What a customer portal is
A customer portal is a secure website where your customers check their own bookings, orders, documents and invoices. It reads from the system your team already uses, so nobody types anything twice. We build portals for UK businesses whose customers currently find out by phone or email.
What customers do in a portal
Every portal starts from the calls and emails your team answers most. These are the ones that come up again and again.
- Check where their order, booking or job has got to, without ringing the office.
- Download documents: quotes, invoices, certificates, itineraries, reports.
- Approve a quote or extra work, with a record of who approved it and when.
- Pay an invoice or a deposit by card, which marks it paid in your system.
- Upload what you need from them: forms, photos, ID, signed terms.
- See photos or notes your team adds as the work goes on.
Build one, or buy one
Plenty of software comes with a customer area. The question is whether it shows what your customers ask about.
When a bespoke portal is worth it
- Your customers ask about things your current software doesn't show them.
- The answers live in more than one system: the job system, the accounts package, a shared inbox.
- You want the portal to look and behave like your business, on your own domain.
- Per-user licence fees would grow every time you gain a customer.
Use the portal your software already has
If your booking or accounts software has a customer login that covers most of what people ring about, switch that on first. We'll say so on the call. A bespoke portal earns its keep when customers need answers that span several systems.
What sits behind it
A portal is a window onto systems you already run. These are the parts we connect and how.
| Part | How we usually handle it |
|---|---|
| Login | A link sent by email (no password to forget), or single sign-on for business customers. |
| Your data | Read from your existing system through its API. If it has no API, we build a small sync, or replace the system first. |
| Payments | Stripe or Square, with the payment written back so the invoice shows as paid. |
| Documents | Private file storage; each customer sees only their own files, through links that expire. |
| Updates | An email or text when something changes, so customers don't have to check. |
| Records | A log of who saw, approved or paid what, and when. |
How a portal build runs
List the calls
We start from what customers ask your team. The most common questions decide the first screens.
Check the data
We confirm where each answer lives and how we can read it. Systems with no API are found here, before any price is fixed.
Build in phases
A fixed-price first phase covers the most-asked questions, with a demo every week from the second week of the build.
Open it up
A few customers use it first. Then everyone gets an invitation, and the phone gets quieter.
What moves the price
Four things: how many systems the portal reads from, whether those systems have an API, whether customers pay through it, and how many kinds of customer see different things. Each phase is a fixed price agreed before we start.
If you also need the system behind the portal, that comes first. A portal onto a spreadsheet is still a spreadsheet. See business systems and replacing desktop software.
Questions about customer portals
How long does a customer portal take to build?
It depends on how many systems it reads from and whether they have an API. A first phase covering the most common customer questions usually runs for a few weeks, with a demo every week from the second week.
Can a portal connect to the software we already use?
Usually, yes. If your software has an API we read from it directly. If it doesn't, we can sync the data or plan a replacement, and we'll tell you which before quoting.
Do customers need a password?
No. Most portals we build use a sign-in link sent by email, which customers find easier and which can't be reused if a password leaks. Business customers can use single sign-on instead.
Can customers pay through the portal?
Yes. Payments run through Stripe or Square, and each payment is written back to your system so the invoice shows as paid without anyone ticking a box.
Who owns the portal once it is built?
You do. The code, the hosting account and the data are in your name, and we hand over everything needed for another developer to pick it up.
Tell us what customers ring about
On a free call we'll ask what your team answers most and where the answers live. If your current software already has a portal that would do, we'll show you where to switch it on.