Do you want to increase your conversion rates right away? And how about getting the customers you have to upgrade and stay with you longer?
Sounds good, right? And that’s why you should make product education a critical part of your business strategy.
Product education is all about teaching your customers what your product is, the features it has, and most importantly, how to use it to achieve their own goals.
In my business, we look at ways to educate customers at all times. Right from when we’re marketing our products, to when we do onboarding, and also when it comes to increasing the lifetime value of our customers.
Here’s are my best tips on how to leverage product education to grow your customer base and your business.
Make your features visible
It’s not unusual for customers to be unaware of all the features and capabilities of your product. Many businesses create a plethora of features to meet their audience’s needs – and then fail to share what these features are in an effective way.
As a result, customers move to your competition just because they do a better job of presenting the same features that you have. Or your customers decide to spend money they don’t have to on another product that offers something that they don’t realize your product already does.
To educate your customers about your product, make your features visible. If customers have to install extra addons or download a feature, they’ll likely forget about it.
But making it visible makes them aware that they have multiple features available and they’ll be more likely to use them.
An example of showcasing new features on a product dashboard to keep customers aware
Add these features to the welcome page or your onboarding page. If there are premium features your customer hasn’t opted into, then display them anyway but make them inactive. Doing so lets people know what you have and they could sign up for a more premium version of your product later.
Automate your onboarding
The stage where you’re onboarding your customer is a great place to take them through a tour of your features.
There’s a strong chance that you’ve come across screen overlays, quick videos, and graphics that show you how to use a new platform or product that you’ve bought.
You want to create something similar when you sell your product or service. As soon as a customer buys from you and starts using your item, help them by quickly sharing how to use your offerings.
In fact, create a guided setup, a readymade template, or pre-design some options so that users can dive in right away and start working on their goals.
Get feedback from your audience
One of the most difficult problems a business faces is understanding what customers need. We can use analytics tools and SEO platforms to gauge what people are looking for but your best data will come from your customers themselves.
Make it a practice to carry out surveys and get feedback from your customers and users. More often than not, they’ll be willing to share their experiences with you. They’ll tell you what they want to learn and they can have brilliant suggestions that wouldn’t occur to you.
Use your product as a customer
If you want to create better product education material, then use your product as a customer would. Be your brand’s customer and interact with your business and tools like an everyday user.
If you have technical expertise that makes it easier for you to use your product, then ask someone else to take your product for a test spin or talk to your customer support.
Your customer support staff interacts with customers every day. They possess the most opportunities to find information gaps and opportunities to educate your customers.
Do your best to see and experience your products like a user without your knowledge and you’ll get insights on how to create useful tutorials and other material.
Make demos for everything
It’s a good idea to never assume that your customer can figure things out. Or that if you demonstrate how to use your product in one way that the customer will intuitively understand how to leverage your product in other ways.
Create demos for virtually everything your product does. And create videos and examples to provide the most ease of use and clarity.
When customers can see and understand how to make use of your product features, you’ll have fewer support requests and happier customers.
Don’t just create documentation
How often do you make updates and announcements and then never mention them again? It’s common for businesses to create new features and the relevant documentation only to be followed by radio silence.
Whenever you have something new to offer or have improved something, keep sharing it with the world. You can do this by creating multiple blog posts, videos, demos, tutorials, and social media posts.
One of the added benefits of converting your updates into informational content is that it gives you a chance to boost your SEO. If you create blog posts and web pages focusing on long-tail keywords around your new features, you have a higher chance of getting more traffic.
And of course, regular information sharing and a wealth of helpful content will get your customers to use your product more effectively. As a result, they’ll meet their needs and stick with your brand.
Product education must be ongoing
Product education isn’t a one-and-done activity.
You need to make new tutorials and demos when you release new features and updates. And also, it’s essential to share new ways to apply how to use your product on a regular basis.
Creating tutorials and even live video demonstrations tell your customers that you’re active and responsive. And that they can rely on you for customer support and to figure out how to make the best of your tools.
Conclusion
Teaching your customers how to achieve their goals with the help of your products and services is a critical activity.
When you do product education correctly, you’ll convert more and keep your existing customers happy.
It isn’t enough to build a great product with new and upgraded features if your customer can’t make sense of them. It’s through creating videos, tutorials, demos, blog posts, and other content that add the greatest value.
I’ve laid out some key tips to help you improve your product education strategy. I’ve seen growth by using them in my business, so try them on your own with unique tweaks to see a positive impact.
