Kinds of Subscription Billing Software
Listed below are two different kinds of subscription billing software.
Fixed payments — Fixed payments are when customers are charged the same amount of money each time they are billed. Almost all subscription billing solutions are built to handle fixed payments. Fixed payments are great for subscription services and membership services that generally charge the same fixed cost throughout a customer’s billing cycle.
Variable payments — Variable recurring payments are payments that vary from invoice to invoice. This is usually in regards to usage-based charges such as utilities or phone bills. If the business generally charges based on usage it may be important to choose a system that is able to handle variable payments. Municipal services are a good fit for software that handles variable payments.
Subscription Billing Software Features
Subscription billing software offers a host of features that allow users to manage their subscription billing offerings. From managing customer data to calculating annual recurring revenue and subscriber churn, subscription billing software covers all subscription billing needs irrespective of the use case.
Custom recurring billing — An ideal subscription billing platform allows business users to customize how often they bill their customers. One of the key customizations include the ability to bill customers on a yearly, monthly, or daily period.
Subscription data management— Another key feature in a subscription management platform is providing users with a central location to manage data. With a data management platform, users are enabled to leverage a unified overview of all customer data in one place. This includes contact information, billing information, and other additional, relevant customer information that businesses use to identify trends, inefficiencies, and actionable business insight.
Subscription lifecycle management — Having visibility into a customer’s subscription lifecycle is key to establishing a good service. Subscription lifecycle management features allow users to automate processes related to collecting payment information, managing billing adjustments as well as subscription renewals.
Compliance — Many subscription management platforms provide users with features to handle financial compliance by helping them adhere to documented international financial reporting standards (IFRS). This compliance functionality includes features that automatically notify the users if tax rules are changing.
Analytics — A robust subscription billing platform allows users to calculate a host of performance metrics. This includes calculating annual recurring revenue, subscriber churn, and subscriber acquisition. If a business decides to change its prices for recurring billing, they can analyze the customer churn that the price change caused. This allows businesses to optimize their offerings.
Dunning — Dunning is the process of communicating with customers to ensure the collection of payments. Having a recurring revenue model means that businesses must maintain regular communication with their customers. This includes notifying customers of key information such as contract expiration warning, activations, welcome notices, and failed billing attempts.
Multi-currency support — For businesses that operate globally, it’s important to have features that allow for a wide variety of currencies. Choosing a subscription billing software that supports a range of payments on various currencies increases the chances for a business to collect more global revenue.
A/B testing — Subscription billing software provides users with A/B testing features. A/B testing in subscription billing allows users to conduct experiments for pricing models. Users can test to see if raising the monthly subscription price of their offering drives customers away, or if it allows the business to drive more revenue. This is a great way to hone in on the most optimal pricing model for a business.
Other Features of Subscription Billing Software: Blacklisting, Consolidation, Dispute Management, Escalation, Plan Changes
