June 2025 Roundtable on The Certification Experience
The presentation slides are available as an attachment at the end of this article.
The session kicked off with a roundtable focused on using PropFuel to support certifications, inviting attendees to share their toughest pain points across the certification journey. Common challenges included tracking continuing education requirements, renewal communications, exam scheduling logistics, multi-step application complexity, deadline management, and even manual certificate creation. The conversation framed certification in four stages—acquisition and intent discovery, in-journey engagement to drive progress and exam readiness, post-achievement celebration and guidance on “what’s next,” and renewal plus lapsed win-back—mapping each to PropFuel blueprints and capabilities like real-time insights into readiness, automated personalized nudges, and reengagement of stalled learners.
Several generalized client patterns emerged. A new-member journey that asks “why are you here?” found more than 40% joining primarily for certification, which triggered a dedicated nurture with weekly five-question quiz teasers sourced from prep materials. Interest grew so strongly that even already-certified individuals opted in, leading to a gating question and over 1,300 signups via both email and website forms. Another example targeted inquiries rather than members, using a short sequence to confirm ongoing interest, desired designation, and obstacles; those who weren’t ready were tagged with a time-bound “not now” label to revisit later. A post-class nurture in another case concentrated on converting course completers to test takers by asking if they had scheduled the exam, identifying blockers (time, preparedness, how-to), sending personalized staff follow-ups, offering study groups or cram sessions, and providing tutorials for proctored exams. Multiple timed check-ins across the eligibility window generated strong engagement and response rates, with plans to add practice questions.
For activation and engagement, a campaign paired an “are you planning to certify this round?” opener with recurring pop quizzes. The experience adapted to quiz performance, routing people to the right mix of free resources, paid prep, or chapter study groups, and using lighthearted elements like GIFs to keep momentum. After certification, organizations used post-cert drips to help professionals promote their new credential, highlight CE requirements, and introduce advanced certification pathways; one example saw more than half express interest in the next level and nearly all indicate interest in CE. Sustained engagement after the credential supported smoother renewals by keeping value front and center.
Renewal strategies emphasized starting early, capturing intent, and understanding reasons for non-renewal, such as retirement or hardship. Journeys offered alternatives like retired or inactive status and clearly communicated hardship policies, while automatically tagging and removing those who renewed. Another approach began with “have you completed your hours/points?” and then split paths: if yes, a focused push to submit renewal forms; if no or unsure, tailored guidance toward preferred learning modes (events, online), often promoting a national conference to earn needed credits. Early-bird savings messaging proved effective in encouraging timely renewals, and phrasing like “what do you need to do next?” helped route individuals quickly to the right resources. For lapsed win-back, organizations checked interest in recertifying—often finding a high proportion still wanted back in—then laid out clear steps, CE catch-up, and fees on landing pages, reinforced with follow-up emails.
Across examples, effective tactics included using tags for “not now” timing, running sentiment checks before and after key milestones, offering practice-question opt-ins, and branching resources by skill level or performance. To avoid confusion between membership and certification communications, teams differentiated branding and terminology (e.g., “recertify” for credentials), and some used PropFuel to manage digital badge opt-ins to streamline delivery via providers and encourage sharing on LinkedIn or in email signatures.
The group also touched on product updates: Website Engagement now includes analytics highlighting top-visited pages to inform targeted prompts, optional contact information capture for anonymous visitors, and header/footer content for on-site widgets. Contact management adds the ability to merge duplicate records and permanently delete contacts when appropriate. The session closed with a note that the recording would be shared and a heads-up about an upcoming hands-on AI workshop in July, along with encouragement to lean on client success managers for question wording, experimentation, and campaign optimization.