Consumers, according to studies, prefer to solve their problems. They prefer handling problems independently whenever feasible, and most always go to the company’s website when encountering an issue. They won’t have to waste time calling or emailing your company for answers to frequently asked queries or minor issues. During times of crisis, when dealing with a flood of support requests from clients who need help immediately, self-service.
97% of consumers in Microsoft research said they want organizations to provide an online portal for self-service, indicating that having such a portal is no longer a perk but rather a must. Here we will discuss the importance of a customer portal to strengthen and establish trust with your customers.
What is a customer portal?
A customer portal is an online hub where customers can track the progress of their support tickets, read up on related knowledge base articles, and share their experiences with the firm with other customers. It consolidates your company’s self-service options into one convenient location that can be accessed via your website or mobile app.
Customers may do their shipping information or cancel a reservation using a customer portal if it is connected with other services.
The Importance of Customer Portal Development
A customer portal development benefits range from improved client involvement to more accessible access to self-service options. Let’s discuss it right now.
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Raise Participation from Customers
Increase consumer involvement with the aid of a customer portal. It isn’t a persuasive argument. You may facilitate communication amongst like-minded consumers by setting up a discussion board. If, for instance, you run a forum for gamers, you’re likely to draw a sizable audience.
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Minimize Agent Overload
A consumer self-service portal may be invaluable for cutting down on support tickets and freeing agents’ time. Customers will have constant, unrestricted access to the portal as you populate it with frequently asked questions and how-to materials.
The most popular forms of self-service nowadays are faqs and knowledge bases. Customers will have less need to get in touch with your service personnel if they can monitor the progress of their tickets and get answers on their own. As a result, agents have more time to concentrate on critical duties and develop stronger connections with customers.
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Enable Customers to Submit and Monitor Tickets
Do your clients persist in inquiring as to the whereabouts of their concerns and requests? The moment has come to launch a consumer portal. Customers may submit tickets tailored to their specific requirements when they log in to their portal. Not just that. They may also see their tickets’ current status and how they were handled in the past in real-time. For instance, they may check to see whether a ticket from your team has been closed or is still open.
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Empower Customers in Self-Service
A knowledge base is a helpful component of a customer portal. You may provide clients with self-help materials, including frequently asked questions, articles, video tutorials, and more.
When clients have access to all the info they need, they no longer need help from your staff. They have the freedom to seek assistance on their own. Technical support documentation and frequently asked questions (FAQs) are examples of what might be housed in a client portal.
How Investing in Customer Portal boost your customer experience and business growth?
If you’re still on the fence about whether or not you need a customer portal after reading about the advantages, the arguments presented here should help change your mind.
- Customer portals connect self-service and assistance.
In practice, a client portal lessens the likelihood that your representatives will be inundated with issues that may be easily resolved without their involvement.
A client portal allows your audience to see if they can find answers to their issues on their own before contacting you for help. If customers need help locating what they need after browsing your site, they may contact your live chat operators or email you.
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Customer portals promote knowledge bases.
Ninety-one percent of respondents said they would instead utilize a knowledge base rather than a conventional support system if the former could deliver the answers they were looking for intuitively.
Your knowledge base isn’t being used to its full potential since you don’t have a customer portal. This is particularly the case if your website’s knowledge base is hidden away somewhere. Customers will have almost effortless access to your knowledge base after you build a portal and connect it to it.
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Client service portals capture client data.
You may access the data you need with little effort by using the ticketing system and standard equipment for every competent and well-designed customer care site. You just need to focus on what’s written on your ticket.
Customers’ demands and concerns may be better understood if you tailor the fields and questions you ask them to your specific business and connection with them. In addition, this will save up the time you would have spent on laborious troubleshooting methods.
Additionally, some systems have the option to create dynamic tickets. This implies that the order and content of your subsequent questions in the form are affected by your responders’ initial response.
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Multiple brand-specific customer portals are feasible.
A single website or knowledge base may become unmanageable if your business provides a wide range of goods and services. The importance of customer portals in your customers’ ability to provide their self-service is further highlighted by this fact.
If you have access to robust portal software, you may set up as many separate sites as you need, each catering to a unique set of items, customers, etc. In addition, if your portal software supports customization, you may give each portal a distinct look and feel that reflects the particular facets of your company that it focuses on.
These portal differentiation solutions often provide a wide range of adaptability options. If you’re establishing separate portals for various local markets, they may have unique looks while still being linked to one another, and they can even support several languages.
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The customer portal improves support system flexibility.
A customer portal development significantly more customization options than conventional help channels, including phone and email. Its adaptability shows not simply in the ease with which your clients can get the information they’re looking for but also in how much you can personalize that information.
Simple keyword searches will bring up all potentially relevant subjects, and your knowledge base articles’ dynamic and responsive structure will make it easy for users to find what they need.
In addition, it gives users the option of contacting your chat support team for assistance if they find they cannot resolve the difficulties on their own.
Conclusion
Professionals in the customer service field have been puzzling over the concept of consumer empowerment for a long time. They’ve learned that resolving consumer complaints takes more than placing someone in the middle. Providing your consumers with the freedom they want is a breeze with customer portal software. When you provide relevant information properly, customers feel more in control and invested.
