The Learning Moment Matters More Than the Portal

For years, the default thinking in customer education has been: build the portal, and they will come. Companies invested in branded academies, multi-module courses, and certifications designed to attract and retain customers at scale. But in today’s world of instant expectations and distributed teams, we need to flip that mindset.

Because what actually drives adoption and retention isn’t the Academy itself - it’s the learning moment.

The learning moment is that critical point when a user hits friction, has a question, does not get their intended results, or is ready to take the next step. 

It’s when education is most needed - and most effective. Whether it’s a rep trying to create a new dashboard, a marketer launching a campaign, or an admin configuring settings, the real opportunity lies in providing guidance in context.

Here’s the challenge: most customer education programs still ask users to leave the app, find the portal, locate the right course, and sit through 20 minutes of content - all while trying to solve a real-time problem. In that window, frustration grows and momentum stalls. Learning isn’t happening at the point of need - it’s happening somewhere else, later, if at all.

That’s why leading SaaS companies are rethinking the role of the LMS and shifting toward embedded, just-in-time education. They're delivering quick tips, walkthroughs, and micro-videos inside the product experience. They’re integrating training touchpoints into CRM workflows and support tools. And they’re tracking success not by completion rates, but by real behavior change - time to value, feature adoption, and customer expansion.

The portal still has its place. It’s a great destination for structured learning, certifications, and onboarding journeys. But it’s no longer the center of the education universe. The learning moment is.

When companies prioritize the moment over the medium - when they design education to show up where and when it’s needed - they turn learning into a growth engine, not just a resource library.