Client accounts on your website: what your clients should see
A good client account saves calls and emails. What to show, what to let clients edit, and what stays internal.
“When is my appointment?”, “Which address do you have for me?”, “Did you send my plan?”. If your front desk answers these every day, a client account on your site gives you hours back. But only if it shows the right things.
Why it is worth it
A client account is not a luxury for big stores. It is where clients sort out the small things themselves:
- they see their appointments, upcoming and past;
- they keep their details up to date: phone, address, preferences;
- they read what you left for them after a visit: recommendations, a plan, notes meant for them.
Each one is one less call or email.
What to show
The simple rule: show what helps clients come back or saves them a call.
Appointments. With date, time, service and location. If they can also book from the account, even better.
Contact details and preferences. Clients can edit these themselves. When they change their number, the front desk no longer finds out by accident.
What you wrote for them. Recommendations after a session, a training plan, the work done on their car. Not the whole internal history, just what is written for the client.
What stays internal
This is where many portals go wrong. A client record in the ERP also holds things that are not for the client: internal notes, team remarks, working fields. A good account does not show them all “because they are there”.
That is why it matters that the business chooses, set by set, what appears in the account:
- some data clients can edit;
- some they can only read;
- the rest does not appear at all.
How clients get an account
Two options, each with its place:
- By invitation. You invite them from their record, they get a link by email and choose a password. Good for clinics, workshops and service firms, where you know exactly who your clients are.
- Open sign-up. Anyone can create an account on the site. Good for stores and studios with lots of new clients.
Most important: the same data, not a copy
A client account with its own database soon starts telling lies: a booking moved at the front desk does not show in the account, an address changed in the account never reaches the ERP. The account has to read and write directly into the ERP record. What the client changes reaches you, and what you write shows up for them.
Want to try a client account?
The Aer Studio demo site has an open account with bookings and details.
Details on the client accounts page. If you want the account in a mobile app too, see mobile apps.
