Using the Customer Portal

Using the Customer Portal

This guide is for staff. It explains when to invite a customer, what to expect them to do, and what staff still need to manage in Standout.

For the full feature reference, see Customer Portal.

When to invite

Customer Portal is useful for:

• applicants who want to maintain requirements and matching;
• buyers completing Buyer Ready/onboarding;
• sellers following viewings/offers/progression;
• landlords following tenancies/compliance/repairs;
• tenants reporting repairs and viewing tenancy information.

The contact needs a usable email address.

Send the invitation

Open the Contact and click the prominent Send Customer Portal link button to the left of More actions.

The customer receives a time-limited secure sign-in link.

First login

On first secure-link access, the customer is encouraged to create a password. Returning customers can then sign in using email + password.

If they forget the password, the secure email link remains available as a recovery/passwordless route.

What customers can update

Depending on their role/transaction, customers can maintain or submit information such as:

• property requirements;
• Buyer Ready information;
• solicitor information;
• onboarding/identity details;
• secure documents;
• viewing requests;
• repair reports;
• repair quote decisions for landlords.

Some of this updates existing Standout records directly; other submissions are presented to staff for review.

Review customer submissions

Use:

Contact → More actions → Customer Portal submissions

This view can contain onboarding, buyer position, AML information, secure uploads and viewing requests.

Do not assume information is correct simply because the customer entered it. Review important transaction/compliance data.

Property requirements

Customer Portal requirements use the same underlying Standout requirements records as the staff CRM. If a customer changes their search, staff will see the same change.

Viewing requests

A Customer Portal viewing request creates a tentative diary viewing. Staff should confirm the slot/parties before treating it as booked.

Repairs

Current tenants can report repairs. Landlords can respond to recorded quotes where the repair has a quote awaiting a decision.

Handle Customer Portal messages

Customer messages are now part of the Communications Centre rather than a separate staff inbox.

Recommended staff workflow:

1. Open Communications Centre.
2. Use Source = Customer Portal when you want to see only portal conversations.
3. Open the customer's conversation. This marks unread customer messages as read.
4. Read the conversation history and property context.
5. Type the reply in Standout, optionally select a related property, and click Send reply.
6. Standout saves the reply into the Customer Portal and sends the customer an email notification where possible.

When a customer sends a new message the branch may also receive a notification email. Do not reply to that email. Use the Reply in Standout Property Manager button in the email to open the Communications Centre conversation.

The Contact's Customer Portal submissions page also shows the conversation and provides an Open in Communications Centre button.

Customer communication

Customer Portal reduces routine chasing only if the underlying CRM is kept current. Messages should be answered from Communications Centre so both staff and customer see the same conversation.

Update progression, viewing feedback, offers, tenancy/compliance and repair states promptly so the portal tells the truth.

Security principle

Customers can only access records to which their authenticated contact is genuinely linked. Never try to work around portal permissions by sharing another customer's link.