At a time when brick-and-mortar stores were all we knew, disruption to business operations simply meant sticking a handwritten note in the window saying “apologies for the inconvenience” or “business as usual”.
But, with the “new normal” characterized by constant change, actively evolving consumer demands, and rapidly increasing innovation, is there really such a thing as “business as usual” in modern eCommerce?
With this in mind, how can you stay agile, ahead of the competition, and in favour with some of the most fussy customers out there?
The general consensus says – continuous learning and development.
From helping eCommerce employees keep up with tech advancements to giving customers a better understanding of your products or services, continuous learning and development can be your key to long-term online sales success.
So, where should you start?
My recommendation is with a top LMS platform.
Firstly, What Is a Learning Management System (LMS)?
Originally designed for educational institutions, LMS platforms are now indispensable tools for businesses across a variety of sectors, offering a wide range of features to help you stay agile, continuously innovate, and thrive long-term.
But, why use an LMS as an eCommerce business?
Here are the top LMS features and benefits you need to know about:
1. Centralized Training Hubs & Personalized Learning Paths
As the eCommerce industry evolves, so must your team’s skills. It’s vital to have a centralized training hub where employees can access your most recent training materials, courses, and resources to support their development.
With customizable learning paths and course content, employees can engage with the training material in a way that suits their individual learning styles, leading to improved knowledge retention and skill development.
Here’s how an LMS can benefit your employees on their continuous learning path:
- Efficiency: With all training materials stored in one accessible location, employees can easily find and access the resources they need without wasting time searching through various platforms or folders.
- Consistency: A centralized hub ensures that all employees receive consistent training materials and updates, reducing the risk of misinformation or circulation of outdated content.
- Scalability: As your eCommerce business grows, you can easily scale your corporate training programs, adding new online courses or resources, ensuring all team members have the training they need to excel in their roles.
- Tracking and monitoring: Top LMS platforms offer advanced tracking and monitoring capabilities, allowing administrators to track learner progress, completion rates, and performance metrics from a centralized dashboard.
Tip: A user-friendly and intuitive learning management solution is extremely important when it comes to online training for eCommerce employees. Employees are less likely to engage with online development opportunities on platforms that are disorganized and difficult to use. We always recommend seeing how an LMS solution works in practice by requesting an LMS demo.
2. Customizable Product Training & Interactive Onboarding
Product and service training is becoming increasingly important for many eCommerce businesses.
Not only can it give employees a more in-depth insight into the products or services they’re selling, it also helps your customers understand the products or services they’re using.
Text-heavy manuals and master catalogs are no longer ‘en vogue’. This is why onboarding employees and customers with interactive training modules can lead to higher satisfaction rates, reduced inquiries, and a deeper connection with your eCommerce brand.
Wondering where to start?
Here are my top tips:
- Identify training objectives: Before creating product or service training modules, it’s crucial to define clear learning objectives. Determine what knowledge or skills you want your employees or customers to gain from the training, and tailor the content accordingly.
- Break down complex topics: Complex product or service information can be overwhelming for learners. Break down the content into smaller, more digestible chunks to make it easier to understand and retain. Use multimedia elements like videos, interactive quizzes, and simulations to enhance engagement and comprehension.
- Incorporate real-world examples: Make the training relevant to your audience by including real-world examples and scenarios. This helps learners connect the theoretical knowledge to practical applications, reinforcing their understanding and retention of the material.
- Provide ongoing support: Learning doesn’t end after the training module is completed. Offer ongoing support resources like FAQs and forums where employees or customers can seek clarification or assistance as needed.
- Measure effectiveness: Assess the effectiveness of your product or service training modules by tracking key metrics like completion rates, quiz scores, and feedback from learners. Use this data to identify areas for improvement and refine your training content for better results.
Tip: Did you know that some LMS platforms, like LearnRight, offer the ability to integrate your own branding into the interface? This feature, known as white labeling, allows you to customize the LMS with your company’s logo, colors, and brand elements, providing a more consistent user experience for employees and customers.
3. Agile & Efficient eCommerce Compliance Training
Ensuring compliance with industry regulations and standards is now non-negotiable for the success and reputation of your eCommerce business.
Luckily, with the right LMS, it’s now easier than ever to create courses to keep your teams up to speed.
Partnering with a reputable LMS service provider, you can streamline compliance training by creating targeted modules designed to inform, upskill, and boost confidence in areas like eCommerce regulations.
Here’s what this can lead to:
- Improved risk management: By ensuring employees are well-trained on compliance requirements, the likelihood of compliance-related incidents or breaches is significantly lower, minimizing potential risk impact and associated costs.
- Peace of mind: With all team members aligned on compliance, the burden of legal matters is reduced, allowing you to focus more on running your eCommerce business effectively and efficiently.
- Cost savings: By proactively training employees on relevant regulations and standards, you can avoid costly penalties and fines, saving your eCommerce business valuable resources.
- Enhanced reputation: Demonstrating a commitment to compliance and ethical business practices enhances your eCommerce business’s reputation, promoting trust among customers, partners, and stakeholders.
- Adaptability to changing regulations: Regulatory requirements call for continuous monitoring and adaptation. An LMS can help you stay agile with easily-adaptable modules to ensure ongoing compliance.
4. Performance Management & Feedback
Effective performance management is vital for driving employee engagement, productivity, and growth within the eCommerce sector — and it’s something an eCommerce LMS can help you with!
Providing tools for goal setting, performance tracking, and feedback collection, an eCommerce LMS enables both managers and employees to align their efforts with organizational objectives and continuously improve performance.
Here are some key benefits of using an LMS for performance management:
- Goal alignment: LMS platforms allow managers to set clear goals for individual employees or teams, helping keep everyone working towards common objectives.
- Performance tracking: With built-in tracking and reporting features, managers can monitor a learner’s progress and identify areas for improvement in real-time.
- Feedback collection: The best LMS systems facilitate regular feedback exchanges between managers and employees, promoting open communication and a culture of continuous improvement.
- Skill development: By identifying areas of strength and weakness, LMS platforms enable employees to focus on skill development activities that support their career growth and contribute to overall organizational success.
Want to Sell Online Courses?
Working in eCommerce, you gain a lot of experience and inside knowledge, and sometimes, it’s too good not to share. With an eCommerce LMS, you can easily create and sell courses that position you as an industry-leader, while also diversifying your eCommerce revenue streams.
When selecting an LMS platform, pay close attention to its eCommerce integration features. Not every eCommerce LMS platform will integrate smoothly with your existing eCommerce platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce.
In particular, aim for an LMS eCommerce integration with a user-friendly interface, reliable payment gateways, and other eCommerce capabilities.
After that, it’s time to create engaging courses!
 for eCommerce? Find our eCommerce LMS insights here.){kind=link}