5 Reasons agencies need an online client portal like Vendasta’s Business App

We live in a digital world, which means most of our interactions with businesses occur online. So whether we’re booking a hotel room or ordering a new pair of shoes, we expect to be able to do it all online, quickly, efficiently, and with no hassles or headaches. The same is true for agency interactions with clients. Today, transactions with clients are mostly done online with emails, file uploads, ecommerce purchases, and automated billing. Gone are the days of paper contracts and face-to-face meetings. That’s where online client portals like Vendasta’s Business App come in.

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A client portal is a secure, online platform that allows your agency to better manage relationships with your clients online. It’s a one-stop shop for all your client communication, from onboarding to invoicing and billing to customer support. If you’re not using an online client portal right now, you’re missing out on a crucial tool for doing business in the digital age. Here are a few reasons why online client portals are critical for the success of today’s digital agencies.

1. Offer streamlined communication

When a client’s website goes down or they need a new press release immediately, they need to get in touch with you quickly. They can’t risk their emails getting lost in your spam folder. They can’t risk emailing a former employee who’s no longer with your agency. Vendasta’s Business App comes with Inbox, which provides a central location for all your client communications. Instead of sending emails back and forth or dealing with phone tags with your clients, you can use Inbox to post updates, send files, and answer questions. With everything organized in one place, you will be able to keep track of your conversations and ensure nothing falls through the cracks. Being able to keep on top of projects and communications in one place will no doubt improve your quality of service.

2. Generate higher revenue per client

Vendasta’s Business App allows you to sell your products and services directly through the online client portal. This makes it easy to sell and upsell to clients, and it empowers your clients to browse and purchase on their own terms. What’s more, an interactive customer journey map inside Business App allows your clients to click through each stage and find solutions that would be beneficial to their business. Business App operates along with the freemium value-first strategy we call product-led growth. By showing your clients value first (by offering them a product to try inside Business App), you can demonstrate the unique solution that can solve their problem and then offer them a premium version. With this strategy, you can design your own customer upgrade path and upsell in a way that works for you to generate more revenue. With client self-service and freemium offerings, you can drive customer acquisition and generate higher revenue per client.

3. Create a brand experience

Because it’s a brandable online client portal, everything in Business App is branded as your agency. The portal has your logo, your name, your colors—there is no mention of Vendasta. The white-label aspect of Business App allows you to control your clients’ experience. You can keep clients under your brand instead of pushing them to other platforms and providers, which creates a fragmented and often frustrating experience. Branding isn’t just your logo or colors, it’s an experience. In an online client portal, you can have customers consume more of your branded assets, all while you create an amazing brand experience. What’s more, this branded client portal experience can make your agency look larger and more professional, which can elevate your status with existing clients and make you seem like the right choice of partner for prospects with larger budgets.

4. Retain clients with proof-of-performance reporting

Performance is everything. What if you could prove value, month after month, with automatic, detailed reporting? It’s a reality within Vendasta’s online client portal. Business App is unique because you can set up customized proof-of performance reporting for all your clients. When your clients spend thousands of dollars every month with your agency, they expect to see measurable, meaningful results. They want to ensure their money is being well spent, and Vendasta’s Executive Reports allow you to show them this proof of performance. Best of all, it’s all automated, so you don’t have to monitor or track activity manually. You don’t even have to send the reports yourself. By adding this level of transparency to your client relationships, you can build trust and improve retention.

5. Scale your agency with ease

As your agency starts to grow, keeping track of all client communications, invoices, projects, design files, copy files, and metrics can become a nightmare. You might miss a critical message or design revision that got buried in your email. You might forget to send an invoice or add on a service upgrade charge. You might struggle to find time to send performance reports each week with a larger client load. It’s a natural consequence of agency growth: You add more services, clients, and employees, and it starts to get difficult to keep track of everything. An online client portal can help you scale your agency without compromising on customer experience or client satisfaction. With all interactions in one place, you can keep projects flowing and keep on top of communications. With automated invoicing and billing, as well as freemium offerings, you can more easily upsell and get paid. With proof-of-performance reports sent out automatically each week or month, you can keep clients apprised of their performance and prove your agency’s value. With everything that Vendasta’s Business App offers your agency, you can easily take on more clients and grow your business with ease.

Take your agency to the next level

As you begin to think about growing your agency, it only makes sense to invest in tools that will allow you to scale with ease. An online client portal like Vendasta’s Business App can help you take your agency to the next level.