Customer Portal & Support

SurelyCrm includes a self-service customer portal and a full support ticketing system. Give customers visibility into their records while keeping internal conversations organised and accountable.

Customer Portal

The Customer Portal is a branded, secure area where customers can view their own data and interact with your team. Each customer has a unique portal URL:

https://app.surelycrm.co.uk/portal/{customer-id}

Portal Features

• Profile Overview — View contact details, balances, plans, and status
• Online Payments — Pay an outstanding balance securely online
• Automatic Payments — Set up a recurring payment subscription (if enabled)
• Forms — Complete forms assigned by your team
• Document Access — Download uploaded documents (if enabled)
• Notification Preferences — Opt in or out of marketing communications
• Support Messaging — Create and reply to support requests

Paying a Balance Online

When online payments are enabled and a customer has an outstanding balance, the portal home page shows a payment alert with a Pay Now button. Customers can also go directly to the payment page at:

https://app.surelycrm.co.uk/portal/{customer-id}/pay

1. Enter the amount to pay. The full balance is entered by default, and the customer can pay part of the balance instead — the amount can never exceed what is owed.
2. Choose one of the available payment methods (configured by administrators under Settings > Payment Providers).
3. Click Proceed to Payment. The customer is redirected to the payment provider to complete the transaction securely.

On a successful payment the customer is returned to the portal with a confirmation message and the balance updates automatically. If the customer cancels at the payment provider, they are returned to the portal, no money is taken, and they can try again at any time.

Online payments are controlled by the Customer Payments feature toggle and require at least one active payment provider. While disabled, the payment page and Pay Now button are hidden.

Automatic Payments (Subscriptions)

If subscription payments are enabled and the customer has a plan with a recurring billing frequency, the payment page also offers Automatic Payments:

1. Open the payment page and choose Automatic Payments instead of a one-time payment.
2. Select a payment method and a billing frequency — weekly, monthly, or yearly, based on the customer's plan.
3. Click Set Up Automatic Payment and approve the subscription with the payment provider.

Once approved, future payments are taken automatically. The payment page lists the customer's active subscriptions with their frequency, amount, status, and next payment date.

Subscriptions require the PayPal Subscription feature toggle in addition to the Customer Payments toggle.

Forms

The portal's Forms tab lists any forms your team has assigned to the customer, along with forms they have already completed. Pending forms show a Complete Form button, and the tab badge shows how many are outstanding. Forms with an expiry date are marked as expired once it passes and can no longer be submitted. See Forms for details on creating and assigning forms.

Portal Authentication

Administrators can configure whether the portal requires login:

• Open Access — Anyone with the link can view the portal (useful for sharing with partners)
• Password Protected — Customers must register with an email and password to access their portal

To invite a customer to set up portal access, open their profile and click Send Portal Invitation. They will receive an email with a secure registration link.

Setting Portal Preferences

Customers can toggle their notification preferences from the portal settings page. When disabled, the customer will not receive marketing emails or SMS, though transactional messages (payment reminders, support updates) may still be sent depending on your configuration.

Support Ticketing

The support system lets customers raise requests and lets your team manage them efficiently.

Creating a Support Request (Customer)

1. Log into the customer portal (if required).
2. Navigate to Messages or Support.
3. Click New Request.
4. Select a Category (configured by admins).
5. Enter a subject and message.
6. Submit the request.

Managing Support Requests (Staff)

Go to Support in the sidebar to see all tickets. The list shows:

• Open request count
• Unread message count
• Status filters (Open, In Progress, Waiting, Closed)
• Assignment filters

Ticket Actions

Action	Description
Reply	Send a message to the customer. Mark as internal note if it should not be visible to them.
Assign	Transfer ownership to another team member.
Change Status	Update to Open, In Progress, Waiting, or Closed.
Close	Mark the ticket as resolved. Customers cannot reply to closed tickets.
Internal Note	Add a comment only visible to staff.

Support Categories

Administrators define support categories in Settings > Support Categories. Categories help you route tickets to the right team and analyse support trends. Examples:

• Billing & Payments
• Technical Issue
• Account Change
• General Enquiry

Two-Way Messaging

Both staff and customers can reply to support requests, creating a threaded conversation history. Staff messages marked as internal are hidden from the customer portal. When a customer replies to a closed ticket, the status automatically reopens to ensure nothing is missed.

Portal Invitations

To send a portal invitation:

1. Open the customer's profile.
2. In the Portal Access section, click Send Invitation.
3. The customer receives an email with a unique registration token.
4. The customer clicks the link, sets a password, and gains access.

Invitations expire after a set period for security. If a customer loses their link, simply send a new invitation.