A Client Portal That Ends the "Any Update?" WhatsApp Messages
websquids sets up client portals for agencies and professional-services firms, giving clients a single place to see project status, deliverables, invoices, and communication history, instead of messaging your team directly for updates. The portal is Inlet, and we run our own agency on it.
We map how you update clients today and what a portal would change.
The pain we hear from agency founders
- "Clients WhatsApp me directly asking where things stand, because there's nowhere else for them to look."
- "Project status lives across email threads, a shared drive, and someone's memory."
- "Invoicing and project updates are two completely separate, manual processes."
- "Onboarding a new client means re-explaining where everything lives, every time."
- "We look less organized than we actually are, because clients can't see the work happening behind the scenes."
A client portal doesn't just look more professional — it removes the single biggest source of unplanned interruptions for an agency team: status-check messages that a system could answer instead.
What Inlet changes for your agency
Inlet is the client portal we run our own agency on. We set it up around how you deliver work. Here is what changes, part by part.
Project status dashboard
BeforeClients messaging for updates because they cannot see progress.
AfterClients see where their project stands without asking.
Deliverables & file sharing
BeforeFiles scattered across email attachments and shared drives.
AfterEvery deliverable in one place, with the latest version on top.
Invoicing & payment status
BeforeA separate manual invoicing process, disconnected from the project.
AfterInvoices and payment status sit next to the project they belong to.
Communication log
BeforeDecisions and approvals buried in email threads.
AfterDecisions and approvals recorded in one place you can search.
Staff-side internal view
BeforeYour team piecing together status from memory and messages.
AfterYour team sees every client's status on one screen.
Inlet is set up around how your agency delivers work, whether retainer-based, project-based or a mix. We run our own agency on it, and one of our clients runs on it too.
Why this matters more as an agency scales
At a handful of clients, WhatsApp-and-email communication is manageable. Past a certain client count, every additional client adds proportionally more status-check overhead — because there's no system absorbing that load. A client portal breaks that link: adding a client adds portal setup, not a growing tax on your team's time.
- 40+
- Projects Delivered
- 10+
- Years in Business
- 8+
- Industries Served
- 5+
- Countries
What this typically costs
A client portal (project status, deliverables, invoicing status, communication log) typically falls in the $10,000–$30,000 range, 6–10 weeks, depending on how many modules you need and what it integrates with (invoicing tools, project-management software you already use). See the full cost guide. Related read: 7 signs you've outgrown spreadsheets and WhatsApp ops.
FAQs
A project status dashboard, deliverables/file sharing, invoicing and payment status, a communication log, and an internal staff-side view. Scope is tailored to how your agency delivers work.
It can — or it can sit alongside it, pulling status into a client-facing view. We scope this with you on the call, based on what you currently use and what clients need to see.
Yes, this is a common module — reducing the back-and-forth of separately emailing invoices and chasing payment status.
Generic tools give clients access to your internal workspace, which is often more than they need or want to see. A client portal shows clients exactly what's relevant to them — status, deliverables, and invoices — without exposing your internal working process.
Yes. We run our own agency on Inlet, the client portal described on this page, and one of our clients runs on it too. It solves the same status-check problem we had ourselves.
Typically $10,000–$30,000 over 6–10 weeks, depending on scope.
Ready to End the Status-Check Messages?
We map how you update clients today and what a portal would change.
