The customer portal, from your side
A merchant's tour of what your customers use: Home, Catalogue, Stock, Visuals, To get done, Orders, Shipments, the Locker Room and the link pages.
Your customers use two things: the customer portal, which they sign in to, and link pages, which arrive by email and need no login. This article explains both from your side, so you know what your customers are looking at when they call. For the customer's own walkthrough, the portal links to How orders work under More.
#The portal's pages
The pages run across the top bar.
| Page | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Home | Start a new enquiry, Orders in progress, tiles for In production, Shipping, My products and Open enquiries, a shared Calendar and Coming up |
| Catalogue | Customer Specific products (filter by group, range, style, category) and Base Products (only if they have access to any) |
| Stock | Supplier brand tiles with live colour and size stock; no prices and no ordering |
| Visuals | Their visual jobs, with Review ›, Place order › or View › on each |
| To get done | Orders to confirm or needing an address, enquiries and panel prints to approve (tagged Urgent), and unread notifications |
| Orders | Number, name, status, estimated dispatch, tracking, items and total; Draft Order and URGENT pills |
| Shipments | Stage, quantities, carrier and tracking; no costs |
| My groups | Account admin only: their sub groups |
| More | Colour chart, Fabrics, My detailings, Getting started and How orders work |
#The product window
Opening a product shows its images, details, colours, Logos & Detailings, sell price tiers, lead time, size chart and history. A customer's own product has Add to Order; a base product has Start Enquiry. The account admin can Make Inactive a product they no longer want to see; nothing is deleted.
A product marked Price on enquiry shows that instead of a price, with Request a price. The customer enters a quantity per size and notes, and it reaches your team at once as an enquiry marked Price requested.
#The order window
The customer sees a stage tracker, Download Order Details, Approve order on drafts, the order's messages with your team, the artwork, a summary with GST, and Change address.
#The Locker Room
The Locker Room is the basket in the top bar. It has two parts:
- Order items — quantities, unit price by quantity tier, subtotal, GST and total.
- Enquiry items — products to be designed, with no prices.
The customer chooses one Freight method for the whole order (only methods you have freight tables for, with your default pre-selected), a Date required (the earliest standard date is the minimum unless they tick that it's an urgent request), an Enquiry / PO #, an order name, and up to 4 attachments for enquiry items.
On Submit, order items become a Draft order with them as the contact, and enquiry items become a visual job, with an Enquiry received email.
Good to know
The Locker Room is kept in that browser only. A customer who switches computer won't see what they added on the other one.
#The link pages
These arrive by email, need no login, and can be forwarded.
| Page | What the customer does |
|---|---|
| Visual approval | Per product: Request Changes, Approve for Later or Approve & Place Order |
| Order confirmation | Adds their PO number and file, delivery address, freight method and date required, then Confirm & Submit Order. One use only. |
| Production approval | Approves or requests changes on panel prints per product |
| Pre-production sample | Approves and starts bulk, approves with changes, or asks for another sample |
| Job sheet | Approve Job Sheet (can't be undone) or Request Changes |
| Quote | Chooses tiers, then Accept or Decline; expires after its valid-until date |
On the order confirmation page, prices appear only if Show prices on the customer link is switched on for that order. If it is, the customer can press Question about the pricing? to message your team.
Watch out
With prices switched on, the confirmation link is no longer safe for your customer to forward to their own customer.
#What isn't in the portal
Customers can't change their profile or password, set notification preferences, manage users, see buy prices or see factory details. Your team handles these.
#Common questions
A link says "Link not found" or "invalid or has expired". The job usually moved on: a newer visual was sent, the order was already confirmed, or the review is done. Ask the customer exactly what the page says.
The customer confirmed but has no "Order confirmed" email. It's sent when your team confirms the order from Ready to Check.
The Locker Room won't take a product. It's Price on enquiry. They should use Request a price.
The portal is empty. The customer has no catalogue products, or the person isn't in the right sub groups.