Implementing the Right Training Delivery Through the Customer Journey

You can build the best product in the world, but if your customers do not know how to use it, they will never see its value or your vision.

I have always had a passion for training. In the world of SaaS, training is not just a nice to have, it is a key part of ensuring customers can use your software quickly and easily. The less friction and the faster time to value, the more pleasant the experience. This leads to stronger word of mouth and genuine advocacy.

Why training matters at every stage

Your product team does an amazing job crafting an intuitive interface, well designed flows and a strong user experience. Yet even the best product benefits from well timed training. Think of trial users, onboarding new accounts, or experienced users exploring new features.

Training does not have to be one to one. In a high volume SaaS business that is not scalable. What is required is on demand, context aware training aligned to the customer journey: trial, onboarding, experienced user, upsell and new module.

It is often overlooked that new users join existing accounts. They bring fresh ideas, systems they prefer, and a need for context and guidance. If you do not train them, you risk friction, disengagement and even churn.

When a customer tries a new product module or purchases more functionality, the training strategy should accompany that. Use product usage data, downgrades, user removals and churn signals to guide your training content strategy. Do not create training for the sake of it. It should have purpose and be part of your growth strategy.

As the Userpilot article on customer training explains, “Properly educated customers will engage more with your product and are most likely to become loyal.” (userpilot.com)

Timing and context: delivering the right training at the right moment

Trial stage: Offering micro learning modules or short videos to help users reach their “aha” moment quickly is crucial. HubSpot notes that early wins reduce drop off in their guide on SaaS onboarding. (blog.hubspot.com)

Onboarding new accounts and new users: Whether a business deploys your product to their team or new employees join an existing installation, the onboarding training must accommodate everyone, not just the original admins.

Experienced users and expansion stage: When customers add new modules, upgrade, or expand usage, that is an opportunity. Training should help them transition smoothly into those new features, reducing friction and reinforcing value.

Feedback loops and measurement: Do not just publish training and hope. Use metrics such as completion rates, viewership data, feedback ratings, time to complete training, and correlate these with product adoption, usage and churn. WalkMe’s guide on Salesforce onboarding highlights that tracking user adoption helps you understand how well your training is working. (walkme.com)

Delivery methods: Training can be video, written content, in app micro learning, or AI chat delivery. Choose what fits your user segment and context. Userpilot recommends using a mix of self paced and guided models to reach different learning styles.

Why training is cross functional

While the customer facing side of your business often owns training, it should not live only in the customer success team. Training content should also be fit for your own employees across support, finance, engineering and marketing. If you operate a partner or reseller channel, they should have access to this material as well.

By embedding training across functions, you create a unified experience and avoid silos. Training delivery becomes part of your operational rhythm, your product adoption strategy and ultimately your retention engine.

Summary: training is not extra, it is essential

Training at the right time, in the right context, backed by data and customer feedback, helps reduce friction, speed up time to value, and drive advocacy.

Every customer journey looks different, but great training always makes it smoother. How are you delivering training at the right moment in your customer journey?