How Customer portal software benefits businesses?

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A customer portal provides access to a limited set of data and functionality to your customers.

You may not want to give complete access to your enterprise software to your customers due to the limitations of security and license costs. Some of the examples of the uses of Customer portal are:

1. Your in-house CRM system may enable your customers to enter their demographic information.
2. Your customer support software can empower your customers to submit tickets from your website and then track the progress of the ticket within your system.
3. A document management system can provide access documents to customers to approve and sign them with e-signature.

There are many more examples of customer portals that you encounter when doing business via the web. For example, 69% of customers prefer finding solutions themselves rather than relying on customer service.

When you are in the market for a software that stores customer information or interacts with them, the availability of the customer portal is a must. Let’s see what are the factors that you should look into while looking for a customer portal.

Factors to consider when selecting a customer portal:

1. What data your want your customers to access. For example if you have a support management system, you may need a customer portal to allow your customers to do self service using a knowledge base.
2. How much does the customer portal cost? Most of the systems we have seen, the customer portal is free but some manufacturers charge a small fee per customer.
3. What security is provided so that a customer portal user does not have access to your internal data (for example private notes)
4. How many users will be at your customer portal, this may directly affect the cost of your software acquisition or system load.
5. Does it require a lot of system configuration like creation of customer accounts etc.

How beneficial is it to use a Customer portal service?

Cost Reduction:

The customer portal is like a self-service where users can log in, add their issues, and access their required information. So there is no need for any customer service agent. The automated system tracks your customer issues and also sends notifications. This will automatically reduce your cost for customer service agents.

Secure Sharing:

While developing a Customer portal, security is always the topmost priority, so that all the documents and other information can be uploaded and accessed securely.

Easy access:

This portal can be accessed 24/7 by your customers without any help from your support. The customer can look into the information even after business hours or holidays.

Eliminates human interactions:

Some customers like to handle issues independently rather than take help from customer support, which may consume time and effort. It simply allows them to add issues to the system, and they can track the progress until resolution. The system helps them to stay updated with the ongoing process.

Resources:

The customer portal usually includes access to resources like FAQs, tutorials, product documentation, and other updates. So if they have any issues while working with your application, they can log into the customer portal and find solutions on their own.

Statistics:

90% of customers expect companies to have an online portal.
77% of consumers have used a customer portal.
A customer is four times more likely to buy from a competitor if the problem is related to service than price or product.
A customer portal has a 92% satisfaction rating.
10% of customer queries submitted through the customer portal get answered within the first hour.
The customer portal boasts a 95% resolution rate and 95% reply rate.

How will the OfficeClip Customer portal software be helpful for your business?

OfficeClip has an integrated Customer portal with their CRM system. As a result, the customer can access real-time information and track support ticket status.

Has two types of access:

OfficeClip Customer portal software can generate links with public access and secured access.

Public access: You can generate a public link if you want to share any important information with your customers or employees. Once this link is shared, everybody with this link will be able to access data without any login or password.

Secured access: If you want to share certain documents or reports with only a specific customer, you can generate a secured link. When this link is shared, the customer can access the information only after entering the login id and password. This type of access provides a layer of security while customers can safely upload and download documents.

Sharing Documents:

In the OfficeClip Documents application, users can create multiple folders and store documents in these folders. You can set various permissions for this document, such as read, write, or edit. Then, share these documents easily with your customers, which they can access with a login and password. An expiration date can also be added to the document if required. OfficeClip users can also lock these documents to avoid overwriting or deletion.

Sharing Reports:

OfficeClip has various applications like CRM, Timesheet, and Issue Tracker. Each application has different modules, and each module can create multiple reports like Contact information reports, Track time reports, Employee time details reports, and much more. Your customers and clients will have limited access to these reports, providing them an idea about the project status or the ongoing work.

WebForms:

With WebForms, customers can create tickets if they have any complaints or issues. These issues are saved in the OfficeClip Issue Tracker application. In addition, the customers can track the status of these issues via the customer portal and converse with the developers through notes.

DropSite:

This feature is available in the Documents application, enabling the Customer portal users to upload documents to your system. This feature makes the exchange of documents a smooth process.

Shared Calendar:

OfficeClip users can share calendars with portal users. Additionally, it also allows customer portal users to request an appointment from your website.

Conclusion:

The above-mentioned OfficeClip features in the Customer portal software will create a better user experience, increase customer satisfaction, save costs, and provide better engagement to your customers.

It will help prioritize your customers and reduce the barrier between you and your customers.

It will not only ensure that you serve your customers better, but also empower them.

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