If you use your learning management system to sell training, marketing is an important part of what you do — but you could be overlooking your most useful marketing tool.

For marketing analytics, you can use the same tools as every other successful eCommerce business, whether you sell to the public or only to your channel partners. You may have those tools embedded in your LMS or could be using a tool like Google Analytics.

If you sell certifications, you are probably tracking certification status and certification paths so you can fine-tune your messaging based on the next logical step for each user.

But If you are selling learning activities through your LMS, you have a tool at your disposal that other eCommerce businesses don’t have: the learner experience. It would be a strange customer indeed who would want to track goals, progress, and future activities in athletic socks, books, or Bluetooth headphones, but people seeking to learn are future oriented and focused on accomplishment. You can use that to create a unique experience.

People engage in learning because they have goals and aspirations. Whether you use a website, landing page, or learner portal, you can use tools at your disposal to create a user experience that builds on both their sense of achievement for what they have already done and their hope for what they can do in the future.

Consider how these page elements can help you create an experience your users will want to repeat.

• A relevant picture or graphic to create an initial welcoming experience.
• Progress indicators at the top of the page, like certifications completed, number of hours, courses completed, and other indicators of achievement.
• Announcements of upcoming new courses, certifications, or fields of study.
• A color-coded to-do list with direct links to the target activity.
• A user-customizable list of documents and resources.
• News and announcements on topics of interest based on the user’s activities.
• A training calendar synced with the user’s calendar.
• A display of courses in progress with progress indicators for each.
• Suggested courses based on the user’s job role, interests, or learning path.

Many learning management systems provide tools or widgets to help you build portal or landing page. Others provide a placeholder for you to create a custom web page.

If building your page requires programming and design skills you don’t have readily available, there is a better solution. Chasma, a newcomer to application platforms, is a marketplace for apps, integrators, visualizations and dashboards that can help you create a learner-centered experience without programming. The layout tools and components are designed for you, and the Chasma team helps you plug them into your landing page. You can create a unique user experience without the expense and development time of a custom solution.

Traditional training in the business enterprise is rapidly being replaced with learning delivered from a variety of sources to “where employees are.” That same trend is growing even faster in the extended enterprise and learning eCommerce. Whether you use your LMS, design it yourself, or use a plug-in tool like Chasma, the engagement, repeat business, and brand loyalty of a learner-centric experience can be well worth the effort.

Chasma Place, is an independent source for solutions that will help you keep pace with changes in the way your people work without ripping and replacing your existing systems.