Why You Need Automated Billing in 2020

If there’s one thing 2020 has taught us – it’s to adapt. New changes are happening daily in the lives of people across the globe. For businesses, an all new virtual landscape means automation is a must. 

If you’re still not digital and working with old, clunky, paper and pen systems, you’ve likely felt the sting during mandatory shutdowns. The good news is there is still something you can do to get efficient and start saving money!

When it comes to your billing platform automation is the way to go! Here’s why!

Get Organized & Accurate

If there’s one thing the financial aspect of a business requires it’s organization. You simply cannot ensure that all tasks and balances are being done properly and on-time when you’re using manual processes. This can also boost customer service experience and have a positive impact on how the business is seen. 

Manage Cash Flow

Preventing revenue leakage is essential and cannot be overlooked. Instead of allowing little things (which can add up to a lot) to possibly slip through the cracks, an automated system can keep it all accounted for and accurate. 

Grow Your Business

The only way to grow and advance it to understand what’s happening and find areas where improvements can be made. With automated technology you also have the opportunity to integrate with other advanced software and take your business to the next level. 

Subscription DNA offers subscription billing software for payments from a variety of sources, including credit cards, checks, purchase orders, and even third-party processors like PayPal. Get in touch today to learn more and start your free trial.

This is Why Subscription Services are Getting So Popular

COVID-19 has completely shifted the way we work and play. Everything we do from shopping to going to school and even conducting business meetings has changed now that social distancing has become the key focus. 

Subscription services have their place in all of this and it’s a good one. The services have seen an uptick during the pandemic as people are spending more time at home, consuming more media than before and even finding value in convenient, easy access to new products and services through the subscription model. 

Here’s a look at a few of the industries really seeing a boom. 

Video Subscription Services on the Rise

Research from Deloitte has found that the average American now pays for up to 4 different video subscription services for the month since the pandemic hit. While it’s tough to say if subscribers will stick around after things start opening back up and they are spending less time at home again, there are some trends already emerging.  The research found that most subscribers like streaming services with a range of different TV shows and movies available in the library and many are looking for live events and video game streaming options too. 

Retail Subscriptions Getting New Life 

The other type of subscription service doing well now is retail. Naturally, with stores shut down or operating with limited supplies on their shelves and smaller store capacity limits, many are finding it so much more convenient not only to shop online for goods but to subscribe to services that will automatically deliver retail items to their doorstep without having to remember to initiate the order each month. Many discounted rates and special offers have prompted consumers to try the subscription trend and the numbers are rising for service providers. 

Are you a subscription services provider looking for an intuitive membership management system with robust reporting? Subscription DNA offers software to let you manage and support your customers. You can also drill down to information about customers and export the data you need to make business decisions. 

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These Are 3 Recurring Billing Must Haves

Recurring billing services offer convenience for customers and a steady income stream for companies. To have a successful subscription business, you need a recurring billing system that is easy for customers to use, and that helps your employees access, process, and interpret data in a variety of ways.

Give Consumers the Ability to Help Themselves

Subscribers don’t want to have to call customer service and wait on hold every time they have a question or want to make a change. They want to take care of things themselves whenever possible. Choose a subscription billing service that makes it easy for customers to subscribe, change their billing and payment information, choose a different plan, and view past transactions any time they want.

Subscription DNA has a Secure Subscriber Portal that allows consumers to take care of many common issues without having to speak with a customer service representative. Subscribers can log in and manage their subscriptions and payment methods. They can also make changes to their account profiles, view their transaction histories, and perform other functions quickly and easily at a time that is convenient for them. Our web services API can help you create your own application and push or pull subscriber data as needed.

Analyze Customer Data

To run a successful business, you need to understand who your customers are and what they want and need. That requires data that can be parsed and manipulated in a variety of ways to give you insights that you can use to make informed business decisions. For instance, you should be able to compile reports on groups of customers with data broken down by geographic area, plan selected, or other criteria. You should also be able to look at records related to specific individuals.

Subscription DNA’s software can allow you to view subscriber and subscription data from several perspectives. Data can be filtered to create reports on the behavior of groups or specific individuals.

Organize Information about Individual Customers

You may need to keep notes about subscribers related to their purchases, billing issues, complaints, interactions with customer service representatives, and other matters. Having the ability to consolidate that information in one place can help you provide a better experience and keep your customers loyal.

Subscription DNA’s CRM can allow you to conveniently manage notes and reminders about both general matters and specific customers. That can help your team stay organized so you can communicate with users and efficiently share information internally.

Learn More about Recurring Billing Software

Subscription DNA’s SaaS platform can make it easier to manage your subscription billing. Our front-end options can allow customers to log in to their accounts directly from your website. With our software, your team can manage accounts, automate invoicing, communicate with customers, and generate and analyze reports. Contact us today to learn more.

Modern Church Tithing: How Subscription Services Make it Easier for All

With the impact of the coronavirus and the forced shutdowns that occurred across the globe, many necessary businesses and services have found new ways to get things done. This includes remote workforces and even online gatherings. Many religious gatherings continued to happen despite state mandates to shut down their physical locations. A surge in the number of people attending church services online was also a result. 

One important element for church services is the act of Tithing. Service offerings and dues paid to these establishments help with everything from keeping the lights on to outreach efforts for those in need – and more. So letting the payment side of church service go unfunded during the pandemic wasn’t an option. 

Some churches turned to payment apps where online users could send money to dedicated accounts instead of their traditional Sunday envelopes. Others invested in technologies to make tithing possible via their own websites and online applications. 

These capabilities make donating seamless and easy to do – further increasing the chances that offerings will be made. 

The same benefits that monthly product and service providers find with subscription services can also be offered to churches. 

Subscription DNA provides a powerful SaaS platform for accepting payments and donations and makes it easy for administrators to set up online paywalls, send out group emails, and so much more.

Accept payments from credit cards, checking accounts, PayPal, and other methods people are using today. 

The best part, Subscription DNA is also PCI-DSS compliant and uses secure encryption so your members don’t have to worry about the security of their payment.

 

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Pros and Cons of Yearly vs. Monthly Billing

A subscription billing plan could provide your business with a predictable stream of income. Customers who were satisfied with your company’s products or services could become repeat customers via a subscription service instead of having to make multiple individual purchases. That could help you easily cultivate a loyal customer base.

If you are thinking about setting up a subscription billing system, you will need to decide whether to charge customers on a yearly or monthly basis. Each model has pros and cons.

Yearly Billing Model

By charging an annual fee, you could keep customers for at least a year, which could help you build loyalty. You would be guaranteed a year’s worth of subscription fees for each customer who signed up for your service. Annual billing could also help keep your overhead down since you would not have to process monthly payments.

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Charging an annual fee could lead to disputes if customers forgot about the subscription and didn’t recognize a new charge when a subscription automatically renewed. You might have to issue refunds to a large number of customers unless you sent reminders to inform them that their subscriptions were going to renew soon.

Customers who couldn’t afford to pay upfront might decide not to sign up at all if an annual subscription fee was the only payment option. People who were trying out your company’s products or services for the first time might also be reluctant to commit to an annual subscription.

Monthly Billing Plan

With a monthly subscription model, you would have money coming in on a regular basis. That consistency and predictability could make budgeting easier than it would be if you only got paid by each customer once a year.

With a monthly subscription billing plan, the cost would be spread out in even installments throughout the year. That means that the upfront cost for customers would be lower than it would be with an annual subscription.

Monthly billing might help you attract more customers than you could with an annual billing model. The downside is that customers might cancel their subscriptions after a month or two, which means it could be difficult to build customer loyalty.

What Should You Offer?

You could offer both annual and monthly billing options to your customers. For those who paid annually, you could charge an amount that was less than the sum of 12 monthly payments to encourage those who were able and willing to pay upfront to do so.

Subscription DNA can help your business process subscription memberships with annual or monthly payments. Our software can make it easy for you to manage your customers’ accounts, and our Secure Subscriber Portal can allow them to handle many issues themselves instead of calling customer service. Contact Subscription DNA to learn more about how we can help your business.