After incurring the considerable expense of developing a credentialing exam, certification sponsors may discover that the next step―persuading prospects to sign up and pay for the exam―is every bit as challenging as the steps that preceded it.
This is especially true when the benefits of credentialing are largely intangible as is often the case with those of professional associations.
Most new credentialing programs experience low test volumes in their early years because it takes time to overcome anonymity.
Low test volume means low test revenue, and that can translate into smaller marketing budgets and lost early momentum for the promotion of the credential.
Soliciting testimonials from actual certificants is an effective way of building social proof for the credential, but that process can take months even years.
How digital credentials offer welcome visibility
Digital credentials in the form of badges and certificates give evidence of competency similar to traditional paper certifications and college degrees.
What makes digital badging truly innovative is that they’re secure, verifiable and sharable.
Blockchain security prevents them from being falsified, which, in the past, has been an issue for certifications and university degrees.
Employers can also verify digital credentials at the click of a button. The metadata inside a modern digital credential allows an employer to see who issued the credential, who received it, the testing date, expiration date, the specific knowledge tested and much more.
What makes digital badging especially attractive for credential sponsors is that digital badges and certificates are sharable.
The moment a prospect passes an exam and becomes a new certificant, that achievement can be shared to family, friends, followers and connections on social media.
The credential and sponsor are suddenly introduced to whole new audiences often containing likeminded individuals (like co-workers and colleagues) potentially open to becoming certified themselves.
It’s a scalable and accelerated strategy for generating powerful social proof.
How to offer digital badging to your test candidates
Find a test-delivery platform that integrates with major digital-badging vendors like Accredible or Credly.
And just so you know, Kryterion’s award-winning, test-development and test-delivery platform, Webassessor, integrates with both.
Discover how your certification program can enjoy more visibility by capitalizing on the unique sharing features of digital badging.
Contact us here for a no-obligation phone call with one of our friendly Business Development Managers, who’ll be happy to answer your questions about this amazing technology and marketing opportunity.
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