Customer Support has been one of the most crucial and indispensable aspects of business management throughout business history. And companies around the globe want to figure out the best way to do it. However, it is important to note that customer support isn't what it once used to be. These days, customers would rather read online solutions/articles and troubleshoot their problems than by writing elaborated emails about it or waiting to speak to a support agent.
With this increased dependence on self-service over traditional communication methods, it has become quite necessary for companies to implement customer portal solutions where all the information can be collated for the end-users. This article aims to give you insight into these customer portal solutions and guide you if the question, "Which customer portal solution should I use?" is troubling you.
Rise of the Customer Portal Solution!
A customer portal creates an engaging platform that lets the customers interact with your brand, provides them a dedicated space to track and manage their support requests, and connects them to other relevant customer support resources. In a way, a customer portal reduces technical and communication barriers between your customers and your company in both B2C and B2B industries. Perhaps, the most significant benefit for businesses implementing B2B customer portals is securing customers from anywhere in the world.
Reasons to Adopt a Client Portal Solution.
From giving customers the platform to resolve problems by themselves to creating a thriving community of dedicated users, a customer portal presents abundant opportunities for companies to upgrade their support processes. You can access all the capabilities without any developer assistance by using a dedicated CRM Client Portal software. Let's look at how customer portals make life easier and why they are crucial for your customers.
- Meets Customer expectations: Perhaps the biggest reason to have a customer portal is your customers expect it. It becomes much easier for the end-users to find what they are looking for with a well-organized and well-structured customer portal. They get access to relevant information at their fingertips, such as solution articles, FAQs, feature announcements, and more. As a result, your support staff can focus on resolving more complex queries instead of handling minor, repetitive issues.
- Lowers Your Support Costs and builds a community of engaged users: The customer self-service portals save you significant expenses on support costs. Statistically, customers are more likely to find answers to their questions on their own. These portals also help build a large community of users connected by your products, which means that your support team will spend less time answering customer questions because your other customers will be doing it for you, which saves your company a lot of time and resources.
- Fast Service: Anytime, Anywhere!: Nowadays, "Fast is the new satisfactory." Customers want immediate solutions across all devices and around the clock. And they don't want to get passed around to multiple customer service reps because it means having to invest more time. Customer self-service portals can deliver quick, 24-hour support. Your customers will not have to wait to get answers to their questions.
- Significantly Increases Customer eXperience: We can all agree that a good CX leads to increased engagement, increased brand loyalty, and increased customer retention. All the customer portal solutions' collective benefits cumulate to better the overall customer experience (CX).
Which industries are best served with B2B Customer Portal?
For businesses that serve hundreds of customers across geographies, a B2B customer portal can be implemented. A B2B customer portal does not come cheap, nor is it outrageously expensive! However, It is judicious to do a cost vs. benefit analysis to determine its viability. Mostly, it is affordable for Mid-size businesses.
Some businesses best served with the B2B customer portal are suppliers of the hospital and medical supplies, automotive suppliers, building construction materials, beauty & cosmetics suppliers to beauty salons, industrial electronics and electrical suppliers, Office suppliers, and many more.
Wrapping it up
The client portal solutions have a tremendous impact on how well a business can support its customers. It encourages self-service, provides contextual information, and makes it extremely convenient for your customers to get in touch with you. If you're not using a customer portal solution yet, this is the right time to get on board!