13.1 Client Portal Overview & Access

Purpose:

To provide a single, secure, and agency-branded login point for your contacts to access various non-public resources and information hosted within your Close Master account. It centralizes access to:

  • Online Courses (Memberships → Products accessed via Offers).
  • Community Groups (Memberships → Communities).
  • Earned Certificates.
  • (If applicable) Subscription management (for paid access).
  • (If applicable) Affiliate dashboard (for referral partners).
  • Potentially links to signed Documents or other custom features.

Access URL & Custom Domain (CRUCIAL):

  • Your members access the portal via a specific web address (URL).
  • Custom Domain is Highly Recommended: For a professional and branded experience, avoid using generic system URLs. Set up a custom subdomain of your main agency domain to point to the Client Portal. Examples: portal.youragency.com, training.youragency.com, members.youragency.com.
  • Setup: This Custom Domain is configured within Memberships → Settings → Custom Domain tab. The process involves entering your desired subdomain and adding a specific CNAME record provided by Close Master to your domain's DNS settings at your registrar (GoDaddy, Cloudflare, etc.). (Detailed steps covered in Chapter 11.7).

Login Process for Members:

  1. Navigate to the Client Portal URL (your custom domain).
  2. Enter Credentials: Users log in with the Email Address and Password they created when they first signed up for a Membership Offer (free or paid) or the credentials provided if you enrolled them manually.
  3. Forgot Password?: A link on the login page allows users to request a password reset. This typically sends an email to their registered address containing a time-limited, secure link (Magic Link) to set a new password.
  4. Magic Links: These are temporary, passwordless login links. They are automatically sent in Welcome emails (if configured) and Password Reset emails. You can also potentially insert a magic link merge tag (like {{client_portal.magic_link}} or {{membership_login_url}}) into manual emails or Workflow messages to provide users with a quick, temporary login method without needing their password. These links usually expire after a short time or a single use for security. (See 13.7).