If you’re managing data associated with clients, partners or a community, you need a client portal.
Whether you’re a small business, an investment firm, or a SaaS provider, a client portal app helps you categorize what your users can see and share, while providing them with secure client access to your product.
If that sounds like something you want to build, look no further. In this article, we will break down everything you need to know about customer service portals, including:
What is a client portal?
So, what is a client portal? Simply put, a client portal (aka “customer portal”) is a web app that can be accessed via a secure entry point (a login page, typically). The purpose of the web app is to have a secure portal for clients and users to access gated documentation, education, or communications.
“Client portals were the first technology to enable collaboration between the client and advisor without requiring a face-to-face meeting or use of overnight mail.”
- Technology Tools for Today's High-Margin Practice 2nd Edition (Joel P. Bruckenstein, David K. Drucker - Bloomberg Press, 2013)
Types of client portals
Some examples of companies using client portals might be:
- Investment funds, providing information and special access to portfolio and LPs;
- Accounting agencies, giving customers access to forms, tax returns, and other financial documents;
- Law firms, helping clients access details about their case, updates, and progress;
- Non-profit, sharing specific access to their volunteers.
The list goes on, from online banking to insurance, SaaS platforms, and more. However, whether you’re a larger enterprise or SMB seeking a customer portal solution, or a sole proprietor, there are several benefits to having secure portal access. Think of some popular client portals people around you might use in their daily life:
- Airbnb hosts keeping track of their apartments and related bookings;
- Freelancer content writer working with an agency and checking current, past, and upcoming briefs and content. (In the current modern world, freelancers can take advantage of using an AI text generator for content creation to save time.)
- Real estate agents organize and manage apartments assigned to them.
Now, when it comes to you and your specific business, why would you need a client portal?
Client portal benefits
What are some of the benefits of these platforms for you and for your users? And what are some of the specific use cases for which they make the most sense?
In my experience, a client portal can serve several functions, depending on the customer portal software you choose.
For example, you might focus on using a document portal software to share contracts and process guides, or try a client management portal to keep track of clients throughout onboarding and beyond.
Let’s dig deeper into some of the different benefits and ways that we can use client portal apps.
Why do you need a client portal?
A client portal presents benefits for you, your team, and your users. Let's review some of the key advantages.
Security
One of the key benefits of implementing a client portal is the ability to provide a secure platform to your customers. This isn’t just important; it’s crucial.
Not only is the data completely safe thanks to server-side security and encryption, but you have the ability to set different levels of access. This means that some users will have more access rights than others, based on the permissions you decide on. This is great for platforms where a hierarchical setup is in place: managers and employees, or administrators and members for example.
Personalization
Another major aspect of client portals is the ability to provide a unique customer experience.
After logging in with their selected username and passwords, users have access to gated content and personalized information, ranging from usage data to their own, private files. This in itself provides a lot of value and incentive to visit the portal regularly, serving as a powerful psychological trigger to consider it “their” space.
Convenience
For customers, having access to personal data and unique documents online through a document sharing portal, along with a knowledge base for support, is a major benefit. Think about banking services. Would you sign up for a bank account without online access?
Furthermore, client portals are practical. As long as customers have an Internet connection, they can log in to your client portals at any time and, for the most part, from any device. We’re a long way from having to physically visit your bank branch to schedule a transfer like it might have been the case years ago.
Scaling operations
When starting out, most SMBs can manage their client base through emails, spreadsheets, and a healthy dose of DIY. However, as these smaller companies start to grow, a client portal becomes necessary to scale and handle the growing requirements.
Can you imagine communicating by email with your banker every time you need a bank statement? As you grow, customer web portals are simply expected by users.
Saving time and money
Last but not least, saving time and money is a major reason for implementing a client portal.
Managing a portal for users is a great way to centralize communications and provide all user information in one place. It also results in reduced costs. From manpower efficiency to reduced operating costs, running a client portal can help businesses save a lot of money. Think about these examples of costly, ineffective practices that can be replaced:
- Banks sending statements by snail mail;
- Software providers generating and sending reports to customers upon request.
You might argue that the upfront cost of setting up a client portal is high. But that doesn’t have to be the case — new and innovative platforms are helping us implement a portal at a much lower cost.
Now that we’ve gone over some of their benefits, let’s take a look at some practical use cases for client portals.
Client portal examples and use cases
Sharing confidential information
The first and most common use case for client portals is security.
A requirement in a lot of industries, protecting customer data with certain levels of encryption and providing a username and password login is a must. Real estate companies, for example, could require gated content for agents and buyers regarding listings and deals.
Providing an advanced personalized experience
Client portals are a great way for companies to provide each user with a unique experience, based on their specific data.
Contrary to static client websites, portals are populated with different information for each user, extracted from their software usage, input, or profile. This makes for a highly personalized customer experience, with valuable insights and analytics that you can take advantage of to ensure customer retention.
Image Source: Pipedrive
Managing clients and collaborators
Agencies, whether they provide recruiting, design, or marketing services, get to deal with a lot of collaborators, both internally and externally.
While some coordinators might enjoy going back and forth with dozens of freelancers and different types of assets, a client portal can really simplify the process:
- Providing freelancers with briefs, guidelines, or billing history;
- Gathering deliverables in one place for easier storage;
- Giving clients secure private access to track progress and give feedback.
What industries can benefit from client portals?
Client portals can be used across a number of industries, for a variety of use cases. For example, their benefits for accounting firms and independent accountants has been extensively documented in existing literature:
“One of the primary forces driving CPA firms to implement a client portal is to reduce the risk of a breach of privacy associated with emailing documents that contain personal information, such as tax returns, financial statements, investment information, and so forth. If you deploy an effective portal system, it can be one of the most secure ways to exchange and store information today”
10 steps to a digital practice in the cloud: new levels of CPA firm workflow efficiency (John H. Higgins, Bryan L. Smith - American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, 2012)
But that’s not all. Some other examples include:
- IT and tech companies, to provide dashboards, quarterly reports and more to their users
- Law firms, to communicate with clients privately and exchange court documents securely
- Solopreneurs and freelancers, to manage all clients in one place and enter timesheets, billing details and projects. To ensure smooth project management and workflow automation, they can use several Asana competitors offering robust features.
- Investors and venture capital firms, to exchange reports, financial sheets and market insights with their portfolio
- Non-profit and unions, to communicate with members, provide confidential information and more
- Marketing agencies, to store campaign progress, share dashboards, submit creative ideas and decks
In short, client portals are a great way for businesses of all sizes to securely and asynchronously exchange information across an organization and its clients, making the experience both more practical for the company and user-friendly for the client.
What are the must-have characteristics of a good client portal?
You might have encountered the acronym “PISA” on the internet. It’s a useful abbreviation to keep in mind, defining the four main characteristics of a powerful client portal app: practical, interactive, secure, and accessible.
Practical
Client portals are designed to make things convenient, that’s why practical design is one of the first components you should focus your attention on. Besides, since they’re mostly designed to be used by your customers, you want to make it as easy as possible for them to navigate and find the right information at a glance.
Interactive
From user onboarding guides to friendly chatbots, modern websites are loaded with UI and UX components for your users to interact with. Because this is expected and makes for a more please experience, interactive elements have to be considered for your client portal.
Enable your clients with contextual interactive experiences - from client onboarding to real-time support. Interactive experiences like in-app guided walkthroughs, embedded resource centers, and pop-up messages all provide support to clients, in the flow of work."
Secure
Client portals contain some of the most sensitive data your customers will handle in their journey. Beyond obvious personal areas like banking and health information, these portals are often ripe with data from job performance insights, finances or more. It is hence paramount that proper login and security structures are in place.
Accessible
Finally, accessibility here means the ability to access your portal anytime, anyplace. The golden standard should be 24/7 access, with customer support available in case of an outage.
Consider implementing a cloud based phone system to enhance not only the reliability but also the scalability of your communication infrastructure. For a seamless experience, add virtual business cards with relevant customer service personnel numbers clients can use when needed.
This is also expected by customers in most cases, led by example by online banking. Remember last time you weren’t able to check your bank account balance? We don’t either!
The Client Portal Infographic
Finally, here are some key insights and takeaways we gathered about client portals:
- 90% of global consumers expect brands and organizations to offer an online portal for self-service;
- 98% of consumers have tried a self-service solution, including searching for a company FAQ section, help center, or other online resources;
- 60% of U.S.consumers say that their go-to channel for simple customer support inquiries is a digital self-service tool.
Conclusion
Now that we’ve dug into what client portals are and what they can do for us, hopefully you have a better idea of how a secure client portal can support you and your business.
From banking institutions to insurance companies and SaaS platforms, client portal software has become a staple of the digital world.
To start building your own client portal, check out our guide on building a client portal.
Frequently asked questions about client portal software
What does client portal software enable you to do?
Softr's client portal software puts you in control of your data. Among other things, Softr can help with:
- Allowing your end-users to login via web app
- Segmenting database access permissions - no more direct access to your entire database
- Ensuring secure access with relevant audiences using permissions and enterprise-grade security
- Creating a tailored experience for a more personalized, engaging UX boosting your professional image and customer experience
- Enjoying self-service for clients and team members to access their information 24/7
Why should I create a client portal?
Depending on your specific business model and industry, there are several reasons why you should consider implementing a client portal. But the most common reasons include:
- User experience: The ability to login and access a client portal is particularly valuable for your users, and a much better overall experience than email, traditional online storage and other cumbersome solutions.
- Security: Providing a secure client portal allows you and your clients to rely on sound security practices and to keep control over the files and data you can exchange.
- Personalization: Client portals allow for advanced personalization, from the appearance to reflect the look-and-feel of your brand, all the way to permissions settings allowing you to control who can access which set of data
- Convenience: A client portal is simply much more convenient for all parties involved, whether it’s your own team that can work and update asynchronously, or your clients that can benefit from 24/7 access to important information.
- Branding: Finally, a high-quality client portal is a differentiator that helps set your organization as an enterprise-grade, modern business, providing a thorough, end-to-end user experience.
Are client portals safe?
Client portals are safe if they use server-side security and encryption, and users log in with a unique username and password. Owners and admins can also set user access permissions, so each user can only access the content and sections made available to them. This offers greater protection against data leaks and unwanted data manipulation.
Who can use a client portal?
Anyone can use a client portal if they are granted access by the owner. Client portals are commonly used by large and small businesses, startups, law firms, non-profit organizations, educational institutions, and online communities, among others.
Which client portal features are available with Softr?
Client portal features available with Softr include:
- Interactive UX.
- 30+ dynamic list layouts.
- 100+ pre-built drag-and-drop blocks.
- Custom form builder.
- Video, social media, and business tool embedding.
- Native Stripe integration.
- White label option to add your custom branding to Softr templates.
- Membership management.
- Granular user group permissions, and tiered access to sections and gated content.
- On-page profile and listings editing.
- SEO optimization, and responsive, mobile-friendly pages.
- Real-time, dynamic search, filtering, and sorting. Smart pagination.
- Embed your app in any webpage.
- Transfer ownership.
- Server-side authentication and enterprise-level data encryption.
What else can I build with Softr?
You can also build Internal Tools, Online Marketplaces, Online Communities, Resource Listings, Websites and Landing Pages, OEM Partner Portals, Intranets for Small Businesses, and more.
What is Softr
Softr is the easiest way to turn your data into powerful business apps—no code required. Connect to your spreadsheet or database, customize layout and logic, and share with your team or clients.
Join 700,000+ users worldwide, building client portals, internal tools, CRMs, dashboards, project management systems, inventory management apps, and more—all without code.
Join 700,000+ users worldwide, building client portals, internal tools, CRMs, dashboards, project management systems, inventory management apps, and more—all without code.
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Thierry Maout
Thierry is a content marketer based in France. He has extensive experience writing about B2B SaaS, automation, and user onboarding. Originally from France, he has lived and worked in Ireland, the US, Germany, the UK and Canada as well as collaborated with companies from all over the world including UserGuiding, Make (formerly Integromat), and others. Thierry has a Bachelor's degree in International Affairs from Le Havre University (France) as well as a Master's degree in Law, Economics, and Management from the Institute of Evolutionary Science of Montpellier (France). Passionate about education and the no-code movement, Thierry has been featured in publications such as UX Collective and The Startup on Medium. A frequent Softr collaborator (freelance-based), he’s also a former startup co-founder and has, among others, co-founded and managed growth at Fairwai.
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