Using Client Portal with WooCommerce
Version 4.14+
The Client Portal WooCommerce integration allows you to sell portal access on your website. Customers will be able to go to your website, choose a portal, make a purchase, and get access immediately. Here's how to get set up:
Settings in WooCommerce
1) Navigate to WooCommerce - Settings and click on the Accounts & Privacy tab at the top. Make sure the following settings match the ones below.
"Allow customers to place orders without an account" needs to be unchecked. This is because in order for us to give access to a portal, your clients need an account.
The rest of the settings under Guest Checkout and Account Creation need to be checked.
Link a product to a portal
Navigate to Products - Add New and choose a title for your product (or use an existing product).
In the Product Data metabox you will now see a new tab called "Linked Client Portal". This is where you will decide which portal you would like your customers to get access to after buying this product.
Here's what each of the options does:
Create new project
This will create a brand new portal based on a pre-existing template. (To see your templates or to add a new one, navigate to Client Portal - All CP Project Templates).
Creating a new project means that customers will each get their own private portal.
Attach a project
This will add your customer to an existing portal that you have created. (To see your portals or to add a new one, navigate to Client Portal - All CP Projects).
Attaching a project means that customers will be added to an existing portal. So they will all be able to see the same files.
It requires the following settings in WooCommerce Settings to make the portal attachment or creation process work, as we required the purchase made with a customer account.
What kinds of portals could you sell?
The possibilities are pretty much endless with the types of portals you could sell. But here are some ideas to get you going:
🧑💻 Services. You can sell any of your services (web design, accounting, consulting, etc.). So when your client is ready to pay their deposit, you can send them a link to pay and they'll automatically get a portal created for the
💼 Productised services. These are fixed scope, fixed price service offerings that clients can buy directly from your website without needing a consultation. Examples include, a one-off SEO report, a brand identity design package, blog article writing, and more.
📆 Monthly retainers. You could sell website care plans, monthly coaching sessions, or anything that repeats on a subscription basis.
🎓 Online courses or e-learning portals. You could set up an online course in Client Portal by embedding text and/or video into our content pages. You can then sell access to these portals directly from your website.
📚 Resource centres. You can bundle up useful resources into a portal and sell access to it. This could be in the form of a written guide, a collection of files or a mixture of both.
💾 Digital downloads. Instead of selling digital downloads as they are, you could put them into a portal to give customers a more usable interface to manage their downloads. You can include help guides and other useful resources along with their downloads.