"Sharing Tips and Best Practices: Helping Customers Get More Value

The difference? Top users knew how to use the product well. They knew shortcuts. They used features bottom users didn't know existed. They had workflows optimized over time.

The company launched a "Tips and Best Practices" program:

Weekly email with one tip
Monthly webinar showing power user workflows
In-app tips triggered by user behavior
CSMs sharing best practices in every call

Six months later:

Middle 50% adoption improved 34%
Average time saved increased from 47 minutes/week to 1.9 hours/week
NPS increased 12 points
Renewal rate improved from 81% to 87%

The cost? Almost zero. These were tips and best practices they already knew from watching power users. They just needed to systematically share them.

Here's the truth: good customers use your product; great customers use it well. Your job isn't just getting them to log in. It's helping them extract maximum value by teaching them what works.

Building Your Best Practice Library

Start by collecting what actually works.

Collecting Practices from Power Users

First, identify your power users. Look at the top 10-20% by usage metrics. High feature adoption. Strong business outcomes. Long tenure, high satisfaction.

Then interview them. Ask how they use the product daily. What's their typical workflow? What features do they use most and why? What shortcuts or tricks have they discovered? How has their usage evolved since they started? What do they wish they'd known when they started?

Look for unique approaches, workflow sequences, feature combinations. Time-saving techniques. Non-obvious uses.

Here's an example. One power user revealed: "I use tags to categorize everything, then use saved filters to create instant views. Saves me 10 minutes every morning vs manually searching."

That becomes your tip: "Use tags + saved filters for instant categorized views"

Learning from Customer Success Stories

Mine your wins. Review accounts with high retention and expansion. Strong ROI and value realization. Enthusiastic advocates. Quantifiable results.

Document their approach. How they set up the product. What features they prioritize. What processes they built. What integrations they use. What training they did.

Then extract patterns. If multiple successful customers approach something similarly, it's a best practice.

Example pattern: Top-performing sales teams all update their CRM before end of each day (not weekly), use the mobile app for field updates, and review the pipeline report every Monday morning.

Your best practice: Daily updates + mobile usage + weekly review = success

Product Team Insights

Your product team knows how features are designed to be used. They see common anti-patterns (wrong ways people use features). They know hidden capabilities most users don't discover. Feature combinations that unlock value. Performance optimizations.

Collaborate with them. Ask what customers aren't doing that they should. What features are underutilized but high-value? What shortcuts or advanced capabilities exist? What do they wish customers knew?

Example insight from a product team: "Customers manually copy data between systems. They don't know our API can automate this. Takes 10 minutes to set up, saves hours weekly."

That becomes your tip: "Automate data sync with our API—here's how"

Support Ticket Patterns

Common tickets reveal what customers struggle with, what they're trying to do inefficiently, what features they don't know about, what workarounds they create.

Say you get 47 tickets about "how to export data for specific date range." That reveals customers don't know about date filters on export, your documentation isn't clear, and the feature isn't discoverable.

Your best practice tip: "How to export exactly the data you need (date filters + field selection)"

Usage Data Discoveries

Analytics reveal patterns. High-correlation features show you that customers using Feature A + B have 40% higher retention, so your best practice is to always use A and B together.

Power user behaviors show you that 90% of power users log in before 9am, 85% use keyboard shortcuts, and 78% have customized dashboards.

Underused high-value features are gold mines. Only 12% use bulk edit (saves tons of time). Only 23% use templates (prevents errors).

These become tips:

"Power user habit: Start your day in [product]"
"Use bulk edit for 10× faster updates"
"Templates ensure consistency and save time"

Industry-Specific Approaches

Segment by industry. Healthcare customers might use compliance templates, leverage HIPAA-compliant features, and follow specific workflow patterns. Real estate customers might use location-based features heavily, integrate with MLS systems, and leverage the mobile app more.

Share industry-specific practices: "How top real estate teams use [product]" (relevant, actionable)

Types of Tips and Best Practices

Different tips serve different purposes.

Time-Saving Shortcuts and Workflows

Keyboard shortcuts: "Press Ctrl+K to quickly search anything"

Bulk actions: "Select multiple items and update all at once (instead of one-by-one)"

Automation: "Set up this automation once, save 30 minutes every week"

Templates: "Use templates for recurring tasks—fill in blanks instead of starting from scratch"

Example tip: "Instead of manually creating your weekly report, schedule it to auto-generate and email to your team every Monday at 8am. Setup takes 2 minutes."

Hidden or Underused Features

Focus on features with low adoption but high value. Use the format: "Did you know [product] can [capability]? Here's how..."

Examples:

"Did you know you can @mention teammates to notify them?"
"You can save any view as a custom filter for instant access"
"There's a mobile app for updating on the go"
"You can integrate with Slack for real-time notifications"

Include what the feature does, why it's valuable (benefit), how to access/use it (3-4 steps), and a screenshot or short video.

Integration and Automation Ideas

Show what's possible. Common integration tips include connecting to Google Calendar for automatic meeting sync, integrating Slack for team notifications without email, linking your CRM to automatically create contacts, and using Zapier to connect to 1000+ other tools.

Automation examples: auto-assign tasks based on keywords, set up rules to categorize incoming items, create workflows that eliminate repetitive work, schedule automated reports and exports.

The value proposition: "Set up once, benefit forever"

Data Management Best Practices

Help customers keep data clean and useful. Use consistent naming conventions for easy searching. Archive completed items instead of deleting (history is valuable). Tag everything for better organization and filtering. Review and clean up data monthly (prevents chaos). Use required fields to ensure data quality.

Example: "Tag your projects by client, type, and status. When you need to find something, you'll save 5 minutes of searching. Over a year, that's 20+ hours saved."

Role-Specific Tips

Tailor to user roles. For sales reps: "Update opportunities before leaving client meetings (while fresh in memory)" For managers: "Use the dashboard view for quick team performance check-ins" For admins: "Set up user permissions by role to simplify management"

This works because it's relevant to their daily work and immediately actionable.

Industry-Specific Applications

Real estate: "Use location-based search to find properties matching buyer criteria instantly"

Healthcare: "How to use patient templates for faster, compliant documentation"

Professional services: "Track time as you work (not at end of day) for accurate billing"

Relevance equals adoption. Generic tips get ignored. Industry-specific tips get used.

Common Mistake Avoidance

Use the "Don't Make This Common Mistake" format:

"Don't skip the setup wizard—it configures essential settings"
"Don't delete old data—archive it instead for historical reporting"
"Don't share passwords—use proper user accounts and permissions"
"Don't forget to save custom views—losing them is frustrating"

Tell them what not to do AND what to do instead.

Organizing and Structuring Content

Make tips easy to find and consume.

By User Role or Persona

Categorize as Tips for Admins, Tips for End Users, Tips for Managers, Tips for Power Users. The benefit is users find relevant content quickly and ignore what doesn't apply.

By Use Case or Goal

Organize by what users want to accomplish: Getting Started, Saving Time, Improving Collaboration, Better Reporting, Data Quality, Mobile Productivity.

Example: "Want to save time? Check out these 10 efficiency tips"

By Feature or Capability

Feature-based organization works for feature-focused users who want to master a specific capability: Reporting Tips, Integration Tips, Automation Tips, Mobile App Tips, Collaboration Tips.

By Skill Level (Beginner to Advanced)

Progressive learning means beginner tips cover basic usage and quick wins. Intermediate tips focus on efficiency improvements and best practices. Advanced tips show power user techniques and customizations.

Benefits: New users aren't overwhelmed by advanced tips. Power users aren't bored by basics. Clear progression path.

By Industry or Vertical

Create industry-specific libraries: Healthcare Best Practices, Real Estate Best Practices, Manufacturing Best Practices. Let users filter all tips by their industry.

Distribution Channels

Share tips where customers are.

Email Tip Series and Newsletters

Weekly or monthly tip emails work best with a focused format. Subject: "Tip: [Benefit in 5 words]" One tip per email. Why it matters (value). How to do it (3-5 steps). Screenshot or GIF. Link to video or documentation.

Example email:

Subject: Save 30 minutes every Monday

Tip: Auto-Schedule Your Weekly Reports

Most users manually create and send their weekly status report every Monday. You can automate this in 2 minutes:

1. Open Reports
2. Click "Schedule"
3. Select "Weekly, Monday 8am"
4. Add recipients
5. Save

Now your report generates and emails automatically every week. Setup once, benefit forever.

Watch 1-minute video →

Weekly frequency is ideal. Enough for value, not overwhelming.

In-App Tips and Notifications

Contextual in-product messages work through trigger-based logic. User performs action X, show tip about related feature Y. User struggles with something, show how-to tip. New feature releases, announce with quick tip.

Placement options include tooltip on hover, banner at top of screen, modal on login (sparingly), or side panel tips. Best practice: Dismissible, not intrusive. Never block workflow.

Example: User creates 10 contacts manually, tip appears: "Creating lots of contacts? Try bulk import to save time."

Help Center and Knowledge Base

Create a dedicated tips section where users can browse all tips, search tips, filter by category/role/industry, see most popular tips, and view latest tips. SEO benefit: Tips rank in Google and drive inbound traffic.

Video Tutorials and Screencasts

Visual learning works. Create 1-2 minute tip videos with screencast showing exactly how to do it and voiceover explanation. Share on your YouTube channel, embed in help center, send via email, and share on social. Videos get 3-5× more engagement than text.

Webinars and Office Hours

Live tip sharing through monthly "Tips & Tricks" webinars (30 minutes, 5-7 tips demonstrated live, Q&A at end, recorded for later viewing) and weekly office hours (drop-in session, ask questions, get tips live, share best practices peer-to-peer) builds community. Customers learn from each other, not just from you.

Every customer call is a tip opportunity. CSMs should share at least one relevant tip per call. "While we're here, let me show you a quick shortcut..." or "I noticed you're doing X manually—here's a faster way" or "Other customers in your industry do this—want to see?"

Personal touch matters. Tips shared by trusted CSMs have higher adoption than mass emails.

Community and Forums

Customer communities let users share tips with each other through "What I Learned" posts, best practice discussions, and peer-to-peer learning. Encourage sharing by recognizing contributors, featuring great tips in newsletters, and gamifying with badges and reputation. Benefit: Scales beyond your team's capacity.

Email Tip Campaigns

Structure for success.

Campaign Planning and Sequencing

Onboarding tip series should progress from basics (Week 1: Day 1 first login and setup, Day 3 core workflow tip, Day 5 mobile app tip) to habit building (Week 2-4: Weekly time-saving tips) to intermediate skills (Month 2-3: Bi-weekly integration or automation tips) to advanced techniques (Month 4+: Monthly power user techniques).

Start simple, gradually increase sophistication.

Feature launch campaigns work on a schedule: Day 0 announcement (what's new), Day 3 why it matters, Day 7 how to use it (tutorial), Day 14 advanced use cases, Day 30 customer success story.

Subject Line and Format Best Practices

Subject lines that get opened follow a formula: [Benefit] in [timeframe] with [method]

Bad: "Product Update Newsletter #47" Good: "Save 2 hours/week with this simple automation"

More examples:

"How to create reports in 30 seconds (not 30 minutes)"
"One setting that prevents 90% of data errors"
"The keyboard shortcut power users swear by"

Format with clear, specific benefit. Curiosity (but not clickbait). Numbers (specific, credible).

Email body structure: Hook (why this matters), The tip (what to do), How-to (step-by-step), Visual (screenshot/GIF), Call-to-action (try it now, watch video).

Keep it short. 300-400 words maximum. One tip, fully explained.

Visual Design and Examples

Include visuals: Screenshot showing before/after, annotated image (arrows, highlights), GIF demonstrating the action, short video embed. Why? 40% of people are visual learners. Seeing beats reading.

Example structure:

[Hero image showing the tip in action]

"You're spending 15 minutes creating the same report every week. Here's how to automate it in 2 minutes."

[Screenshot with numbered annotations showing steps]

Step 1: Click Reports
Step 2: Select your report
Step 3: Click "Schedule"
Step 4: Choose frequency and recipients

[GIF showing the full process]

Try it now →

Call-to-Action Strategy

Every tip needs action. CTA options: "Try this now" (direct action in product), "Watch 1-minute tutorial" (video), "Download template" (resource), "Join this week's office hours" (event), "Read full guide" (documentation).

Single CTA works best. Don't offer 5 options. One clear next step. Make it easy by linking directly to the feature (not just homepage).

Measuring Engagement and Impact

Track email metrics: Open rate (subject line effectiveness), click rate (content relevance), unsubscribe rate (frequency/quality check). Benchmarks: 30-40% open rate (good for tip emails), 5-10% click rate, <0.5% unsubscribe.

Adoption metrics tell the real story. Did recipients try the tip? Check usage data 7/14/30 days after email. Measure feature adoption increase.

Example: Sent tip about bulk import feature to 5,000 customers. 1,850 opened (37%). 280 clicked to tutorial (15% of opens). 147 used bulk import within 14 days (52% of clickers).

ROI: 147 customers adopted a time-saving feature from one email.

In-App Tip Delivery

Meet customers where they work.

Contextual Tip Triggering

Behavior-based triggers follow the pattern: User does X, show tip for Y.

Examples:

Creates 5th contact manually → "Try bulk import for faster data entry"
Views same report 3 days in a row → "Schedule this report to auto-email daily"
Spends 10+ minutes on task → "Quick tip: Use [shortcut] to do this faster"
Uses feature wrong → "Here's the best way to use this feature"

Contextual equals relevant. Right tip, right time, right place equals high adoption.

Timing and Frequency Considerations

Don't overwhelm. Max 1 in-app tip per session. Space tips 2-3 days apart minimum. Never interrupt critical workflows.

Timing matters. After completing action (not during). During low-stress moments (not when busy). Early in session (higher attention).

Respect dismissal. If user dismisses a tip, don't show it again for 30 days.

Progressive Disclosure

Start simple, get advanced over time. Week 1: Basic tips (core workflows). Week 2-4: Efficiency tips (shortcuts, bulk actions). Month 2: Integration and automation tips. Month 3+: Power user and advanced tips.

Don't show advanced tips to brand new users. It overwhelms them and creates confusion.

Dismissal and Preferences

Give users control. Easy to dismiss (X button, "Got it" button). "Don't show me tips like this" option. "Pause all tips for 30 days" option. Tip preferences in settings.

Why? Some users don't want tips. Respect that.

A/B Testing Different Approaches

Test tip formats (text vs video), tip length (short vs detailed), timing (immediate vs delayed), trigger conditions (when to show), and placement (tooltip vs modal).

Measure dismissal rate, click-through rate, feature adoption after tip, and user sentiment.

Example test: Version A used text tip with screenshot. Version B used 30-second video tip. Result: Video had 2.3× higher adoption. Use video for complex tips.

Creating Effective Tip Content

Quality matters more than quantity.

Clear, Concise Writing

Tip writing formula: Headline (What): "Automate Your Weekly Report" Value (Why): "Save 30 minutes every Monday" How-To (Steps): "1. Click Reports 2. Select report 3. Click Schedule 4. Set frequency 5. Save" Visual: [Screenshot or GIF]

Keep it short. 100-150 words maximum. Be ruthlessly concise.

Visual Examples and Screenshots

Show, don't just tell.

Bad tip: "You can use filters to narrow down your results."

Good tip: "Use filters to find exactly what you need: [Screenshot showing filter panel with annotations] Click 'Filter' → Select criteria → Apply. Now you see only relevant items."

Visual best practices: Annotate (arrows, circles, highlights). Number steps in screenshot. Show before/after comparison. Use real data (not abstract).

Step-by-Step Instructions

Make it impossible to fail. Format: Starting point (where user should be), Step 1 with screenshot, Step 2 with screenshot, Step 3 with screenshot, Result (what success looks like).

Numbered lists are easier to follow than paragraphs. Use active voice: "Click Save" (not "The Save button should be clicked")

Before/After Comparisons

Show the impact.

Before: "Creating weekly report manually: 25 minutes" [Screenshot of manual process]

After: "Automated report: 0 minutes (set up once)" [Screenshot of automated report]

Time saved: 25 minutes/week = 21 hours/year

The power of contrast makes value concrete and visual.

Quantifying the Value/Impact

Don't just say "Saves Time." Say "Saves 2 hours per week"

Quantifiable benefits include time saved ("15 minutes per report"), errors prevented ("90% fewer data entry errors"), money saved ("$500/month in manual labor costs"), and efficiency gained ("3× faster than old process").

ROI framing: "2-minute setup saves 20 hours per year"

Make value undeniable.

Measuring Impact

Track what works.

Tip Engagement Rates

Email tips: Track open rate, click rate, video play rate, and documentation visits.

In-app tips: Track view rate (shown vs dismissed immediately), click-through rate, and completion rate (followed through).

Benchmark success: 40%+ engagement equals excellent tip. 20-40% equals good tip. Less than 20% means revise or retire.

Feature Adoption After Tip Delivery

The real test: Before tip campaign, Feature X had 15% adoption. During campaign (30 days), you sent weekly tips about Feature X. After campaign, Feature X has 34% adoption. Delta: +19 percentage points.

Attribution matters. Compare tip recipients to control group (didn't receive tips).

Customer Feedback and Satisfaction

Ask for feedback with post-tip surveys: "Was this tip helpful?" - Yes, I used it - Yes, but haven't tried yet - Not relevant to me - Not clear enough

CSAT impact: Do customers who engage with tips have higher satisfaction? Track NPS of tip-engaged users vs non-engaged users.

Usage Pattern Changes

Behavior change analysis looks at session duration (are they using product more efficiently?), feature breadth (adopting more features?), workflow completion (finishing tasks faster?), and login frequency (more engaged?).

Example: After automation tip campaign, 23% of recipients set up automation. Their average session time decreased 18% (more efficient). Their weekly active usage increased 12% (more engaged).

Insight: Tips drove efficiency AND engagement.

Support Ticket Reduction

Good tips prevent support tickets. Track tickets about topic X before tip, tickets about topic X after tip, and the delta.

Example: "How to export data" tickets: 45/month. Send tip about export feature. Tickets drop to 18/month. Savings: 27 fewer tickets equals CSM time saved.

Make it systematic and sustainable.

Automation and Scheduling

Set it and forget it. Automated email series: New users get drip campaign with 10 onboarding tips. All users get weekly tip from library (rotating). Segment-specific users get industry or role-based tips.

In-app automation: Trigger rules (if X then show tip Y), scheduled tip rotation, and smart recommendations based on behavior.

Content calendar: Plan 3-6 months of tips in advance.

Segmentation and Personalization

Right tip, right person. Segment by user role (admin, end user, manager), industry (healthcare, finance, retail), tenure (new, intermediate, advanced), usage patterns (power user, casual user), and feature adoption (adopted X, not Y).

Personalized tips: "Based on your usage, you might like [tip]"

Relevance equals engagement. Generic tips get 15% engagement. Personalized tips get 40%+ engagement.

Enable customers to share through user-submitted tips, upvoting best tips, commenting and discussion, and "Tip of the Week" contests.

User-generated content includes customers sharing workflows, best practice templates, integration recipes, and industry-specific approaches.

Benefit: Infinite scalability through community.

Customer Champions and Advocates

Recruit power users into a champion program. Recognize top users. Give them a platform (webinars, blog posts). Have them share tips with peers. Reward advocacy (swag, early access, spotlight).

Peer-to-peer learning works because "Tips from Sarah at Acme Corp" is more credible than vendor tips.

Continuous Content Development

Keep your library fresh. Monthly: Add 3-5 new tips. Update outdated tips. Retire ineffective tips. Feature seasonal/relevant tips.

Sources: New product features, customer success stories, support ticket analysis, usage data discoveries.

Review performance: Quarterly audit of tip effectiveness. Double down on what works.

The Bottom Line

Tips and best practices are the highest-ROI customer success investment. Low cost, high impact, scales infinitely.

Teams with systematic tip-sharing programs achieve:

30-40% higher feature adoption
25% increase in customer efficiency
15-20% fewer support tickets
10-15 point NPS improvement
Higher retention and expansion

Teams that don't share tips and best practices experience:

Customers reinventing the wheel
Low feature adoption
Unrealized value
Preventable churn

The tip-sharing fundamentals: Collect from power users, support data, and product insights. Organize by role, use case, and skill level. Distribute via email, in-app, webinars, and CSMs. Make tips clear, visual, actionable, and quantified. Measure engagement and adoption impact. Scale with automation and community.

Build your best practice sharing program. Your customers will get more value, and your retention will improve.

Ready to share better tips? Explore adoption fundamentals, feature adoption strategy, and customer education content.

Learn more:

Tara Minh

Operation Enthusiast

Post-Sale Management

Sharing Tips and Best Practices: Helping Customers Get More Value