Customer relationships matter. It's that simple. Research shows that 59% of people will walk away from a brand after several bad experiences—even if they love that company or its products.
That's why B2B SaaS organizations invest in tools to put the customer relationship front and center. Instead of using complex internal project management software, they are choosing technology that provides customers with an easy, simple, and enjoyable experience. As a result, customer service (CS) teams can improve customer satisfaction, manage client expectations, establish long-lasting relationships, and much more.
B2B customer portals are one of these technologies. But how do they work? And why do you need one? Learn more below.
Importance of B2B Customer Relationships
Some SaaS companies are so focused on generating sales that they forget to nurture meaningful relationships with their clients! This approach can ultimately harm a business in the long run, making it difficult to build customer loyalty, create bespoke experiences, and increase profitability.
Strong customer relationships are critical for achieving your objectives and growing your business. When you consistently communicate with customers, resolve their issues promptly, and help them drive value from your product, you build connections with them that are less likely to break. This enhances loyalty to your brand and significantly increases the chances for upselling, expansion, and positive word-of-mouth marketing.
So, you'll want to develop meaningful connections with the people you do business with. A B2B customer portal can help with this process.
What Is a B2B Customer Portal?
A customer portal, or client portal, is a secure and white-labeled private digital platform that allows businesses to communicate with each other. A B2B customer portal allows your customers to:
- Access data and customer documentation
- Manage account information
- Exchange information with your CS team
As you can see, all of the above involve self-service, where clients can resolve issues and find the information they need on their own. This can reduce team workloads, save resources, and make life easier for everyone!
One of the main reasons companies like yours use B2B customer portals is to nurture relationships with clients at various stages of the customer lifecycle. For example, these platforms allow a business to self-serve and access customer resources post-purchase.
Unlike a B2C customer portal, which caters to individual customers, a B2B customer portal serves an entire business. That means B2B portals have more complex features, allowing you to nurture multiple customers in the same enterprise simultaneously.
Sure, investing in a B2B customer portal requires an outlay, with these platforms potentially costing tens of thousands of dollars to develop. However, you could generate a return over time by driving more revenue through improved client relationships. Ultimately, a B2B customer portal helps you improve communication, allows customers to access information independently, and streamlines customer-facing tasks.
Why Are B2B Customer Portals Important?
Primarily, B2B customer portals allow your clients to do two things:
- Communicate with your company more effectively
- Complete tasks by themselves (self-service)
Both of these actions help you improve your clients' experience and grow trust in your brand. Say a client is struggling to use your product after purchasing it. Instead of phoning your customer service team, they can access product manuals and FAQs directly from your portal, speeding up the set-up process.
Even in 2017, 90% of customers expected organizations to have some kind of online self-service support portal. If clients can't check their account details or access documentation over the internet, they might go elsewhere—which is something you don't want!
B2B Customer Portal Features
The features available in a B2B customer portal depend on the vendor. However, most platforms offer the following:
Customer Support
With a B2B customer portal, you can centralize communications with clients on a single system, allowing users to contact your CS team with a few clicks. For instance, clients can submit support tickets, track these requests, and access FAQs and other documentation that helps them learn more about your product.
Customer Onboarding
Establishing an effective onboarding process is one of the best ways to develop genuine relationships with B2B customers. You can improve adoption rates and customer satisfaction by helping clients familiarize themselves with your product through a B2B customer portal.
OnRamp is B2B customer success onboarding software that helps you automate complicated workflows and maintain operational efficiency.
Security
The best B2B customer portals safeguard your clients' most sensitive information with features such as data encryption and role-based access controls. This allows you to protect intellectual property, credit card information, and other data. Depending on the portal and its security features, you can also comply with any data governance legislation in your region or industry.
Reporting and Analytics
The great thing about integrating a B2B customer portal into your company is the ability to generate real-time reports and other analytical information about your customers. You can then use this data to make smarter decisions and grow your business. Eighty percent of businesses see an increase in revenue due to real-time data analytics.
Integrations
Many B2B customer portals integrate with different software and apps to enhance productivity and operations in your business. For instance, you can sync your customer relationship management (CRM) system with your portal, giving your CS team greater visibility into the B2B customer journey.
B2B Customer Portal Benefits
Here are some advantages of B2B customer portals you need to know about:
Understanding Customers
With reports and analytics, you can learn more about the companies you do business with and how they interact with your brand. For example, you can identify which B2B segments place the most orders with your company or which business customers access your manuals and other user documentation.
Improved Communication
With a B2B customer portal, clients don't need to pick up the phone, send an email, or fill out a contact form on your website to contact you. These platforms have internal messaging features that enhance communication, helping you improve customer relationships.
Improved Productivity
Allowing clients to check information and access documents frees up resources for your CS team, who can spend their time on other pressing tasks. Therefore, a B2B customer portal can increase productivity in your organization and help you grow your business.
Giving Customers Control
With a B2B customer portal, customers can handle various aspects of the order management process, enjoying more freedom. Instead of contacting your company, clients can view order histories, manage shipping preferences, access invoices, update their profiles, and more on a centralized hub.
How To Choose a B2B Customer Portal
With so many B2B customer platforms out there, which one should you choose for your business? Here are some things to consider when looking for a perfect pick:
Customer-Friendly Interface
Your B2B customer portal needs a simple interface so customers can access the information they need easily. The best portals are easy to navigate, have clear menus, and don't require a lengthy training process for a new customer system.
White Labeling
You'll want your portal to reflect your brand's identity, so look for a platform that lets you customize color schemes, fonts, and other visual elements.
For even better results, work with a vendor that offers white labeling. This means renting unbranded software from a company and rebranding it just how you like. For example, you can add your company's logo and other visuals to the software's interface.
Customization
Customizing your B2B customer portal provides clients with the best possible experience. Consider platforms that let you personalize your portal with drag-and-drop functionality, intuitive menus, integrations, and other features. That way, customers are more likely to want to use your technology.
Advanced Analytics
The more information you generate about customers, the better. So, invest in a portal that offers the latest analytical features, such as reports, heat maps, and other data visualizations. All of these capabilities let you analyze customer data in a more granular way, resulting in more accurate and valuable business insights.
Customer Controls
Unlike a B2C system, multiple people from the same company will use your B2B portal to access information and communicate with your CS team. Therefore, organizations often prefer to set user permissions and controls based on different positions and responsibilities. Choose a portal that offers this security feature.
Mobile Compatibility
Your B2B customer portal should provide customers with value regardless of the device they use. Work with a vendor that lets your clients access information and contact your team directly from their smartphones as well as their desktops and laptops.
Top B2B Customer Portals
There are various B2B customer portals on the market, with some catering to specific industries. Here are a few to consider:
OnRamp
OnRamp is the leading customer onboarding software that helps B2B companies generate more revenue. It enables your clients to navigate the ever-complicated B2B partner onboarding process, improving their product satisfaction levels and your customer experience metrics.
OnRamp also has a customer-facing portal that allows clients to communicate and collaborate with you and your external partners. Learn more about our customer onboarding portal.
Copilot
Microsoft Copilot is an all-in-one (and no-code) client portal platform that improves communication. It makes moving business customers through your sales, marketing, and customer service funnels much easier, reducing your team's workload. Features include help desks, e-signing, secure messaging, and file sharing.
Moxo
A B2B customer portal software, Moxo, automates many client-facing tasks you don't have the time or resources to complete yourself. For example, you can collect documents, share files, and streamline project management in one place. Other features include screen sharing, e-signature collection, and virtual data rooms.
How To Create Your Own B2B Customer Portal
Creating a custom B2B customer portal might help you achieve your specific business goals. While this process usually requires lots of coding and advanced technical knowledge, a software development company can do all the hard work for you.
While developing your own B2B customer portal offers more customization options, working with a developer will likely cost you more than opting for pre-built software.
How To Measure the Success of Your B2B Customer Portal
After investing money into a B2B customer portal, you'll want to know whether it provides value! You can do this by tracking the following key performance indicators (KPIs):
- User adoption: Monitor how many business clients engage with your portal over time.
- Conversion rate: Find out how many clients place orders on your portal.
- Customer satisfaction: Conduct surveys to discover whether clients enjoy using your portal.
Not all portals will let you track all these metrics, so choose a vendor that does. By monitoring how clients engage with your portal, you can soon learn whether this technology is worth the investment.
Incorporating a B2B Customer Portal into Your SaaS Organization
B2B customer portals can improve your relationships with clients, resulting in more successful business outcomes. However, you'll want to choose the right platform—one that offers process automation, easy communication, real-time reporting, enhanced security, and other essential features. Once you find the perfect software, it could be one of the most important additions to your tech stack!
Looking for an ultimate customer success portal that simplifies communication, automates onboarding processes, offers customization, and more? Consider OnRamp's client onboarding portal. This tool will allow you to collaborate with customers, effectively manage projects, and train people on how to use your products. As a result, you can enhance customer satisfaction, create unique experiences, and develop longer-lasting relationships.
Your journey to more successful customer relationships starts with a free demo of our OnRamp client onboarding platform!
