Customer Education Statistics [2022 Update]

Last updated November 28, 2023

While organizations have been educating customers on products for years, a significant number of businesses have joined the movement within the last decade.

Why?

The impact of a well-executed customer education program on a business is profound.

According to a Forrester report commissioned by Intellum, 90% of companies have seen a positive return on their customer education investments.

Customer education statistics are showing us that now, more than ever, companies need to ensure they're providing education that is in line with the needs of their customer.

Statistics you'll find below:

Impact on the Business

90% of companies have seen a positive return on their customer education investments (Customer Education Leads to Revenue & Retention, Forrester commissioned by Intellum, 2019)
Companies with formalized education programs see 6.2% increase in revenue (Increase Revenue And Improve Customer Retention Through Customer Education Programs, Forrester commissioned by Intellum, 2019)
Companies with formalized education programs see 7.4% increase in retention (Increase Revenue And Improve Customer Retention Through Customer Education Programs, Forrester commissioned by Intellum, 2019)
Companies with formalized education programs see 7.1% increase in lifetime value (Increase Revenue And Improve Customer Retention Through Customer Education Programs, Forrester commissioned by Intellum, 2019)
Companies with formalized education programs see 11.6% increase in customer satisfaction (Increase Revenue And Improve Customer Retention Through Customer Education Programs, Forrester commissioned by Intellum, 2019)
Companies with formalized education programs see 6.1% decrease in support costs (Increase Revenue And Improve Customer Retention Through Customer Education Programs, Forrester commissioned by Intellum, 2019)
Educational content makes consumers 131% more likely to buy (Educational Content Impacts Brand Affinity, Trust… and Conversion, Conductor, 2021)
~65% of respondents reported that they can correlate lower support costs to customers that consume training (2022 Customer Education Benchmarks and Trends Report, SkillJar)

Team Growth Statistics

42% of customer education teams increased budget spend between 2021-2022 (2022 State of Customer Education Report, Thought Industries 2022)
The 2022 Customer Education Council Report found, 63% reported that their customer education teams will grow this year (Customer Education Council Report, CustomerEducation.org, 2022)
90% of Customer Education programs grew last year, with more than 60% of respondents increasing their investments by more than 30%. (The State of Customer Education, Thought Industries, 2021)

Team Maturity & Organization Structure

Most Customer Education teams report into the Customer Success function (41%), but 16% said their Customer Education team reports into the Professional Services team, primarily in the mid-market and enterprise segments. (2022 Customer Education Benchmarks and Trends Report, SkillJar)
On average, companies tend to dedicate 0.25-2% of their employee-base to education and training. (2022 Customer Education Benchmarks and Trends Report, SkillJar)
Of the companies with more than 10 employees on their education team, 65% were with companies of more than 1000 employees. (2022 Customer Education Benchmarks and Trends Report, SkillJar)
Customer Education is a relatively new function, with 30% of the teams surveyed new within the last 12 months. (The State of Customer Education, Thought Industries, 2021)
12% of customer education teams have their own department. (The State of Customer Education, Thought Industries, 2021)

Data Analytics & Reporting

43% of companies don’t yet have a clear process in place for measuring the impact of their education. (The State of Customer Education, Thought Industries, 2021)
During the “Consumption Analytics and Education Services” session at TSIA Interact 2020, only 11% of respondents said they’ve analyzed how learning content consumption impacts product subscription renewal. (The State of Education Services, TSIA, 2021)

Process & Company Integration

70% said product sales is the primary route to market for their customer training offers. (The State of Education Services, TSIA, 2021)
28% of education service teams surveyed have a playbook that is used to prompt learners to consume training (The State of Education Services, TSIA, 2021)
Only 19% of Education Service teams align both your free and fee-based content and offers to a product adoption curve and/or a customer journey map (The State of Education Services, TSIA, 2021)
Over a quarter (28%) of customers, on average, are not offered training, and nearly half (47%) have not utilized education offerings. (Increase Revenue And Improve Customer Retention Through Customer Education Programs, Forrester commissioned by Intellum, 2019)

Learner Success Statistics

Only 6% feel their learners know 75% of what they need to know. (The State of Customer Education, Thought Industries, 2021)
76% of programs that have certifications do not require learners to get re-certified, even on a periodic basis. (The State of Customer Education, Thought Industries, 2021)

Customer Saturation

On average, 29% of customer user base is engaged in training annually. (2022 Customer Education Benchmarks and Trends Report, SkillJar)

Tech Stack

Of those businesses with at least one LMS integration, the majority integrate with CRM (58%), followed by Secure access/SSO (45%). (2022 Customer Education Benchmarks and Trends Report, SkillJar)

Community

Only 25% of respondents noted they have a community as part of their overall training program engagement strategy. (2022 Customer Education Benchmarks and Trends Report, SkillJar)
23% of respondents who have a community have seen minimal to no impact from their community discussion boards. (2022 Customer Education Benchmarks and Trends Report, SkillJar)

Monetization

50% of respondents don't charge for their education offerings, 45% monetize in some way, and 17% plan to monetize. (Customer Education Council Report, CustomerEducation.org, 2022)
For the companies who note they have formal certification programs, 29% are currently monetizing certifications. 38% of those that are not currently monetizing certifications plan to in the future. (2022 Customer Education Benchmarks and Trends Report, SkillJar)
Of those companies not currently charging for training, 61% indicated they are planning to do so in the future. (2022 Customer Education Benchmarks and Trends Report, SkillJar)

Outsourcing / Hiring External Expertise

33% of respondents stated they use consultants/ contractors to assist with their training programs, with the largest percentage supporting content creation. (2022 Customer Education Benchmarks and Trends Report, SkillJar)
Outside collaborators were more prevalent in organizations with more than 200 employees and training budgets over $250,000. (2022 Customer Education Benchmarks and Trends Report, SkillJar)
82% of respondents whose organizations used a dedicated third-party vendor said it was very important or crucial to realizing the current benefits of their education programs. (Increase Revenue And Improve Customer Retention Through Customer Education Programs, Forrester commissioned by Intellum, 2019)
Top reasons cited for bringing in a dedicated third-party customer education vendor are 1) using a partner was faster, 2) they wanted an outside practice, and 3) they wanted access to best practices (Increase Revenue And Improve Customer Retention Through Customer Education Programs, Forrester commissioned by Intellum, 2019)
63% of high-success orgs use dedicated third-party vendors and 35% use agency partners to support their education initiatives — compared with just 43% and 13% of low-success orgs, respectively. (Increase Revenue And Improve Customer Retention Through Customer Education Programs, Forrester commissioned by Intellum, 2019)

Reports & Data Sources

2023 State of External Enterprise Learning Report [Thought Industries]
2022 State of Customer Education Report [Thought Industries]
2022 Customer Education Benchmarks and Trends Report [SkillJar]
The 2022 Customer Education Council Report
The State of Customer Education 2021 [Thought Industries]
The State of Education Services 2021 [TSIA]
Customer Education Leads To Revenue and Retention [2019, Intellum with Forrester Report]
Educational Content Impacts Brand Affinity, Trust… and Conversion, Conductor, 2021 [Conductor]

Customer Education Statistics [2024 Update]