Hi Reader
In the last few weeks this newsletter has had one focus – AI in learning.
In this edition, I’ll explore the hidden cost of unstructured customer education, why AI won’t fix it for you, and how to know when it’s time to get intentional.
If you’re building a SaaS product, you’re also building a learning journey – even if no one owns it yet.
It shows up in onboarding calls, support tickets, sales decks, and partner enablement docs.
It’s happening everywhere – but without structure, strategy, or scale.
You can skip straight to the end for the TL;DR summary if you prefer!
As ever, if you want to take a look at my previous newsletters, you can find them HERE
Most SaaS companies are already running a Customer Education function.
They just don’t realise it, because no one’s formally responsible for it.
But it’s happening.
And it’s costing your business more than you think.
Here’s what “education in disguise” usually looks like:
- Onboarding delivered manually, customer by customer
- Support answering the same “how do I…” questions every week
- Sales circulating outdated decks and feature sheets
- Partners misaligned and unsure what’s changed
- Internal teams repeating themselves instead of scaling knowledge
None of this is unusual.
In fact, it’s a sign of success – your product is growing, your customers need clarity, and knowledge is becoming critical.
But without structure, all of this becomes noise.
And that noise gets very expensive.
The impact shows up in ways that hurt growth:
- Slower time-to-value
- Lower product adoption
- Rising support costs
- Burnt-out onboarding teams
- Inconsistent partner experiences
- Customers dropping off before they see value
And yes – AI might help. But only if you’re clear about what matters.
Founders often ask:
“Can’t we just have AI generate our education content?”
In part, yes.
AI can generate help articles, summarise workflows, and even simulate a coach.
But here’s what it can’t do:
- Define what actually matters to teach
- Prioritise content based on impact, not volume
- Design a learning experience across people, roles, and stages
- Adapt to messy internal systems, tech debt, or political blockers
If you give AI a vague brief, it gives you vague content.
If you build a clear education strategy, AI becomes an amplifier – not a fix.
What strong Customer Education actually delivers:
When done intentionally, education becomes a growth asset.
Here’s what I’ve seen it unlock:
- Faster onboarding (20–50% reduction in CS time)
- Higher product activation rates
- Fewer support tickets without increasing headcount
- Scalable partner enablement
- Sales velocity gains through better buyer education
- Better renewal and expansion outcomes, because customers succeed sooner
So what can you do next?
Here are two quick questions worth asking internally:
- Where are we currently relying on people to repeat information that could be systematised?
- What are our customers or partners struggling to understand on their own – and what’s that costing us?
If you can answer those two, you’re already halfway toward a customer education strategy.
You’re not building content. You’re building clarity and scale.
If you’re seeing signs that knowledge isn’t scaling as fast as your business—you’re not alone.
Most companies build education reactively. The best ones build it before it’s urgent.
If this struck a chord, hit reply.
I’d be happy to share a few ways to start small, without adding headcount.
TL;DR – You’re Already Doing Education. Just Not Intentionally.
- Most SaaS companies are running a Customer Education function – they just haven’t named it.
- Onboarding, support, CS, and even sales are delivering learning every day – but without structure or ownership.
- The result is friction: repeated effort, inconsistent messaging, rising support volume, and missed opportunities to scale.
- AI can support content creation, but it won’t build the strategy.
- The value comes from clarity: knowing what to teach, when to teach it, and how to do it at scale.
Key actions:
- Audit where education is already happening in your business (onboarding, CS, sales)
- Ask: who owns the learning journey today – and who should?
- Look for where AI can assist, but don’t assume it can lead
- You don’t need a full-scale academy to get started.
You just need to stop repeating yourselves – and start designing for scale.
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