Build a no-code customer portal: Start with one task: checking an order or uploading a document.; Use Stackby, Notion or Softr to create pages, forms and data connections.; Test the journey on real devices and confirm feedback works when steps fail.
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Building a no-code customer portal

A customer portal gives a customer a controlled view of their own information and a place to complete a specific task.

Desk No-Code Apps · · 2 min read

A customer portal gives a customer controlled access to their own information and a place to complete one task. Start with that task — checking an order, uploading a document or viewing a service request — before choosing pages or templates. Design the task from sign-in to completion.

Sketch the steps a customer takes to complete the task, including what information they need and what the portal should do at each step. Use that outline to plan pages, forms and confirmation messages, and to identify connections to other tools your build needs.

Choose and configure a builder

Treat platform selection and portal structure as connected decisions: choose a no-code tool, organise the information the portal will use, then configure how sharing works.

Stackby, Notion and Softr are named as no-code options for a client portal. TeamDesk, Appy Pie and Salesforce Platform are also identified as no-code platforms.

Before choosing, check that the builder can create the page and form components in your outline and connect to the data source or workflow the task depends on.

In the builder, create the pages in your outline, add the matching components — text, lists, forms and buttons — and connect each form to the data source or workflow it needs. Set up navigation between pages and configure a confirmation state after submission, then preview the task from start to finish.

For Power Pages, see the sibling article on preventing one customer from accessing another’s records for record-level access configuration.

Customer access rules in brief

Rules that decide which records each customer can see are covered in the sibling article on preventing one customer from accessing another’s records.

Test the customer journey

Work through the portal as a customer, from sign-in to task completion. Check that each page, form, confirmation message and navigation link behaves as intended on the devices and browsers your customers use.

Test the connections to any other tools in the workflow, and check how the portal responds when a step fails or required information is missing. Make sure customers receive clear feedback and can continue or recover where appropriate.

Review the finished pages and forms with the people who will use and maintain the portal. Confirm that the content is clear, the task is easy to complete and staff know how to handle submissions or follow-up work.

Keep a record of the test data and the results so the same checks can be repeated after a change.

In this guide

  1. Choosing what a customer should be able to seeChoosing what a customer should be able to see: a practical guide to the key decisions and checks.
  2. Preventing one customer from accessing another's recordsCross-customer access is a portal failure even if it occurs only through a guessed address or export.
  3. Collecting documents through a controlled portalA document upload in a customer portal should identify who submitted the file, which case it belongs to and what happens next.
  4. Testing portal access after a customer account is closedClosing a customer account should end the access it no longer justifies, including old sessions, shared links and downloadable files.

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