The customer portal
How your customers sign in without a password, what they can see and do in the portal, and what it never shows them.
The customer portal is where your customers see everything you have sent them in one place, pay it, answer estimates and manage a saved card. There is no password. They sign in with the email or phone you have on file for them and see only the records held under that contact.
How a customer signs in
Customers sign in at billingmart.com/portal. An estimate email links straight to the estimate there. An invoice email links to the pay page instead, so tell customers about the portal if you want them to use it.
- They choose Email or Phone.
- For email, they enter the address and select Email me a sign-in link, then open the link on the same device. If they open it on another device, the page asks them to type the address first.
- For phone, they enter the mobile number, select Text me a code, and type the code.
If the contact belongs to a BillingMart account that has a second factor, the portal asks for it before it finishes.
Signing in proves the address or number, so it also verifies that contact on the client record. See Verified contacts and why a send is blocked. Marking a contact verified yourself does not open the portal for anyone. The customer still has to sign in with it.
"No bills yet" usually means they signed in with a contact you do not have on their record, or the setting below applies.
Note: In Settings, then Security, an owner can turn on "Customers need a verified email to open the portal (a phone alone is not enough)". A customer who signed in with a phone only then sees nothing from your business.
What they see
| Page | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Bills | Every invoice you have sent, what is due in each currency, and a Pay button on open ones. Drafts are never shown. |
| Estimates | Estimates you sent. They can Accept estimate or Decline, each with a confirm step. See Create, send and convert an estimate. |
| Payment plans | Installment plans, read only. Any explanation you published appears above the parts. See Installment plans. |
| Payments | Payments made, and refunds or returns beside them. |
| Saved methods | Cards they saved, and autopay for recurring invoices. |
| Security | Their second sign-in step. |
| Profile | Their contacts and the businesses that bill them. They can delete their own account here. |
Your logo and colours show when only your business bills that customer. Internal notes, references and history never leave your side.
A bill page shows the status, dates, total, amount due and payments. The full invoice with its lines opens on the pay page.
There is no statements page. You send a client statement by email.
Paying, saved cards and autopay
Pay opens the invoice's pay page in a new tab. The portal never takes a card number itself. See How your customers pay.
On the pay page a customer can tick "Save this card for future payments". From then on a bill offers Pay with a saved method, and a recurring invoice can have Turn on autopay. Autopay asks them to tick the agreement first. Turning it off always works. Removing a saved card also turns off any autopay that used it.
Paying with a saved card, turning autopay on or off and removing a card can ask the customer for a second sign-in step. If they have none, the portal sends them to Security to set up an authenticator app. A text message is not offered for this. Just looking never asks.
If your workspace has the optional card fee, a charge to a saved card includes it. The portal button shows the invoice balance, and the receipt lists the fee.
Estimates and your side
When a customer accepts or declines, the portal says you have been told. Today the answer only shows in your Estimates list and your activity log. No email or notification goes out, so check the list.
Related articles
- Verified contacts and why a send is blockedWhat a verified email or phone means, the three ways a contact becomes verified, what an unverified contact can and cannot receive, and why a send is held back.
- Client statementsShow one client's account for a month or a year, download it as a PDF, and email it to them, and why a statement is held back.
- Create, send and convert an estimateWrite an estimate, send it for your customer to accept or decline in their portal, and turn an accepted one into a draft invoice.
- Installment plansSplit one total across a set number of invoices that go out on a schedule, and see how the shares are worked out and what your plan must include.
- How your customers payWhat a customer sees on the pay page, how a part payment works, what they pay, and what happens when a card is declined or a link stops working.
- Templates, logo and coloursHow invoice templates, the pay page theme, your logo and your colours work, where each one shows up, and why nothing goes live until a person publishes it.