Improving the LMS user experience is essential for higher user acquisition and retention. Keep reading to learn about the best practices and easy solutions.
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Since the dramatic boom in 2020, the demand for online courses has been on the up and up. Now, everyone from post-grads to lifelong learners is signing up to expand their skill set or find a new hobby.
And thanks to the amazing features of learning management systems (LMS), almost any form of learning can now be taught online.
While features are almost the same in every LMS, why don’t they see equal conversion, user acquisition, and customer retention for their company?
There might be a few reasons behind this, but guess which is the most crucial one?
–– Bad user experience.
No matter how good your LMS system is or how advanced the features are, it all comes down to whether users can effortlessly navigate through them. If they can’t, all your efforts will always go in vain.
That’s why we’ll talk about how you can improve the LMS user experience for your users. Keep reading to learn about the best practices and what you need to do.
Importance of Improved LMS User Experience
improving your Learning Management System (LMS) user experience is important for making students and teachers more efficient and comfortable.
A well-designed LMS can attract students, make navigation easier, and ensure users can quickly find the necessary tools.
By putting user experience first, you can get the most out of your LMS, leading to better learning results and higher user satisfaction rates.
Here are a few reasons why you should not overlook the importance of improved LMS user experience:
Increased Engagement 👀
An easy-to-use and appealing interface makes people want to engage with your LMS more often, as they find navigating through the content, quizzes, and settings easier.
Better Accessibility 💻
Less complicated browsing and well organized content make it easier for everyone to access educational materials from your website easily.
Higher Retention Rates 📈
If users have a good experience, they are more likely to keep using your LMS. As a result, the number of people who drop out will decrease. As a bonus, you might even see a rise in students brought in by existing users.
Improved Efficiency ⚡
Streamlined methods and resources that are easy to get to save time for both students and teachers, letting them focus more on the lessons themselves.
Better Learning Outcomes 💯
When users can easily connect with the LMS, they are more likely to really engage with the material, which helps them understand and remember it better.
Best Practices for Improved LMS User Experience
So now that you’re aware of all the reasons to improve user experience in your online course, it’s time to learn about the best practices. We’ve compiled a list of the best practices to help you make positive and impactful changes to your LMS.
1. Social Login
When did you last enter your username and password anywhere to log in to any website?
If you’re having a hard time remembering when, you’re not alone.
More and more people are getting used to one click social logins. Social login streamlines the login process by allowing users to sign in using their existing social media accounts.
This generation of users wants social login features everywhere, including their LMS accounts.
Simplifying the registration process can lead to higher enrollment rates and more engagement for your LMS.
2. Gamification
Who doesn’t love a bit of competition? Especially while learning something new. And that psychology works really well in order to create engagement among your users. But what exactly is LMS gamification?
Well, simply, it’s adding elements to your LMS so your users get a sense of achievement as they pass each stage or complete a lesson. These elements can be points, badges, leaderboards, etc.
This approach can lead to improved retention and a more enjoyable learning experience.
3. Progress Tracking
Climbing a hill is easier when you can look back and see how far you've come – and the same applies to completing a course!
You must provide progress-tracking facilities to encourage users to learn more from your LMS site. Visual indicators such as progress bars, completion percentages, and milestones can be some of the most efficient ways to track progress.
This transparency boosts confidence and encourages continued effort towards completing the course.
4. Mobile-Friendliness
.Give your students the opportunity to chip away at their module at the bus stop, in a queue, at the salon, or anywhere that’s away from their desk with a mobile-responsive design.
Over 70% of LMS users are more interested in learning from their mobile devices than from their computers.
So, it’s safe to assume that a large portion of your user base is also accessing your platform from mobile devices.
Having a mobile-responsive design is essential to accommodate their expectation.
To keep the mobile users coming back to your LMS, you must ensure a fantastic experience for them.If your users feel comfortable navigating through your LMS regardless of what device they are using, you will automatically become their go-to choice.
5. Use of White Space
The importance of white space in any form of design or written content is hard to overestimate.
White space can increase readability and lessen the cognitive load significantly. And since your users are primarily learners and spend quite a bit of time on the web pages, you must ensure proper white spacing.
It’ll help to declutter the interface and allow your users to focus on the content without feeling overwhelmed.
Overall, proper use of white space will make your LMS content look visually appealing and make navigation easier for the users.
6. Personalized Resource Hub
Giving each one of your LMS members a personalized experience is the cherry on the cake .
But when it comes to LMS user experience, personalization doesn’t mean addressing them by name and remembering their birthdays – it’s about carving out space for them to easily access materials and lessons.
For example, you could create a post for each member that only they can access. From there give them easy access to videos, key resources, shortcuts to lessons, anything that will make their navigation easier.
7. Interactive Content
In this world of short attention spans, you have no option but to be interactive with your content. While you may be full of ideas, what if your LMS is your ultimate obstacle?
You want to develop interactive content like quizzes, videos, etc. But the LMS you use doesn’t support all forms of content.
You’ll start losing users gradually as they’ll get bored of your content and move to somewhere else where more interactive content is offered.
Improve LMS User Experience with WishList Member
Now that you know the best practices of improving LMS user experience, it’s time to start implementing them.
Though it’s not exactly rocket science, we understand if you feel overwhelmed about how to get started.
That’s why we have an easy solution for you – a solution that can not only help you implement the best practices but also make your job easier. Now, what’s that solution?
WishList Member
It is the ultimate customizable WordPress LMS plugin with extended features for running a membership website. Unlike most other learning management systems, this one doesn’t limit you to a few common features.
Rather, it has the exact features to attract new users to your business and keep them engaged with an interactive user experience.
One Tap Social Media Login for Easier Access
This feature is as simple as it sounds, but most LMSs don’t have it yet. But the wait is over for WishList Member users.
WishList Member allows you to set up social login via the following social media accounts: Google, Facebook, Twitter, and WordPress.
It makes coming back to your platform effortless for your members, keeping their experience frictionless from the very start.
Intuitive Course Builder
All WishList Member plans include access to the CourseCure Courses add-on. This add-on enables you to create unlimited courses with an intuitive builder.
Break your course into easily digestible lessons and modules, and use WordPress's Gutenberg editor to add videos and interactive elements into each lesson.
Room for Gamification to Create More Engagement
As long as you make your users feel that learning is fun, they’ll keep coming back to your website. And with WishList Member, there are excellent scopes for LMS gamification.
Let’s start with none other than the most engaging points and badges add-ons. With these add-ons, your users can earn points upon completing actions on your course such as finishing a lesson, module, or completing a quiz. You can also award points for engagement across your site such as commenting in a forum or leaving a comment.
To give your students a more visual and tangible sense of achievement by awarding badges. You can set up badges for joining a level, completing a course, earning a certain number of points, and more!
Badges and points give your users a sense of accomplishment and keeps them coming back for more. As a result, your overall retention rate goes up.
Progress Tracking Feature to Keep Users in the Loop
When learning something, it's essential to keep track of progress. WishList Member lets your users do this effortlessly.
As your learners complete lessons, they'll get an overview of their progress within both the module and the overall course. Best of all, this requires zero setup on your part – it's built right into every course built with WishList Member.
Here you can see the Course Progress bar for a birds eye view of overall progress…
and here you can see the Module Progress bar visible from within each lesson…
Optimized for All Devices
WishList Member makes all of your content easily accessible regardless of what devices your users are using. The main differentiator that makes this LMS more user-friendly is the enhanced customizing feature.
That’s where WishList Member is on another level. WishList Member Courses and Quizzes are fully mobile-responsive.
Since you can customize almost everything with the help of built-in integration, you don’t need to follow any specific rules strictly. You can better cater to all sorts of audiences according to their likings.
Create Private, Personalized Pages for Each Student
Remember that personalized resource hub we mentioned earlier? WishList Member's Trigger and Actions feature you can automatically create a pay–per-post specially for each learner as they sign up for membership on your site!
First create a pay-per-post to serve as a template, filled with relevant resources for your course and each membership level.
You could, for example, embed an appointment booking form with JotForm for VIP members, include exclusive downloadable content tailored to their membership level.
The possibilities are limitless. Just think about how you can leverage this unique feature to create a standout user experience for your learners.
Integration Facilities to Take Advantage of Other Tools
No one is the best at everything, but when you the option to get help from the bests as well, you are unstoppable. WishList Members have this psychology behind and guess how many tools they have integration with?
Over 80 in-built integrations + 1000s more possibilities with Zapier.
Yes, you saw the number right. And the things you can do with such integration facilities are unimaginable.
You want to set up an easier payment method? Well, you have over 20 options to choose from.
What about sending emails? 20+ providers to choose from.
Last but not least, 27 other tools have also been added to the integration pipeline including:
- Divi and Elementor page builder plugins
- Easy Affiliate program plugin
- MonsterInsights analytics plugin
- EasyWebinar
- Slack
- And more.
All this just so you don’t have to look elsewhere while using WishList Member. It truly is the all-in-one solution for your LMS needs and beyond.
Start Improving Your LMS User Experience Today
When you ensure a better LMS user experience, you’re not doing the users a favor, you’re doing your brand a favor as well. The better user experience you can provide, the more people you’ll be able to retain.
By implementing best practices such as social login, gamification, progress tracking, interactive content, etc., you can create a more engaging, accessible, and efficient learning environment.
If you are having difficulties exploring various features due to the LMS you use, maybe it’s time to upgrade to a new one. An LMS that is easy to migrate into and has all the features you need can be an excellent choice.
Given its features, WishList Member can be an excellent option for you. Its integration capabilities will be the cherry on top for ensuring the ultimate LMS experience for your users. Find the best WishList Member plan for you and get started today.
Got any tips or ideas on how to improve LMS user experience? We'd love to hear them. Share them with the WishList Member community in the comments section below.
And don't forget to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn for more expert advice and tips to maximize your online course’s potential.
