Running an online subscription business model offers B2B eCommerce business owners the benefits of accepting recurring payments. This can be payments for goods or services from customers. However, this business model can be challenging without the right subscription management software and efficient business systems.
Managing subscriptions in real-time can be a lot of pressure. It involves setting up your customers' profile details and payment processing software to invoice and order management. It is even more difficult if you have a large customer base.
Key Takeaway - A manual spreadsheet updating customer information and subscription choices is not feasible. Instead, subscription management software covers everything you need to run your subscription business successfully.
Having subscription billing management software makes it easy to run a simple eCommerce baking subscription box. You can also start selling the best coffee subscription box. SaaS businesses can integrate subscription pricing models to accept payment.
Let's discuss how to get started with subscription management software for your business.
What is a Subscription Management?
Subscription management is a series of processes controlling and managing how you sell subscription products and services. It involves managing the eCommerce accounting operations and business process flow of a subscription commerce business.
Monthly recurring revenue, MRR, and automated billing can drive business growth. Business owners choose the subscription business model because it facilitates customer service and retention, and increases MRR.
Once a customer signs up for a subscription package, it is easy to build a relationship with that customer. However, a poorly managed subscription business model will eventually make customers lose trust in your brand. Some may even sign out of the subscription package.
Here's where subscription management software comes in.
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What is a Subscription Management Software?
Subscription management software is a subscription billing solution that helps to automate and manage your subscription billing platform, workflow, and lifecycle. A subscription management tool is designed to help businesses manage recurrent revenue and boost sales.
Integrating your subscription management software with your eCommerce business website makes setting up your subscription payment model easier. In addition, the tool can track all customer activities.
Some of the best subscription management software will process payments and cancellations. The software will send invoices when due and keep a record of purchases on your website. It will also send alerts of payment failures for different subscription boxes.
The right subscription management tool and recurring billing management software will integrate seamlessly with the rest of your eCommerce tools. In addition, the perfect tool will make running your recurring billing business easier.
Let's learn more about subscription management software features and what to expect from the best billing tools.
7 Top Subscription Management Software Features
Subscription management SaaS companies should offer features that will help your business provide the best subscription services to your customers. Before investing in the subscription billing software, check if the free trial can support some of these features.
Here are some of the top features you should look for in a subscription management software:
- Report Tracking
It is essential that the subscription billing management software you choose can accurately track recurring revenue processing. The software must also be able to centralize these reports and make them easily accessible.
You want as much openness and visibility as you can get with a cloud-based subscription billing platform. There is no surefire way to assess the state of your company's finances without thorough reporting. So make sure you can access revenue reports and tax summaries through your billing service.
Make sure your subscription billing system can give reports on the following:
- Active Subscriptions
- Total Subscribers
- New Subscriptions
- Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)
- Average MRR Per Subscription
- Churn Rate
- Upgrades/Downgrades
- Upcoming rebills
- Activations
- Cancelations
- Upcoming rebills
- Lifetime Value
- Managing Revenue Recognitions and Subscription Deferrals
The software must be able to manage and automate revenue recognition and deferring subscriptions. This will eliminate the manual processing of subscription billing.
Revenue recognition is an important aspect of subscription billing businesses. It helps businesses know the right transaction price to allocate to performance obligations.
Depending on when various performance obligations are accomplished, revenue from the subscriptions may occasionally need to be recognized differently. Your subscription management system must account for this and make revenue recognition easy.
- Recurring Billing and Pricing Management
Consider software that can implement your chosen subscription pricing. The subscription management tool must be flexible enough to manage your recurring payment methods. It should also integrate the features of recurring billing management software.
Recurring billing is important if you work with wholesale distribution companies, wholesale food distributors, and customers that prefer subscription billing payments. Your subscription billing platform should make it easy to accept payments online and manage recurring payments securely.
Besides maintaining recurring billing, your subscription management tool must be able to automate calendar billing. It should also take notes of changes in billing preferences. Features should also include a way to add discounts and coupons to individual subscription packages.
- Customizing Billing Options
The fun thing about subscription packages is that customers can customize their subscription options and features. Your subscription management tool should provide several billing templates for customers.
Self-service subscription portals make it easy for customers to update their billing information, manage their subscription options, and change their subscription packages. This will prevent involuntary churn caused by expired billing information.
Combined with the best payment processing software, you can improve customer experience and satisfaction. This invariably increases customer retention for your subscription business.
- Streamlining Invoice Management
Your subscription billing management software should be able to manage the entire invoice processing. Being able to sync with the invoice information from your accounting systems automatically is an added feature to look out for.
Invoice processing is an important part of your billing lifecycle. Your subscription management platform should be able to automatically create invoice templates, send payment requests to customers, and offer the features of invoice management software.
So, What is an Invoice? BlueCart offers Invoice Management Solutions for wholesalers, restaurant food distributors, and businesses in the food and beverage industry. Book a demo to learn how BlueCart can help you manage your billing lifecycle.
- Managing Product Catalog
The software must be able to integrate with your digital catalog and manage all your product lines seamlessly. Having a subscription management tool should help save time on managing multiple products.
It should also help with inventory management and automatically sync with your warehouse inventory management system. Having accurate inventory statistics will help you to restock at appropriate times.
Your subscription management system can help you forecast your wholesale inventory supply needs based on your customers' demands. You can even tell the high demand products to sell.
The software should also make it easy to add and remove products from your catalog. Additionally, it should offer you a seamless user interface for your inventory management process.
- Providing Seamless Checkout
Any subscription management platform you choose must feature a seamless user checkout process. This is important and can mean the difference between having a successful sale or an increase in cart abandonment rate.
A seamless checkout will improve the customer experience and overall satisfaction. The software should be able to send automatic emails for confirmation and reminders to the customer after payment.
Your subscription billing system may also be able to integrate with route optimization software. This will help customers track the status of their packages.
How Does Subscription Management Billing Software Help Businesses?
Besides making it easier for business owners to manage recurring billing processes, subscription software is packed with many other benefits. A subscription management billing tool is the ultimate solution to your subscription business needs.
Here are some benefits of subscription management software:
- Provides automation and saves time while performing subscription management tasks.
- Offers a secure PCI compliant platform for safe online payment and processing.
- Using subscription software is cheaper compared to building your own system.
- Subscription management solutions provide multiple payment options that businesses can choose.
- Reduces the occurrence of failed payments and transactions if integrated with a dunning management system.
- Gives you access to a robust reporting platform where you can find the history of payment, revenue generated, and so on.
- Provides flexible billing options for your customers.
- Helps to streamline your entire sales process.
- Allows for quick implementation of discounts and coupons.
- Manages your subscription billing and processing.
- Integrates seamlessly with other eCommerce tools and streamlines the administrative workflow.
- Makes invoice management easier for businesses.
What is the Best Subscription Management Tool?
There are several subscription management tools and recurring billing management software online. However, only a handful can offer the best subscription management tool features.
When choosing a new subscription management tool, look for the features highlighted earlier. Besides this, the subscription billing software that offers the most flexibility and satisfies your customers' demands is the best.
Here are some of the best subscription management platforms for your business:
- BlueCart Subscriptions
- Stripe
- Zoho subscriptions
- Chargebee
- Salesforce
Frequently Asked Questions About Subscription Management Software
Subscription management tools provide easy payment gateways for complex billing processes. The software also offers the perfect customer support for recurring payments and monthly fees.
What is a Subscription Management System?
A subscription management system is designed to help businesses control their recurring and subscription billing business model. In addition, a subscription management system automates the entire workflow of subscription billing.
Furthermore, a subscription management system streamlines the entire operation of your subscription business. It serves as the central control of your business activities.
What is Subscription Lifecycle Management?
The subscription lifecycle is a framework that describes how businesses can manage the stages a customer goes through. Especially when interacting with distinct subscription billing models. In addition, the lifecycle outlines the requirements that subscription businesses must meet. Including what they need to acquire, invoice, and retain customers, expand their businesses, and become financially successful.
What is a Recurring Billing Management Software?
A recurring billing management software is a tool that businesses use to manage and automate customers’ recurring transactions. Recurring billing systems make it easy to set up automatic payments and invoicing for usage-based services.
What are Some Tips for Offering an Online Subscription Model?
Here are some tips on how to start a subscription box model for your business:
- Get your products and services ready for your customers
- Research your niche market and target audience
- Create your unique selling proposition
- Set a value-based pricing strategy
- Work on your eCommerce website design
- Integrate your subscription management tool with your website
- Promote your subscription business
- Monitor and track your subscription analytics
Time to Subscribe
A subscription business model offers the best strategies for customer retention and monthly recurring revenue. However, it may be tedious to manage this model if you do not have the right tools.
Take your time to research available subscription management solutions and options. Streamlining your subscription workflow and positioning your business for expansion is possible with the best subscription management software.