Automatic portal creation: let clients register themselves

What is client self-registration?

Self-registration lets clients create their own portal without you having to set anything up manually. You share a link to a registration page, they fill in their details, and their portal gets created automatically based on a template you choose.

This works particularly well for regular client work where you have a standard process—like onboarding consultations, course enrollments, or recurring service packages.

When to use self-registration

Self-registration is handy when:

• You want to send clients a link after a consultation call and have their portal ready immediately

• You're onboarding several clients with the same type of project

• You'd rather not manually create portals for every new inquiry

• You want clients to access shared educational content or resources

You might skip this if:

• You prefer to customize each portal before clients see it

• Your projects are quite different from each other and need individual setup

Before you start: Create a default template

Registration pages need a template to work from, so you'll need to create one first.

If you don't already have any portal templates:

1. Go to Client Portal > Templates and click Add New Template

2. Give it a name (you can change it later)

3. Click Publish (you can add the actual content later)

You can see a full tutorial on creating and working with templates here.

Now set it as your default:

1. Go to Client Portal > Settings

2. Under "Default Portal Template," select the template you just created

Setting up your registration page

Step 1: Create the page

1. In WordPress, go to Pages > Add New

2. Give it a title like "Portal Registration" or "Client Signup" (clients will see this in the URL)

3. In the block editor, click the + button to add a new block

4. Search for "registration" or look under the Client Portal section

5. Add the Register Form block

Step 2: Configure the block settings

In the right-hand sidebar, you'll see settings for your registration block:

Choose what happens when someone registers:

• Create new portal (most common) — Each client gets their own private portal based on a template you choose. Ideal for regular client work where each client has their own dedicated space.

• Attach to existing portal — Adds the new client to a portal that's already set up, so multiple people can see the same content. Useful if you're sharing educational resources or group programs.

Optional settings:

• Show Organization field — Toggle this on if you want clients to enter their company name

• Privacy consent text — Customize the checkbox label and link to your privacy policy

• Custom portal title — Override the default "New Project" title for created portals. To name portals automatically using the client's own details, you can use the following tags:

  • {first_name} — the client's first name

  • {last_name} — the client's last name

  • {organization} — the client's company (only if you've turned on the Organization field and they fill it in)

Step 3: Publish and share

Click Publish and copy the page URL. This is the link you'll share with clients.

What clients will experience

For new clients (first-time registration)

Here's what happens when a new client registers:

1. They visit your registration page and fill in their first name, last name, email, and optionally their organization

2. They check the privacy consent box and click Complete Registration

3. They see a success message: "You have been successfully registered. Check your email for further details."

4. They receive an email with a link to set their password

5. Once they click the link and set their password, their portal is created automatically

6. They can then log in and access their portal

Creating multiple registration pages

You can create as many registration pages as you want, each with different settings. Just repeat the steps above and choose different templates or existing portals in the block settings.

For example, you might have:

• One registration page for web design clients (creates a new portal from your "Web Design" template)

• Another for consultation calls (creates a new portal from your "Consultation Follow-up" template)

• A third for a group program (attaches clients to an existing "Course Materials" portal)

Common questions and troubleshooting

Can I customize what fields people fill in?

Right now, you can only toggle the Organization field on or off and customize the privacy consent text. The First Name, Last Name, and Email fields are required and can't be removed.

We're planning to add more customization options in the future.

How do I preview my registration form?

Since you're logged into your WordPress site, the registration form won't display when you view the page normally (WordPress assumes you're already registered).

To see what clients will see, either:

• Open an incognito/private browser window and visit the page

• Log out of WordPress and view the page

• Ask a colleague to check it from their computer

The incognito window is usually the quickest option.

Can I include the client's name in the generated portal title?

Yes (in Client Portal 5.8.1 and later). By default every auto-created portal gets the same name, but you can have each one named automatically using the registering client's details.

Go to Client Portal → Settings → Register / Login and find the New Portal Title field. Add any of these where you'd like the client's details to appear:

• {first_name} — the client's first name

• {last_name} — the client's last name

• {organization} — the client's company (only if you've turned on the Organization field and they fill it in)

For example, setting the title to {first_name}'s Portal means a client registering as John Smith gets a portal named "John's Portal." You can mix tokens with your own text however you like — {first_name} {last_name} – {organization} would produce "John Smith – Acme Co."

Plain text with no tokens behaves exactly as before, so your existing title is unaffected until you add a token. If a client hasn't filled in a particular detail, that part is simply left out.

The registration page styling looks weird on my website

The registration form uses your WordPress theme's styling, which sometimes doesn't play nicely with forms. This is especially common with themes like Avada or Kadence that have strong default styles.

Common issues include:

• Misaligned form fields

• Odd padding or spacing on mobile devices

• Colors that clash with your theme

• Sidebar or content layout problems

Need help with CSS fixes? If you'd like us to help you fix the registration page styling, get in touch with:

• A link to your registration page

• The name of your WordPress theme

• Screenshots or a list showing what looks wrong

We'll help you write custom CSS to make it look professional.

Clients can't find the registration link

The registration page is separate from the login page. If you want clients to be able to register from the login page, you have two options:

• Add a text link on your login page that points to your registration page

• Add both the Login Form block and Register Form block to the same page

I'm getting an error: "Set default project template"

This means you haven't set a default template yet. Go to Client Portal > Settings and select a default template under "Default Portal Template." Alternatively, choose a specific template in the registration block settings.

What happens if someone tries to register with an email that already exists?

If a client tries to register with an email address that's already in the system, they'll see an error message and won't be able to complete the registration.

This happens because each WordPress user account needs a unique email address. If your client already has an account (perhaps from registering for a previous portal), they can simply log in with their existing credentials - they don't need to register again.

To give an existing client access to additional portals:

1. Edit the new portal in your WordPress admin

2. In the portal settings, assign it to their existing user account

3. They'll see the new portal when they log in

If you need a client to have access to multiple portals, it's usually easier to create their account yourself via the backend rather than relying on self-registration for each one.

I'm still using an older version of Client Portal

If you don't see the Register Form block, you might be using an older version that requires shortcodes instead. Check our Legacy Documentation for the shortcode approach, or consider updating to the latest version for the block-based experience.