Ultimate Guide to Learning Management Systems: Features, Examples, Best Practices (2024)

Learning Management Systems (LMS) have transformed the way that businesses and organizations engage, educate and empower their audiences. From generating revenue through online learning products to customer education, employee onboarding, lead generation and the delivery of certification programs, LMS platforms provide a centralized solution to manage, streamline and track all aspects of the learning and training process.

Whether you’re a startup looking to streamline your onboarding, a SaaS company wanting to improve customer retention, or a large enterprise looking to increase revenue or scale training for a global workforce, the right LMS can transform your operations, saving your team time and money.

In this blog post, we’ll give you a crash course on Learning Management Systems. We’ll discuss what they are, how they’re used, key features, use cases, and real-world success stories, equipping you to choose the ideal system for your needs. Keep reading to discover how LMS platforms can simplify training delivery, enhance engagement, and create measurable business impact.

Skip ahead to learn: 

• What they are and how they work, explained for different types and sizes of organizations
• What features they have
• LMS organization tips
• Pros and cons of LMSes
• Real use cases and examples of companies that use them to systematically educate groups of students
• Successful LMS launch tips for a frictionless project

What is an LMS? 

A Learning Management System (LMS), is a software platform and e-learning tool designed to create, manage and distribute learning content efficiently. 

It helps those delivering education online create, upload, manage, distribute, and track their training initiatives in one place.

Explained another way: You can think of an LMS as a virtual campus where learners access materials, complete courses, and track their progress—at their own pace and convenience.

Organizations use LMS platforms for a range of purposes, such as:

• Customer training – educating customers on how to use your product, or how to be successful in your industry
• Revenue generation: Offering paid courses for professional development or industry certifications.
• Lead generation – They’re also used for lead generation in content marketing, where all the good stuff can be accessed by subscribing
• Employee training – ie new hire onboarding, and learning and development, compliance training
• Compliance training – teaching important policies and guidelines that require a certificate of completion
• Continued education – many professionals are required to obtain continuing education credits. (If you figure out the qualifications for Continuing Education credits, you can start a training business to offer courses for these credits.
• LMS as a service – online course creators can sell access to a CMS full of pre-built training content, or create a white-labeled version of the system with custom branding
• Mobile learning – Offer training programs on the go with a custom-branded educational mobile app.

With options for cloud-based, self-hosted, and mobile-friendly solutions, LMS platforms cater to businesses of all sizes and industries.

This blog is packed full of real examples of LMS implementations – but first, let’s dive into some of the basics of learning management systems, including how they work, what features they have, and how they’re organized.

Related: 5 Steps to Kickstart Your Online Employee Education Program

Key benefits of an LMS

An effective Learning Management System (LMS) offers more than just a platform to host and deliver training—it’s a catalyst for success.  Below, we’ll explore the key benefits of adopting an LMS and how it can transform your approach to education and training.

• Streamlined onboarding and training
  Your team can simplify complex training processes by providing structured, easily accessible learning paths for employees, customers, or partners.
• Increased engagement and retention
  LMS platforms allow you to leverage interactive features like quizzes, surveys, and certifications to keep learners motivated and invested in their progress.
• Revenue growth
  Monetize your expertise by creating paid courses, offering subscription packages, or developing certification programs.
• Customer success
  Educated customers stay longer and are more likely to advocate for your brand. LMS tools help deliver customer education that improves customer self-efficacy, reduces churn and builds lasting loyalty.

The benefits of an LMS extend far beyond convenience. By improving onboarding, driving engagement, enabling revenue generation, and fostering customer success, a robust LMS can have a measurable impact on your bottom line.

Whether you aim to upskill your workforce, educate your customers, or monetize your expertise, investing in the right LMS is the first step toward scalable, impactful learning solutions. Ready to explore how an LMS can elevate your organization? Let’s make it happen.

How do Learning Management Systems work?

Learning Management Systems (LMS) act as a centralized platform for hosting, delivering, and tracking educational content. Trainers use LMS platforms to build libraries of learning modules—such as training videos, quizzes, and interactive lessons—tailored to specific audiences. These modules are assigned to users or groups, forming structured learning programs that are easy to manage and monitor.

Through the LMS, instructors can track learner progress, assess performance through tests and quizzes, and identify areas where students may need additional support. This data ensures that training programs meet their objectives effectively.

Modern LMS platforms are typically deployed as cloud-based software for ease of access and maintenance, though self-hosted and desktop app options are also available. Your choice of deployment should depends on your business or organization’s size, technical expertise, and need for frequent updates.

Common LMS distribution models include:

• Cloud Software – In exchange for a recurring fee, your LMS provider maintains and updates the software. Usually charged per-user, or based on buckets of users.
• Licensing – You’re able to download the software or host it on your own network for a licensing fee for as many users as you’d like. However, you may need to pay for updates and technical resources to implement and maintain the system.

An LMS not only simplifies content delivery but also provides insights into learner engagement and program success, making it a powerful tool for any organization looking to elevate its training initiatives.

LMS tool options for a wide variety of use cases:

1. Best Learning Management Systems of 2023
   • 10 Best Mobile Learning Management Systems (LMS)
   • Best Enterprise LMS System Options (2023 Update)
   • Top 6 Best Training Management Systems (Features and Top Providers)
   • Top Compliance Training Software Options: Picking the Best LMS for Compliance Training
2. For customer success
   • Top Customer Engagement Platforms to Build Connection & Loyalty
   • Best Customer Success Software, Platforms, and Tools.
   • The 10 Best LMS for Customer Training & Education

Main features of a Learning Management System

To meet the diverse needs of instructors and learners, LMS platforms come equipped with a range of essential features and advanced functionalities. These features ensure ease of use, engagement, and adaptability, making an LMS an indispensable asset for organizations of any size.

Let’s break down the must-have capabilities that form the foundation of any great LMS and explore additional features that elevate the learning experience:

Basic features and functions

A well-equipped LMS empowers you and your team to streamline course creation, manage learners effectively, and gain actionable insights. Here’s how:

1. Create and update training modules 

A solid LMS will have functionality that allows you and your team to easily design courses with intuitive tools, creating individual lessons, chapters, and training paths. Drag-and-drop functionality ensures that updating and rearranging content to fit changing needs is straightforward.

2. Importing lessons and students 

Save time by importing your team’s existing training materials—whether they’re videos, PDFs, or audio files—directly into the LMS. You can also upload student lists in bulk, avoiding the hassle of manual entry and getting your learners started faster.

3. Manage users and control their access levels

Assign roles and permissions to ensure everyone on your team, from admins to analysts, can collaborate efficiently while protecting sensitive information. This functionality makes it easy to maintain control and customize user experiences.

4. Quizzes, activities, and assessments

Keep your team and learners engaged with interactive quizzes, surveys, and activities. These features test comprehension and break up lessons to make the experience more engaging.

5. Reporting and analytics 

Your team can access detailed analytics insights on learner progress, engagement, and completion rates. These reports provide the data you need to refine your programs and showcase ROI to stakeholders.

6. Course calendar and due dates

Plan and track learning milestones with integrated calendars and automated reminders for upcoming deadlines. This ensures your team stays organized and learners remain accountable.

7. Certificates and badges

Motivate your learners with certifications and badges that recognize their achievements. You and your team can create branded certificates and issue them automatically with platforms like Thinkific Plus, reinforcing their success and encouraging continued learning.

8. Drip content and module delivery

A drip schedule allows you to control when students will have access to your course content, whether you have a specific launch date or want to limit the amount of lessons that can be viewed in a certain time period. Control the flow of learning by scheduling when students access specific lessons. This allows your team to guide learners through structured content at an ideal pace.

9. Email or SMS reminders

Boost engagement by setting up automated notifications for learners, reminding them to complete tasks or encouraging them to stay on track. Your team can ensure everyone remains informed and motivated.

10. Social Learning features

Foster collaboration with community spaces and discussion boards and live chats where learners can connect with peers or instructors. These features allow your team to build a community that encourages shared learning and deeper engagement.

Advanced LMS Features

1. Multilingual support

Ensure inclusivity and accessibility with multilingual options. Whether supporting global teams or operating in bilingual regions, an LMS with robust language support empowers your team to deliver consistent training across diverse audiences.

2. H5P support

H5P makes it easy to create rich interactive learning experiences using HTML5. With H5P you can introduce gamification and other interactive content into your LMS. This content would replace the content you’d typically find in a lesson (text, video, audio, or slides).

3. Open API or App Marketplace

Customization is key for adapting your LMS to unique workflows. With an open API, your team can integrate the LMS with essential business tools like CRMs or analytics platforms. Thinkific’s App Store makes this even easier, offering pre-built integrations that extend functionality without requiring technical expertise.

4. Tin Can (AKA Experience API) and its predecessor, SCORM

Resources for LMS Procurement, Evaluation, Implementation

1. 1. LMS Platform Buyer’s Guide
   2. LMS Evaluation Checklist: Choosing the Best Learning Management System (Criteria Template)
   3. Your Must-Have LMS Implementation Project Plan (Downloadable Checklist)
   4. LMS Testing Checklist

How to organize your LMS

What are the pros and cons of using a Learning Management System?

LMS Benefits

1. Streamlined training, all in one place

Centralizing all your learning assets means that you can train more people with fewer resources. Once the majority of your modules are created, they can be assigned by managers or HR staff with the click of a button. Instead of teaching the same classes over and over again, the training manager’s time is freed up to focus on bigger and better things like assessing skill gaps and strategizing how to close them.

2. Track training progress and nudge students towards completion

With in-person training, all you know on a daily basis is whether or not your students attended and participated. An LMS will allow you to keep track of learning progress across a much larger group — A simple report will tell you how far your students have progressed, where they’re behind, and their quiz scores tell you how well they’re learning.  If someone’s behind on their lessons, you can nudge them along with reminders.

3. They can deliver a range of learning experiences

LMSs will all have the ability to add all the content formats you’d expect, like voiceovers, videos, slides, text, and quizzes. But they’re also getting into some teaching methods you may not expect. 

Some LMSs are getting into interactivity and gamification, which make for a more engaging learning experience by bringing your students away from the slides and into real-world situations.  The one drawback of this kind of learning, from personal experience: a simple lesson on how to spot phishing emails can take way longer than necessary as you wait for the animations and chat dialogue to complete.

4. They enable blended Learning

LMSs complement blended learning, where students can dive into materials on their own and then put their knowledge into practice or ask questions in live group-based sessions.

LMS Challenges

1. You can’t just flip a switch

Implementing an LMS requires time and some technical resources, depending on how much customization you need. All LMSs will allow you to import content, but if it’s your first time implementing one and your materials are primarily documents and powerpoints, then it will take time to transfer them into the format you need.

But as the saying goes, “if you are willing to do only what’s easy, life will be hard.”  Instead of worrying about the time an LMS will cost you, consider how much time you’re spending teaching the same materials over and over again, instead of identifying and closing new skill gaps.

2. You have to adapt your training style

It’s easy in a live setting to break things up with a question, and you can read the room to see if everyone’s with you.  

Instructors used to face-to-face teaching need to be willing and able to adapt their teaching methods to effectively teach online in a live setting, and will rely on reporting to understand where their students are at.

3. They can be impersonal

The lack of live Q/A and student-instructor dialogue can make learning through LMS quite dry. Instructors should switch things up by using a variety of content, and transition between topics using activities and quizzes. For those that need some live interaction, most reputable LMSs can facilitate live lessons.

4. They don’t accommodate all learning styles

It’s difficult for an LMS to accommodate all learning styles, particularly those who learn by talking through a problem with their instructor or peers. 

Who uses Learning Management Systems?

LMS platforms are versatile tools, addressing a broad spectrum of use cases across industries. Whether the goal is customer education, revenue generation, partner training, or employee development, the key is aligning your LMS with your organization’s unique objectives.

Here’s how these systems can cater to diverse goals in different sectors:

Large Organizations

For large enterprises, scaling training across a global workforce and customer base can be a logistical challenge.

An LMS allows organizations to centralize training materials, maintain consistency, and ensure employees and customers across all locations receive the same high-quality education. By standardizing onboarding, compliance training, and skill development, companies can boost efficiency and stay ahead in fast-paced markets.

SaaS Companies 

Education plays a pivotal role in helping SaaS companies retain customers and drive adoption.

With an LMS, these businesses can onboard new customers effectively, deliver training that demystifies complex features, and create opportunities for upselling premium offerings. An LMS also supports SaaS companies in rapidly updating training materials to reflect product changes, ensuring users always have access to the latest resources.

Small to Mid-Sized Businesses (SMEs)

SMEs often operate with limited resources, making efficiency a top priority.

An LMS helps these businesses streamline training, reduce the need for in-person sessions, and make education accessible to employees or clients on demand. By investing in an LMS, SMEs can grow their capabilities without overextending their teams, laying a strong foundation for scalable operations.

A report by OECD confirmed what you might expect to be holding them back: 

1. Resources

If you’re an SME, you probably don’t have endless resources to create and implement training. You’ll be competing for budget against other parts of the business, like sales and marketing, who have a tangible ROI that they can tout.  The other part of the resourcing equation is the impact of taking someone off the job for training; a challenge for smaller businesses because it could slow down production

2. Buy-in

Many managers view the benefits of training as intangible, so if learning and development isn’t baked into the culture of your organization, you’ll need to build a business case and get buy-in.

You can’t just pile the responsibility on HR or managers, who should be recruiting new talent and running the business, not running training sessions all day.  An LMS can help you create and scale your training programs without costing a ton of money, or bogging down your staff.

Consultants and freelancers

For consultants and freelancers, an LMS offers a way to scale their services beyond one-on-one engagements.

By turning expertise into self-paced courses, they can generate passive income, add value to client engagements, and broaden their impact. LMS platforms also make it easy to update and tailor training materials to meet evolving client needs.

Nonprofits and Healthcare Organizations

Mission-driven organizations rely on education to amplify their impact.

An LMS helps nonprofits and healthcare providers deliver training to diverse audiences, from volunteers to patients. These systems also simplify compliance training for staff and offer cost-effective ways to provide certification programs, extending their reach and influence.

The LMS advantage

Across sectors, LMS platforms empower organizations to meet their unique training challenges head-on. By delivering consistent, scalable, and impactful education, LMS systems enable businesses and institutions to unlock growth, improve outcomes, and stay competitive in today’s fast-changing landscape.

Learning management system use cases and examples

At this point, you may be wondering what a Learning Management System can do for you. Or maybe you’re already sold, but need to convince others at your company of the value of investing in an LMS over and beyond the presentations you’ve created.

To show you the range of use cases and success stories, we’ve handpicked a few scenarios and examples of companies who are investing in implementing LMSs across a wide range of use cases, including:

• Customer education
• Employee training
• Academic programs
• Revenue generation and lead generation

Next, we’ll dive into their motives for creating their LMS, their unique requirements, and key considerations that influenced their LMS platform decisions.

Customer Education

Like any technical product, there’s a learning curve that users will need to get through before they’re hooked on your product. Every moment spent aimlessly trying to figure out how to use your product brings your customer one step closer to churning (aka canceling) – and providing 24/7 1-on-1 support simply isn’t scalable.

So using an LMS for customer education strategy is a great way to help your customers get an early win, so you can activate and retain them.

Here’s an example of a company using LMS for customer education:

LANSA: LMS for a scaleable customer education program

Lansa’s low-code platform helps developers create applications by reducing the need to code things by hand.

Although they had written documentation, there was a lot of demand from their customers for a formal learning experience. 

Initially, they sold blocks of time with their mentorship team on how to use the product. But they quickly found that the mentorship hours weren’t being utilized in the best way – Customers didn’t want to use their valuable mentorship hours learning the basics. The LANSA team also found customers frequently asked the same questions as they got to know the technology better – which could be useful to other new customers as they onboarded if packaged together in an online training course.

It was clear that an LMS was the key to helping their customers learn how to use their tools – from vision to implementation – and, on the same note, help improve conversion rates for free trial users. But they didn’t see their previous LMS provider scaling with them.

“We were at the point where releases from our product team started coming out fast, and our product documentation was coming out even faster – yet, our e-learning system updates weren’t keeping up,”  said LANSA’s Product Marketing Manager, Anthony Graham. “We felt that we didn’t have room to grow without spending a lot more money. So, we decided to look at some other platforms.”

LANSA began outreach to other platforms and quickly decided to make the switch to Thinkific Plus because of the team’s quick response time and flexible features that fit the company’s high-growth needs.

We were able to scale with Thinkific Plus easily. The ability to work with the team and have pricing bands instead of users in case the trial experience takes off was key.Anthony Graham, Product Marketing Manager at LANSA.

Takeaway: Your LMS should be able to scale with your business.  Pick an LMS vendor with top-notch support and flexible pricing buckets that can handle lots of users without costing you a fortune.

Employee Training

A study by Accenture on the ROI of their employee training found a 353% return on every dollar spent on training. 

Employee training brings your new hires up to speed and helps your existing employees continually learn new technical and leadership skills to reach new levels in their careers.

It’s difficult to really know where all your trainees are at, but an LMS can give trainers much more visibility on the progress of their trainees — who’s ahead or falling behind? Are they actually absorbing anything? All these and more are questions that can be answered by LMS analytics.

Learning Management Systems also help HR teams instill essential company characteristics like culture, values, and goals in recruits.

Companies at any size have their own unique challenges and reasons for investing in an LMS:

Employee training in large enterprises

Providing training to thousands of employees is a large enough task without COVID complicating things.

The challenge many trainers are having lately is adapting their training programs to support remote employees; making Learning Management Systems more attractive than ever. But remote onboarding isn’t the only reason why large companies need to consider implementing an LMS.

If you’re training at a large company, you know how much time you spend teaching the same materials over and over again, in front of new groups of glazed over eyes who can’t wait to dive into their role.

Large organizations have specific LMS requirements, like:

1. the ability to customize and integrate their LMS with an existing network of user logins
2. managing training cohorts across multiple departments
3. advanced analytics on training progress
4. volume discounts to handle a high number of users without costing a fortune

In order to implement their training programs, companies may need to bring together stakeholders with technical expertise, training experience, and functional expertise together – so it’s important to choose an LMS provider that can assign them a dedicated account support rep that can guide the team to a successful launch.

3sHealth needed a way to help implement a training system for 45,000+ healthcare employees – everyone from payroll to frontline nurses and nurse practitioners. Thinkific Plus was the answer to their LMS challenges because of the dedicated support and the level of customization they needed.

They were able to implement cohort-based training programs to train all groups of employees.

Instead of giving their users yet another login to remember, they used Thinkific’s Single Sign On (SSO) integration – When a new user profile is created in their system, the same login can be used for their LMS.

Small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs)

SMEs are the perfect LMS candidates – large enough to have specific training requirements, but small enough for resources to be a challenge.

B Lab is a nonprofit organization that helps businesses become Certified B Corporations – in other words, companies that meet the highest standards of balancing profit and social purpose.

They needed a Learning Management System to help them train internal staff and global partners. Their LMS helps them onboard new trainees and provide refresher courses to existing staff, along with people and culture training.

LMS as a Service

Why reinvent the wheel?  There are many companies that build training programs that companies can purchase to educate their employees. 

The Corporate Finance Institute (CFI) is a leading global provider of online financial modeling and valuation courses for financial analysts. CFI has two ways of delivering their product – employees can take their training through a CFI-branded LMS, but what makes CFI unique is that organizations can white-label the LMS with their own branding.

They’ve used an LMS to train over 600,000 students on how to become world-class financial analysts, and their courses are trusted by institutions such as Deloitte, HSBC, and Amazon to upskill their employees.

CFI’s founder and CEO, Tim Vipond quickly realized the power of online training after teaching in-person financial analysis classes. 

When we first launched CFI, I was still doing some classroom training. It became very clear that every hour I put into creating an online course could benefit thousands more people than just teaching in-person, Tim Vipond, Founder and CEO of CFI

To ensure participation and completion from their students, CFI’s courses include interactive and community elements like financial modeling competitions, case studies, quizzes, and mentoring opportunities.

CFI’s favorite Thinkific Plus features include:

• Dedicated account management
• Easily create examinations and certifications
• Easy content upload and edits

LMS in academic institutions

If anyone needs an LMS, it’s definitely academic institutions, especially during COVID. 

But this one’s tricky because there are other systems at play in the tech-stack of a school. An LMS is one of many tools used by educational institutions. 

For one, an LMS is not the same thing as a student management system, which acts as the core database for school operations; handling things like admissions, billing, analytics. But that’s not even close to reflecting the number of tools and digital training investments in the modern ed-tech landscape.

Universities and colleges are using LMSs in a variety of ways.

Sometimes an LMS is used in parallel with a larger program, to facilitate blended learning and the flipped classroom. For example, where students learn theory at home, and then put it into practice in the classroom under the watchful eye of their instructor. 

More recently, they’re also being used to open entirely new avenues of demand-led learning through Short Courses, like the University of Tasmania and Sault College.

University of Tasmania’s LMS for short courses

To learn more about the team and strategy behind this beautifully designed LMS site, we spoke to Karen Edwards, the  Short Courses coordinator at the University of Tasmania.

At first we were expecting to speak with a university using LMS as an alternative to their traditional programs. But Karen Edwards, coordinator for their Short Course Unit, had something different in mind. 

The beauty of short courses is that we can rapidly develop content and put it out there. To develop a new course in the university, there’s a much more rigorous process involved. Short courses, we can fulfill a need, build a business case, build the course, and offer it within three weeks. Karen Edwards, short courses coordinator at University of Tasmania

Many other universities are creating short courses as a bite-sized way to up-skill, without taking an exhaustive program. This is particularly useful in a few ways

• Prerequisites – Students looking to take prerequisite courses that lead to enrollment in a larger program
• Industry Skill Gaps – Companies, governments, and industries looking to partner with universities to  address knowledge gaps
• Continuing Education – Post-grads who need continuing education credits

Before setting out to launch their pilot program, the university’s use of online learning management tools was more ad-hoc and siloed for individual purposes.

In 2018, they set out to launch a pilot program to capitalize on the growing demand for short courses.  This was the first time they made a distinct intent to consolidate their online teaching activities to create a brand, and a quality product that existed outside of their core programs and student enrollment systems. 

To do this, they created a small, lean, centralized team to develop a one-stop-shop for online learning resources, and started searching for the tools they needed to launch their LMS. 

Here were a few considerations made during their hunt for the perfect LMS:

• It needed to have a seamless enrollment and payment process, completely different from how universities typically handle enrollment.
• Since they were launching a pilot program, and working towards getting buy-in, it had to be affordable.
• It had to integrate with Stripe to process payments, and Accredible to generate certificates.
• It needed to be customizable to give them the flexibility to create exactly what they wanted.

They quickly landed on Thinkific, based on price, adaptability, ease of use.

Related: How to Find a LMS for your Growing Business (with downloadable guide)

Sault College’s LMS to facilitate training partnerships and alternatives to in-person learning

Sault College wanted to branch out to an e-learning system and give access to those users who couldn’t attend an in-person training session at the campus. Beyond that, they also wanted to work with partners to add more content to their site. They wanted a platform that they could use to easily build content on and release quickly without heavily relying on technical resources.

Their LMS requirements were very similar to the University of Tasmania because it had to be customizable, and integrate with Accredible to generate certificates.

Access to a dedicated customer success manager and unlimited site admins were also factored into their decision to use Thinkific Plus as their LMS provider.

Tips for planning your LMS launch

The following tips will help you in the time leading up to and after your launch.

Before you start building

Here are a few checks you can do before you start building to ensure your project runs smoothly.

Do a training needs analysis.

A training needs analysis will help you understand the job your LMS needs to do. It’s helpful to understand the transformation your students need to make from (A) their current reality to (B) their desired future.

Engage stakeholders

This is especially important when implementing an LMS for an organization where there are multiple stakeholders. Engage all the stakeholders that are either helping you build the system, or benefit from it. 

Probe managers for any onboarding hiccups they have and get a solid understanding of their training and development goals. 

Engage the team helping you build the system, and make sure everyone knows their roles. The RACI matrix is a helpful way of assigning roles. Make sure the timelines work for everyone’s schedule and that your project isn’t competing with other major initiatives that could take their focus away.

Take the agile approach: start with a minimum viable product

Feedback from early users can help shape future iterations of your system and help you avoid time wasted building things based on assumptions.

A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is the most basic version of what you’re trying to build without all the bells and whistles or an entire library of training content. It’s basically a way to break up any large undertaking into smaller bite-sized sprints – allowing you to incorporate feedback into your product much earlier in the process. 

Instead of building the perfect end solution for all users, start out small with an MVP for a pilot group. 

For example, pick one department to launch with. Incorporate their feedback into the next iterations, and continue getting feedback from other groups of trainees you branch out to.

Before you launch

At this point, your system is built, and you’re getting ready to release it to the world. Here are a few things to check to make sure your launch isn’t a flop.

Train your users on how to use the system

 A learning management system is a powerful learning tool if people know how to use it, so make sure to brief new users on how to login and navigate the system to access their training materials. Make sure managers understand the system and their role in running it. A simple training manual can save you a lot of time answering basic questions like “What is my login?” or “Which training should I do first?”

Test, test, and then test again

Few things are more frustrating than working hard to launch a system, only to find out that something’s not working the way you expected it to. Here are a few things to test before you launch:

User Experience

Test the entire process of adding a test user, and assigning them training content. Make sure they get the welcome email and that it’s not going to spam. Log in as them to ensure that it works as expected, and that they were assigned the correct training content.

Compatibility

Try using the system with a few different web browsers, including Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer (Yes, internet explorer still exists). If you plan on letting users access the LMS from their phone, make sure nothing crazy happens for mobile users. For example, sometimes tables and images don’t behave as they should on smaller screens.

Related:

• LMS Testing Checklist
• Your Must-Have LMS Implementation Guide (with downloadable checklist)

Conclusion

Hopefully, by now you have a good grasp of what Learning Management Systems are, and what they can do for you. But you still may be wondering which LMS to go with, or how you’ll get a budget approved.

Well, Thinkific makes that decision easy for small teams. You can test all of our core features, and build up to three training courses for free. Try it today! 

If you’re a larger organization with a need for enterprise solutions and a dedicated account rep,  book a call with our enterprise team to see if Thinkific Plus is for you.

This guide was originally published November 2020, and was updated August 2023 to be even more useful.