Audience

Objectives

Goals

PerformanceTools

Structure

Strategy

7 Step Guide to Developing Online Product Training

Introduction INTRODUCTION

Product training through e-learning offers a

wonderful opportunity to enrich sales training

programs with simulated product presentations

and product walk-through in various selling

situations.

Let’s see the 7 Step Guide to Developing Online Product Training.

Step 1: Understand the target audience for product training

“For who am I developing the product training course and why?”

This is the question that curriculum developers must first answer before collating the content for product training.

“For who am I developing the product training course and why?”

This is the question that curriculum developers must first answer before collating the content for product training.

Know and Understand the Profile of Your Target Audience

Customer

Service Personnel

Sales People

Product Training for Different Types of Audience.

Step 2: List the learning objectives of the course for each type of target

audience

Understanding the purpose will ensure that the content is developed according to the learning objectives of the target

audiences.

Technician I would like to fix problems quickly.

Customer service executive I need to guide customers troubleshoot minor

Channel partners I need to know the price structure and discount mechanism for the product.

Customer

Channel partners I need to know the price structure and discount mechanism for the product.

Customer I need to quickly get an idea about how I should use the product, so that I know the dos and don’ts.

I need to quickly get an idea about how I should use the product, so that I know the dos and don’ts.

Step 3: Understand the performance goals at the end of the course

Product training becomes all the more important for organization, as they need to educate three different types of audiences about their products

1. Sales and Marketing personnel

2. Service personnel who includes customer service staff and Technical people

3. End-users of the products, or customers

Do they take product training for the same reason?Let’s See

Sales and Marketing People

Service personnel who includes customer service staff and technical people Product training for them will have to focus on potential complaints that customers might bring to the notice of technicians and the best method to resolve the same.

Customers require product training so that they know how best to use them for their requirements.

Performance Goals of individual learners need to be kept in mind while designing online product

training courses.

Some of the Expected Changes with Respect to the Performance of Learners After Taking Product Training

Step 4: Build instructional goals keeping in mind learning objectives &

performance goals

Let’s Look at Some Instructional Goals

Build Confidence

Clear differentiation of different products in that family

Explain complex terminology

Address multiple learner profile

Easy update/Maintainability

Know and understand the key instructional goals for the course being developed.

Some instructional goals are:

Step 5: Choose an authoring tool that fits

your needs

In order to develop the courses you need to choose one of the several rapid authoring tools available in the market. However, on what basis do you choose the right authoring tool that caters to your specific requirement?

Here is a quick checklist to help you take a decision The need for skilled personnel should be minimal

Should have at least minimal animations

Should be easy for development

Should be adequately interactive

Should be easy to translate

Ability to deploy courses on multi-devices

SCORM-compliant for tracking on an LMS

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Step 6: Develop a logical course structure

Step 7: Select a course strategy that best caters to the needs of learners

You need to follow a definitive strategy taking into consideration different learning

preferences and the opportunities provided by online medium and its limitations.

Now Let’s see some strategies

Content Strategy Content for product training courses are primarily of three types:

WHAT HOW WHY

Visual Strategy

Use product photographs

Line diagrams and animations

Show real people while demonstrating products

Design Strategy

Light enters the chloroplast

Chlorophyll in leaves capture light energy

Remaining energy carried to stomata

Water is split into hydrogen and oxygen

Water is split into hydrogen and oxygen

Hydrogen is carried to the

stomataCarbon dioxide enters the leaf

Stomata combines hydrogen and carbon

dioxide to make carbohydrates

Carbohydrates carried to the cells

of the plants

Process Flow Chart

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Tab_2

Tab_3

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Click each tab to learn more.

Tables

Hotspot

Technical Animation

Guidelines

Product training in today’s scenario is getting tougher for most organizations.

Therefore, technology based learning is the key in today’s scenario to impart product training to various audiences. E-learning through various delivery methods meets these changing requirements of product training.

CONCLUSION