It's a jungle out there. With corporate competition fiercer than it's ever been, ensuring new customers feel supported and confident from the start is key to long-term success. Customer onboarding is one process that can set the stage for how customers perceive your product or service. Done right, this experience can reassure customers that they made the right choice. It’s the first opportunity to build trust, show them how your product fits into their workflow or life, and set the tone for a long-lasting partnership.
Customer onboarding sets the stage for how customers perceive your product or service, and can determine the longevity and quality of your relationship.
Having the right tools can make all the difference in onboarding, and a great option is using a Learning Management System (LMS) to make things more seamless. Doing so can help new customers feel more confident, improve retention, and build long-lasting loyalty. In this article, we’ll explore the benefits of using an LMS for customer onboarding, guide you through its effective implementation, and review top LMS options.
An LMS? For customer onboarding?
A Learning Management System (LMS) is a software tool designed to help manage and deliver educational content online. While LMS platforms are often used for employee training, they can also be a game-changer when onboarding customers. Customer onboarding is a structured process that familiarizes new users with your product, ensuring they understand its value and can use it effectively.
Using an LMS to onboard customers allows you to balance the demand for personalized service with the need for lower support costs.
As businesses grow increasingly digital, the need for efficient customer onboarding has never been higher. Today's customers expect a seamless introduction to the products they purchase. It isn't easy to balance the demands of a highly sophisticated customer base with the need for lower service costs. By leveraging an LMS, companies can deliver personalized, interactive onboarding experiences that make it easier for customers to get the most out of their purchase without breaking the bank.
Benefits of using an LMS for customer training
Now that the idea of using an LMS for your customers isn't quite so foreign, let's talk a little about how your company stands to benefit. After all, just because you can do something, doesn't always mean you should. Here's why you should.
1. Improved customer satisfaction
So you built a great product. Fantastic. But does your customer know how to use it? How long will it take them to figure it out? An intuitive LMS helps customers get the hang of your product without feeling overwhelmed. Through a mix of tutorials, how-to videos, and quizzes, customers can explore features at their own pace. This hands-on approach builds confidence, making them feel comfortable and satisfied with your product much faster.
2. Increased customer retention
Customers are far more likely to stick around when they feel empowered and understand the value of your product from the get-go. A well-chosen LMS ensures customers are not only learning but actually seeing results—creating a deeper connection with your brand and reducing the chances of churn. Using an LMS also guarantees that all your customers get the same high-quality onboarding experience, as opposed to simply having a conversation with an account manager. As customers learn at their own pace and become more proficient, they’re more inclined to stick around for the long haul.
3. Enhanced customer loyalty
Customer loyalty isn't just about liking or even loving your product—it’s especially about trust and long-term engagement. By offering advanced how-tos, certifications, and insider tips through your LMS, you keep customers invested in their journey, giving them reasons to continue investing in your brand.
4. Reduced need for extensive customer support
A solid LMS can reduce the number of calls to your customer support lines by empowering customers to troubleshoot on their own. With self-paced learning modules and FAQs integrated into the LMS, customers can get quick answers without reaching out to your help desk. This not only reduces the burden on your customer service department but also provides customers with a sense of independence and control.
5. Better tracking and assessment of customer progress
LMS reports and stats allow you to track a customer’s progress throughout the onboarding journey. Detailed insights show you what content they’ve completed, how well they’re performing on quizzes, and how engaged they are, helping you identify areas where they might need extra support.
How to use an LMS for customer onboarding
Once you get onboard with the idea of an LMS for your customers, next comes the crucial part: how exactly do you go about doing it?
Step 1: Identify onboarding objectives
Before implementing an LMS, clarify what success looks like for your onboarding process. What do you want customers to know by the end of their onboarding experience? Defining clear objectives will help guide the content you create and ensure it aligns with your customers’ needs.
Step 2: Select the right LMS for your needs
There is no LMS that is perfect for every organization out there. It's important to compare your company's priorities with the capabilities and features of the platforms you're evaluating to narrow down your shortlist. Are you most concerned about pricing? There are many free or low-cost LMS options available, the caveat being that features will be limited. On the other hand, the priciest options may be complex, difficult to use, and require significant investment of time and technical expertise.
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See: 8 Reservations LMS Stakeholders Have When Investing in a New System |
It's usually best to focus on these top things to consider when choosing an LMS. Once the decision is made, you can get on with the business of rolling out training.
Step 3: Develop engaging content
Your content is the heart of your onboarding program, but the mode of delivery matters too. Translation: variety is key. Try mixing things up with videos for a visual walk-through, quizzes to test their knowledge, and real-world scenarios they can interact with. The more dynamic the experience, the more engaged they will be. Ensure that the content is digestible (using elements of microlearning) and directly addresses common challenges customers face when using your product. The GoSkills Course Builder, for example, allows you to add text, upload videos, embed YouTube content, and more in your lessons. This makes it easy to create customized, interactive courses that meet the unique needs of your customers.
Step 4: Personalize the learning experience
One of the key benefits of using an LMS is the ability to tailor the onboarding experience for different customers. Not all customers have the same goals. Using learning paths and course recommendations, you can create a more personalized experience, guiding users through content based on their needs, usage patterns, or previous knowledge.
Step 5: Provide progress tracking and support
Offer milestones and checkpoints to track customer progress through the onboarding process. Consider adding a dashboard where customers can see their completion rate, upcoming lessons, and certifications. Gamification makes learning fun, so features like learning streaks, daily goals, and custom rewards can help incentivize learners and improve outcomes.
Step 6: Gather feedback and iterate
Customer feedback is crucial for improving your onboarding process. The best LMSs allow you to gather feedback through surveys, assessments, or even post-onboarding interviews. Use this data to continually refine the content, delivery methods, and user experience, ensuring customers receive the best onboarding experience possible.
Top 5 LMS options for customer onboarding
Here’s a look at some of the top LMS platforms designed to enhance customer onboarding:
1. GoSkills LMS
If you already have training content hosted on another platform, GoSkills is SCORM-compliant, allowing you to migrate those courses and house all your training material in one place. Additionally, GoSkills LMS offers progress tracking, enabling managers to monitor customer progress and adapt content accordingly. Its ease of setup, ease of admin, and ease of use make it a top choice for all types of businesses.
2. TalentLMS
3. Docebo
4. SAP Litmos
5. LearnUpon
Why choose GoSkills LMS for customer onboarding?
GoSkills LMS stands out for customer onboarding because of its focus on ease of use. The platform’s interactive course builder allows businesses to create engaging and tailored onboarding content in no time. Here are some reasons why GoSkills LMS is the perfect fit for your onboarding needs:
- Customizable learning paths: Create personalized experiences for different customer segments, ensuring that each user gets the most relevant training based on their unique needs. Alternatively, allow the course recommender to queue up learning content based on learners' interests or history.
- Robust analytics: Track customer progress, completion rates, and engagement with powerful analytics. This allows for continuous improvement of your onboarding process.
- Interactive courses: Keep customers engaged with multimedia content, quizzes, and certifications that not only teach but also test their knowledge. No prior course creation knowledge is required.
- Ease of setup: GoSkills LMS has consistently been rated #1 for ease of setup, ease of admin, and ease of use by customers on G2. This reduces downtime and eliminates the need for lengthy familiarization with the learning platform. People can start focusing on the content right away.
Tips for maximizing LMS effectiveness
To get the most out of your LMS, consider these strategies:
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Focus on continuous improvement
Onboarding isn't a set-it-and-forget-it event. Regularly update your LMS content to keep it fresh—whether it’s incorporating the latest product updates or responding to customer feedback. The more you iterate, the more relevant and helpful it becomes.
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Personalize the experience
Use data to tailor onboarding experiences for individual customers or customer segments. Offering personalized content ensures each customer gets the most out of the process and feels valued.
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Leverage analytics
Take advantage of your LMS’s analytics tools to measure customer engagement and progress. Use these insights to identify areas where customers might struggle and proactively improve those sections of your onboarding.
Conclusion
Customer onboarding is critical to ensuring long-term success, and using an LMS can significantly enhance this process. From improving customer satisfaction to fostering loyalty, the right LMS helps deliver consistent, engaging, and scalable onboarding experiences. Whether you choose GoSkills LMS or another option, the key is to ensure your platform provides a smooth, personalized experience that makes customers feel confident and supported.
Ready to elevate your customer onboarding process? Explore the GoSkills LMS and see how it can transform your onboarding strategy.
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