Tuesday Oct 18, 2011
Support Does Not Equal Training
One of the biggest misconceptions in the software world is that support is training but that is false. It is important to understand the difference between both in order to improve the retention & adoption rate of your SaaS app. Support typically reacts to customer needs and is disruptive to customer productivity. Training proactively anticipates customers’ needs to reduce reactive support and increases customer productivity.
This is coming from the desk of one of the members of the KeyStone OnDemand team, Tayo Rockson. If you implement the right type of training, your customers will understand your product better and they will ultimately want to renew their contract with you.
So in order to correct this misconception and show you how training can help your company I’d like to introduce you to a manifesto that was created by KeyStone OnDemand
1. Support is not training This is pretty self-explanatory. Like I said earlier Training proactively ANTICIPATES customer needs while support typically REACTS to customers’ needs. Give your users more training materials as opposed to just supporting them. The reason being you don’t want your customer’s productivity to be disrupted. They are complementary and should not be used interchangeably.
2. 24/7 apps require 24/7 training resources If you have a 24/7 app make sure you have training resources that can be used at anytime of the day anywhere in the world.
3. Agile apps require agile training resources that adapt to change In the software world, there are always updates and changes that come up constantly with your app so its imperative that your app has training resources that reflect these changes. You don’t want your user to read an outdated blog post or watch a video that is no longer relevant to your app now.
4. Business end-users expect on-demand, web training This trend of on-demand training used to be optional a few years ago but as more and more companies are adopting the cloud, on-demand web training is imperative. Think of it. Don’t you want your end users to be able to proactively learn how to use your app and access your any time at their convenience? It only makes BUSINESS sense.
5. Training resources should be available in both structured course and keyword searchable formats You always want to cater to the different type of end users that consists of your user base. Chances are that you will have two types of users. Some will like a more structured course like format to retain knowledge and others might be more tactile and like to dive in head first to access content without too much instruction. To help these type of users that learn better by experience, it is best to have a keyword searchable functionality so its easy for them to access content.
6. Every user is different. Training must support different learning styles This just builds on my last point. Everyone learns differently. Some learn better if they can visualize what they are supposed to retain, others if they can hear it and others if they can experience your application. Is your app doing this? Ways to address these are by offering a class room like environment, onsite training or on-demand web courses (which is probably the best option).
7. Every role is different. Training must be role-based that speaks to each role’s challenges and success Your users most times will have different roles so its best that your training reflects these different roles. This way its more personalized and they retain knowledge quicker.
8. Training should have measurable outcomes. Training should provide users with a path to becoming an expert One way to transform your casual users to power users is by creating a path for them to be experts. You can do this by certifying them. Reward them for their efforts with a certificate and you will find that a lot of your users will be proud of being certified because it distinguishes them from their peers. Another result that you may find is that your certified users could proactively form communities among themselves where they share what they have learned from your app. This only bodes well for your company and creates a loyal customer base.
9. Training should be tracked and measured You went through all that trouble of creating training materials why not track your users’ knowledge and activity in the platform? This is the only way that you can truly assess whether or not your users are retaining or adopting your software app so implement a tracking mechanism into your app whether it is a CRM or another tracking mechanism.
Support and training should not be lumped together because they are not the same thing. Support REACTS to your user’s demands but training causes users to PROACTIVELY use your app. I am not saying eliminate support just don’t lump them together.
Visit TayoRocksonSpeaks.com for more about Tayo and his blog.
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