Microsoft’s State of Global Customer Service report showed that up to 90% of customers expect brands to offer an online self-service portal. Self-service is clearly important to customers, and client portals are an effective way to provide them with self-service capabilities.
A client portal is an online hub that customers can access to find information, perform tasks or log support requests. Client portal software allows you to centralize multiple self-service options (like account management and a knowledge base), making it easy and convenient for customers to interact with your company in one place. A client portal is integral to providing a positive customer experience that can help win customers and keep them.
The 7 Benefits of Client Portals
Remember when planning a vacation meant using a travel agent to book your flights, hotels and car hire? Now, we do it all ourselves online. We live in a self-service era. We can find information on almost anything on the internet. We even try to self-diagnose our medical problems by consulting Dr. Google.
So, it’s hardly surprising that this shift to ‘doing it ourselves’ has filtered through to customer service. The technology to meet customers’ demand for self-service has evolved, so it’s become easier than ever. Early online customer portals were used for basic interactions, like tracking orders, paying invoices and updating personal information.
Today, customer portal software is a much more sophisticated customer service tool businesses can use to foster a customer connection and ensure greater customer success outcomes.
Here’s how a client portal can meet your customers’ demands for self-service and bring major benefits to your business.
1. Streamline the Customer Journey
Customers want a seamless experience, from first contact with a company through to after-sales support. If, at any point, they experience difficulties that slow down or interrupt their journey, frustration sets in. This could be waiting a long time to speak to a customer service agent or not having access to support outside of business hours.
Self-service options can offer immediate assistance and significantly reduce customer friction. At Growth Hackers, we helped a software development company streamline a fragmented customer journey that relied heavily on slow support response times and manual handoffs, and by introducing self-service resources and automated support flows, they reduced customer friction and improved satisfaction scores.
2. Communicate More Effectively
You can use your online client portal to communicate messages, updates, promotions, new product launches and company news. You can also store customer documents and keep track of customer interactions, which means less chance of documents and support tickets going missing.
3. Provide 24-hour Accessibility
According to Vonage’s Global Customer Engagement Report, not having 24-hour support was one of the top five customer communication pain points. The report found that 46% of customers look for self-service support to find the answers they need but often find that there is no 24-hour support.
Self-service options like chatbots, a list of frequently asked questions, knowledge bases and online client portals can help you meet customers’ need for 24/7 support.
4. Personalize the Customer Experience
You likely serve a varied demographic who may engage with your company in different ways. Not all your customers buy the same products or at the same stage of their customer journey. A client portal allows you to personalize the customer experience.
You’ll be able to analyze your customer data to create offers and promotions for different customer segments and personalized messages to individual customers. Taking a customer-centric approach can help you build customer loyalty.
5. Ease Pressure on Customer Service Agents
The average overall employee turnover rate is around 15%. However, Inbound customer service centers have an average turnover rate of 30-45%. The stress of the job quickly leads to burnout which leads to employees quitting.
If customers can solve basic problems via a client portal, this will reduce the volume of queries to customer support agents. If you choose client portal software that is scalable, it should also manage a growing customer base without placing additional pressure on your customer service team.
6. Keep Customer Data Safe
Having a centralized portal to manage customer data, documents and communication reduces the risk of misplacing or losing information that could occur when spread across multiple applications.
Most client portal software also includes robust security protocols, such as encryption, two-factor authentication and administrative access controls to protect data. At Growth Hackers, we often describe centralized customer data as replacing scattered filing cabinets with a single high-security vault, and for a B2B consulting client we supported, implementing a secure portal with encryption and authentication dramatically reduced information loss risks and improved data governance.
7. Reduce Customer Support Costs
Customer self-service options can help your business save money. Customer service agents spend a lot of time resolving simple queries. If customers can find answers to those questions without their help, you can run a smaller customer support department, cutting down on employee salary and overhead costs.
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Using Client Portals as a Customer Acquisition Tool | 4 Advantages
Client portals are typically for existing customers; however, you can leverage them to acquire customers. Here’s how a client portal can make your brand more attractive to prospective customers.
1. Improves your Brand Image
Client portals convey professionalism and a commitment to customer experience. Most customers want to skip phone calls and emails and simply sign on to a client portal to perform certain tasks. It’s faster and more convenient. A client portal can give you an advantage over competitors who don’t offer one.
A pharmaceutical firm came to Growth Hackers struggling to stand out in a competitive market where clients compared providers mainly on responsiveness, and after we introduced a client portal that streamlined communication and task management, their brand perception improved and client renewals increased.
2. Streamlines Onboarding
When you do convert customers, a client portal can make account setup and customer activation easier and faster. This creates a good impression right from the start.
3. Demonstrates Commitment to the Customer Experience
A client portal indicates that your company is committed to providing exceptional service. Customers appreciate the convenience and transparency a client portal offers. This can have a positive impact on your customer relationship.
4. Provides Social Proof
Positive customer feedback received via the portal can be used as testimonials on your website to demonstrate social proof to potential customers. Consumers are far more likely to purchase from a brand that other customers endorse.
Using Client Portals for Customer Retention | 8 Main Reasons
Client portals can help you retain customers and are a great way to build customer loyalty. Here’s why a client portal is an effective way to improve customer retention rates.
1. Gives Customers Easy access to Resources and Information
To create an environment for customer success, you need to do 2 things:
- anticipate customer questions and challenges
- proactively provide answers and solutions
That means making it easy to find information and access resources such as account information, a knowledge base, an FAQ list, training tutorials and troubleshooting guides. All of this can be available on your client portal.
Before working with Growth Hackers, a healthcare organization forced customers to search through emails or contact support for basic information. After we implemented a client portal with a structured knowledge base and self-service resources, customers gained instant access to answers and reduced support dependency.
2. Allows Customers to Perform Tasks Autonomously
Client portals provide some autonomy for customers, which also contributes to customer success. Rather than wait in a queue for help from a customer service agent, they can perform certain tasks themselves. Here are 7 examples:
- update contact details
- download invoices
- pay bills payments
- check the growth in an investment account
- apply for a loan
- make an extra payment on a mortgage
- change a subscription plan
3. Increases Customer Satisfaction Levels
Self-service improves efficiency, saves time and reduces customer frustration. As a result, customer satisfaction should rise, and happy customers usually become repeat customers.
According to Bain & Company, customers generate increasing profits each year they stay with a company. They estimate that a 5% increase in customer retention can increase profit by between 25% and 95%.
4. Improves After-Sales Support
Customers can log support requests, get troubleshooting help and manage returns more efficiently. You can provide options on how or where to return an item. For example, will you send a courier to collect the item, or should they return it to a specific store or drop point?
5. Boosts Customer Engagement
A client portal is the ideal platform to encourage customer engagement. Customers should have the opportunity to provide feedback, participate in community forums, and join membership clubs and loyalty programs.
When customers engage with your brand and feel valued and rewarded, it fosters a deeper connection with your brand.
6. Supports Customer Success
Another way to ensure customer success is to help customers keep their accounts in good standing so that they can continue doing business with your company. You can use a client portal to send alerts on overdue accounts and renewal reminders on expiring subscriptions. Sometimes, customers simply forget to make a payment or are unaware that a subscription is ending.
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7. Builds Trust Through Transparency
A client portal is an excellent vehicle for transparency. Customers can track their orders, follow company project timelines, view progress reports and receive real-time updates during a crisis. Clients can track the status of their projects or orders. Transparency builds trust and can make customers feel secure during times of uncertainty.
8. Helps you Anticipate Customer Needs
Many client portals offer robust data analytics and reporting capabilities. By digging into your customers’ buying history, search trends and customer support history, you can identify what they like, where their pain points lie and how they responded to previous marketing campaigns. This can help you anticipate their future needs so you can take proactive steps to meet them.
Closing Thoughts on How a Client Portal Can Improve Customer Acquisition and Retention
A client portal is a valuable tool that can help you meet the needs of your customers, provide more efficient customer support and foster a stronger customer connection. Client portals can also position you as a tech-forward brand and give you a competitor’s edge. If you use it to its full potential, it can play a significant role in driving up your customer acquisition and retention rates.
Growth Hackers is a leading client acquisition agency helping businesses from all over the world grow. There is no fluff with Growth Hackers. We help entrepreneurs and business owners use client portals to enhance customer acquisition and retention, increase their productivity, generate qualified leads, optimize their conversion rate, gather and analyze data analytics, acquire and retain users and increase sales.
We go further than brand awareness and exposure. We make sure that the strategies we implement move the needle so your business grow, strive and succeed. If you too want your business to reach new heights, contact Growth Hackers today so we can discuss about your brand and create a custom growth plan for you. You’re just one click away to skyrocket your business.
