While no one can totally predict the future, there's a lot we can learn from each other about what's ahead.
We've been talking with customer education leaders to get their perspectives on what 2024 will bring for education teams. Here's what they had to say:
1. AI is no longer coming; it's here.
Not surprisingly, a huge topic of discussion is the application of AI in customer education. For the last several years, we’ve heard a lot about the coming of AI, and we’re entering a time where the focus turns to application.
Most teams are looking at AI for two main use cases (in the near-term, that is): content creation and personalized learning.
The biggest obstacles? On a personal level, learning how to engineer prompts and implementing AI-powered platforms. On an organizational level, getting those AI-driven platforms past legal review and unclear (or unestablished) AI policies.
2. Get ready for the rise in customer education.
Customer education is not new. It's been around for quite a while. But we’re starting to see more companies invest in this function.
(Interesting note: If you look at some of the top ACV SaaS companies in 2023, according to Vendr, over 75% have an education program of some kind. 💡)
In 2023, the customer education industry saw some big changes. Between the private equity investment in Intellum and Gainsight's acquisition of Northpass, the space is positioned to grow significantly.
“I think there's more attention coming to customer education in 2024 and the impacts it can have on self-service and really helping customers to adopt new features and grow within the products they're learning about. - Mandy Patterson, Manager, Customer Education at SproutSocial
3. Customer education will see a deeper integration with other teams.
Customer education has always been closely aligned with other teams, whether that's customer success, support, or marketing.
Amy Petricek, formerly in learning design at Salesforce and Toast, shared: “I think we're going to continue to hear more about the integration of customer success and revenue teams. As a result, I also think that we'll see more efforts to continue to streamline the customer journey.”
Andy Green, a consultant formerly leading customer education at LogicMonitor and Level Access, agreed that customer education would see tighter integration with other teams, as well as an elevation of role. “As we emerge from our tech-recession, I think we're going to see Customer Education teams elevated / integrated in the value conversation resulting in new and higher level leadership roles.”
We have high hopes for the same!
4. Customer education teams will become increasingly more efficient.
What we're hearing from the trenches is that teams are looking at equal or decreased budget from 2023.
This continues a trend we've seen since COVID of “doing more with less.”
“A big push my team is digging into is up-leveling our systems and processes to be efficient in building and maintaining content. Things we're focusing on include better asset management, single-sourcing of content, up-leveling integrations like Jira<>Asana, and getting quicker at content creation.” - Blair Mishleau, Principal Customer Education Program Manager at Clever
Want a behind the scenes of how one team is streamlining content development and publication? Watch this recent Underscore webinar with Trevor Miranda, Head of Product Enablement at Kinesso.
5. Move beyond eLearning.
Customer education has long served as a function of scale—creating ways to onboard and educate customers without the need for 1:1 training from customer success managers.
But with a marketplace saturated with online learning opportunities, a deeper learning experience may help companies stand out, drive learners to their online academies, and ensure successful product adoption.
“I wonder if a trend is going to be a deeper experience: VILT, hands-on workshops, cohort learning, etc.,” shared Monica Sindwani, Principal Partner Education Specialist at Klaviyo. “What I've seen recently is a greater need to upskill and drive value for existing clients vs prep large groups of onboarding classes.”
This focus on a deeper learning experience isn't meant to replace self-serve scaled resources, but rather provide additional hands-on support for strategic accounts.
Customer Education Has a Bright Future
We may not have a crystal ball, but we're confident customer education will have a great year in 2024.
Since 2000, we’ve been watching the growth and development of this industry—and working with some of the most popular education programs to support and uplift their efforts.
In 2024, we’re continuing our commitment to further customer education through research, thought leadership, and innovative product development. We hope you’ll follow along in the process.
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