Simplilearn Solutions - Customer Service Success

Company: Simplilearn Solutions, San Francisco, CA
Company Description: Simplilearn is the world's #1 online bootcamp for digital economy skills training focused on helping people acquire the skills they need to thrive in the digital economy. Simplilearn provides outcome-based online training across digital technologies and applications through individual courses, comprehensive certification programs, and partnerships with world-renowned universities.
Nomination Category: Customer Service Awards Success Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Customer Service Success - Other Service Industries

Nomination Title: Expanded Platform for Digital Skills Learning for Individuals and Enterprises

Beginning as a project management blog in 2009, Simplilearn was born from the need to help people gain technology skills for success. From those user-focused roots, 24/7 customer service became a pillar of our business: online training in skills essential for the digital economy and digital transformation. Today, we’ve trained and helped certify over three million professionals in 150 countries.

Along the way, we've developed processes and tools to support complete “customer success” (before, during, and after the training). We’ve become the world’s #1 online bootcamp and achieved remarkable customer success, measured by our metrics to date:

Over 200,000 learners onboarded (and growing)
NPS of 82 on our Postgraduate programs
90% of learners reported achieving learning objectives

Our success in supporting and delighting customers has earned multiple industry citations and awards:

EC-Council’s ATC Circle of Excellence Award four years running (2018-2021)
“Top 20 Online Learning Library” four years running (2018-2021) and “Top 20 IT Training Company” twice (2017 and 2020) by Training Industry Magazine
Course Report’s 2021 “Top 21 best cyber security bootcamps” Award
Career Karma's 2021 “Best Data Science & Analytics Bootcamps” Award
2020 Graham Bell Award from Aegis School of Data Science, Cyber Security and Telecom

As an organization, Simplilearn has committed itself to provide outcome-based training programs for its learners. We believe that for learners to achieve their expected learning outcomes, program engagement and completion are critical. For these, a strong customer experience is the bedrock.

Experience:

Programs

Consistent NPS of 82 for our Postgraduate program experience in 2021 despite a 5X scale in the number of active learners
NPS for our Masters program experience improved from 75 in June 2020 to 80 in Oct 2021 while number of active learners increased by 25%

Exclusive virtual classrooms

Consistent exclusive virtual classroom session experience CSAT of 4.5/5.0 in 2021 despite a 200% increase in the number of virtual classroom sessions

Support interactions

Support interaction experience CSAT for learners during question resolution engagements was at 4.0/5.0 with 82% of learner questions resolved within 48 hours

Engagement and Completion:

Learners averaged 134 hours in our LMS for our Postgraduate programs which is 1.5x of program expectations
Learners averaged 59 hours in our LMS for our Masters programs which is 1.2x of program expectations

Outcome:

90% of our learners reported achieving their expected learning outcomes within six months of program completion. Learning outcomes achieved include upskilling objectives and career objectives (new role, switch career track, salary raise, etc.)

Response:

Our learner enrollments through repeats and referrals increased from 35% to 37% in FY22 Q2. Our social media appreciations from the learner community consistently grew, reaching 1,000+ in September.

Superior learner experience:

The edtech industry average NPS is 44; Simplilearn's NPS is between 75-85, depending on the program type. We achieve this by meticulously measuring the CSAT at every touchpoint (interactions, live sessions, projects, etc.) and creating continuous improvement plans as required. Our learner success team, intelligent learning platform, and engaging curriculum deliver these results.

Personalized engagement and completion

The average completion rate for online learning is 10%-13%, and anything above 30% is considered exceptional. Our learner completion rates have typically been 6X-7X of industry standards. We expect our Postgraduate learners to complete mandatory projects for each skill within the program and a capstone project for program completion, in order to ensure high quality of learning. Despite such stringent criteria, our learner engagement and completion rates are high owing to our intelligent platform nudges, learner success manager interventions and 24/7 learner support.

Outcome oriented services:

Education platforms benefit 61% of the learners, whereas 90% of Simplilearn's learners achieve their learning outcomes within six months of graduation. Our course content has a consistent curriculum CSAT of 4.6. It is created in partnership with industry leaders like IBM, Microsoft, and Facebook and universities like Caltech, Purdue and MIT to match learner upskilling objectives. Our dedicated career offering, including recruiter meetups, portfolio building, interview preparations, and hackathons, helps learners to achieve their career objectives.

Learner response:

Reinforcing our learners' trust in us as their upskilling platform of choice results in higher learner repeats, referrals, and social media accolades.

Simplilearn’s customer service metrics
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zwwf_nKNhckkoODOKbFnlJ-761Y9nwbB/view?usp=sharing

The attached slide deck recaps Simplilearn’s significant customer service metrics and testimonials for the year since July 2020

Simplilearn FSD JAVA program details
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XO8t2P1pZ8D94KQy0m2i05hvQw2eR1Nz/view?usp=sharing

The attached slide deck showcases the stringent program completion criteria for Simplilearn by giving FSD JAVA program as an example

EDTECH An Omidyar Network India – RedSeer Report 2019-20 IN INDIA
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1e1OCU2-xN4x6QXJCADJTWfQp9xQ_UHRB/view?usp=sharing
Report that shows that the edtech industry average NPS is 44.

Social eLearning: A Strategy for Increasing Online Course Completion Rates https://www.novoed.com/resources/blog/elearning-social-completion-rates/

Blog that demonstrates that the average completion rate for online learning stands at 13%, and anything north of 30% is considered exceptional.

Who is benefiting from MOOCs and why
https://hbr.org/2015/09/whos-benefiting-from-moocs-and-why
Harvard business review article that shows 61% of learners reported educational benefits through online education platforms.