If you don’t have a customer payment portal, it’s time to get one.
Profitability, Churn, & Tax Compliance: Why Subscriber Invoices Matter
The days of only offering a contact email or customer service phone number to call for payment is not sufficient. Your company isn’t meeting client expectations as a service provider without any form of customer self-care and card-not-present payment options. Even businesses without much prior need for a digital presence were forced to create one to survive during lock down, making client portals the rule, rather than the exception.
Customers like the ability to take care of their own “basic” needs without the help of anyone else. The convenience of 24x7 access for payments helps you to get paid faster. CSRs are freed up to help clients with more pressing matters which can’t be solved by the clients themselves. Important self-service tasks available in the portal should include:
- Paying bills via credit card or ACH
- Signing up for autopay
- Viewing invoices
- Updating contact information, including emails for bill delivery
- Assigning names to corresponding DID’s
- Activating/Deactivating DID’s
- Downloading call records and running traffic reports
Another benefit of the portal is more exposure for your website. The portal will inevitably drive more traffic to your site. Customers will go to your website more often, giving you the opportunity to showcase additional services that you offer. Plan to include the portal web address and instructions on how to sign up in your invoice messaging to get the word out quickly to your customer base.
For more information about setting up a customer portal, or if you have any additional questions, feel free to contact Jeff Lytle at Sandy Beaches Software.
About Jeff Lytle
Author Jeff Lytle is the founder and President of Sandy Beaches Software, a 30 year telecom industry veteran, whose IntegriBill invoicing software helps small to mid-sized providers grow and remain profitable.