Why a website needs a customer portal
A customer portal is the private part of a website where people handle things that would otherwise take up a manager's time: check an order, repeat a purchase, download an invoice, renew a subscription, book an appointment. A well-built portal takes pressure off your phone line and your Telegram support chat, and customers stop waiting for replies in Instagram direct.
That is why customer portal design is not about nice gradients or copying someone else's interface. It is about how quickly a person finds the action they came for and finishes it. If the portal looks modern but a repeat order takes five clicks, it is not doing its job.
Start with roles and scenarios, not mockups
Before opening Figma, list who will actually log in: a retail buyer in Tashkent, a wholesale partner in Samarkand, a student of an online school, a clinic patient. Each has different tasks. For every role, pick the three to five actions they perform most often. Those get the first screen; everything else goes one level deeper.
If there are several roles, say a customer and a partner company's manager, design their interfaces separately. A single screen built for everyone usually suits no one.
- Online store: order status, reorder, delivery addresses, loyalty bonuses.
- Clinic or salon: upcoming appointments, rescheduling, payment.
- Online school: resume a lesson, homework, certificates.
- B2B supplier: invoices, closing documents, shipments, individual terms.
- Subscription service: plan, billing date, renewal.
The home screen: what to show right away
After login, a person should understand within a couple of seconds who they are in the system, what is happening with their orders or services, and what they can do next. Put the essentials at the top: the current order, the next appointment, the remaining balance, with one clear button for the main action.
Keep navigation short: five to seven items with plain names such as Orders, Payments, Profile, Support. Avoid internal company jargon. Empty states are part of the design too: if there are no orders yet, show how to place the first one instead of an empty table. A Message us on Telegram button that already carries the order number saves time for the customer and for your team.
Login and sign-up the way Uzbek users expect
Most customers are used to signing in with a phone number and an SMS code, and a password is often just an extra hurdle. Phone login, or login through a Telegram bot where it fits, usually loses fewer people than a long form asking for an email and an invented password. For B2B and services with sensitive data, add a second factor.
Ask for the minimum at sign-up: name and phone. Collect the address, tax ID and company details only when they are needed, for example at checkout. Plan account recovery as well: if someone changes their number, the portal should not become a dead end.
Payments, notifications and documents
If customers can pay inside the portal, connect the methods they already use: Click, Payme, Uzum, bank cards. They should see payment history, the status of each payment, and download a receipt or act without asking a manager. For companies, think separately about bank-transfer invoices and closing documents.
Notifications work better when the customer picks the channel: SMS, Telegram or email. A status update with a link straight to the right section beats a generic broadcast. Connecting the portal to your CRM and analytics will also show which sections people use and which they ignore.
Mobile layout and speed
A large share of your audience opens the portal on a phone, often from Telegram or Instagram, and in the regions often on mobile data. Design the mobile screen first: large tap targets, one main button, tables that collapse into cards. Heavy images and extra scripts slow login down, and speed should be tested on an average smartphone, not on a work laptop.
Common mistakes and what drives the cost
Typical mistakes: an overloaded first screen, unclear statuses, forced registration before the first purchase, no search through orders, and mockups that ignore real data such as long product names or Cyrillic mixed with Latin. Another is launching without analytics, so you cannot see where customers get stuck.
Cost depends on the number of roles and screens, the complexity of integrations (payments, CRM, 1C, warehouse, SMS provider), security requirements and mobile adaptation. That is why an honest estimate is only possible after the scenarios are mapped.
If you are planning a portal for a store, a service or a B2B platform, the markdev team, which builds turnkey websites in Uzbekistan, can discuss your task and help decide which features you need at launch.
FAQ
Which portal features should come first?
The ones customers most often ask managers about: order or appointment status, purchase history, payment and a way to reach support. Add the rest based on analytics.
Is a password required to log in?
Not always. For most consumer projects, phone login with an SMS code or sign-in through Telegram is enough. For financial or B2B data, add a second factor.
Can Click and Payme be connected inside a portal?
Yes, both can be connected to a website. Decide in advance which payments and receipts customers should see in the portal, and agree it with the payment provider.
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