If your team spends a lot of time emailing files, answering “any update?” messages and resending invoices that went missing, a client portal could save hours every week. Portals used to be something only banks and large firms offered, but they are now practical for businesses of almost any size.
What is a client portal?
A client portal is a secure, password-protected area of your website or a separate web app where each customer can log in and see information that relates to them. Instead of information being scattered across email threads, it is all in one place, available whenever the customer needs it.
Typical features include:
- Documents: contracts, reports, certificates or designs to download, and a place for customers to upload files to you.
- Project or order status: a clear view of where things are up to.
- Invoices and payments: past invoices, outstanding balances and the option to pay online.
- Messaging: conversations attached to the relevant job rather than lost in someone’s inbox.
- Bookings and requests: scheduling appointments or raising new jobs.
Which businesses benefit most?
Portals are most valuable where there is an ongoing relationship and regular exchange of information. Good examples include:
- Accountants, solicitors and other professional services sharing confidential documents.
- Property managers and letting agents dealing with landlords, tenants and maintenance requests.
- Trades and field service companies providing certificates, quotes and job reports.
- Agencies and consultancies sharing project progress and approvals.
- Manufacturers and wholesalers letting trade customers check orders and reorder.
Photo by Cova Software on Unsplash
Client portal benefits, in practical terms
The most immediate gain is time. When customers can check progress and download documents themselves, the routine questions that interrupt your team drop away. Portals also improve security compared with emailing sensitive attachments, provide a clear record of what was shared and when, and make your business look organised and professional.
Online payment inside the portal can also speed up how quickly invoices are paid, simply because paying becomes easier.
Off-the-shelf or custom-built?
Some software, such as practice management systems for accountants, includes a basic portal. If that covers what you need, it is a sensible starting point. A custom portal makes more sense when:
- Your process does not fit a standard template.
- You want the portal to connect to systems you already use, such as your accounting package or CRM.
- You want it to look and feel like part of your own brand.
- Different types of user, for example clients, contractors and staff, need to see different things.
What to think about before you start
Before building a client portal, decide what problem it is solving first. Starting with a focused version, perhaps documents and status updates, and adding features once customers are using it is usually more successful than trying to build everything at once. Think about security from the outset, including strong passwords, optional two-factor authentication and clear permissions, and make sure the portal works well on mobile, because that is where many customers will check it.
A useful exercise is to count how many routine requests your team handles in a typical week, such as document requests, status updates and invoice copies. That number gives you a realistic sense of the time a client portal could save and helps you decide which features to build first.
Finally, check the portal on a phone before launch and make sure customers can export or download their own data. Both are easy to overlook, and both make a big difference to how much people trust and use it.
We design and build custom client portals for businesses that have outgrown email. You can see an example of a booking and payments platform in our CoachSync project. If you think a portal could help your team, tell us how you work today and we will suggest where to start.
