Do not force it
Customers who prefer email should keep using email — it becomes a ticket either way. Forcing portal registration before someone can ask a question is the fastest way to reduce enquiries and lose customers simultaneously.
Put the link in every notification
Every acknowledgement and reply should contain a one-click link to that ticket in the portal. Adoption comes from repeated exposure at the moment of relevance, not from an announcement.
Make the first visit worth it
The portal must show something the email did not: full history, current status, attachments, and the ability to reopen. If it only repeats the email, nobody returns.
Measure the right thing
Not registrations. Measure the proportion of replies that arrive through the portal rather than by email, and the number of status checks. Those indicate genuine use.
PUT THIS INTO PRACTICE
Everything described here is configurable in EconomicalHelpDesk.com. Open the demo and try it, or ask us to configure it with you.