
In today's competitive market, a good product experience should be the cornerstone
of any successful business strategy. Exceptional product experiences drive customer
satisfaction, repeat purchases, and brand advocacy, all of which contribute to
surpassing business goals. More importantly, these experiences ensure that the
devices are utilized to their full potential, having the impact they were designed to
achieve. In this article, we will explore how an effective training program is not only
the foundation for an excellent product experience but if designed with your business
goals in mind, can also be the driver for sustainable business growth.
The Role of Training in Enhancing Product Experience
Due to the logistics and complexity involved in teaching end users how to use
Medtech and B2B products, product training has often been a one-off information
dump, typically linked to initial installation and then never repeated or built upon.
For training to have as big an impact as possible, however, it must evolve into a
a dynamic, ongoing process that supports your customers' lifelong learning.
Shifting from standardized training to tailored, configurable programs that address
the specific needs of both enterprises and individual caregivers along their product
journey ensures that end-users fully leverage the technology they’ve invested in, for
the lifetime of the solution. This approach not only boosts customer satisfaction but
also reinforces the value of their investment as the user benefits from all that your
product has to offer.
In addition to focusing on customer satisfaction levels, think of training and
knowledge transfer as an additional customer engagement opportunity. Businesses
can generate deeper customer insights at every moment of learning, gaining
valuable customer feedback, enhancing product experience, and even uncovering
new revenue streams or ideas for future customer investments as they better
understand the impact your solutions can have.
Challenges with Traditional Training Content and Programs
Traditional training content and programs face several challenges that hinder their
ability to fully contribute to business goals.
Content Design Issues:
The creation of training materials—whether it’s user instructions, courses, or online
education—is a massive undertaking, especially in a highly regulated environment
like healthcare. This complexity brings its own set of challenges:
Difficulty in Updating: As product features or designs evolve, traditional
training content quickly becomes outdated. Even when master content is
refreshed, ensuring that updates reach all existing customers is a significant
challenge.
Localization Issues: Adapting content to meet the specific regulatory and
other requirements of different countries are complex and become even more
challenging with new content editions.
Limited Reusability: Training content is often siloed, limiting its potential to be
repurposed for sales, marketing, or integration into other programs. This is a
missed opportunity to reinforce your value proposition and support customers-
facing staff in demonstrating the product’s impact.
Limited accessibility: Useful content is restricted to manuals or online
modules and practical know-how often hidden amongst reams of information.
Program Design Issues:
Traditional training programs are often rigid, offering a one-time knowledge transfer
with little flexibility. They lack the configurability to cater to different learning levels
and fail to deliver advanced training when it’s most relevant to the customer. This
inflexibility can leave end-users sticking to basic functions, as accessing additional
knowledge is often cumbersome and time-consuming.
As a result, the long-term impact of training on customer satisfaction is diminished.
The focus remains on initial product use, with little consideration for the customer’s
ongoing journey. To truly support your customers and maximize the impact of
training, the approach to content development, utilization, and education must
evolve.
Designing an Impactful Training Program
To overcome traditional training challenges, effective content creation is key:
Modular Content Creation: Begin with small, modular snippets that can be
easily integrated into existing training programs or directly into the product
itself.
Ease of Updates: The modular approach allows for easy updates, ensuring
that only the necessary content blocks are revised, keeping training materials
current and making it easier to distribute updates
Accessibility: Modular content makes it easier to provide end-users with the
exact instructions they need, accessible via a tablet or mobile device,
ensuring they have the right information at the right time.
Configurability: Designing content in small blocks enables trainers to tailor
programs to individual needs, allowing for a mix-and-match approach that
aligns with the user's level and requirements.
Content Repurposing: High-value content, such as "How-to" guides, can be
repurposed for sales or marketing, extending its usefulness beyond training.
End-User Focus: Small content blocks allow customers to quickly access
specific information without sifting through extensive manuals, particularly
useful for advanced training scenarios, refreshers, or post-formal training
when trainers are no longer available.
Aligning Training Programs with Business Goals
Now that we've optimized content flexibility, let's focus on designing a training
program that maximizes impact on business goals:
Lifelong Learning: Shift towards a model that supports lifelong learning. While
continuous in-person support isn’t always necessary or feasible, providing key
resources at critical moments is crucial, so define what those moments would
be for the individual customer – even if those moments are a year from their
initial purchase. The goal is then to ensure that the customer becomes self-
sufficient at all other times. For example, Medtech Providers need to own the
initial training but could leave modular content with the customer for ongoing
use, allowing them to refresh knowledge as needed or integrate into their own
training plans
Strategic Timing: Delay advanced feature training until the customer is ready
to use those functions, avoiding knowledge overload and ensuring that
learnings can be immediately applied.
Customer Satisfaction: Prioritize features and functions that will significantly
impact that specific account, driving higher NPS scores and overall customer
happiness
Co-Pilot Functionality: Integrate a co-pilot feature into training tools, providing
users with reassurance as they adopt new functions, which accelerates their
integration into daily use.
Continuous Engagement: Use modular content to enable sales teams and
clinical specialists to engage with individual caregivers during regular visits.
"How-to"snippets can keep customers excited about all the product has to
offer and remind them of what other functionality can have an impact
Conclusion
Enhancing the customer experience is crucial for business success. By shifting from
one-off training sessions to programs that support lifelong learning, you empower
caregivers to fully utilize their medical devices, leading to improved patient care and
stronger business outcomes.
A modular approach to content creation is essential in this process. The SIMPI
method for developing "How-to"content enables quick, easily updatable, and
configurable snippets, making continuous and in context access to the right
information at the right time not only possible but highly effective.
About the author: Sarah Morton has over 25 years'; experience in the healthcare
industry. A former Philips employee, she held a variety of leadership roles from
marketing strategy, and engagement to sales excellence and customer education.
Sarah is an independent consultant at www.unplainjane.net and a keen advocate for
continuous innovation in the customer journey.
Originally from the UK, Sarah has been based in the Middle East for the last decade,
and in her free time is a keen creative writer and amateur stand-up comedian.