If you've attended any of our PSAI training webinars, you've probably heard us refer to the Communication Portal as an "omnichannel" communication tool—and that's because it gives you a single place to communicate with many different leads in many different ways. The Communication Portal, or "Com Portal" for short, is an all-encompassing tool for you to manage, monitor, and interact with leads. 

This article provides a high-level, beginner-friendly overview of the Com Portal, including its functionality and basic organization, its various features and benefits, and why the Com Portal is such a critical tool for getting the most out of PSAI.

What Does the Com Portal Do?

The Com Portal serves as a "one-stop shop" for managing your PSAI leads. All leads that you collect from all of your PSAI marketing sources will flow into this single spot. You don't have to track them across various tools; you can simply log into your PSAI admin portal and manage everything from there.

The Com Portal looks like this.

Not only can you see leads in your Com Portal, but you can interact with them and keep notes on them as well. For example, you can:

• Take over from Gia the chatbot and send messages by chat
• Transfer the chat from the computer to an SMS number
• Initiate a new SMS conversation—and continue to send and receive messages
• Send a new email—and continue to send and receive emails
• Send and receive files, such as images or videos
• Find lead contact information to call
• Add internal notes about the lead and any interactions
• View all previous activities and engagements with each lead, automatically dated and timestamped

You can even send a review request in the Com Portal to collect reviews on third-party apps like Houzz, Facebook, Google, Angie's List, and more.

Where Is the Com Portal Located?

The Com Portal is easily accessible from your PSAI admin portal. Simply log in and click "Com Portal" from the left-hand toolbar.

Where Do the Leads in the Com Portal Come From?

Leads from your Com Portal flow in through all of the PSAI marketing sources that you have created. For example, maybe your company has the following mix of PSAI marketing sources:

• 1 floating Chat that appears across your entire website
• 1 floating start button call-to-action
• 1 embedded Quote Form on your home page
• 1 embedded Weather widget on a special storm restoration landing page
• 1 popup "exit intent" Quote Form, advertising a special offer
• Facebook Business Chat

Even though you have these 6 different marketing sources at work, each in very different ways and in different locations online, all of the leads that you generate will go to the same single place: your Com Portal. 

How Does the Com Portal Work?

The Com Portal works by connecting all of your PSAI marketing sources into a single communication platform. The Com Portal is divided into three basic columns, as shown below.

Here's the summary of each column:

1. Column 1 is the "lead queue," where all of your leads are displayed. You can get an at-a-glance view of where the lead came from, when it came in, whether it's a new project or a customer service request, and more.
2. Column 2 shows the dialogue box with all previous interactions with that specific lead. You can review the chat transcript, see the specific weather report generated, switch to another form of communication (like SMS), send a weather return, request a review, and more.
3. Column 3 displays help summaries and quick actions for that lead. You can view a Google street map view of their address, view contact information, and review previous activities in reverse chronological order. You can also calculate Predictive Portraits here, giving you detailed persona and property information to help convert the lead.

There is a ton of functionality nestled into each column of the Com Portal—but don't worry. We will go much more in depth with everything you can do in the Com Portal throughout the remainder of this Com Portal beginner series.

Who Has Access to the Com Portal?

You decide! Whenever you add a new PSAI user, you can grant or restrict access to various parts of the PSAI platform, including the Com Portal. For instance, maybe you restrict Com Portal access to your admin staff or higher-level sales reps, or maybe you have a small team and want everyone to have full access. It's completely up to you.

As you can see in the screenshot below, you can even set custom roles and individual user access within the Com Portal itself—giving you fine control over who has access to which lead information.

Why Should I Interact with Leads in the Com Portal?

Using the Com Portal is key to getting the most value out of your PSAI tool set. While your marketing sources themselves work very well for generating leads, your staff must interact with those leads to encourage them to take the next step.

Using the Com Portal to interact with your leads provides these benefits:

• The Com Portal is a convenient source for many different lead communications, simplifying where you respond to potential customers and how you follow up.
• The Com Portal tracks all of your previous conversations and interactions so you can refer back to past engagements at any time.
• You can seamlessly engage with the customer in their preferred manner, whether that is chatbot, SMS, or email—without having to switch the app you're using.
• You can take advantage of PSAI weather tools directly from the Com Portal, including viewing the lead's weather report and directly sending it to them.
• PSAI is designed for use across teams of all sizes. You can assign leads directly to your company's PSAI users (in addition to setting automated notifications from marketing sources) to make sure that each lead is presented to the most qualified person on your team.

Next Steps: Explore the Com Portal's Features in Depth

This article is part of a loosely ordered series on understanding and using your Com Portal. Coming soon will be the rest of the series with many more tips, explanations, and best practices: 

• Overview: What Is the Com Portal?
• Searching, Filtering, and Navigating the Com Portal
• Communicating with Leads Through the Com Portal
• Taking Advantage of Predictive Technology in the Com Portal
• Assigning Leads in the Com Portal
• "Closing" Leads in the Com Portal

Next: Searching, Filtering, and Navigating the Com Portal