Learning Management System Features to Look For

Shopping for a learning management system (LMS) to educate your employees, customers, or partners? 

Whether this is an initial purchase, you’re upgrading your LMS to keep pace with company growth, or you’re working towards EdTech stack consolidation, one thing’s for sure: 

You need to know what you’re looking for before entering sales conversations with LMS vendors. 

As a first step, create a request for information (RFI) document that outlines your evaluation criteria.

That way, when you show up to a demo with your requirements laid out, you’re in the driver’s seat: You know exactly which questions to ask your sales rep to understand how well their LMS software stacks up.

And then, after you’ve met with several LMS vendors, it’s easy to tally up scores and choose an LMS based on your company size, goals, and budget.

By the end of this article, you’ll be more prepared to create a RFI that supports  your company’s business objectives. 

How to Choose the Right Learning Management System

Instead of focusing narrowly on features or your current frustrations, zoom out and consider your entire ecosystem. Think about your program, not just in terms of what it delivers, but what it enables:

• Do you need to support multiple audiences—customers, employees, and partners?
• Do you want to consolidate learning and reduce admin overhead across teams?
• Will your program need to scale globally with localized, personalized experiences?
• Are you responsible for measurable business outcomes like adoption, retention, or revenue?

If the answer is yes to any of the above, you’re likely ready to move beyond basic functionality and toward a scalable, enterprise-ready LMS.

Many organizations are making the shift from "good enough" to "growth-ready"—a system that connects to your broader EdTech stack, integrates across your go-to-market motion, and becomes a foundational tool across business units.

This isn’t just about education. It’s about equipping your organization with a system that can support today’s needs and tomorrow’s expansion—without the cost and pain of replatforming 18 months from now.

What to Look for in an LMS

What’s most important is that you and your fellow stakeholders define LMS requirements, then write a question for each requirement.

Here’s what that might look like:

• Learning paths: “Can I bundle courses within learning paths that are intuitive and easy to navigate?”
• LMS reports: “What sort of pre-built reports and visualizations do I have within the LMS? Are they actionable? Can I track progress at the individual or group level?”
• E-commerce: “Can I sell training content?”
• Content authoring: “Does your LMS integrate with content authoring tools for an inline experience?”
• Customization: “Can I white label the LMS platform?”
• Personalized learning recommendations: “Can I customize the learning experience based on custom user data?”
• Integrations: “Do you integrate with our  other platforms (CRM, HRIS,  Web Conferencing, Data Warehouse)?” 
• Data extraction: “Can I easily extract data from the LMS to use in my BI tool?”
• Authentication: “Can I use the SSO method we use with other platforms?”
• Scalability: “Will your LMS perform as we scale to larger and global audiences?”

You might find it helpful to hear the full story of how Gusto brought Gusto Academy to life. Identifying a scalable, enterprise-ready LMS was a key piece in their journey.

Key LMS Features to Look For

Below, we outline the most important features of a learning management system to help you determine which ones are must-haves versus nice-to-haves. As you read through this list, add your requirements to an RFP spreadsheet so you're ready to evaluate vendors.

Integrations

• Does the LMS have a robust application program interface (API)? You’ll need your LMS to communicate with other systems you use. Understand which integrations are available—and whether those APIs are “read” or “write.” 
• Does the LMS integrate with your customer relationship management (CRM) tool (e.g., Salesforce, Hubspot)? If you plan to educate prospective or paying customers, this is important for measuring education’s impact on customer retention and spend.
• Does the LMS integrate with your video meeting tool (e.g., Zoom, WebEx, Microsoft Teams)? If you plan to incorporate live and on-demand video learning experiences—like webinars or virtual events—into your workplace learning programs, this is a nice feature to have.
• Can you build a single sign-on (SSO) from your product to the LMS? If you’re a tech company, you’ll want to give your users the ability to use one set of credentials to login. Offering SSO helps you deliver a positive user experience. 
• Is the vendor able to assist you with historical data migration? If you’re upgrading from a legacy system, this is critical. You’re not only evaluating the app itself, you’re also evaluating the team and their ability to support you during the implementation process and beyond. 

Scalability & Availability

• Can the LMS perform as our audience grows? Some tools simply cannot handle heavy usage. To avoid having to switch LMSs a few years down the road, be sure the tool will meet your needs today and in the future.
• Can the LMS support a large content catalog? Don’t just think about your current catalog—think about future volume as you add more products, features, and services and create new training materials.
• Is the LMS highly available (i.e., minimum downtime)? If you have a large user base—and especially a global user base—you don’t want an LMS that is unavailable overnight on a regular cadence, as it will interfere with user access. 
• If there are availability issues, is there responsive support for the LMS? Will phone lines be staffed around the clock? What type of support is offered?

Customization

• Does the LMS allow you to customize branding (e.g., logos, colors, fonts)? A good LMS offers customization so when a learner lands on your academy page or eLearning destination, they feel like they’re still on your website. 
• Does the LMS allow you to customize the UI/UX? Be sure your LMS lets you customize your user interface and user experience. You’ll want control over homepage, subpage, navigation layout, and features to create your desired look and feel.
• Does the LMS allow you to deep link to a page, course, or learning path? Ideally, each activity, training program, and assessment includes a link you can send to learners via email, in-app notifications, etc. In a single click, learners should be taken to the right content. 

Course Management and Organization

• Can you surface a course both a la carte and within a learning path? Flexibility is key: You might want to include content in the catalog for learners to choose from, but also use the same content within several different learning paths (think of a product tour video). 
• Can you tag learning content by topic, role, or format so learners can filter and find what they need? Be sure you can design and organize a taxonomy to boost discoverability and easily manage content.
• Can you customize the learning experience to give custom recommendations? You know how Netflix makes suggestions based on your watch history and user profile? A good LMS can also do this—showing learners fresh, relevant content often (so they want to come back to the LMS and continue learning).

Gating

• Can you let learners browse your academy, but gate individual courses behind a login form? You might want to use your eLearning academy as part of your marketing strategy. Prospective customers trade their email addresses for access to interesting courses and other educational materials.
• Can you customize pop-up language when a viewer tries to log into a gated page? If you sell to different customer personas—or if you’re speaking to prospective customers and prospective partners—you’ll need to be able to tailor your messaging accordingly. 
• Can you make some courses available to only those with the course URL? You might want to create “private courses” or restrict certain courses for certain users or user groups. For example, you might offer customer-facing employees training on upselling; you wouldn’t want to display that content to your customers. 
• Can you make some courses available to purchase? If e-commerce is part of your strategy, be sure the LMS lets you sell certain certification paths or exams.

Content Creation

• Does the LMS allow for native content authoring—or will you have to integrate with a separate content authoring tool? Ideally, you can build courses right inside your LMS.
• What happens when you edit a course? How does the LMS handle versioning? See if restricted admins can edit courses and content, and if an unrestricted admin can review and publish the edited version. You’ll also want access to previous versions in case you’d like to revert back or compare versions. 
• Can you build quizzes natively inside the LMS? How simple and streamlined will your life be using this LMS? Is it an “all-in-one” tool, or will you have to work in (and maintain) content within different systems?
• Can you build blended learning experiences? You might want an LMS that allows you to build hybrid learning initiatives where learners complete online learning materials and also get face-to-face instruction. Why? Because social learning elicits learner behavior change and improves learner outcomes. 
• Does the LMS support offering courses in multiple languages? If you support a global learner audience, you’ll want an LMS that has localization capabilities so that you can present content to users in their language of choice.

Gamification & Rewards

• Does the LMS issue certifications when learners complete a certification path? Ideally, you can associate certifications with the completion of any learning activity. For some learners, the ability to earn a certification is the biggest motivation to participate.
• Can learners share certifications and badges to social media right from the LMS? Ask if the LMS allows learners to share their earned credentials to sites like LinkedIn or Facebook with the click of a button (or relative ease). This boosts user engagement and serves as a marketing engine for your academy.
• Does the LMS feature gamification? There are many ways to gamify online learning experiences, including leaderboards and letting learners redeem points for prizes like gift cards or branded apparel. 

Reporting and Analytics

• How does the LMS help you track learner progression? You’ll need to see courses started, courses in progress, and course completion rates.
• Does the LMS allow you to measure traffic sources? Which sources are driving the most people to your eLearning destination? Ask if the LMS supports UTM tracking codes and affiliate tracking so that you can understand what’s driving traffic to the academy or site.
• Can you pinpoint learner drop-off inside the LMS? A big challenge is re-engaging learners who abandon training midway through. This issue can derail your results, so it’s important to spot it and be able to correct it quickly. 
• Can you easily export data from the LMS? Ideally, your LMS has a built-in reporting dashboard. However, learner-generated data becomes even more valuable when you can combine your LMS data with data from other sources for analysis. 

AI-Powered Capabilities

• Does the LMS use AI to support content creation, personalized learning paths, or learner engagement (e.g., auto-recommendations, predictive analytics, or adaptive assessments)? This can help you scale personalized learning, no matter the size of your audience.
• Does the LMS leverage AI to reduce manual administrative tasks (e.g., automated tagging, content recommendations for admins, learner segmentation, or smart scheduling)? AI used in this way can help you effectively do more with less.

This is not an exhaustive list. We actually pulled together 200+ questions to include in your RFP to make sure you’re able to thoroughly vet and find the right LMS for your unique needs.

Common Mistakes When Buying a Learning Management System

For many organizations—especially enterprise teams building programs across customers, partners, and employees—the decision to invest in a cloud-based learning management system is high stakes. And it’s one that more teams are taking seriously: According to a 2024 Forrester study, 49% of education leaders plan to implement a dedicated customer education or training platform in the next year.

But here’s the catch: most teams hit the same roadblocks when evaluating LMS software.

Common Traps in the LMS Selection Process

Let’s take a look at some common pitfalls in the selection process: 

Trap #1: Overcorrecting based on today’s problems.
Buyers often look for something that simply “fixes” their current frustrations—whether that’s slow support, clunky admin tools, or poor reporting. But choosing a platform that’s “just like what you already have, only better” can lead to more of the same issues down the line.

Trap #2: Planning for today, not for scale.
If you’re only thinking about what your LMS needs to do today, you risk outgrowing it in a year. Enterprise education programs are rarely static—new audiences, expanded content, and higher visibility from leadership demand long-term scalability. 

Trap #3: Optimizing for one team instead of the business.
You may have chosen different tools for internal training, customer onboarding, and partner enablement—but when you zoom out, your org likely has duplicative tools, budgets, and overhead. Consolidating to a single LMS can reduce spend, increase operational efficiency, and make it easier to secure resources and executive buy-in. (If you're exploring this, read about consolidating under IT's budget.)

Want a full decision framework? Check out Build vs. Buy: How to Choose the Right Learning Platform

Choose With Confidence

Selecting a learning management system is no small decision, and it’s not just about fixing today’s issues. It’s about investing in a platform that can grow with your business, meet the needs of multiple audiences, and tie learning directly to business outcomes.

By aligning on your goals, identifying the capabilities that matter most, and asking the right questions during the selection process, you’re setting your organization up for long-term success. And by steering clear of common traps, you’ll avoid costly missteps that could limit your program’s impact down the line.

With the right approach, you won’t just choose an LMS—you’ll choose a partner in your company’s growth.