Customer Satisfaction Tops List of Reasons to Train Customers

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA--(Marketwire - October 22, 2008) - Expertus (www.expertus.com), a global provider of services that optimize the business impact of learning, and Training Industry, Inc. (www.trainingindustry.com), an objective and trusted expert on the marketplace for learning, recently announced the findings from their joint August 2008 study, "Optimizing Customer Training." The results revealed that customer satisfaction is the leading reason that organizations implement and maintain customer training. The full results report can be viewed at http://www.trainingefficiency.com/system/files/SurveyResults_CustomerTraining_Expertus_Aug28.pdf.

The vast majority of respondents both expected and attained results in improved customer satisfaction from their customer training programs. 82% of respondents expected improved customer satisfaction from their customer training. 93% reported results in this area; 53% realized strong benefits and 40% realized moderate benefits.

There were only two other areas where over one-third of survey respondents reported a strong benefit: increases in customer retention and increases in training revenue. 88% reported increases in customer retention, with 36% reporting a strong impact in this area.

Increase in training revenue was also reported as a strong benefit, particularly among the 58% of respondents who operate their customer training as profit centers. 88% of those in these profit centers reported an increase in training revenue -- with 63% reporting a strong increase.

"Historically, customer satisfaction was viewed as an intangible activity that just happened when you delivered good products or services," said Ramesh Ramani, Founder and CEO of Expertus. "It's a positive sign that so many organizations are realizing that there are immense customer satisfaction benefits from having well informed and well educated customers."

"Customer satisfaction is an important benefit to measure as organizations invest in bolstering their customer training programs," added Doug Harward, CEO of Training Industry, Inc. "Overall, customer training's importance is growing within organizations, particularly those with complex technologies. I was not surprised to see the strong impact in customer retention as well, since increases in customer satisfaction and customer retention often go hand-in-hand. Along with the other main benefits, this research demonstrates why so many organizations are investing so much in their customer training."

Other findings include:

--  48% of survey respondents believed that customer training budgets
    would go up in 2009, compared with 32% of respondents who believed that
    employee training budgets would go up next year. Further, 41% believe
    customer training budgets would increase by over 10%, with as many as 19%
    expecting it to go up by over 20%.
    
--  The vast majority of companies used website and email marketing to
    market training to their customers, which many also considered to be the
    most effective way to market their programs.
    
--  Webinar technology is used most frequently to deliver customer
    training.
    
--  The two top challenges in customer training had to do with a lack of
    resources -- in staffing and marketing expertise or budget.
    

The survey findings were recently addressed at a webinar, "Customer Training: 5 Ways to Fast-Track Your Programs in a Slow Economy," which is available online and can be downloaded at http://www.trainingefficiency.com/attend-web-events.

The survey was completed by 34 respondents from companies in industries as diverse as technology, financial services, business services/consulting, telecommunications and more. Companies ranged in size from 10-49 employees to over 30,000 employees. Most of the respondents were in leadership roles in customer and/or employee training.

To view the full results of the study and supporting charts, visit http://www.trainingefficiency.com/system/files/SurveyResults_CustomerTraining_Expertus_Aug28.pdf.

About Expertus

Expertus is the leading global provider of services that optimize the business impact of learning. For more than a decade, the firm's 500+ learning management professionals have defined and implemented plans, processes and technologies that transform training organizations -- creating measurable value for the world's most successful corporations. Clients include ADP, Cisco, ConocoPhillips, EMC, Honeywell and Lockheed Martin. Every day at these and other companies, more than a million employees, customers and business partners are educated as a result of Expertus' innovative business strategies, outsourcing services and technology-rich solutions.

Based in Silicon Valley, Expertus serves its clients from offices in the US, UK and India. For more information, visit www.expertus.com, or call toll-free (877) 827-8160.

About Training Industry, Inc.

Training Industry, Inc. is an objective and trusted expert on the marketplace for learning. Its mission is to make the marketplace more efficient through the world's largest online community of training communities and through services such as Training Industry Conferences, Training Industry Quarterly Ezine, Training Industry Webinars and Training Industry Research. For more information, go to www.trainingindustry.com or call (919) 653-4990.

Contact Information: Press Contact: Alicia Hassinger Communications Strategy Group ahassinger@csg-pr.com (720) 933-8119