Portal Experience Quick Check
Three minutes. Twelve questions. No personal details collected.
This self assessment highlights whether your portal is acting as a reliable front door, and what is driving workarounds.
Answer each question with Yes, Sometimes, or No. Click Show my result to see your score and the next step.
How it works
Scoring
Yes equals 2
Sometimes equals 1
No equals 0
Sometimes equals 1
No equals 0
Sections
Questions 1 to 6 look at intake. Is it easy to get in
Questions 7 to 12 look at trust. Is it worth staying in
Questions 7 to 12 look at trust. Is it worth staying in
Intake
1
Can a user find the right form and submit a simple request in under one minute without needing to search?
Why this matters
If people cannot find the right option quickly, they switch to email or walk ups and the portal stops being the front door.
2
Is your ‘general inquiry’ or ‘report an issue’ option used for less than one in ten portal submissions?
Why this matters
If the generic option is heavily used, your catalogue is hard to navigate or does not match user needs, so the service desk ends up doing manual triage.
3
Do your five most used forms have fewer than eight mandatory fields?
Why this matters
When forms feel heavy, users choose email because it feels faster, which increases rework and slows fulfilment.
4
Is the portal written in user language like ‘I need help with my laptop’ rather than internal IT language?
Why this matters
If users need to understand internal structure to get help, they pick the safest generic option or abandon the portal entirely.
5
Do users receive meaningful updates that explain what happens next and when they can expect an outcome?
Why this matters
If the portal does not provide visibility, people chase progress via chat, email, or walk ups, which increases noise and erodes trust.
6
Is there a clear visual distinction between ‘I need something’ and ‘something is broken’?
Why this matters
If the distinction is unclear, users learn to label everything urgent or choose the wrong pathway, which creates delays and misrouting.
Trust
7
Do users rarely follow up in person or via chat because they have not heard anything after logging a ticket?
Why this matters
Frequent follow ups are a sign that updates, ownership, or timeframes are unclear, so people use nudges to move work along.
8
When users search for common needs, do results reliably take them to the right answer or the right request form?
Why this matters
If search fails early, users stop using it and revert to email or generic tickets for anything unfamiliar.
9
Can a user log a high priority issue from a mobile phone without hitting access blockers?
Why this matters
When access fails at the moment of need, users bypass the portal and you lose confidence in the experience.
10
If two people log the same request, do they get a consistent experience and similar timeframes?
Why this matters
People use portals for predictability. If outcomes depend on who picks up the work, trust drops and users look for workarounds.
11
Do users rarely submit tickets that need clarification or back and forth to be workable?
Why this matters
If tickets need constant clarification, the portal is not capturing the minimum information needed to fulfil work cleanly.
12
Do tickets usually land with the right team the first time without being reassigned?
Why this matters
Misrouting is one of the fastest ways to destroy trust because it adds invisible delay and users feel ignored.
Your result
0
0 to 12
Likely needs a reset
13 to 18
Friction is building
19 to 24
Healthy foundations