Deciding to take advantage of a Web to Print Portal—also known as an “Ordering Portal,” “Brand Portal,” or “Marketing Portal”—is an easy decision.

There are so many benefits including saving you time and money. However, choosing the right provider can be tricky.

You want to choose one that offers you the best price for the best options and a provider who can assure you that their portal solution will offer you everything listed below.

Not familiar with Web to Print Portals just yet? Find out more including what they are, how they work, and how they can benefit your company by clicking here.

10 Things to Look for in a Portal Provider

1. An Easy-to-Use Platform

One of the main purposes of a Web to Print Portal is to make ordering, managing, and life in general as a growing business easier.

You can’t optimize your Web to Print Portal  if you and your team struggle to use it.

So, you need to find a Web to Print Portal provider who understands this and has designed their interface to be as easy to use as possible. It needs to be easy to access, easy to place orders, easy to reorder frequently used materials, easy to use its customization tools, and it needs to be easy for you to manage and control.

2. Complete Customization Capabilities

A great advantage to having a custom-built Web to Print Portal is that you and your employees are able to customize orders without comprising brand compliance. 

For example, for business cards, team members should be able to place their own business card orders while being able to customize elements like their name, job title, email, phone number, etc., but the overall design remains the exact same to ensure consistent branding.

Also, everything from the way your products are organized and the way your Web to Print portal looks should reflect the needs of your business. You should be able to customize every aspect of your company’s private online Marketing Portal to reach optimal effectiveness.

3. A System That Makes Managing Easier

Who has access to your Web to Print Portal should be completely determined by you. You should be able to limit access to certain products by role, have the option to require approval before orders are placed, view all orders employees place, and more.

Your Web to Print Portal should be from a provider who understands the importance of you having the exact control that you need while also allowing you 24/7 access to manage all elements and users of your Web to Print Portal from within the same, easy to use system.

4. Tools That Maximize Efficiency

You should be able to measure and see the efficiency a Web to Print Portal provides your company.

Everything your Web to Print Portal provider provides you with should be built to save you time and money.

So, look for a company that offers functions like real-time proofing, custom and branded systems, easy managing capabilities, fast and simple ordering processes, job tracking, live chat with portal experts, portals that are accessible from anywhere and at any time, tools to help you introduce your portal to your users so they can optimize it as well, and so much more.

In fact, before you commit to a Web to Print Portal provider, ask them what it is about their portal solutions that will help run more efficient operations.

5. An All-in-One, One-Stop-Shop

Web to Print Portals are meant to keep all your marketing assets in one place, including your printed materials, direct mailer materials, promotional items, and digital assets as well as inventory tracking and fulfillment.

This means you also want a provider who handles everything under one roof. Which includes being able to create and design your materials, production, on-demand printing, warehousing, mailing lists, targeted direct mail campaigns, shipping, portal setup, and more.

You want to choose a Web to Print Portal system from a company who can handle everything you need so you can take better control of quality, time, consistency, and your budget.

6. Scalability For Your Growing Business

If your Web to Print Portal can’t scale with your business, then there isn’t a point in having a Web to Print Portal.

Your portal should be able to be customized and be able to change and grow with your business. You may not have the same designs forever, you may rebrand, you may gain new employees or locations, and your marketing materials need to be able to change as your campaigns change.

So, look for a Web to Print Portal company that offers scalability, allows you to add new users as needed, and allows you to make any changes whatsoever to your designs, materials, and everything that comes along with your custom Ordering Portal.

7. Fast Service Along with Fast Turnarounds

When you choose a Web to Print Portal provider who specializes in online Ordering Portals for many clients, you get a provider who is invested in making their portal systems as fast and as flexible as you need them.

This includes a provider who doesn’t take weeks to make your product or design updates and instead takes care of them when you need them so you and your users can begin ordering your materials as soon as you need them.

You also want to look for a provider who keeps a repository of all your users' orders, so jobs that they order frequently can be reordered with just a click of a button.

8. Materials and Solutions That Meet Your Goals

When choosing a company to go with for your Web to Print Portal, you want to look for a company that provides high-quality products that make your messages look good and marketing solutions that guarantee results.

Look for a printer who has experience and offers a variety of products like brochures, business cards, postcards, custom signs, promo items and more. And who also offer a variety of marketing options so you can run successful campaigns all through your Web to Print Portal no matter what your goal or budget is.

9. Affordable Pricing

Some Web to Print Portal providers charge way too much for their portal solutions. Their actual products may be overpriced, their monthly fee may be way overpriced, and some providers force you to place a certain number of orders each month.

When deciding who to go with for your custom online Web to Print Portal, these providers are not who you want.

You want a provider who understands that Web to Print Portals are designed to saving money and not be crazy expensive, no matter how intuitive and streamlined their systems are.

Look for a printer that will only charge you minimal fees, low design setup costs, and low product costs, a printer who has flexible payment methods that match the way your company operates, a printer who has low prices on their products already, and a printer who even will recommend ways for you to optimize you Web to Print Portal so you can save the most money.

10. The Perfect Customer Service Team

You need a Web to Print Portal that also comes with a team of experts who are all trained in your specific portal.

At Conquest Graphics we train our team on new portals and they are available by phone, email, and live chat to enable the fastest assistance possible you and your users need.

Our team will even create tools to make it easy for you to introduce your Web to Print Portal to your team. This includes emails with a step-by-step guide and link to your portal and even a video that walks through the details of your personal online storefront.

At Conquest Graphics, we also offer all the above Ordering Portal features and pride ourselves in providing Web to Print Portal systems that help our customers run time and cost-efficient operations.

When you’re ready to choose a provider who specializes in Web to Print Portals and who cares about your goals and needs within your custom-built portal, click the button below to set up a time to talk with one of our portal experts, if you like what you see, we’ll even provide you with a free trial.