You don’t want learners to come to your academy just once; you want them coming back continually. But learner re-engagement doesn't happen by accident—it has to be thoughtful, intentional, and repeatable.
The 2025 State of Education-Led Growth report revealed how companies drive learner re-engagement.
6 Strategies to Re-Engage Learners in Your Academy
Here are six proven ways to re-engage your learners, coupled with real examples you can take inspiration from.
1. Use email marketing to nurture ongoing engagement.
Email continues to be one of the most effective ways to re-engage learners—when done right.
In the education-led growth research, 71% of respondents said they use email to promote education content. The most successful programs take a lifecycle-based approach:
- Onboarding drips that introduce new learners to foundational content
- Adoption-stage nudges tied to product usage
- Automated reminders to pick up where you left off (your LMS should offer this!)
- Re-engagement campaigns targeting inactive users
Check out how Atlassian does this:
Tip: Segment your audiences and align messages with where learners are in their journey. A new admin needs different content than a power user.
2. Make the most of your webinars and live training.
Recurring events like webinars or live workshops are powerful tools to keep learners coming back. Not only do they provide value—they create moments to reconnect.
Some fun ideas for recurring sessions you can to invite learners to:
- Host monthly “Ask Me Anything” sessions
- Tie webinars to product updates or certifications
- Repurpose recordings as gated or embedded content
Live experiences invite interaction. And bonus: You can gather insights and questions that fuel future content.
3. Lean into personalization & learning paths.
Personalized learning experiences see higher completion and return rates. That’s because they’re built around relevance and progression.
A quarter of survey respondents said they use personalized learning paths as a way to re-engage learners over time. This could look like tailored paths based on user roles, product tiers, or customer segments, or recommending “what’s next” based on previous course completions.
Consider this: If learners know exactly where to go next—and it fits their role—they’re more likely to log back in.
4. Use gamification to incentivize return visits.
Gamification taps into the human drive for achievement and recognition—making learning more engaging and motivating. By incorporating elements like badges, points, or leaderboards, education programs can create a sense of progress and reward that keeps learners coming back for more.
When learners see tangible milestones or receive immediate feedback, they’re more likely to return, complete content, and build consistent learning habits over time.
Case study: One company introduced a points system tied to training activities. Those who reached a threshold got early access to beta features.
5. Bring education into your community.
Some of the most successful programs don’t keep education siloed—they integrate it into broader community efforts. This could include:
- Linking to learning modules in forum threads
- Highlighting top learners in the community
- Offering “ask the expert” office hours with education + community team members
When community and learning intersect, learners find more reasons to return—and build stronger connections.
6. Don’t forget in-app messaging.
A gentle nudge in the platform can meet learners where they’re at. Many teams use in-app messaging to:
- Promote new learning paths or updated content
- Offer tooltips or walkthroughs linked to deeper education
- Surface education at moments of need or friction
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Pro tip: Partner with your product and marketing teams to identify trigger points where learning can be inserted.
Measure Your Returning Learner Rate
How do you know if this is working? Measure your returning learner rate.
Some questions to ask yourself:
- How many learners are coming back after their first visit?
- What’s the frequency of return (daily/weekly/monthly)?
- Are certain segments returning more than others?
And remember, it’s not just about returning learners. Do those returning learners use more product features or use the product more overall? Do accounts with regular learners see higher retention? These questions help you see the business impact of returning learners.
Keep Learners Coming Back
There’s no silver bullet here. Driving returning learners starts with understanding your audience, serving up the right content at the right time, and making it easy (and rewarding) to come back. The more value learners experience with each visit, the more likely they are to return—and advocate for your program.
