"We Don’t Need a Portal, We Offer Personal Service" - Wait, What?

You call this personal service?

Imagine this.

It’s Easter weekend. Chocolate’s been eaten. Calories have been ignored. And now you’re checking your bank account to see if your cocoa binge matched your budget.

But wait. You can’t just log in.

You have to call someone to get your balance.

Oh no... It’s Sunday. Offices are closed. You tell yourself, “I’ll set a reminder for Monday.” (You won’t.)

Maybe you’ll try digging up your last balance from your email inbox. 123 results. All with the subject line “Your monthly statement.” None with the actual number you need.

AAAAAAAH.

Sounds ridiculous, right? We're already so used to our banking app.

And yet this is how many “customer-oriented” companies operate today. With email. With PDFs. With phone calls.

With friction.

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The truth about “personal service”

When a property developer tells us:

“But we don’t need a client portal, we pride ourselves on personal service”
our inner Ziggu alarms go off.

Because here’s the thing: you’re not offering personal service if you’re forcing customers to call or email for basic info they could easily find themselves.

You’re offering inconvenient service.

Today’s buyers expect more. They’re used to tracking everything from packages to pizza deliveries in real-time. And then they buy a home – the biggest purchase of their life – and suddenly, they’re in the dark again?

Not cool.

Real personal service means being there when it matters most. For the tough questions. For the decisions that require advice, empathy or expertise.

But for everything else?
Customers want autonomy. They want a secure client portal where they can log in, see where things stand, and get peace of mind instantly — no phone call needed.

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Self-service and human service: a power duo

Here’s what great customer experience looks like in 2025:

• A customer logs into their online portal to view their signed contract, track progress on the site, and see what comes next.
• They browse design decisions, approve the kitchen tiles, and get a reminder to visit the showroom, all without needing to ask.
• But then they wonder: "Can I move that wall 20 cm?" That’s when they get in touch.
  And that’s when you step in.

Not a chatbot. Not an AI assistant that can’t pronounce their name.
You. The expert who knows the context, the story, the nuance.

And because you weren’t buried in back-and-forths about document versions, you’ve got time to respond thoughtfully.

It’s what we call the AND approach:

• Self-service and human service
• Efficiency and empathy
• Tech that empowers and trust that connects

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Teams who actually work smarter

The best customer experience? It starts behind the scenes.

Take Triple Living. Their team was growing fast, but their customer communication… not so much.

“We noticed our team had less and less time for real follow-up. Clients only heard from us when there was an invoice. Not ideal.”
Since implementing Ziggu, that’s changed completely.
Now, clients feel more supported, and the team?
They spend less time on admin and more time building lasting relationships.

Or look at Cooman Construct, where Gert runs the show with a lean team.

“Before Ziggu, every email thread was a jungle. Now, even if someone’s out, anyone in the team can help the client instantly.”
That peace of mind isn't just for clients, it’s for your colleagues, too.

And then there’s ION, managing multiple high-end developments at once.

“We wanted to offer a premium experience. But without structure, we couldn’t scale. Ziggu helped us centralize everything, and now our whole team works more efficiently, and clients actually notice.”

What do they all have in common?

They’ve stopped thinking of personal service as something that lives in a phone call or a nicely worded email.

They deliver it through consistency, transparency, and timing, enabled by a platform that supports both the customer journey and the people behind it.

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