Top LMS Implementation Tips: Customer Ed Nugget 21

When you’re choosing a learning system, the implementation phase may seem like a distant concern. It’s tempting to get caught up in a flurry of immediate buying activities — building your business case; documenting requirements; shortlisting vendors; gathering proposals; evaluating use cases, features and configurations; comparing pricing; verifying references and countless other purchasing details. Before you know it, analysis paralysis takes hold and the buying cycle expands.

But what if you face a fixed go-live deadline based on a looming product launch or an LMS contract renewal date? Suddenly, the entire cycle gets squeezed and implementation suffers. This occurs all too often. And it isn’t pretty.

How to Avoid LMS Implementation Nightmares

Once you select a customer education platform, timeline pressures rapidly set in. Who doesn’t want to deploy a new solution as soon as possible? After all, the faster you roll out a new LMS, the sooner your organization can start enjoying all its benefits. Sounds good. But if you don’t approach implementation thoughtfully, those benefits may never materialize.

With so many details to manage, it’s easy to muck up an LMS implementation. And if that happens, you’ll be forced to slog through unexpected delays, incremental costs, irritable executives, lost weekends, inconvenienced learners and missed business opportunities.

Here’s the point: Implementing a customer education LMS is more than just selecting a platform. It is a strategic endeavor that directly impacts customer engagement, satisfaction, revenue and overall success. And it’s important to do it right the first time. But what does “right” mean?

This is the topic we’re discussing on today’s episode of the Customer Ed Nuggets Podcast. So, please join us as we share our best LMS implementation tips…

Buying or selling a customer-focused learning system? Get independent insights you can trust, with our in-depth analysis of 20 top solutions. Learn about our 2024 Customer LMS Capabilities Report

Today’s Guest Expert

Katya Buratovich, LearnUpon

Katya Buratovich is Senior Manager of Implementation at LearnUpon, an award-winning enterprise LMS. With more than 1200 implementations to her credit, Katya has first-hand knowledge of strategies that lead to success and how to avoid pitfalls along the way.

It would be difficult to find a more skilled, experienced learning systems expert to join me for this important discussion. So, let’s get started…

Top LMS Implementation Tips

When educating customers, no company gets a chance to make a second first impression. You can’t force customers to log into your academy, sign up for courses or complete certification.

That means any new system you introduce must offer a fluid, frictionless learning experience from end to end, including communication and support. Strong technology is a good start. But to ensure that the platform you choose will meet this challenge, we recommend these LMS implementation tips:

1. Define Clear Objectives and Success Criteria — Start by identifying specific customer education goals and success metrics the LMS must support. For instance, you may want to focus on boosting product knowledge, improving engagement, enhancing customer satisfaction or a combination of metrics. Strive to tie target use cases, configuration decisions, prototypes and tracking metrics into a holistic view of success.

2. Engage Key Stakeholders Early — Early in the planning phase, identify, solicit and engage relevant stakeholders from across your organization. At a minimum, include representatives from customer success, sales, product management, marketing and support functions. This ensures that your LMS will meet the needs of internal teams as well as customers.

3. Develop a Realistic Project Plan — Create a defensible roadmap with clear tasks, designated owners, sufficient resources and achievable timelines. Each step should support customer success and align with broader business goals.

Don’t waste time in the buying process. But if the timeline slips during early decision phases, proactively lobby for more time to configure, test and deploy, if needed. (Also, if the implementation schedule is compromised, don’t forget to document expected consequences.)

4. Know and Prepare Your Content — Take inventory of customer education content. Assess existing usage and relevance. Establish priorities. And long before you sign a contract, prepare to update, archive or enhance materials, so you can ensure that customers will have access to high-value resources. Know what you will be keeping, retiring and moving. Then get that content ready for the transition.

5. Catalog Your Tech Ecosystem — Document all existing tools and platforms that integrate or should integrate with the new learning system. For example, you’ll want to be sure your CRM and customer support systems work together to provide a seamlessly interconnected customer education experience. Find all system owners and reach out to them early in the planning process, so you can understand their integration requirements.

6. Prepare for Data Migration — Plan to migrate all necessary customer education data, including learning history and engagement analytics. This ensures data continuity and accuracy as customers transition to the new LMS. What data do you need and why? What can you leave behind?

7. Implement Change Management Strategies — Develop a structured rollout and communication plan to guide customers as well as internal teams through the transition. This playbook should include training resources and feedback loops to ensure smooth onboarding and adoption.

Watch This Episode of Customer Ed Nuggets

No one wants to muck up an LMS implementation, especially when it involves customer education. It’s too important for your company and your customer relationships, as well as your career.

However, if you could rely on only a few of these LMS implementation tips, which would you choose? Tune-in to this 9-minute video to see which steps Katya and I recommend, and why we think these are the most critical success factors:

If you’d rather listen to our conversation, tune in to this Customer Ed Nuggets audio podcast right here at TalentedLearning.com.

The Bottom Line on Customer LMS Implementation Tips

Successful customer education platform implementation requires more than technical know-how. It is a strategic process that helps drive product adoption, boost customer engagement and improve business outcomes.

By setting clear objectives, involving stakeholders early, preparing the right content, ensuring integration with your broader digital ecosystem, and prioritizing change management, you build a solid foundation for ongoing success. When you invest the time to get it right, you avoid costly setbacks, while maximizing the impact your LMS has on customer satisfaction and revenue streams. Ultimately, this can differentiate your brand and help you create a competitive advantage.

2024 Customer LMS Capabilities Report

Buying or Selling a Customer LMS?

The Talented Learning Customer LMS Capabilities Report compares and contrasts the offerings and functionality of 20 top customer learning management (LMS) solutions. It is designed to enable:

• Customer LMS Buyers: Clarify key requirements and dramatically reduce the time needed to identify vendors who address those needs.
• Customer Ed Organizations: Benchmark your current LMS solution with the industry’s leading solutions. Is it time for a change?
• LMS Vendors: Identify your offering’s strengths and weaknesses vis a vis the top 20 customer LMSs.

LEARN MORE >>

About Talented Learning Customer Ed Nuggets

Hosted by Talented Learning CEO John Leh, the Customer Ed Nuggets podcast is a trusted source of advice, guidance and best practices for customer education professionals of all types. In this series of brief video and audio “nuggets” (each 10 minutes or less), we explore key topics with numerous guest experts.

Join us anytime here or on our YouTube channel to explore all facets of customer education learning tech, from how to build a persuasive business case, to effective strategies, technologies and content that help professionals create, deploy and grow successful customer-centered programs.

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Learn More About LearnUpon

To find out more about LearnUpon, check the vendor profile in our Learning Systems Directory, or visit their website at LearnUpon.com.

Need Guidance to Find the Right Customer Education LMS?

Looking for a new or improved system for customer education? Be sure you make the right decision. Fill out the form below to request a free consultation with me, John Leh, Founder and Lead Analyst at Talented Learning: