512 Problem Analysis and Standards

8/2/2019 512 Problem Analysis and Standards

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[Communication

Strategies for New

Customer Retention]

Course Design Document

Latanya Blakley

EdTech 512 Online Course

Design (Fall 2011)


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PROBLEM ANALYSIS

Introduction

This instructional design document is created for the management team of KNA, a

service-based franchise organization. The project plan herein will be used for the

creation of an online course for franchisees of the local Branch Office with potential

deployment to other branches in the Region. Investigation of the existing professional

development options revealed that this course will be the first online course of its kind

for the franchisees. Franchisees receive extensive training prior to opening their

business, yet no other online communications related courses exist. The available

materials are workshop based and designed to be delivered in a short workshop format.

All franchise owners are expected to complete a certain number of professional

development credits each year. This course will be eligible for professionaldevelopment credits.

Problem Symptoms and Root Causes

The branch is responsible for consulting with more than 90 franchise owners to confirm

proper practices and support their growth and profitability. In addition to qualitative

feedback, each month franchisees receive a report that outlines key statistics about

their franchise. As with any business, a significant investment of time and effort is

involved in acquiring a new customer, therefore the areas on which the franchise

performance is measured are enrollment, quality and retention. The company hasconducted studies on the aspects of successful franchises to determine what makes

them profitable. While there are several factors that contribute to overall profitability, the

following has been noted with regards to retention: franchises with strong 1-year

retention of customers tend to be most profitable. Therefore, the company established

a set of baseline goals for each franchise to work towards which includes 1-year

retention of 70% (cumulative).

The monthly report referenced above also outlines the 3-, 6- and 9-month retention

statistics for each business. When reviewing the branch reports, the management team

noticed that some business owners were having trouble maintaining strong retention

numbers in these categories representing less than one year. At least 25% of

franchises had 3-month retention below at or 80%. It is apparent that to achieve the 1-

year retention goals, business owners must work to retain customers in the early

months of the customers life cycle.


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To research the issue further, the branch turned to customer exit surveys from the past

year. Three main reasons for customer attrition emerged from the exit surveys:

financial issues, lack of understanding of the service, poor communication with the

franchise owner. The first factor is typically beyond the control of the business owner,

although there is an opportunity to share the financial hardship options available to

customers. Opportunities to address the latter two reasons happen in the form of

customer communication meetings such as the orientation and customer conferences.

This instructional designer conducted a qualitative review of these communications

through observation and discussions with branch support staff and found that they are

often unorganized and inconsistent in the timing and messages being conveyed.

To summarize, the survey results combined with the 3- month retention statistics and

the current condition of customer communications reveal the main symptoms

associated with the root cause of poor communication between the business owner and

the customer.

Problem Statement

Communication issues appear to be a major contributor to customer attrition. Currently,

there exists no ongoing instruction to properly guide existing business owners through

the proper communication strategies to increase customer retention. Franchise owners

need guidance on the best way to implement consistent and effective communication to

new customers.

Table 1 provides a summary of the actual performance and the desired optimalperformance. The gap between these levels of performance identifies the problem.

Actuals Problems (Gap) Optimals

Inconsistent and

unorganized initial

communication

Communication skills are

weak and there is no plan

for consistency in

communication

Strong initial

communication and the

ability to execute consistent

communication

3-month retention of 80%

or lower

Customer attrition well

before the 1-year period

3-month retention of 100%

Table 1.


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Instructional Solution

The key to solving these problems involves providing the learning opportunities needed

for franchise owners to increase their communication proficiency. Communication skills

can be learned and enhanced through instruction, which is an appropriate solution for

closing the knowledge gaps.

Though classroom and blended instruction could be as effective, this instructional

solution fits well into a WBI strategy. One example of this is because the majority of

learners are familiar with computers and the Internet due to the frequent use of these

tools in their business. Franchisees are currently accessing professional development

courses via a new company LMS (which recently replaced Moodle) and through

participating in or accessing the recorded links to Adobe Connect webinars. Other

online tools used include Google Docs and a franchisee portal for accessing reports and

other information pertinent to the business. In essence, online tools and instruction isnot a novel concept for the franchisees. In fact, the asynchronous nature of many of the

LMS courses and Adobe Connect webinars are preferred because of the flexibility they

provide.

There are various benefits for delivering this instructional solution via the web, such as:

Deploying the course via the web prevents the need for coordinating schedules.

Learners can take the courses when and where they desire.

Eliminates the costs associated with travel and venue rental.

Learners can control the pace of the course to some degree, giving them the

opportunity to move past familiar content or review content as needed.

This course will be created as individual modules, however, they must be taken in

chronological order due to the procedural knowledge that will be conveyed and

scaffolded. Students in this WBI would receive the resources, interaction, feedback and

practice afforded in other types of instructional media.

Instructional Goal Statement

Upon completing this WBI, learners will be able to effectively execute a communication

plan with all incoming customers and for the first three months of a customers life cycle.

The learning outcome for this instructional goal will be at the intellectual skill level of

procedures which is derived from Gagnes Categories of Learning.


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Context Analysis

Organizational Infrastructure

Currently, the company has a corporate university structure for its training and is using

an LMS to house online curriculum. If students needed to use computers on-site, there

are more than four state-of-the-art training rooms that can accommodate 40 - 50 users

with computers and Internet access. All of the computers have been purchased within

the last two years and exceed the minimum requirements needed to support online

course navigation and tasks. The management team is very involved in the daily

decision making. The corporate university is the result of a centralization of functions

recommended by management. The strategic planning is handled by middle

management and they must report diligently to the executive management.

Organizational support for WBI has recently increased with the adoption of a new LMS.The culture has long been accustomed to Instructor-Led Training. There is still a need

for more belief in synchronous courses and follow up to asynchronous lessons.

Regarding ownership, any materials created for this company would be licensed to the

company and branded for the company.

Allocation and competencies of personnel

The course designer and author of this proposal, Latanya Blakley (Tanya), is the

designated Instructor of this course. Tanya has about 15 years of experience in adulteducation and curriculum design. She has also been a part of this franchise

organization for about 4 years. Tanya has designed five previous online courses for

a larger audience of 1200 franchisees, which includes the 90+ from the local area.

Tanya is currently obtaining a Masters of Educational Technology degree from Boise

State University, scheduled for completion in May 2012.

There will be only one Instructor for the course until others are trained after the initial

pilot. Most tasks design and administrative will be handled by the instructor as well.

The course registration and promotion will be done by the LMS administrator. The

eLearning Manager would be available for approving content and providing feedback as

needed. This individual is also responsible for procuring resources for the

designer/instructor to assist with completion and delivery of the course.

The IT department is on-site and well equipped to handle any issues that might occur

during training. There are dedicated IT resources for the corporate university. The


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learners will have access to an 800 number as well as online help desk support. This

support is available for 16 hours daily from Monday to Friday.

Learner Location and Technology

The 90+ learners are located in Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana and are supported by the

branch office associates of which there are currently 5. It is expected that Instructors

from all three states will participate in the initial roll out of the course, though for the pilot

a select group will be chosen to participate.

To participate in the course, learners will need a computer with high-speed Internet

access. Detailed computer specifications will be provided later in the design process.

However, it is anticipated that most of the learners will have sufficient access due to

previous business and learning requirements that had to be met in order to become a

franchise owner. The corporate university computer lab will also be available during thesupported hours.

Learner Analysis

General Characteristics

The learners are comprised of about 80% women and 20% men. While the franchisees

have become more diverse, the primary ethnicity of the learners is Asian (this includes a

large percentage of individuals from India). The age range is wide and includes

learners who are age 23 - 70; the largest percentage of learners is over 40. Generallyspeaking, about 55% of these learners have a high level of computer ability (based on

previous survey data).

All learners are required to have a bachelors degree as a requirement of owning the

franchise. Many also have graduate level degrees or higher. The work experience

again ranges greatly in years and includes 70% from the private sector and about 30%

from the public sector of business and education.

Motivations

This audience of learners is comprised of all entrepreneurs who own one or more

franchises with the company. Therefore, they are motivated by business performance

initiatives. The retention and quality statistics mentioned in the introduction of this

proposal are used to calculate incentive pay for each business owner. Most requests

for learning and professional development opportunities include some aspect of


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business management, communication and marketing. With recent increase in

competition for market share and a change in the incentive structure, the interest level

for these types of topics is high among learners.

Learners are also required to have a certain amount of professional development hours

per year. With most courses and meetings currently offered in person, the desire for

online courses is strong to avoid the travel and benefit from the convenience.

Prior Knowledge, Communication Skills, Technical Skills

Although a formal assessment hasnt been done at this point to determine the learners

prior knowledge, it is expected that most of this audience has some basic understanding

of customer communication strategies. However, there exists a discrepancy in the

training provided on this subject years ago versus what is promoted today. Therefore, it

is safe to assume that the baseline knowledge may be different for every learner even

though communication updates have been afforded to all existing business owners.

As indicated by the ethnic makeup, most of the learners speak English as a second

language (ESL), though many have been in the US for over a decade.

From previous assessments and current daily tasks integral to the business, we know

that all learners possess acceptable keyboarding skills as well as proficiency with email,

chats, threaded discussions, Web navigation and searches. Many also have a high

level of familiarity with file types and creating documents, spreadsheets and PDFs.

There is probably a lesser number of learners who work well with multimedia and

graphic file types. A handful of learners have a computer science or programmingbackground, but very few have contemporary programming skills. This will continue to

be assessed prior to and during course participation.

Entry Level Skills

Because of their involvement with the franchise, learners are expected to have the

following entry skills:

Knowledge of the customer orientation materials provided by the branding

department

Identify materials for informational packet provided to new potential customers

Conduct and grade diagnostics test given to customer

Create progress goals using the information from the diagnostic test and

customer interview


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Abilities and disabilities

The extent of this area is not well known, though it is unlikely to be very significant

considering all of the learners run businesses daily without accommodations. However,

all learners are invited to inform us of accommodation needs prior to taking any

professional development.

Other learner characteristics

Because of the needs of the business, learners do not often have time to be away. A

high premium is placed on time spent on professional development as the expectation

of the learner is that it must be worth their time.

Standards

This designer was unable to find industry related standards for this course. Therefore,

the standards used will be from the International Society for Technology in Education

(ISTE):

http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students/nets-student-standards-2007.aspx

1. Creativity and Innovation

Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative

products and processes using technology. Students:

a. apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes

2. Communication and Collaboration

Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively,

including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of

others. Students:

a. interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety

of digital environments and media

b. communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety

of media and formats

c. develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of

other cultures

3. Research and Information Fluency

Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. Students:

c. evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the
http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students/nets-student-standards-2007.aspxhttp://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students/nets-student-standards-2007.aspxhttp://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students/nets-student-standards-2007.aspx


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appropriateness to specific tasks

5. Digital Citizenship

Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and

practice legal and ethical behavior. Students:

a. advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and

technology

b. exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration,

learning, and productivity

c. demonstrate personal responsibility for lifelong learning

6. Technology Operations and Concepts

Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and

operations. Students:

a. understand and use technology systemsb. select and use applications effectively and productively

d. transfer current knowledge to learning of new technologies

Documents

512 Problem Analysis and Standards