Customer enablement

Why is customer enablement important?

Customer enablement is important because it improves customer satisfaction and loyalty. When customers have the resources to succeed, they are less frustrated and more likely to stay loyal to the brand. Happy customers often share positive experiences, which helps attract new ones.

Companies that focus on customer enablement get twice as many repeat orders than those that only focus on satisfaction. However, only 23% of organizations currently prioritize enablement, though this is expected to become standard in five years.

Customer education programs, supported by effective employee training strategies, drive real results. These programs can increase revenue by 6.2%, improve customer retention by 7.4%, and lower support costs by 6.1%. By reducing support workloads and providing insights for improvements, customer enablement helps businesses grow while staying competitive.

What are the goals of customer enablement?

Customer enablement is a critical part of digital adoption, as it is focused on empowering customers to succeed with a product or service. 

Businesses can use customer enablement to drive success by helping customers self-serve, improving their satisfaction with the experience, and subsequently increasing retention.

Let’s take a closer look at the main goals of customer enablement.

Help customers succeed independently

• Offers assistance options like tutorials, knowledge bases, and FAQs.
• Provides clear, actionable guides to help customers solve problems on their own.
• Makes tools and guides that fit customer needs.

Improve customer satisfaction and loyalty

• Solves common problems to make using products easier.
• Delivers proactive support that prevents potential challenges.
• Ensures customers feel supported throughout their journey, building trust and retention.

Drive business growth through education

• Increases customer retention and repeat purchases by enhancing user confidence.
• Reduces support costs by empowering customers to resolve issues themselves.
• Uses insights from customer behavior to improve products and services.

Who is involved in customer enablement?

Customer enablement relies on key stakeholders who contribute to its success. These include internal teams who create and manage resources and external stakeholders who benefit from the support provided.

Read on to learn more in-depth information about these groups.

Internal stakeholders

• Customer success teams: Develop resources to help customers achieve their goals.
• Product teams: Ensure enablement materials match product features and updates.
• Marketing teams: Create content like guides and tutorials to engage customers.
• Support teams: Share insights on common customer issues to shape strategies.
• Sales teams: Use enablement tools to educate and onboard customers effectively.

External stakeholders

• Customers: Gain tools and knowledge to succeed with products or services.
• Channel partners: Use enablement resources to better support shared customers.
• Industry influencers: Promote best practices and share knowledge about enablement.
• Vendors and consultants: Collaborate to improve strategies and align with industry needs.

What is required for customer enablement success?

To achieve customer enablement success, organizations must focus on creating effective resources and prioritizing customer needs. These are essential in helping customers succeed with the product or service, driving satisfaction and long-term loyalty. 

Let’s examine these areas in more detail:

Create accessible and effective resources

Create simple guides that help customers use your product. Prioritize content that is actionable and easy to follow, such as step-by-step guides, tutorials, and FAQs. Make sure your resources are well-organized and easy to find at any stage of the customer journey. Offer a range of formats, like written guides, videos, and live chats, to ensure customers can access support in the way that works best for them. Providing self-service options like knowledge bases and community forums allows customers to find solutions to common issues on their own, boosting their confidence in using the product.

Prioritize customers’ needs and success

Put the customer’s needs first in your enablement strategy. Learn what customers struggle with and create resources to help them. Actively listen to customer feedback and adapt your strategies to meet their evolving needs. Ensure that customer success teams are available to offer personalized support and guidance, helping customers make the most of your product. Use data to track how customers are interacting with your resources and make improvements based on their feedback. Helping customers reach their goals builds trust and stronger relationships.

Continuously improve and adapt enablement strategies

Collect customer feedback regularly and track digital adoption metrics to evaluate how well your resources and support are working. Identify areas where your content or strategy may need updates and adjust based on new challenges or changes in the product. Adjust your support regularly to meet customer needs. Keep communication open with customers, showing that their feedback is valued. By constantly improving your enablement strategy, you ensure your resources remain relevant, helpful, and effective in meeting customer needs over time.

Why do customer enablement projects fail?

Customer enablement projects can fail for several reasons. These obstacles can hinder efforts to help customers succeed and improve their experience.

Take note of the main reasons why customer enablement projects fail, highlighted below, to avoid experiencing them yourself.

Lack of clear strategy or goals

Many customer enablement projects fail because they don’t have a clear strategy or defined goals. Without a clear plan and proper change management, it’s hard to know what success looks like or how to measure progress. This can result in resources being wasted and efforts feeling unfocused. 

To avoid this, businesses should set specific, measurable goals and create a detailed roadmap that guides their enablement efforts. Having a clear strategy ensures that everyone is working towards the same objectives and that resources are used effectively.

Poor cross-department collaboration

Customer enablement works best when all teams work together. When this doesn’t happen, it can lead to inconsistent messaging and missed opportunities to meet customer needs. Teams might create content that doesn’t match product changes or miss new updates. 

Ensuring that all teams communicate and collaborate helps create a unified customer experience and makes the enablement process more effective.

Inadequate resource development and maintenance

One of the biggest challenges in customer enablement is creating enough helpful resources and keeping them up-to-date. Without enough high-quality content, customers may struggle to find the help they need. 

Even if resources are created, if they aren’t regularly updated, they can become outdated or less useful over time. This can lead to customer frustration and reduce the impact of enablement efforts. Teams should update their resources often to keep them helpful and accurate.

Customer enablement use cases

Customer enablement looks different across industries but always aims to help customers succeed by providing the right tools and support. 

Here are three examples of how customer enablement can play out in real business situations.

Software 

Scenario: A SaaS company offering a project management tool.                  

Method: The company provides a helpful knowledge base, in-app tutorials, and free training webinars. A customer success team assists users during onboarding and with any ongoing issues.

Outcome: Customers quickly learn how to use the software, which leads to higher satisfaction and less churn. More users stay with the company over time because they feel confident using the tool.

Retail 

Scenario: An online retailer selling home appliances.

Method: The retailer offers product demos, step-by-step guides, and how-to videos. A chatbot on its website answers questions in real-time.

Outcome: Customers find it easy to set up and use their purchases. This leads to higher satisfaction, fewer returns, and a better shopping experience.

Financial services 

Scenario: A bank offering online account management tools.

Method: The bank provides articles, videos, and webinars to teach customers how to use online banking. Personalized tutorials are available during onboarding.

Outcome: Customers feel more comfortable using the bank’s tools, which reduces support calls. The bank sees higher engagement and lower service costs.