Every software company wants loyal users who use its products correctly, effectively, and enthusiastically, without frustration. Building up a following of skilled, confident users means you can be assured of:
- Advocates (both within a company and on social media)
- Recurring revenues from customers who renew licenses and buy additional or follow-on products and add-ons
- End-users who require minimal tech support as they troubleshoot their own problems
To earn this level of skilled, faithful client base, you need to help them master the product’s features and functions. Especially for complex products with long lists of menus, features, and options, even dedicated, veteran users utilize only a tiny fraction of the total list of functions. This focused usage is natural, and no cause for concern – as long as the product gets the job done.
The problem arises when a user is forced out of their comfort zone and requires unfamiliar, rarely-used functionality. Frustration quickly ensues.
The solution is well-designed, engaging software training. We’re beyond the age of reading manuals, so that’s not even worth discussion. Quick, pre-recorded onboarding videos help, but represent a one-way, pre-packaged demo of the features the company feels are most important – decisions that might not align with the user’s priorities. The most engaging method is to train on an interactive virtual environment where an instructor can provide a short demonstration or overview, and then watch a group of users work their way through a web-based, virtual version of the software. The trainer can course-correct, point out a UI element, or even share one trainee’s actions with the class for a learning moment.
When users can go through this training process first-hand, spending as much or as little time as they want to look at features that interest them, it creates the confidence discussed above, with all the corresponding benefits.
One last point: This paradigm – the remote software training platform – is useful for every touchpoint with the customer, from pre-sales training via hands-on demos and POCs, through the initial onboarding of new clients, all the way to customer training for targeted, specific sessions focusing on the particular needs of a department or other sub-group. It can also be leveraged for a refresher course when you release new versions, or served to conduct large-scale certification courses.
Bottom line: you maximize the benefits of software training when it’s offered steadily as part of an ongoing relationship between you and your customer. Eventually, this translates into a measurable data point that affects your bottom line, when a customer chooses to renew their contract with you rather than the competition.