The customer portal is a user-friendly online environment where customers can view their energy consumption, documents, and contract details. The portal is specifically designed to support and streamline the digital move-in process: new residents can easily register their move-in and provide the necessary information, entirely online.
By giving customers direct access to their data, the portal ensures maximum transparency and control. This not only reduces the number of service requests but also increases trust and ease of use for the end user.
What's on this page:
Configuration
If you have a customer portal, you can manage various settings in the 'Customer Portal' configuration menu:
Preferences
Under the Preferences tab, you can personalize various parts of the customer portal:
Branding: Here you can upload your company logo and favicon, and set the primary and secondary colors. This way, the customer portal visually aligns with your organization's corporate identity.
Tip: Via Configuration > General > Preferences under 'Logo & Colors' you can set that your organization's logo and color settings are automatically adopted in the customer portal.
When this option is enabled, any changes to the corporate identity, such as a new logo or color scheme, will automatically update the customer portal's visuals. This way, the portal's appearance always remains consistent without you having to adjust it individually.
Advance payments: You can give residents the option to adjust their advance payment amount themselves. You determine the minimum and maximum amounts within an adjustable range.
Email communication: You can customize the email template via a direct link to the template editor, so that all emails are sent in your desired style.
Invoicing: You have the option to display invoices on a separate page within the customer portal, which provides a clearer overview for the end user.
Messages
Under the "Messages" tab, you can add a message or announcement to any page within the customer portal. These messages are visible to your customers and can be used to communicate important information.
To create a new message, click + Add. A form will then appear where you can:
Page selects: This determines on which page within the customer portal the message will be visible.
Type indicates: This makes it clear what kind of message you want to show to your customers
Neutral:
Warning:
Important:
Note: When adding a message in the customer portal, keep in mind that text that is too long can impact the page's layout. Very long messages can push other elements down or even obscure them. To maintain the portal's readability and structure, we recommend keeping messages as concise and clear as possible.
Formatting your message
Text Formatting – Drop-down menu to change the formatting style of the text (such as headings, normal text, etc.).
Bold (B) – Makes selected text bold.
Italic (I) – Italicizes selected text.
Underline (U) – Underlines the selected text.
Strikethrough (S) – Cross out the selected text.
Numbered List – Creates a numbered list (ordered list).
Bullets – Adds a bullet point list.
Text Color – Adjusts the color of the selected text.
Background Color – Changes the background color (highlight) of the selected text.
Hyperlink – Adds a hyperlink to the selected text.
Portal URL
You can set the URL of the customer portal via the Configuration > Customer Portal > Portal URL menu.
🛠 Validation occurs immediately upon saving the configuration. You'll see an error message if the format is incorrect or the domain name is invalid.
Reset customer portal
From now on, you can reset access to the customer portal for a specific customer. Here's how:
Go to the customer's details page.
Navigate to the 'Customer Portal' tab:
Here you will find an overview of:
Details
Activity
Click on the “More” button (top right) and select 'Reset customer portal account'
After clicking 'Reset' you can find this activity again under 'Activity'
Customer portal homepage
When you open the customer portal, you're greeted by a clear and user-friendly interface. The central question is "How can we help?", followed by three clear action options:
Available options:
🏠 I'm moving in
For new residents who want to register at an address.
When you pass on a move, you will be guided through a clear 7-step process
🚚 I'm moving out
For residents leaving an address. You must be logged in for this.
Leads to the conclusion of the contract at the old location.
🔐 Log in to your Customer Portal
Existing customers can log in here to manage their data, invoices and contracts.
Customers can easily reset their password themselves via 'I forgot my password'.
📋 Register with customer number
For users who don't yet have access but are already customers, they can register with their customer number. You also have the option to use a different email address to log in to the Customer Portal.
Please note: After registration, you will receive a confirmation email to activate your account.
If you try to log in without confirming this email, you will receive a clear message in the portal. You will then have the option to have the confirmation email resent so you can still complete your registration.
🔧 Options in the header:
Help: Option to send an email to customer service.
Language Selection: Option to change the language (e.g. English).
Register: Optional button for new users who want to register.
Navigating in Customer Portal
Overview
The overview page is the central starting point within the customer portal and provides the customer with the most important information about their account at a glance.
At the bottom of the page, the customer will find your organization's contact details:
Support email address
Website
Support line (phone number)
Tip: These contact details are managed via the configuration menu in Zerofriction, under Configuration > General > Preferences.
Consumption
In the customer portal, the customer can easily monitor the consumption of the services provided (such as heating, hot tap water, cooling, etc.).
For each service, it's possible to view consumption by month or year. When a specific month is selected, the daily consumption for that month appears in detail. The portal also offers the option to compare different periods, allowing customers to analyze trends and variations in consumption.
Customers with a contract that covers multiple locations also have the option to filter consumption:
They can choose to view the usage of a specific service for all locations combined, selected locations, or a specific location within that contract. This way, they always get the overview that's most relevant to them.
Requirement For consumption to be visible in the customer portal, actual meter data must be available for the relevant location. If no data is available, for example, due to a lack of smart meters or temporary outages in meter communication, consumption for that period will not be shown.
Invoices
In the customer portal, customers have direct insight into their outstanding invoices via the overview page. All invoices that are still due are clearly displayed here.
For a complete overview, there is also a separate page Invoices, where both paid and outstanding invoices are shown per contract.
Customers can easily download copies of their invoices in PDF format via the invoice menu. This way, all billing documents are always available without having to contact the organization.
Note: If you don't process payments in Zerofriction on time, invoices will remain unpaid in the customer portal, even if the customer has actually paid. Therefore, make sure payments are processed correctly and on time to avoid confusion.
When a negative invoice has the payment status Awaiting payment processing confirmation, we display an information message in the customer portal with the text: We will refund this amount to your bank account on dd/mm/yyyy
This way, the customer is informed in a timely manner about a planned refund.
Please note the following restrictions:
The overview and invoice pages only show invoices. This means that collection fees and similar charges are not visible in the customer portal.
In addition, 'Adjust Balance' actions on customer transactions that are not linked to an invoice will not be displayed in the customer portal.
My details
In the "My Details" section, customers can adjust their advance payment amount, within the limits set by the organization. They can also report a new move-in from this section.
Under My Preferences the customer can change the language of the customer portal and log out of his session.
