A majority of individuals stop consuming a product or service not because they do not find it useful or because it is not capable of solving their issues. Rather, they stop consumption because they find it challenging to get habituated to it.
People look for products and services that are easy and capable of solving complex issues. And, as a SaaS company, you must cater to their needs. Regrettably, few such businesses have come to the realization and have been able to successfully implement it.
According to a recent study,
“About 40% to 60% of consumers who sign up for an unpaid trial are likely to utilize a company’s products and services and never return.”
It is just 2.7% percent of those who continue to stick to these services after the trial. So if a user abandons your company, either they have not used your product enough to like it or they didn’t like it at all. So in the cases where the problem is in your hands, you must try to address them.
When customers sign up for a service or a product, they do so only when they are sure about its capability of solving their problems. Thus, among the several reasons for users leaving, poor onboarding is one of them.
SaaS businesses tend to make several such mistakes while providing customer education, which overall decreases their ROI and reduces the value of their products among customers.
So, to prevent you from taking any steps that hinder the growth of your venture, we are here to share some of the key mistakes that you must avoid.
In this article, we will take you through the entire process of customer education and share some of the essential aspects associated with the same.
So, without any further delay, let’s dive in to know 4 Major Mistakes to Avoid During Customer Education For SaaS Companies.
What is Customer Education?
Customer education refers to the content that is created for onboarding, engaging, as well as retaining existing and novel customers. This content is delivered through on-demand and in-person channels, based on the requirement of the consumers.
Also called customer training, it aids the users to get a better comprehension of the services and products of a SaaS business and find reasonable value in the same.
Based on the level of knowledge of users, the complexity of products, target audiences, and the business’s goals, a company may provide customer training in varied formats.
Customer Training Formats
1. Knowledge Checks, like Quizzes
Knowledge checks help the company and the consumers both since they aid in measuring the consumers’ level of comprehension. Also, the scores can further motivate the users to remain engaged with the content for a longer period.
2. Slideshows
By uploading previously used content during in-person training, businesses can indulge the users greatly.
3. Infographics
To recycle current marketing content, infographics in the form of PDFs are helpful for companies and customers. Businesses can simply provide fast facts and overviews related to their products and services.
4. Recorded Screenshots
One of the best ways to train customers is by providing them with step-by-step instructions for complex processes and configurations.
5. Recorded Webinars
The most engaging content in customer training is through webinars. Customers can get an overview of the interface of a product.
By producing engaging content in varied formats based on the needs of users, companies can get many benefits, which are highly advantageous for their growth.
Importance of Customer Education in the SaaS Industry
While several businesses may not realize it, customer education can be highly profitable for their overall growth due to its positive influence on essential metrics from support contact rate, to the adoption of products and services, to marketing leads.
A more detailed illustration of the reasons for its importance is provided below.
1. Improved Customer Satisfaction
Higher customer satisfaction implies customer loyalty, which further indicates higher profitability. So by training customers, a company teaches them how to use their products and services, which increases the overall probability of satisfaction among customers.
2. Increased Customer Engagement and Adoption
A business’s customer training program directly impacts the following:
- Customer satisfaction
- Customer independence
- Product usage rate
When the customers master the products and services of a company, the overall level of engagement and adoption augments.
3. Enhanced Expansion, Renewal, and Retention Rates
Several factors like competition and poor onboarding can result in customer churn. However, when a business invests in customer education, the customers get access to tricks and tips that offer them higher value.
Educated customers are more likely to expand and renew, thus, increasing retention rates.
4. Enhanced Product Development
When users raise support tickets, their questions will be of higher relevance to the kind of implementations and improvements that the product needs. Thus, their feedback will aid in product development.
5. Decreased Support Tickets
Investing in customer training can help businesses save on customer support tickets. The most common questions that are asked by customers can be provided to them in the form of help articles.
6. Higher ROI
Customer education results in customer retention since they value the products and find them useful once they understand their importance. So, when you spend lesser on gaining new customers through marketing and are rather focused on customer retention, your company’s return on investments or ROI is simply higher. Also, a satisfied customer is likely to make the business more profitable in the long run.
7. Quicker Customer Onboarding
By being able to provide a smooth onboarding process to your customers, you will:
- Build the customer’s trust
- Gain higher reputation
- Educate several customers
- Make sure that all users begin with the same information
- Create a consistent understanding
How to Start With Your Customer Education Process?
Based on the extent to which customer education is important for a SaaS business, you might now be willing to know how you can start with the process. Well, given below is a basic step-by-step guide to provide you with an idea.
Step 1: Define Goals
By setting up the goals you wish to achieve through the training program, you will be able to define your objectives and measure the program’s progress.
Step 2: Situation Analysis
Based on your goals, perform an audit of your present learning material in case you have an ongoing customer education program. You must conduct an audit of your customer’s experience after purchasing as well.
Step 3: Check Resource Availability
Apart from your existing learning material, you will require several other resources. Allocate the budget and decide time boundaries as well.
Step 4: Consider Learning Styles of Users
Based on the kind of audience you have, think about the learning styles and spaces that will be the most suitable for them. Consider the amount of time they will spend, the tone of voice for content, and the requirement for visual elements.
Step 5: Decide Your Medium
Once you have understood the learning styles of your consumers, you are ready to decide on your medium of training. There is a wide variety of choices. For instance, it can be a YouTube video or an in-store demonstration.
Step 6: Regular Checks on Program
Set quarterly or annual checks on your training program to measure the progress that the customers are making. The metrics will help the program evolve based on the feedback and overall review.
Why use Customer Education Software in SaaS Companies?
When a SaaS company decides to use customer education software, it is opting for several benefits, which include the following:
1. Improved Security
If you want your business to keep growing, you cannot risk the personal information of your consumers and allow any kind of data theft or breaches. So when you use software for customer training through an authorized vendor, you get higher security.
2. Monetization
If your team of trainers possesses important knowledge associated with your products and services, you can sell it in the form of a course and thus, earn money.
3. Enhanced Reporting
The software will provide you with information regarding users’ progress, the content accessed by them, data visualization, the impact of training on users, and much more.
4. Choices for Offline Learning
Some vendors provide software that allows users to download and access content in offline mode as well.
5. Mobile-Friendliness
With a majority of the world’s population using smartphones to perform daily activities, the software training program must be mobile-friendly. By opting for such software, you will augment the users’ activity and indulgence.
6. Dynamic Education
Similar to the recommendation of videos on YouTube based on previous activity, training software suggests content to customers based on their learning. Also, the customers can define their learning paths, which cater to their necessities. This enhances retention and adoption of knowledge in the longer term.
Top Mistakes to Avoid in Customer Education for SaaS Companies
To make sure that your customers get the best learning experience and also begin to value your products and services like you want them to, these are the top mistakes that you must avoid.
1. Poor Relation Between Educational and Business Goals
Based on the goals of your business, you must set the goals for your customer education program. For instance, if the aim is to decrease the number of support tickets raised, you must make an FAQ section on your company’s website addressing the commonly asked questions.
2. Poor Customer Training Strategy
If your strategy is not clear and goal-oriented, it will be short-lived. Thus, to avoid this, you must form a step-by-step plan based on your goals and define the metrics that the company will utilize for measuring progress.
3. Disregarding KPIs and Metrics
When you disregard KPIs and metrics, you will never know the areas of customer education that need improvement. So, measure the engagement rate, net promoter score, customer lifetime value, and customer churn.
4. Poor Choice of Customer Education Medium
A poor choice of medium for customer education implies a waste of time and money. To avoid this, you must consider the type of audience, their educational needs, and your educational goals.
Quick Checklist to Educate Customers in SaaS Companies
Before beginning your customer education program, you must ensure that all the crucial aspects have been taken into consideration. For your ease, we have made a checklist for the same:
- What kind of customers do you have?
- What are the business goals?
- What are the goals of the customer education program?
- Who is responsible for ensuring the smooth functioning of customer education?
- What are the required resources?
- Which mediums will be used for educating customers?
- On what basis will the success of the program be evaluated?
- On what basis will the software be chosen?
- How will the Learning Management System be managed and implemented?
- How will the customers be informed of the LMS?
- Which teams are involved in educating customers?
Once you have answers to all these questions, you are ready to start educating your customers about the products of your company.
How Does Customer Education Impact ROI?
By educating customers, companies get loyal and satisfied customers. For these reasons, the rate of retention is high and so is the return on investments. Customer education impacts ROI in various ways, which are as follows:
1. Higher Rates of Customer Retention
Acquiring a new customer is five times more costlier than retaining an existing customer. By educating customers about the use of your products, you enhance value, which leads to customer retention.
2. Higher Customer Satisfaction
When customers have a proper understanding of the utilization of your products, they are likely to be more satisfied. And higher customer satisfaction means renewal of services, which leads to a higher ROI.
3. Word-of-Mouth Publicity
Happy customers are likely to recommend the company’s products and services to their friends and family. This method of advertising is highly beneficial for businesses since it does not require investments and the possibility of customer acquisition is high.
Conclusion
Customer education is a crucial part of SaaS businesses since it makes the users understand the proper use of products and services and makes them comprehend their value. However, the extent to which companies make mistakes while running a program of customer training makes it unworthy of time and money.
In this article, we discussed some of the most prominent mistakes that you must avoid to have a successful training program. By choosing the right software, and the most suitable mediums, valuing metrics and KPIs, and relating your business goals with educational ones, you can get great ROIs through customer education.
