What is Customer Education?

Customer education is the process of providing customers with the knowledge and skills they need to effectively use a product or service. This includes providing training, documentation, tutorials, and other resources that help customers understand how to use a product or service to its full potential. 

Effective customer education can help to increase customer satisfaction, reduce support costs, and improve product adoption and retention. By providing customers with the tools they need to succeed, businesses can build stronger relationships with their customers and create a more loyal customer base. 

Customer education can take many different forms, depending on the product or service being offered and the needs of the customer. It might include online training courses, instructional videos, user manuals, interactive tutorials, and live support from customer service representatives. Some companies may also offer certification programs or other forms of recognition for customers who demonstrate a high level of proficiency in using their products or services. 

The term ‘customer education’ is often confused with other processes in business. While the meaning is relatively simple, it is important to understand that customer education does not mean advertising, customer support, etc. Advertising refers to a tool used by companies to persuade potential customers to buy their product. Customer support is a team of people that are employed to respond and answer clients when they have queries. Customer education on the other hand refers to giving customers the knowledge to make sure they are making an informed decision and to ensure proper use of the product. 

Why is customer education important? 

The popular belief is that the more customers are educated about the company and the product, the more chances that they will retain a relationship with the company. Here are all the advantages of proper customer education: 

1. Increased customer retention – Customer retention is crucial in increasing revenue as acquiring a new customer takes 5-25x more cost than retaining an existing customer. This can be achieved through customer education. This improves customer satisfaction as more clients are aware of how to use the products properly to benefit them. 
2. Better customer support – Customer education teaches them how to use the product properly. If customers are more aware of the features and use of the product, they are less likely to ask for support. There will be fewer complaints and questions. 
3. Building trust and brand name – For a company to survive in the market, trust from customers is essential. If the customers can vouch for your company and your products, there is a chance of generating more sales and growing your image in the market. 
4. Increased customer engagement – The more customers recognize the value of your product, the more likely they will engage with it more frequently. They can become the advocates and ambassadors of your product.  

Customer education provides all these advantages when it is executed properly. Let us look at some of the best practices involved in customer education. 

What are some of the customer education best practices? 

Here are some of the best practices followed by companies: 

1. Identifying your customers – Know who your customers are. Answering questions such as ‘Why are they interested in your product?’, ‘What so they already know?’ and ‘What information can benefit them?’ can guide you in creating a customer education system. 
2. Create informative content – When creating training plans, it is important to create informative, clear, and insightful content. The content can be of any format such as videos, landing page content, emails and so on. 
3. Take guidance from the sales team – It is highly likely that the members of your sales team engage with your clients regularly. They will be able to give you insights about the customer needs, issues, and queries. Try to answer these. 
4. Create engaging content – Creating engaging content and using such platforms can help drastically improve customer education. Using mediums such as interactive videos, webinars, etc. can be helpful. 
5. Provide real-world experiences – Making use of digital tools such as virtual labs, one can simulate real-world environments. If customers can use and make errors and learn situation-specific use of the product, it will ensure proper use of the product. 

For each company, the practices can be different. It is important to plan and discuss with your internal team to produce a customer education strategy. 

How to implement a customer education program? 

Customer education does not need to be complicated, and it is of utmost importance that you give potential buyers the information that they need. Building upon your customer education strategy over time is important as well. Here are some other tips to follow: 

1. Identify different communication channels – There is no restriction to the number of communication channels that you can use. Identify the platforms that your clients prefer and make use of all of them. Share learning content through different channels such as blogs, newsletters, and community forums. 
2. Make use of a Learning Management System (LMS) – Making use of an LMS can easily be one of the most effective ways to communicate with your clients. LMS can be used as customer training software to transfer educational content. It supports different types of content and is cheap and scalable.