How to Build a Customer Portal

The step-by-step playbook for building a customer portal that doesn't suck. From picking your tech stack to launch day -- no fluff, just decisions that matter.

You know you need a customer portal. Your clients are emailing for documents they should be able to grab themselves, your team is drowning in repetitive requests, and billing is still a manual mess.

The question isn’t whether to build one — it’s how. This guide walks through every phase, from defining requirements to launch day, so you can skip the expensive mistakes and get to a portal people actually use.

Phase 1: Define What You Need

Before choosing any technology, define the problem you’re solving and the features you need.

Identify the pain points

What are your customers currently struggling with? What does your team spend too much time on? Common pain points that portals solve:

  • Customers can’t access their documents/information without contacting you
  • Too much time spent on repetitive support questions
  • Billing and payment collection is manual and slow
  • Communication is scattered across email, phone, and chat
  • Onboarding new customers is time-consuming

Define your feature set

Based on the pain points, list the features you need. Prioritize them into:

Define your users

Who will use the portal? Just end customers, or also partners, vendors, internal team members? What roles and permissions are needed? Will customers have multiple users per account?

Phase 2: Choose Your Approach

There are three main approaches, each with trade-offs. See our build vs. buy guide for a detailed comparison.

Option A: Off-the-shelf platform

Use a portal platform like Assembly, SuiteDash, Clinked, or Moxo. Configure it to your needs.

  • Pros: Fastest to launch, lowest upfront cost, maintained by the vendor
  • Cons: Limited customization, dependency on vendor, may not fit unique workflows
  • Best for: SMBs that need standard portal features without heavy customization

Option B: Platform with customization

Use a platform that provides the foundation, then extend with custom code, integrations, or plugins. Platforms like Salesforce Experience Cloud, HubSpot, or Liferay support this approach.

  • Pros: Balance of speed and customization, vendor handles infrastructure
  • Cons: Higher cost, requires developer resources, platform lock-in
  • Best for: Mid-size businesses with specific requirements and technical resources

Option C: Custom build

Build a portal from the ground up using web development frameworks.

  • Pros: Complete control over features, design, and user experience
  • Cons: Highest cost, longest timeline, requires ongoing development resources
  • Best for: Businesses with unique requirements, in-house development teams, or those building the portal as a core product differentiator

Phase 3: Design the Experience

Information architecture

Plan what the portal contains and how it’s organized. Create a sitemap:

  • Dashboard (overview of what matters)
  • Documents (organized by type/date)
  • Messages (threaded conversations)
  • Billing (invoices, payments, methods)
  • Support (tickets, knowledge base)
  • Settings (profile, preferences, team)

User flows

Map the key user journeys: How does a customer check their invoice? How do they submit a support request? How do they find a document? Each flow should be as short as possible.

UI/UX design

Whether you hire a designer or use the platform’s built-in templates, prioritize:

  • Clean, simple navigation — Customers shouldn’t need training to use your portal
  • Mobile responsiveness — Many customers will access from phones and tablets
  • Consistent branding — The portal should feel like your brand, not a third-party tool
  • Accessible design — Follow WCAG 2.1 guidelines for accessibility

Phase 4: Build and Integrate

Core components

  1. Authentication — SSO, email/password, or both. See our authentication guide.
  2. User management — Account creation, roles, permissions
  3. Data layer — Connection to your backend systems (CRM, billing, support)
  4. Feature modules — The specific capabilities (documents, billing, ticketing, etc.)
  5. Notification system — Email, in-app, and push notifications

Integrations

Your portal likely needs to connect with existing systems:

  • CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot) — Customer data and activity. See our CRM integration guide.
  • Billing (Stripe, QuickBooks) — Invoices and payments
  • Help desk (Zendesk, Freshdesk) — Support tickets
  • File storage (S3, Google Cloud) — Document management
  • Identity provider (Okta, Auth0) — Authentication

See our API integration guide for technical details.

Phase 5: Launch

Soft launch with a pilot group

Launch with 5-10 customers first. Gather feedback, fix issues, and refine the experience before rolling out broadly.

Communication

Tell customers about the portal with clear messaging about what it offers. Focus on benefits, not features. See our portal adoption guide for communication strategies.

Support the transition

Your team needs to champion the portal. Train them on how to use it and how to redirect customer interactions to the portal.

Phase 6: Iterate

A portal is never “done.” After launch:

  • Monitor usage analytics — what’s used, what’s ignored?
  • Collect customer feedback
  • Iterate on underperforming features
  • Add new capabilities based on demand
  • Keep the knowledge base current