Could e-learning be your next opportunity for growth?

We’re all on the lookout for opportunities to strengthen brand loyalty and bring in new customers. E-learning might not sound groundbreaking, but it’s not just for traditional education providers.

• Increase product adoption
• Strengthen customer loyalty
• Reduce onboarding time
• Deliver consistent, compliant training at scale

5 Revenue-driving ideas for e-learning 

Onboarding and technical training

An easy place to start would be for internal teams, partners, or distributors, as digital learning means you can scale onboarding without relying on in-person training or inconsistent delivery. This leads to faster ramp-up, improved performance, and fewer support issues down the line. 

Brand launches

You've invested in a rebrand and have a new vision for your company, but it needs internal buy-in to become a reality. Online learning can get your team on the same page, quickly, whilst having a destination to house all your brand assets, getting you to that vision more quickly. Similarly, a project to drive culture change internally could easily be supported with e-learning.  

Customer retention

When customers feel supported post-sale, especially in complex or technical industries, they’re more likely to remain loyal. So think about product training for customers. A few videos and documents on a well-designed learning platform can help them get more from your product or service, reducing churn and increasing lifetime value. 

Data capture for sales and marketing teams

As any sales and marketing department knows, 1st party data is gold. Every user interaction on your platform, including registrations, completions, test scores, and drop-offs, can be captured and connected to your CRM. This gives your marketing and sales teams rich behavioural insights to guide follow-ups, lead scoring, and campaign targeting.

Upselling and cross-selling 

E-learning platforms offer a captive, highly relevant audience. With the right structure, you can introduce complementary products or services at natural touchpoints within the learning journey.

If you've made it this far, e-learning could be on the cards. But launching an e-learning platform, whether off-the-shelf or bespoke, requires planning. Over the years, we’ve helped many clients shape their e-learning offering from the ground up. And it always starts with the same thing: asking the right questions.

So, here are 17 questions we ask during the early briefing stage. They help define the right approach, estimate costs accurately, and ensure the platform delivers value for your users and your business.

17 Questions to Shape Your E-Learning Strategy

Not all of these may be relevant, but it's a great starting point. 

1. Who are the primary users of the platform?
   Are you training customers, clinicians, sales reps, or internal staff?
2. What devices will users typically use? Desktop, laptop, or mobile?
   This impacts design and user experience decisions.
3. How many users do you expect each year?
   This affects hosting, licensing, and long-term scalability.
4. Is the training the same for everyone, or user-specific?
   Tailored learning paths require more advanced logic and user roles.
5. How many courses will the platform need to support?
   This determines how you structure and manage your content.
6. What types of content will you include? PDFs, videos, quizzes?
   Different formats have different hosting and playback needs.
7. Is there other content beyond courses, such as downloadable resources?
   This affects navigation and content architecture.
8. Is your content ready to upload?
   If not, we can help plan a phased launch or offer content support.
9. Can anyone sign up, or do users need to be verified first?
   This impacts how users are managed and onboarded.
10. What kind of experience do you want once users are logged in?
    Should users explore freely or be guided through a set path?
11. Will each course have a test or assessment?
    If yes, we’ll need to define scoring logic, pass rates, and retake options.
12. Can users pick up where they left off?
    This improves engagement, but requires specific platform support.
13. Do certificates need to be personalised?
    This adds value for users and may be essential for CPD.
14. Do you want to send automated reminders to users?
    For example: incomplete courses, upcoming deadlines, or new content alerts.
15. What admin-level reporting do you need?
    Completions, scores, time spent, drop-off points, all can inform ROI.
16. What CMS is your current website built on?
    This determines how easily the platform can be integrated or styled.
17. Do you need to connect user data to other platforms, like a CRM?
    This is key if you want to track learning as part of broader user journeys.

Next steps for e-learning 

Something off-the-shelf might deliver everything you need, based on your answer to these questions, but there's also a chance that an existing platform might offer too little or even too much. That's where something bespoke might suit you better. 

If you’re thinking about launching an e-learning platform or upgrading an existing one, we’d be happy to talk through your answers and help map the right path forward.

If you would like to know more about e-learning, contact Alice and the UP DIGITAL team here.  

E-learning isn’t just for traditional educators;  it can be a powerful tool for growth, loyalty, and efficiency across your business. Whether you're onboarding internal teams, training customers, or launching a new brand vision, a digital learning platform can help you scale, simplify, and strengthen engagement. In this post, we explore five ways e-learning can drive revenue, plus 17 practical questions to help you shape the right solution,  off-the-shelf or bespoke.

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