You can create and organize courses, track participation, grades automatically, and even generate reports. Everything is stored in a one-stop shop, so your learners can access what they need when they need with just a single click.

Much like having Google Docs, Slack, and your calendar all in one, except it’s made specifically for learning.

But before diving in, it’s important to know what an LMS can really do for you. 

Let’s break it down and explore what makes this tool such a revolutionary force in the e-learning universe.

How does an LMS work?

An LMS acts as a centralized hub for managing and delivering educational content. It consists of two main components:

• Server-side: This handles the backend operations of the LMS, typically managed by a system administrator or training manager.

• User interface (UI): This is the interactive platform where learners and instructors connect with the system, accessing and managing content.

With its user-friendly interface, instructors can easily upload a variety of course materials, such as videos, PDFs, quizzes, and more. These materials are then organized into modules, allowing learners to access them anytime and anywhere.

You can also create distinct groups of learners based on their roles or job positions, making it simple to assign either a single course or a series of materials, known as a learning path.

Moreover, the system enables you to track each learner’s progress effortlessly, empowering you to motivate top performers and support your team’s growth more effectively.

Plus, automation features take care of time-consuming tasks like grading quizzes, sending reminders, and generating reports, giving instructors more time to enhance course quality.

What is the main function of LMS?

Standard LMS solutions offer several functions to ensure a seamless learning experience, including:

• Creating learning plans and courses
• Enrolling learners
• Distributing e-learning materials
• Managing assignments
• Providing virtual classroom experiences
• Enabling self-paced learning
• Enhancing collaboration between teachers and students
• Offering online and offline assessment tools
• Sending alerts to learners regarding assignment submissions and classes

Ultimately, the main function of an LMS is to cater to the unique needs of individual learners. It tracks participation and progress, ensuring that each learner’s needs are thoroughly met by the time they complete the course.

What is an LMS used for?

There’s no straightforward answer to what a learning management system is used for. As it ultimately depends on your organization’s training needs.

1. Onboarding and training

When it comes to onboarding and training, LMS platforms are like your best friend in the corporate world. For new hires, they provide a seamless way to access training programs on any device, letting employees learn at their own pace.

It’s all about making the process easier and more flexible! But it doesn’t stop here!

Employees can share their feedback, helping organizations fine-tune their training content and pinpoint where additional support is needed. It’s a win-win!

Beyond just internal training, an LMS can extend its reach to customers, partners, and members. This is particularly beneficial for tech and software companies, where customers need to learn how to use products effectively.

Moreover, ongoing training through an LMS not only improves user experience but also builds stronger brand loyalty.

With exciting features like augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and AI, these platforms create interactive learning environments that enhance skill development and spark creativity throughout the workforce.

2. Employee development and retention

Imagine your LMS as a GPS for employee growth. It’s there to navigate each individual through their unique learning journey, creating clear pathways to their specific roles and skills. This way, every employee knows exactly what they need to focus on to succeed.

By centralizing all learning resources and tracking progress, an LMS turns employee development into a continuous empowering process. And when your team feels supported and empowered, it naturally boosts retention and reduces churn rate.

In the end, it keeps everyone engaged and motivated, ready to tackle the ever-evolving challenges that come their way.

3. Sales training

Learning management systems also increase sales performance by delivering targeted, structured sales training.

These platforms offer courses and seminars that focus on building product expertise, refining customer interaction skills, and analyzing case studies based on real-world customer experiences. 

Alongside, integrating practical scenarios and feedback from past interactions, these platforms help sales teams improve their techniques, adapt to customer needs, and build more effective customer relationships, leading to better sales outcomes.

4. Blended learning

LMS enables blended learning by combining traditional classroom instruction with online learning tools. This approach enhances in-person education by incorporating digital resources like videos, interactive quizzes, and customized learning materials, tailored to meet each student’s unique needs. 

Blended learning offers greater flexibility, allowing students to access content at their own pace while reinforcing what they learn in the classroom. This hybrid model makes learning more engaging, personalized, and effective.

Types of learning management systems

While LMSs have basic features in common, the needs of enterprises, academic institutions, and small businesses are all different. 

Because of this LMS developers have branched out to meet those particular needs. 

Academic institutions

Popular LMS options for academic institutions include:

• Moodle
• Google Classroom
• Blackboard
• Schoology

These systems are designed to facilitate course management, streamline communication between students and teachers, and provide a centralized hub for learning materials and assessments. 

They often include features such as grading tools, discussion forums, and collaborative project spaces to enhance the educational experience.

Corporate solutions

For businesses, popular LMS platforms include:

• TalentLMS
• LifterLMS
• Trakstar Learn
• Litmos
• Adobe Captivate Prime

These solutions focus on employee training and development, offering tools for onboarding, compliance training, and skill enhancement. 

Corporate LMSs often provide analytics to track employee progress and performance, ensuring that training aligns with organizational goals and improves workforce productivity.

Open source vs. commercial LMS

Organizations have two primary options for choosing a learning management system. Either, they can purchase a subscription or license for a commercial LMS from a provider or opt for a free, open-source LMS. 

Choosing the open-source route means taking on the responsibility of setting up, hosting, maintaining, and upgrading the system on your own. It’s like building your own house. You get full control, but it also requires a lot of time and effort.

Because of these added responsibilities, many organizations lean toward the convenience and support that come with a commercial LMS. It’s like having a dedicated team that handles all the heavy lifting, allowing you to focus on what really matters: delivering great learning experiences.

Cloud vs self-hosted LMS

A cloud-based LMS runs on a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, which means the provider takes care of everything on their servers. Users can easily access the LMS through a web interface that offers separate portals for both students and educators.

On the other hand, organizations can opt to self-host the LMS on their own servers. While this approach gives them complete control over their data and customization, it also means they’re responsible for managing uptime, security, server load, and backups.

It’s more like a large corporation running its own data center. Which may require a dedicated IT team to ensure everything runs smoothly.

Additionally, LMS platforms can be enhanced with complementary tools through integrations, plugins, or APIs.

For example, integrating with popular tools like Zoom for virtual classrooms or Google Drive for file sharing can extend the LMS’s functionality. This flexibility allows educational institutions and businesses to tailor the LMS to their specific needs, creating a more personalized learning experience.

How do you choose an LMS platform?

With so many LMS types available, selecting the right one for your organization starts with understanding your key needs. 

Let’s explore the five essential steps to help you identify the best enterprise LMS solutions. 

1. Identify your audience

Consider your learners and the type of training you need to deliver.

• What are your primary learning objectives?
• Do you require onboarding, compliance training, or customer education?

2. Focus on important features

List your must-have features.

• Are you prioritizing ease of use or advanced reporting?
• Is having a mobile-friendly LMS crucial, or is quick integration more important for your needs?

3. Evaluate each LMS

Conduct high-level research to find systems that meet your criteria.

• Evaluate each option thoroughly and create a shortlist of LMS platforms that could work for your organization.

4. Look beyond the LMS

Dive deeper with further research.

• Read LMS platform reviews and investigate the aftercare each system offers.
• Consider signing up for free trials to test the platforms firsthand.

5. Choose your LMS

Finally, it’s time for an LMS comparison.

• If you have two or three options that fit your requirements, revisit those corporate LMS reviews.
• Share your findings and decisions with colleagues and stakeholders to gather their feedback.

The best LMS platforms

If you’re ready to begin your research and find the best learning management systems for your organization, here’s a list of some top LMS platforms to assist you.

1. LifterLMS

LifterLMS is a powerful, all-in-one learning management system built for course creators, entrepreneurs, and membership site owners looking to sell courses online.

It stands out with its flexibility, allowing you to design and customize more personalized learning experiences with ease.

So, whether you’re creating a simple course or building a complex online learning ecosystem, LifterLMS has a compact bucket of tools to handle extended tasks.

To top it off, LifterLMS integrates smoothly with Fluent Support, helping you streamline customer service with AI-powered efficiency, making the overall user experience even more seamless.

Key Features:

• Course Creation
• Membership Management
• Quiz Features
• Payment Gateway Integrations
• Marketing Tools
• Integrations
• Gamification and more.

Verdict: Individuals and businesses selling online courses can maximize their impact by leveraging the specialized features of LifterLMS.

2. Google Classroom

Google Classroom is a well-known, free, and user-friendly platform that integrates seamlessly with Google Workspace tools.

Key Features:

• Assignment Management
• Real-Time Collaboration
• Easy Communication
• Integration with Google Docs and Drive and more.

Verdict: Google Classroom is ideal for K-12 schools and educators looking for a straightforward, accessible solution.

3. Blackboard

Blackboard is a resilient LMS commonly used in higher education, offering a comprehensive and reliable learning experience.

Key Features:

• Course Management
• Grading Tools
• Mobile Accessibility
• Extensive Analytics Capabilities and more.

Verdict: Colleges and universities that require a dedicated and reliable learning platform benefit from the features of Blackboard. 

4. TalentLMS

TalentLMS is a popular cloud-based LMS specifically designed for corporate training and onboarding.

Key Features:

• Course Creation
• Progress Tracking
• Customizable Branding
• Mobile Access and more.

Verdict: TalentLMS’s versatility provides a scalable and user-friendly training solution for businesses of all sizes.

5. Moodle

Moodle is an open-source LMS known for its flexibility and wide customization options.

Key Features:

• Course Creation
• Customizable Themes
• Extensive Plugin Library
• Mobile Access
• Support for Various Content Formats and more.

Verdict: Educational institutions seeking a tailored learning experience can benefit greatly from Moodle’s adaptability.

6. Trakstar Learn

Trakstar Learn is an LMS dedicated to corporate training and onboarding processes.

Key Features:

• Course Creation
• Multimedia Content Support
• Tracking Learner Progress
• Report Generation and more.

Verdict: Companies looking for a straightforward training solution will find Trakstar Learn to be an effective option.

7. Litmos

Litmos is a comprehensive LMS designed for employee training and compliance.

Key Features:

• Content Creation
• Reporting
• Pre-Built Courses
• Third-Party Application Integration and more.

Verdict: Organizations needing a strong and versatile training platform with strong analytics capabilities can greatly benefit from Litmos.

8. Canvas

Canvas is a modern LMS that both educational institutions and organizations favor.

Key Features:

• Course Design
• Mobile Compatibility
• Integration with Third-Party Apps
• Clean User Interface and more.

Verdict: Schools and universities looking for a flexible and intuitive platform can effectively utilize Canvas for their learning needs.

Conclusion

Learning management systems (LMS) come in various types and endless options, yet they remain straightforward and easy to use.

An LMS facilitates workplace learning, from creating and delivering training to tracking results, ultimately boosting employee engagement and retention.

With many benefits, selecting the right LMS is crucial for effective learning and development.

To make the best choice, compare the LMS features with your organization’s needs, goals, and structure.

The post What is an LMS? A Quick Learning Guide appeared first on Fluent Support.

Acquiring more customers does not often translate to more profits. If your customers are not sticking after signing up, then there are problems in your customer onboarding system. Right customer strategy ensures your customers understand your products, get the value they seek, and keep using them.

In this blog, you’ll learn about customer onboarding, the benefits of seamless customer onboarding, top onboarding examples, how to develop a customer onboarding strategy and create the onboarding process.

What is customer onboarding?

Customer onboarding is the process that helps your new users to get familiar with your product features and start using them regularly.

Customer onboarding plays a significant role in customer retention. It ensures your customers are acquainted with your products and will not churn after a few weeks.

The main focus of customer onboarding is to deliver value to your customers on their first use. Your customers already know you and are aware of your value, which is why they bought your products. Now it’s your turn to help them derive the value when they start using the product daily. Customer onboarding helps you do this without annoying new customers. 

Why is customer onboarding important for business?

Customers who come through a good onboarding recognize the value of your product. They stay with you longer. Customer retention goes high when customers keep using the products frequently.

Customer onboarding is important for your business because it builds the foundation of long-term customer relations. Onboarding is a critical step for new customers trusting you as a brand. If you do it right, that satisfied customer will be a consistent client of your business.

Here are the main benefits of a good customer onboarding:

• High customer retention– When customers get the most value from their first use of your product, they will stick with it. They will keep using the product for their necessity. And the more customers stay with you for a long time; you will have more options to sell features or more related products to them. More sales mean more profits!

• High customer engagement rate– Good customer onboarding process keeps your customers engaged with your products. Step by step process will make them interested in product features and instant knowledgebase will keep them informed on how they can use the features for their benefit. Customers will sign in again and again to keep using the product.

• High conversation rate – Great onboarding will boost your conversation rate exceptionally. If you offer a trial, customer onboarding is the only way to give customers a great experience. When your trial customers see the real value of your products during the onboarding process, they are more likely to convert into paid customers.

• Reduce churn rate– Churn rate is a headache for businesses. Your new customer acquisition cost will increase if your churn rate is high. Customers often churn after initial purchase, in a trial phase, or during a bad onboarding process. If you can streamline your customer onboarding and provide a significant customer experience, your customer churn rate will reduce outstandingly.

• Higher brand recognition– your happy customers are your brand promoter. When a customer experiences great product results, they will refer your brand to their networks without your push. Word-of-mouth plays a huge role in organic marketing. You can create a loyal, satisfied customer base by delivering an amazing customer experience from a smooth onboarding process.

How to develop a customer onboarding strategy?

The first step toward delivering an excellent onboarding experience is crafting a perfect customer onboarding strategy. But how can you develop a perfect onboarding strategy for your business?

You can’t achieve perfection the first time; you’ll need to refine it over time. First, you need to know your customers and their demographics for a strategy. Data from marketing & sales will help you here. Define what you want from your customers and learn what they will want after their initial purchase.

Start with an objective in mind, map customer touchpoints in the onboarding process and write down the details. Remember, every customer touchpoint is crucial because every interaction will influence new customers to use your products regularly. 

Here are some simple tips to kickstart your strategy:

1. Set your goals

Without a specific and realistic goal, you’ll not accomplish anything. Plan your steps before implementing, work on your weakness and then provide a better solution.

Goals will help you increase your effort on the right point and maximize the output. Make sure your goals are measurable and you can achieve these within a time limit. Keep your goal relevant to your onboarding process. It will help you create many delightful moments for your customers.

2. Create a separate onboarding team

You have marketing team, sales team & other teams in place to do the specific work. Why not create a separate onboarding team to create an onboarding strategy and process?

A separate team will get done more than anyone. Assign the right person if you are a small business. If your business needs more attention on the onboarding process, assemble a team with suitable persons with analytical minds and good customer psychology. 

Ensure you train them well, knows your goals & objective and are equipped to do what is necessary to achieve them. Make sure your team has these skills:

• Great product knowledge
• Training in customer support
• Efficient on helpdesk & other communication tools
• Deep understanding of customer communications
• Has basic understanding of customer onboarding process

3. Plan your onboarding process

Customer onboarding can happen in many ways. Most are signup processes, self-service, one-to-one agent communication, or emails. It depends on how you want your customers to onboard.

First, plan your onboarding process. Do you want it to be no-touch onboarding? Or low-touch? Or want to offer a dedicated success manager to onboard customers?

Most B2C companies use the signup process to onboard their customers. It combines signup forms, self-service, faq, documentation, guides and follow-up emails. Mostly it’s a no-touch onboarding process. It’s a perfect process for B2C companies with a large customer base.

On the other hand, B2B business sometimes requires one-to-one customer relations through a customer success manager due to high volume sales. People want to go face to face before & after finishing the purchase. Now choose your model wisely. Sometimes, a small business can onboard customers successfully with a series of follow-up emails offering self-service, videos and tutorials.

4. Measure onboarding metrics

Keep an eye on your metrics after a customer onboarding ends. Here are some metrics you should check:

• How many customers finished the onboarding in a timeframe?
• Which touchpoints were delightful for your customers & which ones frustrated them?
• How many customers convert after a trial period? What difficulty did they face during their trial time?
• What are features not user-friendly?
• How high and low your customer engagement rate are?
• Customer churn rate after a specific time.
• Customer satisfaction survey results after the onboarding process.

These metrics vary depending on the business and different industries. Choose what metrics you want to measure depending on your needs and business. Collect these data, measure and analyze them to refine your onboarding process on the go.

5. Collect feedback

Customer onboarding requires time. Sometimes days, weeks, or months are required to onboard new customers. You have to provide full support to your customer during this time. Customer success team has to communicate with customers constantly during this period.

Collect feedback from your customers and learn about their pain points. Run surveys on different touch points, collect customer behaviors & refine your process based on the results. 

Customer digital onboarding is all about listening to your customers & educating them on the product. Use feedback to make the process smooth, keep in touch with your customers and let them know how much they mean to you.

How to create a customer onboarding process?

Most customer onboarding process requires the customer to follow a system and finish a few steps to get used to product features. Sometimes these steps depend on the business or user’s specific needs. But you can’t force them on customers. Then it will backfire. Remember, our goal is to provide a great customer experience. Giving your users the freedom to choose each step whenever they want is another great way to achieve this.

Here are some common steps of the customer onboarding process you should consider:

1. Signup process

Customer onboarding journey starts when they signup. Successful customer conversations depend on how well you design and optimize your signup process.

Keep your signup simple. Do not ask for everything the first time. Asking too many questions can turn off customers. If your conversation rate dropping after signup, consider checking your signup process and immediately take action. 

2. Welcome email

After the signup, the best way to onboard customers is by sending them a welcome email. Congratulate them for their successful purchase and direct them back to your product. Your welcome email should be exciting and show how grateful you are to have them as your customers. Thanks them, offer support and guide them to product to ensure their first use.

3. Product education

New customers know the value of your product. That’s why they purchased it. Now what they need is education. Show them how your product’s feature can solve their one problem. Start with one specific problem, share information, and educate your customers. Then move to the next.

It is important to teach your customers how they can get value from your products fast in their first use. Create well-crafted tasks to do small things around your products and encourage customers to finish the task with a progress bar. Share tips right within the task to teach customers how to finish it. You can use banners or pop-ups inside the process to grab customers’ attention.

4. Product setup

When a customer signs in with your product or starts using it, they should be able to set it up without any frustration. Offer a setup wizard or a step-by-step guide that customers can follow and do it quickly. Remember, first impression always matters. If your setup is complex, it will annoy customers.

Make it short and optional. Help your customer to help themselves. Offer knowledge base with in-depth tutorials with photos and videos. A well-organized knowledge base will help customers find relevant answers of frequently asked questions without support help. Chatbots can be used in this kind of process to provide personalized communication.

5. Seamless support

Offer seamless support to customers at each touchpoint of customer onboarding process. Chatbots and automation are helpful but keep the direct option to reach a human support agent. Make sure customers can contact an agent anytime. Sometimes people want to talk to a human or require a human touch.

Your new customer should feel you care about them from the beginning. Reach out to them proactively and help them use your product. Proactive support is the best way to win a customer’s loyalty.

6. Follow-up emails

Use follow-up emails to keep in touch with your customers. You don’t want to end your onboarding process right after customers first sign-up or sign in. The main goal of customer onboarding process is to keep customers engage with the process and make them use your product regularly.

Send additional emails with actionable tips to solve their problems, so your customers feel the need to use the product again. Showing specific use cases can work wonder here.

Top customer onboarding examples

Here are some great customer onboarding examples from five well-known brands in their niche. Use these examples as your inspiration to develop your customer onboarding process.

1. Trello

Our first example is Trello. It is a project management tool that helps businesses to organize ideas, projects, and workflows.

This is their sign-up form. It’s straightforward, with a lot of options. And send you straight to open a workspace.

The third window shows a message to try the trial, but don’t push it. You can always choose the free version with one click. You don’t need to put your credit card information.

And their welcome email is clear and shows what you can do with Trello. New customers will get an idea of Trello and start working on their Trello board with one click.

2. Loom

Loom makes it easy for everyone to screen record their screen. Their sign-up form is the same as Trello but comes with real user recommendations. This is very useful to entice first-time customers.

After you sign up, they ask relevant questions and customize your dashboard based on your preference.

The loom dashboard after customer sign-up, where new customers can easily access tips and tricks.

3. Zapier

Zapier makes workflow automation easy for everyone. Their sign-up process focuses on this. They clearly state these in 3 points with a simple sign-up form.

Their customer onboarding process involves customers selecting their information & interest.

This helps zapier personalize the user dashboard.

Their welcome email is focused on helping new users with a video & step-by-step guide with documentation links.

4. Pinterest

Pinterest is an image-sharing social media site. Their user onboarding process asks you to pick your 5 or more interests after signing up.

Pinterest then shows content based on your interest. They took personalization to the next level.

5. Dropbox

Dropbox offers more than traditional file sharing. Their onboarding process pushes premium plans but does not hide free options.

You can follow this process if you are fully focused on premium users.

Conclusion

A great customer onboarding process ensures a successful customer journey. It facilitates customers’ first use of your products. Customer onboarding is the foundation of long-term customer relations between your brand and new customers.

Your onboarding process helps customers get the most value from the beginning and sets them up for long-term success. Make sure to set your goals, have a strategy in place, measure the results and provide your customer a great support experience.

A great customer onboarding makes your new customers into regular & loyal customers. It is an amazing opportunity to create a lifetime loyal customer base and achieve higher customer retention.

The post Guide to Customer Onboarding: Benefits, Examples, Strategy & Process for Small Business appeared first on Fluent Support.