How to Launch Your Customer Education Course Ahead Of the Schedule
The creation and launch of an online academy of education to your existing and potential customers is an incredible feat. But throw in the fact that your team is a single person in charge of the project, and the deadline is the next 10 weeks, and you'll likely feel overwhelmed.
That's precisely what the software and development tools provider LANSA did when they formally unveiled Learn LANSA, their e-learning platform for the world's most flexible and powerful low-code platform Visual LANSA.
Over the last 30 years, the LANSA platform has transformed programmer into full-stack developer, thanks to its capability to swiftly and easily deliver advanced applications to satisfy the business's most pressing needs.
"We offer our most popular product that allows you to develop applications faster. Our focus is on modernizing old applications," said Anthony Graham Director of Product Marketing at LANSA.
As the Product Marketing Manager Anthony has many hats to wear in the company. He's been a developer, which helps him in communicating LANSA's technical capabilities and services to the customers. Most recently, he spearheaded the creation for Learn LANSA.
We'll look at the way Anthony successfully created and launched LANSA's new online academy days before the deadline - and our best practice tips so you can achieve similar.
How can you make online classes before timeframes for example Learn LANSA
Making a difference with an online learning experience for customers
A technology-focused business with the goal of helping customers build their applications faster, LANSA knew there was the opportunity to enhance their online customer education offerings that would keep pace with expectations from customers.
"Even having our own written documents, there was a lot of request from our customers and prospective customers for an educational experience that was formal. To provide this, we were selling blocks of time with our mentorship team to instruct new customers on how to utilize the software and the best practice," explained Anthony.
But, the LANSA team quickly found the mentoring hours weren't employed to earn money. There were numerous aspects of the training process - like learning the fundamentals of the system and learning how best to utilize the Visual LANSA system - where the customers were not keen on using their mentorship time.
Furthermore The LANSA team found customers frequently asking the same questions when they learned about the technology better . These findings, if packaged together in an online training course, could be useful to other new customers as they are enrolled.
First, Anthony needed the right LMS to be his partner to help him achieve his objectives.
Transitioning to Plus
LANSA's first online education program was created using an older LMS provider, AbsorbLMS. The company soon realized that the platform was not quickly scalable enough to meet its expanding requirements.
"We were at the point at which the releases of our product team started coming out fast as well as our documentation for the product came out quicker - but, our system for e-learning updates weren't in sync," Anthony explains.
"The notion was to start from scratch. We found that AbsorbLMS was more expensive with limitations on users We were also looking for ways to expand the application. We were of the opinion that we did not have room to grow without spending more money. Therefore, we decided to look at some alternatives" told Anthony.
"We were able to scale using Plus easily. The ability to work with our team members and use pricing bands instead of users in the event that the experience is a success in trial was essential. ."
Anthony was also looking for the capability to measure student engagement through data and analytics. For example, they wanted to track the effectiveness of the trial program through the ability to track how many people were taking part in the videos and the length of time trial users were going through the application.
Utilizing your Customer Success Managers' know-how
In deciding to select Plus as LANSA's new LMS supplier, Anthony noted the one-on-one access to the Customer Success Manager (CSM) access to the CSM was the most important factor.
Pro tip : CSMs are not just experts of the system, but are also able to dig deeper into the details to best understand the context around the customer's business and goals.
Being a one-person team, Anthony saw extreme value in having a trusted partner guiding him through the launch process. Together, Anthony and Poornima Sethu the Customer Success Manager of Plus promptly set into action.
"We were organized starting from the start. We set weekly goals and had check-ins every week to go over the tasks which had been accomplished and review the steps to be taken for the next week," said Poornima.
By assigning weekly tasks, Anthony and Poornima were able to break down the lengthy list of things into bite-sized pieces which helped make the task seem feasible by the hour.
As per Poornima, "we just focused on those 7-8 tasks for this week, and then we got it done and moved on to the tasks for the next week. This helped ease the overwhelming task can be when you start projects of this kind. ."
Through their well-organized process that was advancing the project in a quicker pace, Anthony was ready to test the online educational system using an approach to launch that was three-tiered.
Launching in Phases for the greatest user experience
Beta Launch
Based on the suggestion by Poornima, Anthony decided to start a beta test of Learn LANSA two weeks before rolling out the course to LANSA customers. To launch the beta version, Anthony had everything prepared and a small set of users who weren't engaged in the project, and Poornima was able to look through the entirety of the material in the course as well as learning paths to ensure the process made sense and offer feedback.
"The beta launch was extremely beneficial. While working through it we came across a couple of the processes that we implemented on our own were not automated and therefore could not be scaled. Through our CSM we were able determine what required to be changed and formally implemented it prior to the soft launch." Anthony added. Anthony.
Soft Launch
Following the beta launch, Anthony worked on implementing the changes generated from the beta feedback before moving into the next stage of launch.
The soft launch was a time when Anthony allowed the access the facility Learn LANSA available to a select group of customers to try out the capabilities of the platform. Prior to distributing the platform out to all, the soft launch tests more system stresses than the beta launch, while also allowing the customers to verify that the change that were made in response to the previous feedback was implemented precisely.
Official Launch
Then, Learn LANSA was ready for the official launch mid-May , about 30 days ahead of the date of the launch in June.
Generating leads, and optimizing customer's time
Since the program's launch Learn LANSA in the year 2000, the programme has:
- Reached 5,700+ enrollments
- Offered 30+ courses and more are in the pipeline
In creating online classes as an experience for trial purposes, LANSA has the ability to convert leads quickly into customers of the site, as well as addressing some of their most frequently asked questions in a timely manner.
for existing customers, LANSA offers courses that cover the basics of training for the system and its services, which resulted in better usage of the mentorship time to meet the requirements of their customers.
Guidelines for creating successful online courses using these guidelines
The idea of opening an online educational academy thirty days before a deadline seems a bit daunting, Anthony and the Learn LANSA team have proved it is possible by using the proper technology in place, the resources, and process put in place.
Here are six suggestions to consider as you prepare to create online courses for your online education course.
1. Take an organized strategy
When taking on a new venture, such as developing online courses from starting point, we advise making sure that all your ducks are in a row so that the process is the most efficient and organized.
When starting the planning process for Learn LANSA, Anthony and Poornima jointly set out with a major goal. They took concrete easy steps to make that goal happen. For example, Anthony and Poornima broke down the tasks that needed to be accomplished prior to the launch to ensure they were on track to make steady advancement each week.
"Our principal goal was to support our clients who were asking for online learning as well as to show our dedication to the program. After the launch, we are working to make the trial experience much more user-friendly for users," said Anthony.
Tips: Begin with your list of tasks that must be done for the online class to get in motion. Then, break those items down into digestible tasks and set deadlines for each.
2. Set a realistic timeline - and stick to the plan
Ideally, 6-8 weeks for start-up is plenty of time for you to design your online course and have the program up and up and running. However, that timing also is dependent on the team that is in charge.
"It's great to be part of a team with a clear timeline. If there is a team that is distributed with a one central person to speed up the process because then they can independently allocate tasks to the other team members," according to Poornima.
In Anthony's situation the situation was that, while he was project leader and executor, the process went quicker since he was the one with authority to take decisions. Alternatively, if working with a large project team, it is essential that at least one person, typically the project lead who is quick to take decision-making to prevent a delay in setting up the timeline of the project.
Our bottom line: having someone dedicated to the work and able to make decisions, whether as an individual or as a ten-person group, will get the job completed quicker which is crucial.
3. Make bi-weekly or weekly check-in calls
Meeting regularly with the project team and your Plus CSM is a great way to make everyone stay accountable in managing timelines, no matter how aggressive.
Based on Anthony, "having calls weekly in conjunction with Poornima was crucial. The group would review an agenda on every call of what we wanted to do and ask any questions we'd had. I would receive the follow-up documents after each call, including action items for both sides of the call to keep the project on track. ."
4. Create a plan to test a beta launch
Beta launches are a great way to test your program prior to making it available to more users. Beta launches can show that your program meets the requirements that your clients are searching for. It also allows test the technical components for a smooth officially launched.
"I am a huge proponent of beta launches because the thing that usually happens before launch is that every person who is involved in the program has a preconceived notion of how the user experience is going to be like. If you present the software to someone who is not knowledgeable about the ideal user flow and you will get valuable feedback about the complexities of your program," said Poornima.
Pro tip: When selecting beta users, make sure you select users who had never used the platform previously and you will get real feedback from a variety of users. For example, pull in employees that aren't on the team that is working on the project or your newest customers that aren't yet familiar with your system.
5. Flexibility to new options and features
Like Anthony's scenario You may end up in a position where you need to change LMS partners and in the event of that, we advise staying open to different platform's capabilities.
"We always request when you move to Plus to emphasize your ultimate goal. And then, the CSM offers a number options to consider in order to reach that objective if the goal isn't easily replicable from past experiences or platforms. In most cases, it will end up working better," said Poornima.
6. Utilize the knowledge of your CSM
Last but not least, you must benefit from the knowledge of your loyal CSM, who will support you to find the ideal solution to meet your goals.
Through Plus, Anthony benefitted from Poornima's experience in launching successful online educational courses and relied on her experience in getting Learn LANSA off the ground using a three-tier launch approach.
"My principal tip is to listen to your coach for success. We got a lot of tips," said Anthony.
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