If your business is looking for a streamlined, modernised way to interact with customers and ensure they have a positive experience with your website, consider implementing a customer portal.
These tools are fantastic for improving the customer experience and building better relationships with shoppers.
In this article, we’ll talk about what customer portals are, why they’re beneficial, and finally, how they work.
Table of Contents
What is a customer portal?
A customer portal is a website that allows customers to view account information and history, find answers to questions, and much more. It may also provide access to an online account management system for customers to make payments or update personal details.
All kinds of businesses use customer portals to improve the customer experience, including banks, utility providers, retailers, and service providers.
Customer portals are becoming more popular as they provide customers with a convenient way to manage their accounts. Businesses can also use the software to create a more personalised experience for customers.
Benefits of customer portals
Customer portals offer an array of benefits for businesses and consumers alike.
For example, it allows companies to improve customer service by providing consumers the ability to pay bills online, find quick answers to questions, and request support from within the portal itself.
It also reduces operational costs for businesses by allowing them to eliminate third-party call centres or other expensive support methods.
As we touched on above, businesses can also personalise the customer experience through a customer portal. For example, you could recommend products based on a customer’s past buying history or create personalised FAQs relevant to their needs.
Through the portal, you can also:
- Help visitors find service, product, and company information quickly
- Segment customers to deliver relevant content
- Customise navigation menus
- Measure and analyse customer journeys
- Organise content, user journeys, and segments from one panel
How customer portals work
We can think of a customer portal as a secure website acting as a single access point to relevant company information. This information is typically locked behind a dedicated log-in for each customer so they can enjoy a fully personalised experience.
Customer portals are available at any time and accessible from any device, including laptops, smartphones, and desktop computers.
Setting up a customer portal is easy. Typically, you’ll start by selecting a theme. You can then select your brand colours and customise your header, title, and footer to create a seamless appearance.
From there, you can add extra features like support tickets and real-time chat options. You can achieve all of this with a few button clicks—but if you want to make bigger changes, you can also add custom CSS and HTML.
Let’s sum up
Customer portals are a perfect way to connect with your customers personally and improve their online experience. They’re also highly beneficial for businesses, helping you eliminate excess costs and reduce the need for external call centres and expensive outsourced support.
Get started with customer portals today to start reaping the benefits for your business and your customers.
