It’s no secret that providing excellent customer service is vital to a company’s success.
Today, customers expect more than just phone support and face-to-face interactions. They want convenience.
Especially if they’re only calling to update an address or pay a bill.
Instead of calling customer support and facing automated menus and awful hold music, your customers will be more satisfied with a self-service customer portal.
Read on to learn how and why you should set up a QuickBooks customer portal.
What is a customer online portal?
A customer online portal is a self-service platform where your customers can manage their account with your company. In other words, a customer portal is a personalized way individuals can access relevant information such as transaction history and payment due dates online.
“83% of consumers will spend more money with businesses that allow them to find the information they need without having to contact customer service.”
— Zendesk, 2022
With a customer portal, your customers are empowered to do things like:
- Update their contact information.
- Make payments.
- View account balances and transaction history.
- Submit and track customer service requests.
- Access exclusive content on your products (such as user manuals or how-to videos).
Based on our observations, not only does implementing a portal cut down on admin work for the business, but it also provides customers with a more convenient and enjoyable service experience.
Of course, to set up a customer portal, you must already be a QuickBooks user.
QuickBooks Online offers a Simple Start software package, which is their most inexpensive pricing plan. QuickBooks also offers a limited-time discounted price to first-time users.
But QuickBooks Online Simple Start is appropriate for which type of client in particular?
The answer is smaller businesses, entrepreneurs, freelancers, and those that only focus on services. Our findings show that larger companies with greater accounting needs, such as those with multiple partners, might want to consider a more premium option.
Now let’s look into your options for a QuickBooks Online customer portal.
Does QuickBooks have a customer portal?
QuickBooks does have a customer portal feature that you can use to set up a self-service platform for your customers.
Image credit: VARC Solutions
The Customer Account Management Portal (CAMPs) is available for both QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop users.
With this portal, customers can pay invoices and download receipts.
However, our team discovered through using this product that this native solution is not as flexible and customizable as an integrated solution.
After putting it to the test, customers can update their billing information only when making payments. And through our practical knowledge, other important financial data is easy to lose track of.
There is no option to review past transactions, update contact information, digitally sign documents, or approve invoices and estimates.
Our investigation demonstrated that small businesses instead need a CRM that can integrate with QuickBooks Online.
How your customers can benefit from an online portal
There are loads of applications for an online portal that you may have yet to consider. Before you learn how to create a portal for your business, let’s first go over the benefits of doing so.
There are many ways that portals help your customers, but here are just a few examples.
1. Access transaction history anytime
When I worked at a furniture store, we got numerous calls from customers who had misplaced their receipts and wanted us to resend them.
This quickly became time-consuming if the person was a frequent customer or had no idea when they placed their order. It involved sifting through old files and double-checking inventory lists.
One advantage of having a QuickBooks Online customer portal is that it gives customers 24/7 access to their purchase history with you.
All you have to do is send the right links to your customers, and they can access their portals easily.
Your customers can view all their estimates, invoices, and payments in a single place. All without having to contact you or search through their records. This makes bookkeeping easy for you and your customers both.
Based on our firsthand experience, self-sufficiency is especially useful if customers are in a time crunch to find documents (hint, hint — tax season).
Not to mention, it reduces the workload of your employees. And if you’re self-employed, that reduced workload becomes a necessity.
2. Pay invoices online
These days, customers can pay many of their bills online.
Online payments have way fewer steps than in-person ones. Drawing from experience, cashing financial checks at the bank, for example, is a hassle.
So, it’s easy to see why many people appreciate the option to pay online.
After all, making payments in a few clicks is more efficient than mailing cheques or calling in credit card details.
3. Update personal information
If you’ve ever moved, you were probably astounded to realize how many businesses had your old address on file.
Now imagine how long it would have taken to call each business to give them your new address. If that were the case, you’d probably still be on the phone.
As indicated by our tests, a QuickBooks Online client portal gives customers the freedom to update settings in their accounts and change any personal details (email address, phone number, etc.). They can do this anytime and anywhere, without having to contact your business.
Those that know how to create a customer in QuickBooks know it can be tedious – and updating customers’ info even more so. Customer portals:
- Reduce those aggravations.
- Lessen your workload.
- Improve sales.
- Increase productivity.
- Unify your services by incorporating branding, trademarks, etc.
How Method elevates QuickBooks customer portals to the next level
With Method’s integrated QuickBooks Online customer portal, you reap all the benefits mentioned above and more!
Plus, the Method team can assist with the setup of custom workflows, so you don’t need to spend extra time and money hiring your own developers.
Here are a few examples of how Method’s portal lets you better serve your customers and increase your capacity.
Bring automation to your QuickBooks invoice portal
With Method’s QuickBooks customer portal, you provide your customers with automated tools that make the payment process a breeze. Namely, your customers can easily pay their invoices online whenever it’s convenient for them.
Beyond that, you can automatically send email notifications to your customer’s inbox when:
- A new invoice is available.
- You want to send an outstanding balance notice.
- You need approval from your customer.
Plus, payments made through the portal automatically sync to QuickBooks once approved — so the sooner customers pay their invoices, the sooner you have money in the bank!
Extend the functionality of your QuickBooks client portal
As indicated by our tests, the QuickBooks Online customer portal is great for taking customer payments, but it doesn’t do much more. That’s where Method comes in.
Method’s portals offer unique customer service options that users will surely appreciate.
From customer approvals to service history, Method offers a variety of features that automate your customer service workflows end-to-end.
Below is an overview of what’s possible with Method’s portals.
Better yet, personalize your Method portal so customers can submit support cases online.
Then, when you receive the details, you can have the appropriate person reach out to the customer so they get the help they need as efficiently as possible.
For transparency, we should note that Method is currently limited to QuickBooks and Xero users and is only available in English. That being said, you can still take advantage of Method’s features in countries with a different native language.
How to use the Method portal
You can provide portal access to your customers with a unique portal link from the contact page.
And if your customers don’t want certain contacts to receive invoicing notifications, they can check the “Do Not Send Billing Emails” box on the contact screen right within the portal.
You can also stay on top of your customer support cases using the Reports feature in your Cases app. View cases by status, by assigned Method user, and more.
But it’s up to you what rights and permissions you give your customers within their portal.
Thinking of another feature you’d like added to your portal? No problem!
Simply reach out to your Customer Success Manager (CSM) and work with them to bring your ideas to life.
Launch your QuickBooks customer portal with Method
It’s no secret that customers want convenient purchasing experiences.
When you make it easy for customers to do business with you, you increase your repeat business.
If you’re ready to launch your own QuickBooks customer portal, we can help! Our team will work with you to get your portal up and running seamlessly.
Maximize customer convenience with your free trial of Method CRM.
Image credit: Anna Shvets via Pexels
