Client portal

sharyn.evans8 

We have worked with several practices that have rolled out Client Portal over the last few years with various levels of success. The things we have learned about Client Portal from these experiences include:

1. Do your research.

Understand what the Client Portal offers your business and your client and use it for its intended purpose. If there is something you would like to see done differently, speak to the Client Portal team. They welcome the feedback and have made many improvements based on user feedback.  

2. Set yourself up for success. 

Ensure that your site is set up correctly for Client Portal. You have all the email templates set up. You have cleaned up your IPS Data, your File Note Data, and Client Contact Information. 

3. Create a process for Client Portal

Think about the Client Portal as your digital engagement tool with your clients. This is an extension of your business. The client should expect the same experience on the portal as they do if they were in your office, or a review meeting. What is your message to your client when the login is first created - how do they receive their login details? Is it one email with User Name and Password, or 2 emails? Perhaps it is one email and one SMS? Are you communicating this in a review and then sending the emails - or are you rolling this out in bulk - what notice and information are you providing? 

4. Review what the client sees and know the system yourself

Make sure you can troubleshoot with your client. You should understand how to login to the client portal for the first time. How to set up 2FA. How to set up your security questions. Maybe you also create a little welcome video with instructions. The more you know, the more you can help the client out should they run into trouble. (Note: getting in trouble in the first instance is all about your prep work and your rollout messages - do your due diligence and the issues will be lower)

5. Collate Feedback

As part of the review with your client, get to know what they use the portal for, and how they like it. Even better, ask XPLAN to set you up with your own Google Analytics report. This will show you how many clients are logging in, where they are spending their time, what medium they are using etc. We recently had a group present one of these reports to their board (based on a pilot program) and they were greenlit to roll out the portal to their entire network of clients.