The short answer
A customer portal pays off when your customers regularly need to know something from you: when the next appointment is, whether the work was done, where the quote or report is. Today, each of those questions costs a phone call or an email. In a portal, customers see the answer themselves, at any time and without waiting.
If, on the other hand, most of your customers place one order and never come back, a good website and a clear contact form are enough.
What belongs in a customer portal
A good portal is simple. It shows your customers exactly what they need from you, and nothing more.
- Appointments. The next appointment at a glance, all others in the calendar. If you wish, a reminder goes out by email the day before.
- Proof of work. For every completed appointment, it shows when work started, when it finished and what was done, with photos if you like.
- Documents. Quotes, reports, plans or certificates are ready to download instead of disappearing into old emails.
- Messages. Notes for the next appointment, requests for new dates or feedback go straight to your office, where they are dealt with.
On top comes a simple sign-in. With our portals, customers sign in via a link in an email, with no password at all.
Three everyday examples
Trades. A customer is having their bathroom renovated. In the portal they see when each trade is coming, find the quote and progress photos, and approve steps without anyone picking up the phone.
Cleaning. Property managers and practices want to know whether and when cleaning took place. The portal shows proof of work for every visit. When questions come up, the answer is already there and your work is documented in black and white.
Consulting and services. Instead of ten emails with attachments, there is one place for project status, files and approvals. New contacts on the client side find their way around immediately.
What a portal brings your business
- Fewer interruptions. Every question the portal answers is one call fewer in the office or on site.
- More trust. Customers see what is happening. If you document your work openly, you rarely have to explain it.
- Order. Documents and agreements sit with the customer, not scattered across inboxes and chats.
- A professional presence. The portal carries your logo and colours, not the name of a software vendor.
A portal becomes truly powerful when it is connected to the rest of your business. When your team ticks off a job in the team app, the proof appears in the portal straight away. How it all fits together is explained in Your own app for your business and Team app instead of WhatsApp.
Data protection: what matters
A customer portal holds names, addresses, appointments and often photos. That is why a few questions belong in the plan from the start:
- Where is the data stored? With our apps, the database sits on servers in Frankfurt, in the EU.
- Who sees what? Each customer sees only their own appointments and documents, your team only what belongs to their role.
- What happens if something goes wrong? Everything is backed up once a week.
- Is the portal described in your privacy policy? Anyone offering a portal should explain which data is processed and why. More on this in Legal notice and privacy policy.
This article does not replace legal advice. Clarify the details for your business with your data protection adviser.
The portal as an extension of your website
A customer portal doesn’t have to be ready on day one. Because everything runs on the same data, it grows with you instead of starting from scratch.
You don’t need an app store. The portal runs in the browser and can be added to the home screen of any phone, just like an app.
What does a customer portal cost?
It depends on what your customers should see and which programs need to be connected. You pay for the set-up once; if you wish, we take care of hosting, updates and backups for a monthly price. Both are set out in your quote after the initial consultation. You’ll find more on the customer portal service page.
How to find out whether it fits
Keep count for one week: how often do customers ask about appointments, proof of work or documents? How much time does that take? With that number, the free initial consultation becomes concrete, and we’ll tell you honestly whether a portal pays off for you.