You need to get new hires up to speed, keep your sales team sharp, and make sure everyone’s actually learning—not just clicking through another boring slideshow. You’ve heard about Lessonly, maybe even sat through a demo. But is it actually worth the money? Or is it just another “next-gen” training tool that collects dust after the onboarding rush?
If you’re running a B2B team, especially in sales, customer success, or support, this review’s for you. Let’s cut through the marketing talk and dig in.
What Exactly Is Lessonly?
Lessonly sells itself as a “training and enablement” platform built for teams that need to move fast. In plain English: it’s a cloud-based tool where you create bite-sized lessons, assign them to your team, and track who’s actually completing them.
Its sweet spot is for go-to-market (GTM) teams—think sales, support, and customer success—where you need consistent, repeatable training, but don’t have months to build a university. If you’ve got a growing team and can’t stand the idea of another clunky LMS, this is the kind of software you’ll be looking at.
So, does it deliver? Let’s break it down.
The Good: What Lessonly Gets Right
1. Easy Lesson Creation (Even for Non-Techies)
- Drag-and-drop builder: You don’t need to be a designer or developer. If you can make a PowerPoint, you can make a Lessonly lesson.
- Embed anything: Videos, images, quizzes, docs, even GIFs. Keeps things from getting stale.
- Reuse content: Build a module once, drop it into different training paths, edit as you go.
Pro tip: The faster you can create (and update) lessons, the more likely you’ll actually keep your content fresh. Lessonly wins here—no need to file a ticket with IT every time you want to update a slide.
2. Simple Assignment and Tracking
- Assign to individuals or groups: New hires, SDRs, managers—easy to target who needs what.
- Automated reminders: Less chasing people for “Did you do your training yet?” emails.
- Reporting: See who’s completed what and dig into pass/fail rates on quizzes.
You want to know if people are actually learning, or just clicking “next.” Lessonly’s analytics aren’t fancy, but they’re clear. That’s usually enough.
3. Practice and Feedback Features
- Practice scenarios: Record a pitch, answer a tough customer question, or walk through a demo. Managers can review and give feedback.
- Peer review: Let teammates give each other feedback, not just top-down “grades.”
For sales and support, this is gold. Real-world practice beats another PDF any day.
4. Integrations with Your Existing Stack
- Slack, Salesforce, and more: Assign lessons automatically when someone joins a team, or when a new playbook goes live.
- API access: For the IT folks who want to automate even more.
If your team lives in Slack or Salesforce, these integrations save you a bunch of repetitive admin work.
Where Lessonly Falls Short
No tool’s perfect. Here’s where Lessonly can frustrate.
1. Limited Customization
- Design is basic: You’re not building a beautiful brand experience here. It’s functional, but it won’t wow anyone visually. If your marketing team obsesses over brand guidelines, expect pushback.
- Assessment options are simple: Multiple choice, short answer, and a few others. If you need complex branching scenarios or detailed simulations, Lessonly can’t do it.
2. Price Creep for Bigger Teams
- Pricing isn’t public: You’ll need to talk to sales, and it’s not cheap—especially as your user count climbs.
- “Add-ons” add up: Analytics, advanced integrations, and some practice features can bump the price up. Make sure to get a detailed quote.
If you’re a small team, it’s probably fine. But for mid-sized or larger orgs, watch out for surprises on your invoice.
3. Not a Full LMS
- Limited compliance features: If you need in-depth tracking for ISO, HIPAA, or other certifications, Lessonly isn’t built for that.
- No built-in content marketplace: You’ll need to make your own lessons from scratch—there’s not a big library of ready-made sales or product modules.
If you need a beefy, compliance-driven LMS, this isn’t it.
What’s Hype (and What to Ignore)
- AI claims: Like every SaaS these days, Lessonly talks up AI. In reality, most “AI” features are simple auto-grading or search—not magic. Don’t expect a robot to build your training for you.
- Gamification: There are badges and leaderboards, but most adults tune these out after the first week. If motivation is a problem, focus on culture—not software gimmicks.
How to Actually Get Value From Lessonly
If you decide to try Lessonly, don’t just dump your old training docs in and call it a day. Here’s what works, based on what real teams do (and what doesn’t).
1. Start Simple—One Core Use Case
Pick your biggest pain point. For most teams, it’s onboarding new sales reps or rolling out a new product. Build out two or three focused learning paths. Don’t try to boil the ocean.
2. Make It Interactive
- Use the practice tool for roleplays (especially for sales and support).
- Mix in short videos, screenshots, and real customer examples.
- Keep lessons short—5–10 minutes each is the sweet spot.
3. Tight Feedback Loops
- Assign managers to review submissions weekly, not just at the end.
- Use quiz data to spot where people are getting stuck, then update lessons.
- Celebrate wins: Shout out reps who crush practice scenarios.
4. Integrate With the Tools Your Team Already Uses
- Sync assignments with Slack or email. Fewer “I didn’t know about this” excuses.
- If you use Salesforce, link training to specific accounts or opps (e.g., “Complete this playbook before calling into X industry”).
5. Don’t Overcomplicate
- Ignore features you don’t need. If your team hates badges, skip gamification.
- Focus on what moves the needle—speed to ramp, product knowledge, objection handling.
When Lessonly Isn’t the Right Fit
It’s not for everyone. Skip Lessonly if:
- You need a compliance-heavy LMS with auditing and certifications.
- You want deep, simulation-based training (think cybersecurity or medical).
- You’re a tiny team (under 10 people)—honestly, Google Docs or Notion is cheaper and just as good for basic needs.
The Bottom Line
Lessonly is fast, easy, and built for teams who actually want their people to remember what they learn. It’s dead simple to use, and the practice tools are genuinely useful. But it’s not magic, it’s not a full LMS, and it’s not cheap at scale.
If you actually invest in good content and use the tracking features, it’ll pay for itself in smoother onboarding and fewer “wait, nobody trained me on that?” headaches. But don’t let the hype make you think it’ll fix a broken culture or replace good management.
Keep it simple, start small, and iterate as you go. That’s how you get real value—whether you choose Lessonly or anything else.