What is a customer portal app?
A customer portal application is a web or mobile application that provides customers with an online interface for managing their accounts. Customer portal apps typically allow users to view account information, make payments, and submit requests to customer service. These applications may also include functionality for viewing password-protected files and enabling users to digitally sign documents.
Customer portal apps are similar to many other business management apps, which often have a CRM component, such as payroll management app, inventory management app, and event management app. Zendesk is the most popular customer portal application today.
Examples of customer portal apps built with Crowdbotics:
- A mobile and web app like thepostage.com .The app will be a one stop shop for end of life matters, including document storage, password management, estate planning, and insurance sales/referrals. The idea is that as one is “getting their affairs in order” they will be able to use this site as a portal to host everything they need.
What is the typical cost to build a customer portal app?
A customer portal app usually costs about $37,500 to build. However, the total cost can be as low as $25,000 or as high as $50,000. A customer portal app with a low number of features (also known as a minimum viable product, or MVP) will be more affordable than an app that includes all intended functionality.
For example, here are some previous customer portal app price quotes from Crowdbotics:
How long does it take to build a customer portal app?
A customer portal app usually takes 267 hours to build. However, a customer portal app can be built in as few as 267 hours, or in as many as 267 hours. The exact timeline mostly depends on how complicated your specific app is. As a general rule, it will take longer if you require highly custom designs, niche features, complex logic, or non-standard release platforms.
For example, some previous customer portal apps build with Crowdbotics received the following hourly estimates:
Not seeing what you’re looking for?
Crowdbotics has quoted and built hundreds of applications for teams of all sizes. Browse our historical estimates by industry and app type to understand possible costs and considerations.
How to successfully grow your customer portal application
A customer portal app is designed to serve as a customer service interface for different companies. In order to achieve viral growth, the best customer portal apps are those that allow customers to order products, reserve appointments and contact support staff directly from their mobile devices. The goal of a successful customer portal app is to make it more convenient for customers to do business with a company, and thus many businesses use these apps to provide customers with special discounts and/or access advanced levels of customer service.
Risks and challenges of building a customer portal application
Public sector apps can face legal and ethical risks related to the loss of service or improper use by government employees. For example, an employee might use a customer portal app to override the system that generates payouts for a given contract, defrauding the government or the contractor. A public sector app should include tools for tracking the history of all money transfers, both in-app transactions and any manual processing of payments. This will enable you to recognize fraudulent activity in real time.
