Professional Documents
Culture Documents
BUILDING
CUSTOMER
EDUCATION
COURSES:
FROM IDEA TO LAUNCH
EBOOK SERIES
Contents
CHAPTER 1 4
Getting Started 4
CHAPTER 2 5
Coming Up With a Course Title 5
CHAPTER 3 7
Crafting Your Course Outline 7
▶ SECTION 1 8
Introduction & Basics
▶ SECTION 2 14
Onboarding
▶ SECTION 3 20
Fundamentals
▶ SECTION 4 24
Wrap-up
▶ SECTION 5 26
Assessment & Certification
This resource is your best asset, and it was created to help you start educating your
customers just as easily and quickly. Check out its contents and use them as an ex-
ample in the best way you see fit to prepare your customer training course.
CHAPTER 1
GETTING STARTED
Throughout this course template, you will learn how to build a crash course to boost
your customer education efforts.
In customer training, this task is to help your learners become more familiar with
your product and allow them to use it to its full potential.
First off, let’s see what type of training material you will need to get started. Below
are some of the most recommended types of content you can use:
If you already have customer education-related material like webinars, eBooks, blog
posts, FAQs, or presentations you conducted before, consider repurposing that con-
tent and using it as part of your course.
Having such material in place makes the process of creating a course much easier
and quicker. Then when using an LMS like LearnWorlds, you only need to upload
them to the platform.
CHAPTER 2
COMING UP WITH A COURSE TITLE
Finding a title suitable for your course is the first step you need to take, as it helps
give out the context. Your course title needs to be catchy and to the point to offer
the gist or a course summary, informing potential learners what it is about.
When you and/or your team are brainstorming for one, it’s important to remember
that you can never go wrong with a simple and short title like:
But in case you need ideas, here are some more examples of course titles you can use:
Whichever title you choose from this list or come up with, ensure that you include
your brand’s or your product’s name in there to make it more relatable and marketa-
ble - in case you want to use it on your sales, checkout, or course catalog page.
Doing so helps to build brand identity, sets expectations, and has the power to differ-
entiate your training from others in the market.
Find out more: How to Choose a Catchy Name for a Training Program
CHAPTER 3
CRAFTING YOUR COURSE OUTLINE
Once you’ve finalized your title, you are ready to proceed with the course outline.
Thinking about the topics you want to cover in the course will help you develop a list
of course sections, which you can structure accordingly.
Below is an example of a course outline that we have seen works well with many
businesses offering customer and partner training:
Section 1
INTRODUCTION/BASICS TO [PRODUCT/SERVICE]
The best way to begin every course is with a strong introduction.
This is the section where you briefly overview the course objectives and introduce the
target audience - who it is for and what they can expect to learn from it.
First, come up with at least three learning objectives for your course as shown below:
COURSE OBJECTIVES
At the end of this course learners should be able to:
However, a best practice for creating effective ones is aligning them to your business
goals. Get to know your learner’s needs and goals, and then think about what you
want your customers to know about your product.
How will this course help learners achieve their aspirations, e.g., improve their jobs or
grow their careers? And then, how is it going to help you meet your KPIs?
The goals of a customer education program in a business context can vary depend-
ing on the specific needs and objectives of the company. Still, some common goals
include:
By providing customers with the knowledge and skills to effectively use and get the
most out of a product or service, businesses can achieve these goals and drive over-
all growth and success.
Chris Lo Dolce
Former Director and Co-founder of HubSpot Academy
While you are here, it is a good idea to go through the course format and offer es-
sential guidelines to show learners how to use this course. Make sure to offer a brief
description of each section’s topic(s) and their duration (approx. time to complete it).
Prerequisites can include any educational content considered necessary for learners
before taking a course or having existing knowledge to complete it.
Let your learners know early in the course that there will be an assess-
ment and certification at the end of the course. Knowing this, your
learners are more likely to approach the course differently, taking the
process more seriously.
In this intro section, you will also need to introduce yourself and your company. You
can tell learners who you are (your role/position) with a short bio or video.
The video format is the most suitable type of content here, as it allows learners to
see who the course instructor is, offering a credibility boost to your course.
The SmartSuite academy offers free courses, personalized training, and certification
programs. These programs are for SmartSuite’s power users and consultants who
want to validate their skills for peers and clients.
In their course, SmartSuite presents the course instructor in a video inside the eb-
ook learning activity. The instructor welcomes learners and gives a quick intro to the
product.
In their course, AxonIQ makes sure to introduce the course instructor using a video.
Having the instructor give out the introduction and explain the first steps on how to
get started with the course gives huge credibility to the course and works as a moti-
vation for learners to engage with the content.
b. (Video/Ebook) Overview
Your first interaction with (Product/Service) - What do you need to do as a first step
After the introduction, your course needs to have a product/service overview that takes
learners through the first steps they need to take to get familiar with the product.
Wriggle Connect Family academy offers on-demand bite-sized training videos cov-
ering many topics ranging from internet safety and parental restriction applications
to screen time checking and digital study skills.
In this example, Wriggle Connect’s course features a video showing how learners can
get started using the tool through the iPad.
Such learning activities work great for onboarding purposes as it helps learners gain
critical insights into how to use the product and the medium to access the informa-
tion they need, showing the exact steps they should take.
Once you’ve introduced your company and instructor(s), you can start offering some
getting-started material to help learners begin their learning journey.
iSAMS is a management information system for schools across the UK and interna-
tionally. The system holds student and staff data, school reports, and well-being and
tracks attendance, among others. Their online academy educates users (teachers
and other school personnel) of the iSAMS software.
In their course, iSAMS features an animated video as a welcome intro to the software.
It explains why customers should use the product and what makes it different.
Animation videos like these in any course are great because they can boost learners’
engagement and retention, motivating them to move through the entire content.
In the same learning activity, the course sets out the learning objectives and offers
some key guidelines to help users start using the product.
Section 2
ONBOARDING YOUR LEARNERS
Once all the materials have been added to your course, it’s time to onboard your
learners to your product/service.
You can initiate the onboarding by slowly introducing your product’s features and
showing learners how they can be utilized to overcome specific pain points or chal-
lenges and then presenting the solution.
a. (Video) Onboarding
Describing a pain point/new feature/challenge to your customer’s business question
with a solution
Here’s another example from iSAMS that describes the first step learners need to
take to access the iSAMS platform.
This learning activity shows the iSAMS portal offering an example and guidelines
for learners to begin their journey using their account details. Having an account on
iSAMS also works as a prerequisite to this course as it will help learners get hands-on
training experience using the tool.
Adalo is a platform that allows creatives, freelancers and agencies, business owners,
and Startup founders to design and create custom web and mobile apps with no
coding required. Its academy features courses that help its customers explore and
learn how to use Adalo’s tools effectively.
This example presents a video that takes learners through a pain point or task
users need to overcome to get what they need for their businesses.
The instructor explains how learners can build their own database and add screens
and links inside Adalo’s product.
In this example, Moldtech is using a demonstration video to help learners follow the
steps they need to take to install the product.
After the onboarding process is complete, you can move on to the next learning activity
offering the same challenges in relation to your product. However, this time you should
aim to give more advanced knowledge that explains complex product use concepts.
These formula examples can help learners get the output information they need
from the tool.
Example from Wriggle Connect Family: Tools to Support Your Child’s Learning
Here’s another example from Wriggle Connect Family, where the course offers an
exercise to learners using video and immersive learning.
Exercises like these help learners to engage in the course content better and in a
more profound way using a popular example that sticks to memory.
Throughout the course - at different progress stages/sections, it’s helpful for learners
to provide some further resources, best practices, and use cases.
All three types of content can help implement their existing knowledge and provide
them with key reference points where they can always go back to check their under-
standing.
In their Fundamentals course, Codefresh includes some use cases as examples, to ex-
plain how their product can be utilized in different scenarios.
In their CAM Operator course, Moldtech also presents a use-case scenario using a
video as an example with additional context to show learners how their product can
be used.
Such use case examples can help customers develop an understanding of the prod-
uct’s usage.
Sample questions:
● True/False
According to this (feature/challenge/topic), you can …
● Multiple choice/answers
What is the purpose of this (feature/challenge/topic)? (option1, option 2, ..)
● Match
Match the setting with the functionality (setting 1, setting 2, … - functionality 1,
functionality 2, …)
After showcasing the use case, it’s time to informally assess your learner’s knowledge
of your product with a non-graded assessment.
Besides validating your learners and assessing what they’ve learned, quizzes offer
a challenge to your audience and the opportunity to prove what they have accom-
plished.
A quiz can keep learners engaged and help them remember what they’ve learned. It
also gives essential insights into the most important concepts learners need to hold
on to once they’ve completed the course.
For you and your team, using quizzes as a formative assessment throughout the
course is an excellent way to determine how effective your learning materials are.
Here’s another example from Codefresh, where the course introduces a knowledge
quiz with a set of 5 questions to check learners’ understanding of the product.
Question 1 has a multiple-choice question and starts from the very basics relating to
the concept e.g. definition of GitOps.
Within LearnWorlds, you will find a robust Assessment Builder that allows you to
create powerful assessments, from custom exams and questionnaires to self-assess-
ments and surveys, to help offer personalized experiences to learners.
Learn how you can create these knowledge tests and quizzes here or watch
our webinar on how to transform assessments into interactive stories which are au-
thentic, exciting, and effective.
Section 3
FUNDAMENTALS
A fundamentals section can include all the information you want your learners to know
about your product. In fact, some companies prefer to create a fundamentals course
that includes all the basic information from start to finish to onboard their customers.
Similarly, this section summarizes the fundamentals and then moves on to a more
in-depth explanation of the product/service and its applications, covering its core
functionality and more advanced features.
With LearnWorlds, you can create powerful interactive learning experiences using
our Interactive Video Editor. Keep your learners’ attention on the course material un-
til the end, and have your learners engage actively with it by clicking on your videos
and creating their own learning path.
Learn how you can create interactive videos using our Interactive Video Editor here.
It first provides an About section that explains the GitOps applications providing a
background on the software - what it is, what it does, and its pros and cons.
Once the basics are covered and the learner’s knowledge is tested, it offers strate-
gies to use the product via live exercises.
What’s remarkable here is that Codefresh offers a satisfactory amount of live exer-
cises to ensure that learners are equipped with the knowledge they need to use the
product, allowing them to get hands-on training.
Section 4
WRAP-UP
Once you’ve offered learners the chance to engage more with your product, finalize
critical concepts, and provide a syllabus wrap-up/summary.
Some instructors also refer to the following steps to help learners understand what to
do after this.
Another example coming from Adalo is the wrap-up section in their course that uses
a video where the instructor discusses the next steps.
For Adalo this is a course survey, downloading a certificate, and checking available
resources or courses.
In this wrap-up example, SmartSuite chooses to congratulate its learners for getting
so far with the course and completing it.
It does so effectively with a summary section that also introduces the next steps
prompting learners to continue learning with their next course - Create & Manage
Solutions.
Such material can help get a more well-rounded opinion on a topic, for example, how
to use a product like a user guide or a product manual. Here are some examples:
Here Adalo uses an ebook learning activity to provide additional help to their learners.
As you can see, the course directs learners to their help docs and reminds them that
the quickest way to get their questions answered is through the discussion tab (on
the left navigation menu) where they can make their questions.
An evaluation form inside a course is an essential tool that allows learners to share
their opinion about their learning experience. It can tell you what they think about
the content or the knowledge they’ve got so far and help you improve your course.
This is the best time to ask for feedback - but it doesn’t have to be the only time to
do so. Collecting feedback is a continuous process and can take place long after
completing the course.
When using feedback forms inside the course, ensure a great variety of question
types are in there to get the most out of it.
Sample Questions:
● Rating & Ranking
How likely are you to recommend this training to others? (strongly disagree -
strongly agree)
● Rating & Ranking
Overall, how would you rate this course? (star rating)
● Text
What would you improve in the course?
● Multiple choice/answers
What would you like to learn next? (option 1, option 2, …)
Inside LearnWorlds, you can use rating and ranking questions, text fields, and mul-
tiple-choice answers, creating a customized form that allows you to take out the
information you need.
In this example from AxonIQ, the course asks learners to rate their experience with
their course so far.
The feedback form starts with a star rating question asking learners how they would
rate the course from Poor to Excellent.
Then it features two text questions asking for more specific information - looking for
a justification as to why they gave that rating and what improvements they would
like to see in the course.
Learn how to create customized course evaluation surveys and analyze their
results using Google Forms inside LearnWorlds, here.
Chris Lo Dolce
Former Director and Co-founder of HubSpot Academy
Section 5
ASSESSMENT & CERTIFICATION
Once all the planned training material from the course syllabus is delivered, it’s time
to assess your learners’ knowledge and skills against the course objectives to award
them a certification with an exam.
This final assessment (as summative assessment) at the end of the course is the real
test for your learners as they will be assessed on what they have learned throughout
the entire course - from introduction to fundamentals.
Here is a sample of types of questions you can use for the graded assessment:
● True/False
According to this (Product/Service), you can …
● Multiple choice/answers
What is the purpose of this (Product/Service)? (option1, option 2, ..)
● Ordering
Put the steps needed to achieve ….in the correct order (step 1, step 2, …)
● Record Video/Audio
Upload a video/audio recording explaining the …
● Text Assignment
In your opinion, how can you use this (product/service) to achieve …?
This variety in the format of the questions allows you to evaluate your learners’
knowledge through multiple perspectives, avoiding the plain Yes/No ones, and en-
suring comprehension.
Here’s the first question inside Axon’s certificate exam. The assessment presents a list of
20 questions, and it is a timed exam (see 0:19’ - in the upper right corner of the screen).
Find out how you can create exams as graded assessments here.
For the Certificate of Completion, learners must complete a form giving their cre-
dentials. The certificate won’t be made available to them once they have completed
all the necessary learning units in the course.
Once they have given the required information, learners can view and download the
certificate to share it with their network on their favorite social channels (e.g. LinkedIn).
To give you an idea of the certificate, here’s a sample you can create with Learn-
Worlds from Wriggle Connect.
Certificate from Wriggle Connect Family: Tools to Support Your Child’s Learning
This is the Certificate of Completion that the Wriggle Connect academy offers to its
learners at the end of their course:
As you can see, the certificate can be customized as much as you need to contain
the information and text fields you wish to display, e.g., name of learner, date, the
course title, and more.
It covers all the essential topics related to customer education and aims to equip
learners with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed when using your prod-
uct and services.
Whether you are just starting with customer education or have been trying this for
some time, you can use this resource to achieve your business goals.
We hope that featuring what other organizations are doing in customer training has
been valuable to you and that from this day onwards, you feel more confident in
applying what you have learned here to your own CEd program.
Taking that first step to do anything from scratch is the hardest part, but with Learn-
Worlds and its wealth of capabilities, it doesn’t have to be.
As you can see from this course template, the possibilities are endless. With our plat-
form, you can create the online courses you need - customizing your learning activi-
ties to the max and building learning experiences that cater to the most demanding
training needs.
Claim your 30-day free trial with LearnWorlds today, and start training your learners
on how to use your product to its full potential!
www.learnworlds.com
LearnWorlds (CY) Ltd
Gladstonos 120 Foloune Building 2nd Floor, B1 3032
Limassol Cyprus