Self-Service Portal Adoption
The portal went live in the spring with an announcement, a poster in the kitchen and a link in everyone's signature. By autumn it received six percent of requests. The other ninety-four arrived by e-mail, by phone, and by the method known as standing next to Priya's desk until she looked up. The portal was not bad. It was simply slightly harder than e-mail, which is the only comparison a user ever makes. The first time most people tried it they searched for something, found nothing, and never came back. A portal competes with the easiest thing a person already does. It does not win that contest by being announced.
This series is about winning it anyway. It covers why users bypass the portal, and how to tell which of the five reasons is yours. It covers designing a portal people return to, which is one search box and three other things. It covers making the first visit succeed, because the first visit decides everything. Then comes promoting the portal without nagging and without punishing anyone for e-mailing. It covers measuring adoption with numbers that lead to an action. And it covers one portal for IT, facilities and HR, so the user has one front door and the departments keep their own queues. The portal is not a destination. It is the shortest path to an answer, or it is a poster in the kitchen.
Articles in This Series
- Why Users Bypass the Portal: Five Reasons and a Diagnosis
E-mail is easier, the portal is slow or empty, the first visit failed, nobody told them, the form asks too much; diagnosing which one it is; and the diagnosis sheet. - Designing a Portal People Return To: One Page, Four Things
One search box, the top ten questions, the request form, the status of my tickets, no login friction, what to leave off, and the page layout. - Making the First Visit to the Portal Succeed
The link in the acknowledgment, the search that answers, the form that takes a minute, what a failed first visit costs, and the first-visit checklist. - Promoting the Portal Without Nagging Anyone
Signatures, acknowledgments, the new-starter minute, managers who use it, the desktop shortcut, never punishing e-mail, and the promotion plan. - Measuring Portal Adoption: Four Numbers and What Each Means
Share of tickets by channel, search-to-ticket ratio, return visits, adoption by department, what to do with each number, and the adoption scorecard. - One Portal for IT, Facilities and HR: One Front Door
The shared front door with a department each, the request routes, who answers what, the knowledge base that serves all three, and the multi-department portal map.
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This series is part of the QuerySolv helpdesk topic library. It covers the foundations, processes, communication, knowledge, tooling, metrics, classic ticket domains, people and strategy behind a support desk that works. The library pairs well with the software we build: QuerySolv. It is a self-hosted help desk that runs as one Windows service on your own network. It is licensed once per installation, not per agent per month.