CELab: The Customer Education Lab CELab

In this episode we're joined by Special Guest - Shannon Howard - as we dive into the Intellum-sponsored study from Forrester:  “Driving Business Success Through Customer Education”.  This is a refresh of the 2019 report, which is crucial for those in our field to review and absorb. What's changed? Are there new trends?



Highlights? Here are just a few we cover:




Around 86% of respondents said they had a positive ROI from customer education, with another 10% saying they at least broke even. This suggests that 96% are seeing a positive business impact from customer education.



Customer education helps drive business outcomes like increased customer retention, spending, and decreased support costs. High success orgs saw a 372% ROI over 3 years, with a 7 month payback period.



There has been a shift away from traditional workshops and certifications towards more asynchronous, mobile, and just-in-time learning approaches.



Vendors are being used more strategically as partners, especially by high success orgs, to help raise maturity levels.



Lack of tools, technical skills, and personnel were cited as top challenges. Budget constraints were also a factor in needing to do more with less resources.



AI is being explored more for use cases like accelerating content creation, personalizing learning, data analysis, and assessment creation. But widespread adoption is still on the horizon.



Key factors for success included data access, mobile accessibility, vendor partnerships, and having scalable platforms.




Grab your copy of the report and a beverage and listen in to this deep-dive that you won't want to miss.



Missed the 2019 report? You can find it here, and our coverage in Episode 41!

"If you just focus on educating your customers, you're missing a HUGE opportunity!" says Mark Kilens, Co-Founder of HubSpot Academy and Drift, and now CEO and Co-founder of TACK ⛵️ & ClubPF.

In previous episodes, we've shared how leaders in the industry see education as the core of our programming. Here, Mark shares a human-first perspective on how education should be a fundamental pillar of your GTM Strategy. Why? The importance of integrating education into marketing strategies is crucial for businesses to build trust and loyalty with their customers.



Tune in to as we discuss:




Customer education and its broader definition beyond just training current customers.



Founding and expanding HubSpot Academy, a driver of category creation.



Tying customer education to business outcomes through partnerships and authentic storytelling.



Shifting go-to-market strategies to prioritize people over software, channels, and algorithms.



Creating helpful content for customers through storytelling and relationship-building.



Using education to fuel business growth, with a focus on customer experience.



Creating people-led growth through content and education.



Marketing and sales strategies, focusing on the "people first" approach.

In this episode we welcome Katie Felton - Director of Academies, Global Education Services at Anthology Inc. to continue our exploration into Pricing and Packaging for Customer Education.



This episode dives deep into the world of customer education programs for software companies, featuring an EdTech expert. Here are some key highlights:




Launching a Unified Academy: Learn how a company with 40+ products overcame language and product alignment challenges to create a single training platform.



Pricing & Packaging Strategies: Discover how to price software training subscriptions based on contract value and explore tiered pricing models with real-world examples.



Balancing Revenue & Customer Success: We discuss the importance of creating valuable training content that supports customer success, even when it impacts revenue generation in the short term.



Merging Product Training & Professional Learning: Explore the benefits and challenges of combining product training with broader professional development programs.



Sales & Marketing Alignment: Get insights on how to handle customer discount requests and ensure marketing and sales teams are aligned.




If you're involved in the EdTech industry or building customer education programs for software products, this episode is packed with valuable insights!

How do we price our Customer Education programs? It's a hugely challenging task, even for the experienced - and one that CELab listeners have asked for!



We welcome Mindy Barenblat to the show - an Austin-based an education & enablement strategist and consultant, formerly GM/VP of Education Service at Blackbaud and Eloqua. Tune as we discuss:




Subscription-based learning model with ala carte options



Integrating training with product sales



Pricing and packaging for software products



Integrating training with product sales.

In this conversation we are joined by Emily Brogan, the Customer Education Manager at Dovetail. Emily's experience (and ours!) expresses and dives into the importance of putting the customer first, and the role of Dovetail in providing customer insights. Emily shares her experience in building the Dovetail Academy and the challenges of scaling customer success and education - particularly focusing on collaboration and listening to customers as the company grows. The need for simplicity, customer-centricity, and continuous learning is key in this journey. Join us for another great conversation with these takeaways:



Takeaways




Put the customer first and prioritize their needs in customer education.



Build a customer education program that scales and allows customers to self-serve.



Collaborate with different teams in the organization to align on the customer journey.



Listen to customers and use their feedback to improve and refine the education program.

Listen in as we explore the ever-evolving intersection of community management and customer education with Brian Oblinger. Brian is a seasoned veteran in community management, and shares invaluable insights drawn from his extensive career, underscoring the power of learning from past endeavors. Our discussion ventures beyond the surface, examining how industry giants have leveraged platforms like North Pass to foster innovation in digital customer education, ultimately enhancing product engagement and retention.



We tackle the strategic and technical challenges of creating a frictionless user experience across learning management systems and community forums, sharing practical steps for incorporating single sign-on and prioritizing user experience in program roadmaps. The transformative potential of integrating community into educational strategies is not just a dream—it's a reality we're passionate about, and we want to share that passion with you.



Brian Oblinger is a revered community management expert with a wealth of experience dating back to the mid-90s. As the co-host of the In Before the Lock podcast, he shares his extensive knowledge to help others avoid past mistakes in community engagement. His expertise is rooted in building strategies that intertwine community and customer education, showcasing his proficiency in creating symbiotic relationships that enhance digital learning experiences.



About the Show



CELab is the Customer Education Lab for Innovative Customer Success, Enablement, and Marketing Teams. Our mission is to explore how to build Customer Education programs, experiment with new approaches, and exterminate the myths and bad advice that stop growth dead in its tracks.



Listen in as we discuss:




Guest intro Brian Oblinger



Brian’s favorite pasta



CE use in businesses



Fusion of community and customer education



Brian shares wisdom on digital training



Philosophy of customer-centric resource accessibility



Tackling technical challenges for a frictionless user experience



Unified experiences in customer platforms



Seamless navigation between learning and forums



Aligning community and learning within organizations



Importance of flexible, customer-focused organizational design



Weekly challenges and gamification in customer-led learning



Long-term benefits of a strategic community-building approach



Developing engaging community learning platforms



Integrating social learning and user involvement in content creation



And - please - if you’ve found value in this podcast, share with your friends, your peers, and your network to help us “Find the Others”!




Resources:



Brian Oblinger LinkedIn



Before the Lock Podcast



Northpass



Thought Industries



TechSmith



Dave Derington LinkedIn



Adam Avramescu LinkedIn