Creating a positive customer experience is one of the best things you can do for your business. When you connect with customers and service their needs, your organisation will enjoy increased revenue, customer retention, brand loyalty, and many other benefits.
Implementing an online customer portal is a powerful way to improve the customer experience. Keep reading to find out how.
Table of Contents
What is a customer portal?
A customer portal is a website or webpage that provides customers with tools and information to manage their accounts.
For example, customers can view their account balance, make payments, and update personal information. Some portals also offer information uniquely related to each customer, such as personalised shopping recommendations and FAQs.
Customer portals are quickly becoming an integral part of many businesses’ customer service strategies. Banks, insurance companies, retailers, and many other organisations use them to give customers a shopping experience tailored to their needs.
Why customer portals are important
Consumers all have different expectations when accessing products or services online. Taking a ‘one size fits all’ approach won’t cut it!
That’s where customer portals come in. These websites act as a central location for customers to access the services and tools they’re looking for. There’s no need for them to wait for a customer service agent to answer their message or call—all the information they need is available at the click of a button.
And they’re not just beneficial for consumers. Customer portals offer significant benefits to businesses, including:
- Reduced customer care expenses,
- Higher website traffic,
- Improved customer retention,
- Secure file sharing,
- Positive reviews and recommendations.
Best practices for building a successful online customer portal
If you’re planning to create a customer portal, there are some steps you can follow to get the most bang for your buck.
First of all, think about the kind of content you should include in your portal. This decision will depend on your industry and what your customers are looking for and could include:
- Personalised FAQs
- Knowledge bases
- Virtual assistants
- Chatbots
- Shopping recommendations
- Account management tools
- A personalised dashboard
The idea is for your customers to have easy access to relevant, personalised information instantly. The customer should also feel like they’re in control—for example, if they type a question into a search bar, they should be able to instantly find answers relevant to their search.
Your customer portal should also be timely and up to date. So, if you make any changes to your products, services, storefront, or website, you should immediately reflect these changes in your customer portal. Broken links or out of date information will negatively impact the customer experience.
A quick conclusion
Let’s sum up what we’ve learned.
A customer portal is like a one-stop shop for information, tools, and services related to your customer’s needs. These tools could include account management features or personalised FAQs.
Implementing a personalised customer portal within your website will improve the customer experience, reduce customer care costs, and keep your shoppers coming back for more.
