Your customers email you to ask how their order is doing. They call for a copy of an invoice. They are looking for a quote that was sent three weeks ago. For them that is annoying; for your team it is daily, recurring work that nobody enjoys.
Having a customer portal built is often the answer. Not because a portal looks modern, but because it puts the questions that keep coming back in the hands of the customer. In this article you read what a customer portal is, which organisations it works for and which features you see most often. We also explain what a project looks like and what to watch out for when you have a customer portal built.
A customer portal is a secure online environment where your customers log in to arrange things themselves. They see their details, follow ongoing matters and find documents, without having to contact anyone in your team. You decide what they see and what they can do.
So a customer portal is not a second website, nor a separate mailbox. It is a layer on top of your existing systems, such as your CRM, your ticketing system and your accounts. The customer sees one clear screen. Behind it, your systems work together.
The gains come in two places at once.
Whether that works out the same in your situation depends on your processes. That is why at Mobile XL we don't start with the tool, but with the question of which problem you want to solve.
A customer portal suits organisations whose customers regularly need information or have to take action. These are the groups we work with most often.
Recognise yourself in one of these groups? Then there is a good chance a portal will make your work easier. Somewhere in between? Then we discuss in a first conversation whether it fits.
Customers place orders themselves, view price lists and track deliveries. Your sales team has time left for customer conversations.
Business and repeat customers manage their orders, returns and details without involving customer service.
Consultancies, installers and other project organisations share progress, documents and agreements with their clients.
Customers report incidents, follow tickets and find documentation and knowledge articles.
Partners find product information, request quotes and track their own requests.
You offer everyone the same experience, even when delivery differs locally.
No two portals are the same, but there is a fixed set of features organisations start with. You don't have to build everything at once. A good portal starts with the features that deliver most for your team and your customers, and grows from there.
A customer portal is one form. Depending on your goal you can also think of a support portal, document portal, B2B ordering portal, project portal, partner portal or a portal for employees.
Want to see what those variants look like and which use cases go with them? At portal-builders.com you will find an overview of portal types, integrations and real-world examples.
A portal that isn't used helps nobody. That is why we work in fixed steps in which your organisation and your customers stay involved throughout.
We start with a conversation about what is going wrong now. Where is your team losing time? Which questions keep coming back? What are your customers missing? Sometimes we work this out in a process workshop, so the bottlenecks become visible before a single screen is designed.
Based on the analysis we create a design: which screens, which user groups, which features and which data. You see what the portal will look like before we start building. Changes are easiest to manage at this stage.
A portal is only as good as the data behind it. We connect it to your CRM, ticketing system, ERP or accounts, so customers always see up-to-date information and your team doesn't have to enter things twice. You can read more about our approach on the page about integrations between applications.
The portal gets your logo, colours and copy. Where the platform allows it, it can also run on your own domain. Your customer recognises your organisation straight away.
First we test technically whether everything works as intended. Then employees and a small group of customers test it with situations from everyday practice. We process their feedback before the portal goes live more widely.
Customers only use a portal if they know it exists and what it gives them. We help you plan the introduction: a clear invitation, a short explanation and training for your own team, so they can guide customers.
After the launch we look at usage. Which features are being used? Where do customers drop out? Based on that, we extend or adjust the portal.
There is no single right route. The choice depends on your processes, your existing systems and your wishes.
We give you honest advice about what fits. Sometimes a standard set-up is fine. Sometimes custom work is the better choice. And sometimes we tell you that you are not ready for a portal yet, because the underlying processes need to be in order first.
A good fit if customer service and tickets are the main focus. Customers submit tickets themselves, follow the status and use the knowledge base. You can read more about how we work with Zoho on our page about Zoho as a partner.
A logical choice if you already work with Zoho and also want to give customers access to data and documents. See building a customer portal on Zoho, including Exact Online.
Can play a role for organisations with complex, process-driven ways of working. See our Creatio offering.
An option if your wishes go beyond what is possible as standard. Then we build a portal to measure, for example with low-code development.
Mobile XL automates and improves processes for organisations in the mid-market and upper SME segment. We focus on the front of your organisation: sales, marketing, customer support and management. A customer portal touches all of those at once.
What you can expect from us:
The tool follows your problem, not the other way round.
You get a partner who thinks along and pushes back when needed.
Analysis, design, configuration, integrations, training and further development all come from one party.
A portal changes along with your organisation, and so do we.
The portal was live within a few months and customers used it straight away. For our team it means peace of mind: the information is in one place.
That depends on the number of features, the number of users, the platform and the number of integrations with other systems. We only name an amount after the analysis phase, because a price without that knowledge is a guess. We do make clear up front which elements determine the cost, so you can choose what to build first.
That differs per project. A portal with a limited set of features takes less time than an environment with many integrations and user groups. Because we work in steps, you can often get started with a first version at an early stage.
You largely decide security at the design stage. Think of secure login methods such as two-factor authentication, roles and permissions per user, and clear agreements about where data is stored. We discuss this at the start, so it fits the requirements of your organisation and the laws and regulations that apply to you.
Yes. Integrations with, for example, your CRM, ERP, accounts or webshop are part of most projects. In the analysis phase we decide which integrations are needed and which data the portal should show.
Yes. We match the logo, colours and copy to your brand. With platforms such as Zoho Desk you can also run the portal on your own domain, so it feels like part of your organisation.
Then your existing channels remain available. A customer portal is an addition to email, phone and chat, not a replacement. The idea is that customers choose the portal because it makes things easier for them.
No. We decide that together. It helps if you know which questions your team gets most often and where customers run into problems. We work out the rest in the analysis.
Considering having a customer portal built, but not sure where to start yet? That is a perfectly good starting point. In a first conversation we look at your processes, your customers and your current systems. After that you know whether a portal fits, which form works best and what the first step is. No strings attached.
