A customer center is a private page where your customers log in and take care of their own billing. They can update their credit card, see their invoices, subscriptions and payment history, and change their password, without having to contact you. Most people would rather handle this themselves, especially their card details, and it saves your team time. Let's look at the ways to build one, starting with the one Ontraport recommends for most businesses.
For most businesses, Ontraport recommends building on Ontraport Membership Sites with Ontraport Pages. You don't need to sell a membership. A customer center is simply a smaller membership site, where the only page you need is the customer center itself. First, turn on membership for your site. Open the site, go to its Membership tab, and click Enable.
Next, click Pages in the top navigation, then New page. Start from scratch, or click View by type, then Customers, to choose a prebuilt customer page. You'll also find pre-designed Customers blocks when you click Add Block. There are three Customers elements, and you can use any mix of them. They pick up your membership site's branding automatically.
The Update CC button lets customers update their saved cards and choose a default card. Keeping more than one card per contact is available on Pro and above. In the button's settings, you can also have the updated card used for transactions in collections, and update all open orders with it. That helps customers fix a declined subscription payment on their own.
The Payment Info element shows unpaid invoices, subscriptions and payment plans, and payment history, and customers can download their invoices. You choose which sections to show and what to call them.
And the Change PW button lets customers change their password for your site.
This page holds billing details, so it has to sit behind a login. Click Settings, then Display settings, and set "Display this page to whom?" to All logged in members. Then publish the page to your membership site's domain. The Customers elements only work when both are set.
Now give customers access with an automation. Start with the Purchases product trigger for your product, then add the Update Membership Access action, choose your site, and set the status to Enabled. Ontraport emails each customer a registration link to create a password. After that, they log in from your site's login page. The Ontraport for memberships course covers access in depth.
One more tip. In your membership site settings, you can set a Suspended redirect, the page suspended members land on. Point it to a page with the Update CC button, so they can update their card right away.
If you want a ready-made customer center, use the My Account app. Apps require a Dynamic CMS package on your account. Then click your profile icon, choose Apps, and turn on My Account. When you install it, you choose a domain. Pick your existing membership site's domain to connect it to that site, or pick a new domain to create a new membership site.
On their My Account page, customers can update their card, manage subscriptions, see active payment plans and view their full purchase history. They can also cancel a subscription themselves. They confirm, answer a short cancellation survey, and see a confirmation page. Canceling removes their access right away, and the app warns them first. So customize the Cancel open order automation to remove access the same way you grant it, for example by disabling membership site access or removing a tag.
Each cancellation is saved on the contact's Purchases tab, with the product, their reason and any feedback. New buyers get access automatically, along with an email linking to their page. Existing customers need a one-time setup, which the support article walks you through. For profile details and passwords, add the My Profile app.
If your membership site runs on WordPress with PilotPress, it has a built-in customer center. In WordPress, go to Settings, then PilotPress, check Enable customer center, and click Save Changes. Members can use it as soon as they log in. The PilotPress lessons in the Ontraport for memberships course cover this setup.
So: build your customer center on an Ontraport membership site with the three Customers elements, use the My Account app if you also want self-service cancellations, or turn on PilotPress's customer center if you're on WordPress. Next up: how to keep your customers informed about their charges.