P R O D U C T
Customer Portal
As an Independent Software Vendor (ISV), you might be wondering: “Why do I need a customer portal?” The
a nswer is simple: “Because you want to sell more and save internal process costs!” You can do this with a licensing,
protection, and security solution like CodeMeter. The customer portal is only one of many means of achieving your
objective. This article shows you how a customer portal can help you and presents other options it has to offer.
What is a customer portal?
How does this help me sell more?
How does the user benefit?
A customer portal is a web application
that enables users to see and manage the
licenses they own. Your user simply logs into
the portal with his user name and password
or a dedicated license key – the ticket. Once
he is logged in, the user gets an overview
of which licenses and software products he
owns. He can see which licenses have been
retrieved or activated, activate licenses right
there, and download the software that goes
with the license. Additional deactivation and
reactivation functionality can be offered as
an option. The portal allows the user to even
register licenses acquired via a reseller.
Up-selling and cross-selling to established
clients is easier and more cost-effective than
acquiring new clients. Doing so efficiently means
knowing which licenses the client already owns.
Software products and their licenses are often
sold via resellers, and few ISVs know their end
users personally. You can offer your clients the
opportunity to register all of their licenses via
the customer portal. Incentives like discounts on
additional modules or access to exclusive online
content can help motivate the user to do so.
Registration via the customer portal offers
benefits not only for you as the ISV, but also
provides advantages to the user. The time
of lost licenses has ended. No more looking
for license keys bought years ago when the
operating system is reinstalled or software
needs to be migrated to a new computer. No
user likes to lose the software he has become
familiar with. The customer portal gives the
user access to all of the licenses he owns. All he
needs is his email address to get his password
renewed if he forgets it in the meantime.
In short, you and the user get a one-stop
place to see all of the licenses bought by a
single client.
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The benefits are substantial for you and your
clients. You are given an overview of the licenses
held by the user and can pick and mix the
right packages for him. The customer portal
also gives you a great canvas for showcasing
your new offers, whether they be updates to
existing products, upgrades with new and
exciting functions, or completely new products
that might fit the user’s tastes and needs. In
addition to targeting the user via the portal,
the data also helps you mix and match your
newsletter effectively.
The user will also find up-to-date information
about whether and which updates are
available for his products. Updating software
is often inevitable to ensure it is functioning
correctly, especially when a new operating
system has been installed.