Hello and welcome to Certified Insights from your digital credential friends at Accredible. You’re in good company with 58K+ education and training leaders.
Each month, we share tips and strategies for growing your credentialing program. Up next:
📢 5 proven ways to increase credential sharing and engagement
💬 2025 State of Credentialing — we need your input!
🔗 The Digital Credential Buyer’s Toolkit, the new Accredible + SmartResume integration, and the 2025 ETS Human Progress Report
What happens after you issue a credential? If it simply sits in a learner’s inbox, you’re missing a powerful opportunity to extend your program’s reach and impact.
For many programs, engagement with learners stops at credential issuance. With rising learner acquisition costs and evolving communication preferences making it harder to connect with prospects, this approach leaves untapped potential on the table.
The solution? Turning learners into your best advocates.
When they share their credentials, they introduce your program to new audiences and build trust with future learners — unlocking an organic marketing channel that drives brand awareness, referrals, and enrollment. We call this a Credential Flywheel.
In 2024 alone, we saw a 26% year-over-year increase in referrals to our customers’ programs based on shared credentials. And organizations that optimize credential sharing are seeing dramatic results:
Have I convinced you it’s a good thing? Great. Now let’s dive into how you can increase credential sharing and turn your credentials into a growth engine:
1. Optimize Credential Delivery Emails for Maximum Engagement
Most credential recipients open their credential emails, but many don’t take the next step to share. Your email design and messaging can make all the difference.
Key tactics:
2. Educate Learners on the Value of Sharing
Many learners underestimate the impact of sharing their credentials on career growth. Whether it’s enhancing their visibility to employers, validating their skills, or demonstrating professional development, learners must recognize the value of publicizing their achievements.
Key tactics:
Exciting update: Accredible digital credentials can now be embedded directly into SmartResume AND we added TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube as new credential-sharing options!
3. Remove Credential Acceptance & Sharing Friction
If sharing a credential takes extra effort, many learners won’t do it. We've found that requiring credential recipients to create an account to access their earned credentials reduces sharing rates by up to 75%.
Key tactic: Make it effortless to share credentials on LinkedIn, email signatures, and personal websites with one-click acceptance and sharing. Even providing a pre-written post increases the likelihood of sharing.
4. Make Your Credentials Worth Sharing
Learners are more likely to share credentials that feel prestigious, well-designed, and reflective of their achievements. We’ve found that branded digital credentials see an average 65% increase in sharing compared to non-branded credentials. A cohesive visual identity makes the credential feel more valuable and share-worthy.
Key tactic: Brand or white-label your credential design, emails, digital credential header, footer, and URL to match your organization’s branding and website.
A fully branded (white-labeled) digital credential page vs. a non-branded credential
5. Send Strategic Reminders
While 71% of credential issuers send an initial email awarding the credential, only 1 in 3 follow up with a reminder to open and share it. Many learners don’t share because they forget or don’t realize the value. Following up makes a difference.
Key tactics:
By implementing just tips #1 & #5, we've seen:
Bonus Tip: Recognize and Engage Your Credential Influencers
Some learners naturally share more and have a wider reach. Identify your “credential influencers” — those whose credential shares drive high engagement — and build relationships with them. Recognize and reward them with spotlights, badges, or exclusive perks to encourage ongoing advocacy. A little recognition can significantly amplify program awareness and referrals.
Final Thought: Are Your Credentials Working for You?
Credential sharing is one of the most powerful, cost-effective ways to grow your program, attract new learners, and demonstrate ROI.
By optimizing delivery emails, educating learners, reducing friction, making credentials more share-worthy, and sending strategic follow-ups, you can turn credentials into a self-sustaining growth engine.
Want more tips on boosting credential engagement and sharing, reenrollment, and renewing memberships and certifications? Dive into our recent post on Email Campaigns.
Until next time,
Maise
Director of Professional Services, Accredible
Let’s connect on LinkedIn — I’m always happy to chat about credentialing strategies!
As we plan for our 2025 State of Credentialing Report, we want to ensure the research we conduct is as valuable as possible to you and your programs.
What questions or areas of research would be most beneficial to your organization? Are there specific challenges you’re facing, trends you’re curious about, or insights that would help you improve your credentialing programs?
Your voice matters. Submit your ideas in our short survey.
The Digital Credential Buyer’s Toolkit
Selecting a credentialing solution can be daunting. This toolkit provides everything you need to evaluate vendors, build a business case, and confidently drive digital credential adoption in your organization.
SmartResume + Accredible: A Seamless Integration to Boost Credential Utility in the Job Market
This integration makes it easier for learners to showcase their digital credentials directly within their resumes — making it easier for employers to verify them in real-time. By seamlessly embedding credentials, programs can increase their market value and career impact.
2025 ETS Human Progress Report: The Future of Work is Skills-Based
Nearly 90% of people agree — showcasing skills is the future of work. This report explores how education, employers, and policymakers can better align to support skill development and recognition in a changing workforce.
Stacking Success: University of Illinois’ Gies College of Business Microcredentialing Journey — March 13, 2025
Explore how the Gies College of Business revolutionized its academic offerings with innovative, stackable degree programs. Learn about their journey in creating a successful microcredentialing initiative that has issued 42,000 digital credentials to date.
ATP’s Innovations in Testing 2025 — March 23-26, 2025
Join top assessment leaders to explore innovations, technology, and trends shaping the future of testing.
2025 UPCEA Annual Conference — March 24-26, 2025
Explore new ideas, collaborate, and advance the impact of online and professional continuing education.
Tired of juggling paper certificates, PDFs, and endless manual processes to track learner achievements?
Or running into scaling limitations with your current digital credentialing solution?
Accredible has you covered. Create and issue branded digital credentials that showcase skills and provide real value — without the hassle.
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Accredible is the world’s leading digital credential platform, enabling education and training leaders to increase learner engagement and drive program growth.
Accredible is the world’s leading digital credential platform, enabling education and training leaders to increase learner engagement and drive program growth.
