Elevating our industry’s client education standard with a holistic, client-centered, tech-first approach
posted by Marian Valia on March 1, 2024
At Hudson MX, we aim to empower our users. To this end, we've reimagined the training paradigm, elevating our approach to ensure that it is comprehensive, practical, and holistically designed to adapt to our clients' unique and ever-changing needs.
My time as an engineer and two decades working in client service and education have provided foundational insight that we’ve been able to translate into our user education program here at Hudson. One of the most important components: our programs are designed to evolve quickly, reflecting changes in our software, the MX Platform™, as well as in the industry, technology, and our clients' needs. This approach has fostered a culture of continuous learning and improvement between our clients and the Hudson teams that support them.
The genesis of our journey & the Hudson MX difference
This vision was born from a comprehensive analysis of our customer education journey, identifying eight key touchpoints from presales to production & ongoing support. Our quest to optimize the way we support rollout, implementation, and the “power use” of our software, the MX Platform™, began with two primary goals:
To provide an unparalleled, seamless, interactive training experience that truly engages and empowers our clients and resonates with every type of learner—whether they prefer visual, auditory, or hands-on learning modalities.
To reduce the friction often associated with onboarding transformational, sophisticated, enterprise-level SaaS products.
Today, our innovative use of technology, commitment to customization, and holistic approach to user training set Hudson MX apart as a tech partner. In keeping with our organization’s overall culture, we view training as an integral part of our relationships with clients, a continuous journey rather than a one-time event.
Still, both the pandemic and our company’s own growth helped further accelerate shifts to our approach. While online learning offered scalability and cost-effectiveness, it also presented challenges in maintaining learner engagement. Recognizing this, we worked hard to strike a balance, leveraging technology to foster a sense of community and real-time interaction among learners.
The result was a hybrid approach with an emphasis on hands-on learning experiences:
Our Learning Management System (LMS) certification program
Short & long-format live, interactive, and experiential training sessions
First media platform to adopt Strigo, for a more live, hands-on learning experience
Just-in-time and refresher sessions customized for each client and their needs
The development of rigorous measurement standards, continuous feedback loops, and data-driven optimization.
Innovating with a tech-first approach for more experiential, scalable, & customized learning
It is also vital to us that we ensure that our clients are not just passive recipients of information but active participants in their learning journey. At the center of our ability to achieve this are two integral components of our learning tech stack: Strigo and iorad.
Our collaboration with Strigo has been a game-changer for live training, allowing us to provide personalized, hands-on learning experiences at scale. This platform has enabled us to conduct live training sessions where instructors and teaching assistants can monitor and assist learners in real time.
iorad allows us to build interactive, bite-sized, step-by-step video learning in our LMS in a scalable way. With its functionality, we can develop and deliver training to learners to practice tasks in a simulated environment, as well as make quick updates to the videos to address incremental changes to the product. The impact on our team and clients is unmatched—we can create about 5x the volume of interactive video training in a given period, and our clients can learn and apply concepts twice as fast.
As the first media buying platform to utilize Strigo, we've had the unique opportunity to partner with the tech partner to influence their development in a way that allows them to truly meet the needs of our clients and the media industry. This collaboration has benefited Hudson MX partners and paved the way for others in the industry to adopt the tool.
Continuous improvement through collaboration & short-cycle feedback loops
Building relationships and keeping lines of communication open are also crucial to our clients’ training UX.
Understanding the diverse needs of our clients has led us to implement a highly customized training program. By incorporating feedback loops, such as client satisfaction surveys, support tickets, and direct feedback sessions, we've continuously refined our training content to ensure relevance and effectiveness.
One example of how this has helped us optimize: we’ve reduced the time it takes to complete onboarding by emphasizing must-have information needed to get started and areas that may have required a higher volume of support in the past, and creating learning paths for more custom role and client-based needs. We know our clients will never feel like they are being quizzed for the sake of it but for a measurable outcome directly related to the work they need to get done each day.
We also ensure we deliver best-in-class live training offerings with highly engaging instructional delivery, including monthly cram sessions for new hires and refresher sessions called Spark Sessions. These sessions address immediate learning needs with micro-sessions based on recent platform updates or common, recurring questions—ensuring our training is reactive and proactive.
Quantifying the impact of a more scalable, client-centered approach
Our approach has allowed us to maintain high levels of client satisfaction, efficacy, and engagement.
Today, we’ve been able to scale our training in a way that allows us to serve a growing client base. With over 20 roll paths and certifications, 120 long-form guides, and 350 hands-on Iorad videos, our comprehensive training materials cover every aspect of our platform. These resources have facilitated over 430 hours of training across 172 sessions, significantly enhancing our clients' proficiency and satisfaction with our platform.
Additionally, we strive for an NPS of eight or more, ensuring that at least 80% of our clients feel comfortable and confident in their ability to use our platform post-training. This standard reduces the burden on support teams and ensures clients are prepared to use our platform effectively, a shared impact contributing to their 96% client satisfaction score over two years running.
Looking to what’s next
Looking ahead, we're exploring avenues to not only keep pace with technological advancements but lead the way in leveraging these tools for enhanced learning experiences. These include gamification enhancements, leveraging analytics to predict and mitigate risks, creating more opportunities for community-based learning, and expanding our global service offerings.
At Hudson MX, our user education approach is the cornerstone of client satisfaction and platform adoption. As we move forward, we remain focused on ensuring that it is as dynamic and forward-thinking as the clients we serve and that every user is not only equipped with the knowledge and skills to succeed, but also feels valued and supported throughout their journey with us.
Want to dive deeper?
Let’s talk! Reach out to a member of our expert team to discuss your media team’s goals and how we can help.