How to get started with customer education

It's never too late to talk about how to get started with customer education and its importance for your business. So today's topic is entirely about the first steps with customer education, regardless of the type of company.

We'll not only help you remember, or remember again, why customer education matters, but also help you define your goals, so that by the end of this article you'll have a simple but effective step-by-step plan to start customer education in your company's processes.

Why does customer education matter?

With the market more competitive every day, your company has probably already realized that giving customers the essential tools to carry out their tasks gives you an edge over competitors.

That's because when you and your company manage to educate customers, the experience they have during purchase and use of the product is completely different. This strategy of teaching your customers to use your products is called customer education. We've already written a more comprehensive article explaining the term.

In broad strokes, an example we like to use is Microsoft. Imagine they had Excel and never bothered to teach how to use the spreadsheet tool. A small share of users would learn on their own, but there's a large slice that needs help. And even with countless articles, videos and courses, you surely still know someone who doesn't seem to learn how it works. Microsoft implements customer education initiatives because they want their users to know how to use their tools.

Thinking about how to get started with customer education will help your customers better understand how to use your products and services, and that will make them trust your brand more. After all, besides buying something, they are also learning how to get the best from what they bought.

Besides trust, your customers will also advertise for your business. Trusting the brand and recommending it to others is something your customers will do more once they realize your company cares about teaching them to get the best out of the products you offer, adding value to the purchase.

Essentially, the main advantages of customer education for your business are:

• Your customers' trust in your brand;
• Greater adoption of your products and services;
• Better handling of frequent questions, since your customers will be taught to use the products and have fewer doubts;
• And much more!

"Much more" because these advantages are the first ones felt, not only by you and your company but by customers too. There are many other benefits you'll notice in your company as you measure and reach your goals. Positive changes you might not even have been expecting!

So, to reach the incredible goals that quality customer education can deliver, don't waste time and follow this step-by-step guide on how to get started with customer education in your company!

Step 1: Define your main goal

The first thing when thinking about how to get started with customer education is to be able to define your goal well. That's because it will guide all your choices.

You can have several goals, but the important thing here is to focus on the main one, the one you believe is the most important right now. You don't need to discard the others, but knowing how to give each its due importance is essential for decision-making.

To choose a goal, it's also important to think about how your company can measure the steps to be sure the goal was in fact reached. So think of a goal for which you can lay out clear steps and see whether you're actually achieving them. We've even written a post about the different customer education metrics.

Seeing the path to your goal may be more important than the goal itself, because it's a way for your company to stay in control of where it is and where it's going.

So if your company's goal with customer education is higher customer retention, think about how you'll use this strategy on social media, in customer communities, in every aspect that involves your company. That will also make it easier to see what's working and what's not working so well.

Step 2: Define the main problems to solve

Think about the main problems your customers run into with your company. You can get this information from support tickets, the messages most often sent on social media, by email and so on. Or, of course, from an analysis of the flow of your website or product.

With them listed, it's easier to see where each one sits: it can be in sales, marketing, after-sales and, honestly, in any area.

Try to make each of the listed problems as clear as possible, since that will help you understand the best way to solve them. Now think about how educating customers can help your company solve these problems.

Unlike when writing down the problems, now, when it comes to how customer education can help you, write down everything you can think of. After all, writing only the problems and not being able to think of solutions won't help with this exercise.

Seeing where customer education will help you with each of the problems you're facing at the moment can also help you think of new ways to teach your customers and see where you need to focus more attention.

An important point in this step is to keep in mind that you don't need to define the main problems alone. Using customer feedback is a great way to get an idea of where the main difficulties are. It may even be more accurate data for this step, because the people really going through the problems are your customers.

Step 3: Develop your first tools and solutions

With your goal well defined and the problems set, now is the time to develop the solution and the first tools. Think about the tools you want to use to educate your customers. Will it be through courses? Through posts on a blog or website? You need to think about the platform that matches the items defined in the previous steps.

In this step you should find or create a platform that can present all the content you've already determined is important to solve the listed problems. That's because an essential part of customer education is presenting content clearly and in a way that reaches your customers.

These tools should help your customers, not be another problem, so you should always think of a clear interface that delivers content! Try to answer questions and explain as well as possible so you truly educate your customers about the problems described earlier.

When creating your content, everything should be made with a purpose, and choosing the best tool should be no different. So think carefully about this step and, if you can't decide right away, experiment.

There's no problem in changing the tool you use to deliver your content, but always focus on measuring and analyzing whether it's really time to change strategy. Maybe the moment you looked at wasn't the best, but overall the strategy is working. And here again is the importance of measuring your goals and analyzing the metrics for each of your strategies.

Step 4: Create a communication channel with your customers

This next step is probably the most important of all the ones listed so far on how to get started with customer education. Customer education is for your customers, so having a communication channel with them will be vital for the whole strategy to work.

Create this channel so they have quick access to your team focused on solving problems. After all, there's nothing better than getting a question solved in an instant. If not directly with your team, they should have access to problem-solving tools such as a knowledge base, a library of tutorials and so on.

In addition, this communication channel isn't only there so customers can get efficient service, but also so that you and your company can get feedback on how you're doing.

This feedback is the most important part of your strategies, because everything you're doing in customer education is so customers have the best possible experience.

So how can you know whether it's working without a response from them? Create a communication channel that makes your customers want to give feedback and is also informative.

Step 5: Monitor results, improve and create your next content

As mentioned throughout all the previous steps, the last point is actually another reminder to always be measuring results and closely tracking your strategies.

That's to see what's working and what's not. That way your company can think of other ways to tackle the different problems it has found.

Even with all the investment in online courses to educate your customers, are you still not seeing an improvement in their response, and are they still struggling to use your services? It may be that the strategy you're using isn't the best for your audience or something is failing: the communication, the way you're trying to explain the content, or even the design?

There can be different factors, and knowing how to analyze data and metrics is a great way to guide you so that with the next piece of content you can do something that truly reaches your audience.

This difficulty can also be observed through feedback. Always ask what isn't working. Often we may think everything is perfect and there's nothing to improve, but that's because we're so immersed in that universe that it becomes intuitive to us, which may not be the case for all your customers.

In closing: how to get started with customer education

That was a step-by-step guide to getting started with customer education in your company. No company is like another, so think about the particularities of yours and how customer education can help.

It's worth noting that customer education is not the end but the means to achieve something. So reflecting on your goals and on the problems your customers face is what will guide which tactics should be implemented.

Don't try to copy everything from competitors that are making it work, because their strategy was designed for their problems. With this article, you can map your own particularities and make it work for your business. And that is what really matters.