your customer success team takes the initiative to teach new customers about your company and products before questions arise. This can look like:
- A video explaining your customers’ future billing statements and the reasons behind your pricing.
- An up-to-date knowledge base that covers complex processes.
- A webinar new members can attend to learn more about the company.
- A training program that awards customers with a certification once they’ve finished.
Whatever learning content you choose to distribute, the end-result is the same: better results for your business. We share the top 5 benefits of a successful customer education program below.
1. Streamline Customer Onboarding
A key part of the onboarding process is educating customers on everything they need to know. A smooth, insightful introduction to your product sets the tone for the kind of care your customers can expect throughout the customer journey. Plus, it boosts customer satisfaction, customer retention and other key metrics.
But how can you give every customer an in-depth explanation of your product? Reaching out with a 1:1 demo on your product is time consuming, inefficient and nearly impossible.
Instead, invest in your customer education program. Create learning content your customer education team can send out to customers the second they join. The upshot? You not only educate customers at scale, but also create a learning experience that’s consistent across your customer base.
2. Increase Customer Engagement and Product Adoption
A customer who understands your product and services is more likely to adopt and engage with them.
This is especially apparent in industries with more complex processes and services, like pensions and retirement. Saving for the future can be confusing, and members often fail to understand how to make the most of their plan.
Because of this, the industry is seeing drastically low member engagement rates. But providers are realizing the value of customer education in alleviating this issue. Explainer videos, for instance, are a great piece of training content that many members now receive, teaching them about their plan and the value it brings. Just take a look at this video from Standard Life below.
You can apply this same strategy to any complex topic your customers may struggle with. Boost their understanding with educational content and watch your engagement grow.
3. Boost Customer Loyalty
Imagine you’ve downloaded an investment app. You won’t immediately see your investments grow. First, you have to open an account, choose your stocks and more.
If you’re not sure how to use the app, pick an investment or navigate other nuances — it may take a while for you to get set up. And the longer it takes to begin to properly use the app, the longer it will take for you to see your investments grow.
This is where customer education comes into play. A knowledge base, quizzes and other learning content can help customers get up to speed with your product quicker. And the faster they learn how to properly use their product, the faster it is for them to reach their goals — and see the value of your product.
The result? Once a customer starts to see the benefits of your brand, they’re likely to continue doing business with you.
And you don’t have to stop there. Customer education can occur throughout the customer lifecycle, whether a customer has recently joined or been a member for years. For instance, send out an infographic showing new ways to use your product to inspire loyalty among your current customers.
4. Reduce Support Tickets
By giving customers the information they need even before they ask, you save your customers’ time spent asking questions — and your support team’s time spent answering them. As opposed to waiting for customers to call in with questions, you can proactively provide the information they need in a way that’s easy for them to access and understand.
Research shows this is a welcome approach for both your brand and your customers. A decrease in calls means your brand will be able to cut down on support costs — and give your support team the bandwidth to answer questions that require their full attention.
On the flip side, a staggering 81% of all consumers will try to take care of issues themselves before reaching out to a live representative. With this in mind, give your customer base the tools to answer questions the way they want: on their own terms and on their own time.
5. Increase Customer Lifetime Value
Your best customers — those with a high lifetime value — don’t just use your product. They take advantage of it. They sign up for loyalty programs, use discounts and make the most of what your brand has to offer.
Customer education plays a key role in encouraging this kind of behavior. Think about it: How do your customers learn about your rewards program? How do they know which services work best for them? By watching webinars, tutorials and interacting with your customer success teams.
Take Navy Federal Credit Union, for instance. To remind customers of the value of their loyalty program, they sent out a video explaining available points and rewards.
Telling customers to use your loyalty program can be easily ignored. But an easy to understand, in-depth piece of educational content like this is informative, making it clear for customers to see how easy it is to optimize their rewards and the value they bring.
Set Your Customers Up For Success With Customer Education
From cutting churn to increasing engagement, it’s clear that customer training can bring you closer to your business goals.
There are tons of ways to scale your customer education efforts. Create a knowledge base. Invest in a learning management system (LMS). And don’t forget to communicate with customers the way they want: with video.
Video offers a human touch, just an in-person training session does. It enhances the user experience. It’s easy to follow. And with the latest technology, video can even be interactive. Whether it’s an interactive demo, a quiz or whatever else you have in mind, the use cases are virtually limitless.
Want to learn more? We can teach you all about the possibilities of video. Just schedule a 15-minute call with one of our video experts.
