The importance of employee learning is well-established in organisations. According to the LinkedIn Executive Confidence Index, 9 out of 10 global executives plan to either maintain or increase investment in learning and development for their teams in the next six months.

With such investment comes the need to ensure learning is as effective, efficient, and impactful as possible, particularly in customer-facing industries where training time is at a premium for front-line teams. That said, these teams are one your most important ‘make or break’ factors when it comes to customer service, as ambassadors of your brand and interacting with your customers on a daily basis. 

Many organisations rely on face-to-face classroom training, which is a great approach for smaller groups, complex behaviour or leadership training, or when peer-to-peer best practice sharing is critical. However, the lack of scalability and scheduling complexity often makes classroom training less effective than digital solutions, particularly for larger or geographically dispersed organisations.

Digital learning has moved on from the lengthy, boring “click next to continue” format. Modern eLearning utilises a range of engagement methods, including gamification, simulations, avatars, and videos, to deliver business results. Often for lower costs in the long-term.

But before you jump into the tactical delivery, have you considered if your current customer service training provision is truly meeting your employee and business needs? Or are you unsure of the right approach for your customer service training?

Here we share some useful considerations to help you upskill your teams, improve your employee experience, and in turn, your customer experience.

Learning Objectives:  The best learning solution is one that delivers on learning objectives for both the employee and the business. Start with the end in mind – what do you expect learners to know, do, or do differently after training? Customer interactions that bring your service vision to life can be practiced digitally using videos or avatars that show realistic customer reactions to learner decisions, without the awkwardness of classroom role play. Simulations can replicate work environments and gamification can be used to make learning complex procedures more memorable.

Time:  How much time will learners have to complete training and what’s the cost to backfill their role while attending? How quickly must the training be rolled out to the entire organisation? Most classroom training is designed for 15-25 learners, making a large rollout lengthy. When factoring in trainer time, perhaps during non-business hours for shift workers, the cost of classroom training can become impractical. However, digital training can be deployed remotely and taken anytime and it’s also typically shorter than classroom training. Have a lengthy topic? Break it up into micro-learning modules, allowing learners to take shorter bursts of training over time, paced and sequenced to match their development plan.

Learner Demographics:  Learners want training that is relevant to their goals, relatable to the impact they can make to the business and that matches how they prefer to learn. While every learner is unique, outgoing employees and some generations may enjoy or be more familiar and comfortable with classroom training. Other generations, those comfortable with technology, or some neurodiverse or anxious learners may prefer digital learning. Likewise, consider language needs; providing learning in multiple languages reduces the risk of missed information and is often easier and less costly when produced digitally.

Technology: Digital training requires devices and content hosting for effective delivery. Will you (the company) provide devices and how will they be maintained and secured? Will employees’ use their own devices and what are the risks to personal device use?  Will digital content be hosted on the organisation’s own learning management system(LMS), streaming server, or outsourced? Are employees sufficiently comfortable with technology to access learning digitally and who can they call for support? Most modern organisations already have a technology infrastructure that makes these questions easier to answer, and with the greater prevalence of millennials and gen X, employees’ comfort with technology is increasing.

Post-Learning Support: All employees need time post-training to practice their new skills, to maximise retention and ensure long-term behaviour change. Leadership capability to coach and guide employees is particularly critical for customer service delivery and initiatives. Consider training leaders in how to lead customer experience, deliver feedback, and coach for outstanding performance.  

Like most business decisions, the choice between classroom and digital learning is often down to time, resources, and what best achieves business goals. For customer service training it’s also vital that you have established a customer experience vision and service mission, so relevant training content is produced for all teams, ensuring they deliver the very best service to your customers.

Whichever planned approach is best for your organisation, modern learning methods can ensure your training is engaging, effective, and targeted to drive employee engagement, customer service and achieve your business goals.  

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Ethos Farm, Forbes Business Council Thought Leader