Chapter 06
Content Creation
Customer education is less about what your product can do and more about what users can do with your product.
Even before launching a formal customer education (CEd) program, many companies begin educating users with basic learning assets, typically to support onboarding or initial adoption. Often created by product teams or engineers, this content explains features and basic workflows. You produce short tutorials or step-by-step guides that help users understand how your product works.
But effective customer education (CEd) doesn't start and end with a "tour" of your software. Yes, basic product training—like explaining features and showing people where to click—is important to get users up and running. But if that's all you do, you'll struggle to move the needle on real adoption.
Because here's a hard truth: users don't really care about your product. What they do care about is solving their problems with your product. So, while product training is essential for getting users up and running, when you start creating content that goes beyond features to address the customer's real-world use cases, challenges, and goals.
Our approach at Personio is to first follow the customer's **critical path**. This critical path is all the steps that each customer needs to go through in order to use Personio and get it up and running for majority of their use case. Alongside that, we identify the problem that the customer is trying to solve in their day-to-day. And then focus on how our product could be a way to solve for that problem.
Roberto Aiello
Senior Learning Experience Designer, Personio
Avoiding the Product Training Trap
It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking product training = customer education—but they're not the same thing. Basic product training (e.g., "Here's where to find X feature") is necessary, but it's not enough. If all you do is explain where things are, you're expecting users to connect the dots on their own. —it guides them toward the bigger picture, helping them see why your product matters to them in the first place.
Companies do not typically train employees on how to do their specific jobs, making CEd programs one of the best ways to do that. When we solve the customers problems first, we actually have a greater impact on the business outcomes. Because that's where we're really driving the adoption, the retention - all of that over product training.
Debbie Smith
President, Customer Education Management Association
This reinforces the idea that effective CEd content doesn't just explain features - it empowers customers to overcome their challenges and succeed in their roles. In this section, you'll learn how to build that kind of impactful content by focusing on three key areas:
- Types of Content & Delivery Methods — Map various content types - from videos and guides to advanced courses - to different stages of the customer journey. Discover different channels to deliver them - from Help Centers to a full-scale CEd Academy.
- Tools & Best Practices for Creating Content — Explore practical guidelines and assess available tools for producing high-quality content across formats.
- CEd Maturity — Understand the signals that indicate when it's time to graduate from a Help Center to an Academy
1.1 Content Types & When to Create Them
What you're building: A prioritized map of content types aligned to customer needs and business goals.
When planning your content, it's critical to align your creation efforts with both customer needs and business goals. Content should be prioritized based on its ability to address customer pain points and the critical steps in the customer journey. Below is an overview of common content types mapped to key signals that point to when you need them.
| Content Type | Typical Purpose | Key Signals | Recommended Delivery Methods |
|---|---|---|---|
| Videos | Short, engaging overviews or demos; foundational and used across all stages. | In-app guidance, Academy, Live Training (Virtual Instructor-led) | |
| Help Articles & Guides | Detailed, evergreen resources for troubleshooting and instructions; essential at all stages. | Repeated how-to questions / Need for searchable documentation / Users wanting self-service options / Technical implementation details | Help Centre / Knowledge Base / Documentation site |
| In-app Guidance | Interactive, real-time walkthroughs that contextualize features within the product; ideal for onboarding and advanced usage. | High volume of basic feature questions in support tickets / Users not completing key actions / Requests for feature demonstrations / Drop-offs during setup process | Tool tips, Integrated Help Centre modules, Added to lessons in a Course. |
| Courses | In-depth, structured learning paths to guide users through more complex or advanced use cases. | Emerging need to consolidate learning content around a use case/work stream / Teams wanting structured learning paths | Academy, In-app guidance |
| Certifications | Formal assessments that validate expertise; typically introduced when users need to prove ROI. | Requests for validating professional qualifications and skills for employment or specific roles / Internal focus on building greater brand credibility | Academy, Live Training (for exam preparation and workshops) |
2.1 CEd Maturity: Evolving from a Help Centre to a Full-Blown Academy
Your customer education program should evolve with your customers' needs. Initially, a robust Help Centre may suffice. However, as you begin to see signals—such as increased demand for deeper learning or a surge in support requests—it may be time to expand your offerings into a full-blown academy.
Key Signals Indicating Maturity
High Volume of Content Searches
Frequent searches for basic topics may signal that foundational resources need to be more accessible or that users require interactive help.Recurring Requests for Advanced Guidance
When customers ask for more detailed or interactive learning (e.g., live training, advanced courses), it suggests that static content alone isn't meeting their needs.Engagement Gaps
If product usage data shows users struggling with complex features, it's time to introduce guided tours or role-based learning paths.Demand for Certification
Requests for ways to validate skills indicate that there is significant adoption among other organizations such that they will make hiring decisions based on that certification.Evolution Path
