How do you purchase a product? Is it the old ‘Eeny, meeny, miny, moe’ way? Or a process that involves studying the products, comparing the specs, price etc. and then coming to a decision? The latter right? Unless one has to choose between different colored pencils. Customers have changed, their approach towards purchase too.
Be it a small investment or a large one, customers prefer to make informed choices and the responsibility now falls on service providers and sellers to explain the benefits of the product and market it well. However, the customers are not really looking for a complete product/service brochure. What they require is a comprehensive answer to their queries. This is where the product sales/marketing material must differ from eLearning content. And considering the infiltration of smartphones in daily lives, the customer is more likely to use a mobile device for initial searches and understanding. This makes mobile learning the preferred way to educate customers. Here are some of the most prevalent ways of using mobile learning.
Mobile Apps
Talk about mobiles and we know there’s an app for everything, so why not use this to educate the customers? Mobile apps are perfect for announcing new product launches, new offers, latest updates or patches. Theses can also be used to share tips about using the existing products, and allows the company to stay in touch with the customers.
Web Pages
Mobile phones have browsers and most websites these days opt for a flexible mobile-friendly framework. This makes it easier for clients to explore the website, product listing etc. Landing pages are great places to share timely information, FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)act as a knowledge base, and additional links can point the customers to relevant information.
Videos
Mobiles and short-videos go hand in hand and can be effectively used to train the customers too. From simple explainer videos, to small video clips (microlearning), live demonstrations etc. Videos can be great tools for educating the customers about the productfeatures, its advantages, the process of handling and any precautionary measures that need to be taken care of.
AR and VR Apps
While videos and apps do their part, AR, VR integration take it a level further. The customers can just point the mobiles at certain parts or the box for getting the assembly instructions, or identifying parts, and even running a quick diagnostic. The Ikea Augmented Reality App is one such example.
Social Media
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and more these days learning, marketing everything happens through social media and micro-blogging sites. From establishing mutual trust to creating a long-term relationship, social media can assist in doing it. While Twitter is a good channel for promotions and scouting sales opportunities, LinkedIn helps in building a social network and identifying potential customers and key stakeholders in the industry. Other social media sites do their part in engaging with the customers, showcasing the product, highlighting the key specifications, sharing product demo videos, and gathering product reviews and feedbacks too.
Apart from this the use of Mobile Learning to educate the customers makes it easier to update the content, maintain the engagement or keep the relation alive, provide anywhere-anytime, 24X7 access and support, utilize analytics to identify both preferences and push the required content.
Mobile Learning is truly omnipotent and its use in customer training and sustenance of business just another the latest application. How do you use mobile learning in your organization? We would like to hear from you. Just leave a comment below.