{"id":1338,"slug":"rule-portal-three-trigger-test","title":"R3 — Three-trigger test: only proceed with a portal when interactions are FREQUENT + DOCUMENT/APPROVAL-HEAVY + the deflected back-and-forth is REAL AND MEASURABLE","kind":"rule","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","smb-owner","candid-team"],"topics":["agency-methodology","client-portals","self-service-adoption"],"reference_body":"**Rule:** Recommend a portal ONLY when all three triggers are present:\n\n1. **Frequent interactions** — the client and the business communicate regularly enough that login becomes habit.\n2. **Document- or approval-heavy** — there is genuine \"things to look at, things to sign\" volume.\n3. **Real, measurable back-and-forth to deflect** — repetitive \"where's my X / what's the status\" volume the SMB can quantify in its inbox.\n\nIf **any** trigger is missing, recommend improving email/text workflows instead.\n\n**Why:** Hit all three (busy bookkeeping practice at tax time, property manager fielding maintenance, law firm collecting signatures and IDs) and a *bought* portal pays for itself. Miss them and the portal becomes a ghost login ([[40-60pct-clients-not-logged-in-90-days]]) plus a privacy obligation ([[pipeda-core-duties-consent-safeguarding-access]], [[pipeda-breach-reporting-rrosh-24-month-records]]) the SMB didn't need. Vendor \"deflection\" data ([[forrester-tei-35pct-deflection-vendor-sponsored]]) is enterprise-scale and requires there to BE a deflectable volume.\n\n**How to apply:**\n- Walk through the three triggers explicitly in scoping conversations.\n- For trigger #3, ask the client to count repetitive inbox messages over a 2-week sample. If they can't name a count, there is no deflection to capture.\n- For trigger #1, look at how the client currently communicates with their clients — email, text, in-person? Portals replacing email work; portals replacing in-person service rarely do.","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[{"slug":"gartner-2024-why-self-service-fails-45pct-43pct","title":"Gartner (Aug 2024) — why self-service fails: 45% of self-service starters say \"the company didn't understand what they were trying to do\"; in 43% of failures users couldn't find relevant content","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"40-60pct-clients-not-logged-in-90-days","title":"Practitioner data: \"Most firms find 40-60% of clients haven't logged in in the last 90 days\" — the ghost-login problem stated by an adoption-tool vendor","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"forrester-tei-35pct-deflection-vendor-sponsored","title":"Forrester TEI studies report ~35% support-ticket deflection from portals — but every TEI study is commissioned and paid for by the vendor whose product is studied; enterprise-scale","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"}],"incoming":[{"slug":"research-brief-client-portals-smb-june-2026","title":"Research brief: client portals for SMBs — the honest case (June 2026)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"article-client-portals-for-smbs-when-worth-it","title":"Article (draft): Most small businesses don't need a custom client portal — some don't need one at all","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"rule-meet-rep-free-buyer-with-tool-before-form","title":"R6 — Meet the rep-free buyer with a tool BEFORE the contact form: most B2B buyers prefer to qualify themselves; the tool sits where they want to be met","kind":"rule","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}]},"created_at":"2026-06-20T17:57:32.217Z","updated_at":"2026-06-20T17:57:32.217Z"}