[Webinar Recap] Data-Driven Customer Training: Strategies for the Modern Learner

*This post was updated on 11/27/2017

In our recent webinar with Training Industry, Sandi Lin, Skilljar’s founder and CEO and Linda Schwaber-Cohen, Head of Training at Skilljar, shared some best practices in data-driven customer training strategies. In case you missed it, there’s a recording of the full webinar here.

For your convenience, we’ve also included a few key takeaways below:

There may be different cadences, depending on what you’re analyzing. However, data should always be part of your regular workflow. For customer training, there are a few different types of metrics. At Skilljar, we think of customer training data in three large buckets:

1. Business Level Data

Business level data is often presented to training leadership and executives in your organization. The purpose of this type of data is to understand the impact your training program has on customers.

Measuring Training ROI

To measure the ROI of your program, consider your program maintenance, strategic decision making, and growth & resource management. Some questions to ask include:

• How do you keep the resources you already have for your training program?
• Are you making decisions based on past performance or are you guessing?
• Do you have the proof points to recruit more resources? (For example: headcount, facilities, etc.)

Keep these points in mind when you’re evaluating your data. Not only will it help you cater to different audiences, but it’ll also help you gain a solid understanding of what you need to investigate and why. In addition, consider the impact your program has on key business metrics:

• Customer renewals
• Increased product usage/adoption
• Reduced costs

2. Course Level Data

This level of data is designed to help you understand the traction of your training program. For instance, you can track engagement metrics, which include registration and completion rates, as well as audience reaction. Thus, course level data is especially relevant to training management, instructional designers, marketing, and Customer Success teams.

3. Content Level Data

Content level data helps you understand the performance of individual content assets. It is often helpful to collaborate with your customer support team to investigate:

• Popular help articles
• Popular topics for user education support tickets

This allows you to use data to determine what content is needed. Besides that, content level data can also help you to identify the characteristics of a healthy customer. By revisiting your data around product usage, you can ask, “Does my content address certain behaviors that are common for my ‘healthy’ customers?” Key Takeaways

• To get the full picture, measure both training ROI and engagement metrics
• When planning your content, consider the low hanging fruit first
• Remember your audience and present relevant data and learnings