Exploring The ROI Of Customer Training
More than 80% of customers prefer a personalized customer experience, according to a recent customer service and customer experience (CX) study. And in the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI), even consumers who aren't speaking with humans expect a personal touch with every brand interaction.
In addition to upskilling support teams to help them deliver better customer experiences, Learning and Development (L&D) and revenue leaders are prioritizing customer education to bridge the gap between customer expectations and customer service realities. Training customers yields tangible business results, according to a recent Forrester study, which shows that 90% of businesses report positive customer education investment outcomes [1].
The demand for enhanced customer training isn't one-sided, though. Customers are also looking to avoid submitting countless support tickets, and seeking seamless, supportive customer training that meets them where they're at. According to the Technology and Services Industry Association (TSIA), more than 2/3rds of customers who received training reported higher adoption rates and were also shown to renew their software subscriptions more, with 92% of trained customers renewing their subscriptions, compared to just 80% of those without training.
Making The Business Case For Customer Training
If you've gotten this far into the article, you may think that these customer training stats speak for themselves. The Return On Investment (ROI) for customer training is obvious, right?
But, as L&D leaders know, getting buy-in for new initiatives, even potentially profitable ones, can be difficult. Here are arguments to bring the table when discussing the business impact of customer training:
Customer Training Drives Retention
Acquiring a new customer is between 5 to 25 times more expensive than retaining an existing one, according to Harvard Business Review [2]. And as digital ad spend increases and competition heats up, customer acquisition costs are expected to rise in 2025. This makes churn a huge concern for business leaders. Modern customers increasingly leverage AI chatbots and agents, which means that they've come to expect instant resolutions and personalized support from their products. Customers want to be able to use their newly purchased product or service immediately, with minimal confusion or friction. Investing in customer training enhances clients' success with the product, so that they can spend more time becoming the kind of enthusiastic power users that every sales and CX leader dreams of…
Customer Training Improves Support Outcomes
No customer is perfect. The truth is that some customers don't use products or services as intended. They may overlook instructions or try a "hack" or shortcut that negatively impacts the effectiveness of the product they've purchased. Customers will fill in the blanks when faced with a lack of product support, documentation, or training, which often leads to an increase in customer support tickets, costing CX teams valuable time that could be spent more efficiently. With a turnover rate that's twice the average of non-CX jobs, customer support agents who deal with complex and time-consuming support tickets are understandably burnt out [3]. Making training and resources accessible to customers the minute they need it–through mobile-friendly and AI-powered learning solutions - can reduce the volume of support tickets, which may improve morale and retention within CX teams.
Customer Training Can Help Companies Manage Their Reputation
Esteban Kolsky, the founder of ThinkJar, explains that only 1 in 26 dissatisfied customers will voice their complaints directly to the company [4]. However, 13% will express their dissatisfaction to others, both in person and online. Such public detraction can negatively impact the reputation and revenue potential of your brand. By not providing comprehensive or accessible customer training resources, you could be leaving customers to their own devices. Today, that means turning to third-party resources for answers that might misrepresent your product. This can not only lead to customers receiving inaccurate information but can ultimately chip away at the trust your team works so hard to build with them.
Conclusion
By giving customers the resources they want, your organization can empower them to use your product or service more effectively. So, what's the ROI of customer training? A strategic investment in customer education is about more than reducing churn–it's about facilitating better relationships that build long-term trust with the most important ambassadors for your brand: your customers.
References:
[1] New Research Reveals the Real Impact of Customer Education Programs
[2] The Value of Keeping the Right Customers
[3] Here's What Happens When You Focus on Employees to Better Serve Your Customers
[4] Providing Great Service in the Face of Rising Customer Expectations
