Strengthen your customer relationship with a digital customer portal

What is a customer portal?

A customer portal is a central platform where everything related to the purchased service is available to the customer. Depending on the type of service, different functionalities are possible here:

• Viewing contract details and conditions
  This feature is quite simple, but can therefore often be overlooked. Yet by implementing this simple option, you ensure a clear and transparent customer relationship. The customer can always refer to the correct documents in case of ambiguities. By making all agreements clearly available in a segmented way, you minimise the number of unnecessary disagreements and disputes. 
• Changing personal data
  A major frustration of customers is the administrative hassle of changing data. This does not only lead to a negative customer relationship, but also to many errors in the administration. This causes payments to go wrong or letters to arrive in the wrong place. An enormous amount of time and unnecessary costs can be saved if customers themselves can keep their data up-to-date and if these are automatically processed in the entire system. 
• Overview of invoice and payment history
  Many late payments are caused by a lack of information. Make it as clear as possible. Provide an overview of all invoices and payments. In it, make clear which have not yet been paid and give the option of transferring these digitally within one click. From here, it is easy to send an automatic reminder when a payment deadline has passed. The clearer and simpler it gets, the better. 
• Adapting the service
  The new generation of customers prefer the most personalised service possible. On a digital newspaper portal, the possibility exists for the customer to adjust the service on-the-spot to their changing needs. In this way you always serve the customer as desired and you increase customer loyalty. At the same time, the threshold for expanding the service is extremely low. 
• General information
  Of course, it is also useful to make general information available. A place where all frequently asked questions can be found. There is probably already a FAQ section available online. Make it as clear as possible in the customer portal by, for example, adding a filter option and offering only a selection of relevant FAQs. 
• Online communication and customer service
  For a personal approach, it is advisable to enrich the customer portal with a chat function. It is enormously reassuring for the customer that they can go to the digital customer portal with questions and problems 24/7. The challenge here is to find a balance between automated and human interaction. Many questions can be solved just like FAQs by an automated chatbot. This leaves more room for Customer Service to pay attention to the unique and complex issues. 

These are optional functions that a customer portal may contain. It is certainly not required to apply them all. However, it is the cooperation of several functions in particular that increases the added value. The more functions, the more the portal becomes a valuable part of the customer's life. It is therefore certainly advisable to continue to develop the customer portal.

What makes a customer portal effective?

To make a customer portal effective, it is important to keep a number of things in mind. 

Added value

A customer portal is a customer-centred environment par excellence. Of course, it is also a valuable tool for the company, but it is not the leading one. A customer platform that is only set up to collect customer data and does not offer any added value will not be effective. By offering as much value as possible for the customer, the use will increase and a large amount of relevant data will automatically be created. 

Accessibility

The biggest prerequisite for a modern customer portal is accessibility. The digital behaviour of customers varies and changes enormously. It is therefore important to ensure that the customer portal offers the same experience across multiple platforms on all possible devices. That is why we choose a Progressive Web App for a customer portal. This way, the app is available on every device via the browser. To guarantee the same experience, we also recommend setting up an omnichannel platform via cloud servers. This means that all data is automatically synchronised on all platforms and that the data is the same everywhere. 

Scalability

Digitalisation changes the capacity of the company. There is room to serve more customers and it becomes easier for customers to switch to you. This means that the IT infrastructure must be scalable. This way, the app can continue to work optimally if the number of users suddenly grows rapidly. 

Business Values

Especially in business services, success is largely due to a number of strong USPs. It is important to keep these values in sight during a digital transformation. Map out which values determine the DNA of your company and use these as a guideline. Is the personal character of the sound interaction important? Then make sure you have a personal chat function, for example. Is trust and transparency the important thing? Then focus on providing clear information. By applying this form of customisation to the customer portal, the software fits in seamlessly with the company.

What are the advantages of a good customer portal?

A good customer portal will have many positive effects on the customer experience and internal operations. Here are some of the benefits.

• Better customer experience
  As mentioned above, one of the biggest advantages is an optimal customer experience. The added value of a customer portal offers the customer more control, clarity and flexibility. This will result in customer satisfaction and also a strong customer relationship. Moreover, if customers can adapt the service to their changing needs within the ecosystem of the platform, they will remain customers for longer.
• Smoother operation
  A Customer Portal in which several tasks are automated, data is synchronised and data changes are made through self-service, ensures smoother operations. There is also the option of linking the customer's environment with other departments such as invoicing and financial administration.
• Source of data
  The more customers do online, the better customer behaviour can be mapped out. The platform is a source of relevant data. Based on this data, the offer can be sharpened and the services improved. Unburden Customer Service By providing central information and online (automatic) interaction, the Customer Service will be greatly relieved. The customer finds an answer to simple and unnecessary questions online. In this way, the Customer Service can focus on complex problems and the quality of support will improve.