Introduction to recurring billing

Editor's Notes

• #3: Donna has a strong track record of success in translating business process gaps and impediments into workable client-specific solutions across the Software-as-a-Service and business automation solutions sectors. Donna possesses great talent for relationship management and strives to empower clients with the tools necessary to solve internal issues, improve workflows, and drive efficiencies. Donna spends most of her time at Fusebill addressing customer requirements and making the onboarding process seamless.Donna has previously worked her magic at Premiere Global Services, Phresseia, and like many of us at Fusebill - Protus.
• #4: Fusebill automates invoicing, billing and collections for subscription based companies. We solve “real world billing problems”.Ideal for both B2B and B2C businesses, our customers span many industry sectors, including software as a service, digital media, and communications. The founding team of Fusebill helped build Protus – maker of MyFax, Campaigner and my1voice – to support over 550,000 paid subscribers and a wide variety of pricing models and real-world billing issues.
• #6: With a billing service you can:Automatically charge cards each month Manage expiring cards, failures, and fraud Automate one time or ongoing discounts and free trials Reduce passive churn Process debit, echecks and ACH payments Automate delivery of invoices and statementsEliminate billing clerks and prevent errors Reduce manual processingAccess analytics like MRR, churn, ARPU, etc.Boost new customer registrations Lower cost of customer acquisition Quicker response to market changes Mine data on existing customers for marketing new services &upsellingA platform with web self-service features means your customers buy online and manage their own accounts
• #7: Payment Gateways: To process an electronic transaction online you need a payment gateway. While some provide basic recurring capabilities this costs extra and is limiting. Payment platforms are more robust in 5 key areas1. Billing IntelligenceGateways process specified charges, platforms determine the amount based on price plans, free trials, discounts, taxes, coupons, pro-rating, currency, add-on purchases, volumes and usage2. Customer ManagementGateways manage financial transactions. Platforms manage customer lifecycle from free trial to premium package, to add-ons, to renewals with management features like welcome emails and self-serve portals.
• #8: 3. Failures & ChargebacksGateways tell you when charges fail. Platforms proactively reduces failures & chargebacks with warning of expiring cards, optional payment receipts, upcoming renewal notifications, automatic account statusing & grace periods, etc.4. Data Portability & LockinIf a payment gateway holds all subscription information and is also acting as a credit card vault, it can be difficult to move to another gateway. This flexibility to move is important so that you can find the most attractive pricing as your business grows, and in the case of commercial disputes. 5. Reporting & Analytics While a payment gateway can provide information about payments, platforms generate insights about subscription businesses by inherently tracking key subscription metrics like:Monthly recurring revenues;ARPU (Average Revenue per User);Churn;Customer Lifetime Value.Platforms work cooperatively with gateways and securely maintains the customer, subscription and payment information. This allows you to rapidly switch gateways, or add new gateways and route traffic between them. Fusebill is not a payment gateway provider, but interconnects with over 25 different gateways including Authorize.net, Beanstream, PayPal and Moneris.
• #10: How:You receive payments on time, passive churn is significantly reduced, dunning rules automatically implemented, and you’re notified of missed payments.  By offering a convenient payment solution completely set up by you, you ensure your business receives payments on time.  You and your customer(s) are notified if a payment has fails, so alternative arrangements can be madeIncludes heuristics to ‘try again’ when payments are declined, which leads to more successful charges. Lets you set up evergreen and term based subscriptions and account status transitions to provide grace periods before cancellations.
• #11: Fusebill makes it easy to:Define time-based free trials that automatically expire.Define recurring charges for standard subscription pricing fees.Implement volume based charging.Specify usage based charging, including Standard, Tiered, or Stairstep. Create and administer coupons for fixed or % based discount.Define recurring billing period in days, weeks, months or years.Rapidly Test Price Changes Without IT
• #12: Simple and efficient Account Management:Dunning management – collections notes, and account status changes.Easily define and manage free trials.Define subscriptions with a fixed term, or make them evergreen.Add multiple subscriptions to accounts – cross-sell and upsell.Upsell and cross-sell additional subscriptions – all on the same bill. One click renewals.Manual cancellation of subscriptions and accounts.Set a fixed billing date or distribute dates.
• #13: A Self-Service Portal Reduces Lifecycle Costs. Give clients secure access to their account information.Provide better customer service while reducing calls and emails to your billing and support team. Reduce the number of failed payments and improve cash flow.’Removes the burden of PCI compliance and password management.
• #14: Fusebill hosted check out pages are:Fully brandable and configurable.Allows for easy price testing.Add or remove components and tracking with no code.Process and settle credit and debit cards, e-checks, and invoices.
• #15: Automate Lifecycle Emails:New customer “welcome” emailsSuccessful payment notificationsFailed payment notificationsAlerts about expiring credit cardsStatements and invoicesCollection warnings, dunning emails and account status changes.
• #16: Real time analytics to manage your business:Total Customer Value (TCV)Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)Cash FlowChurnCustomer Lifetime ValueCustomer Acquisition RatesProduct / Subscription SalesEarned RevenuesExecutive Dashboard provides real time visibility to key metricsCheck daily to get an overall view of the health of your business. Reports are concise, easy to understand and complement the portfolio of detailed reporting on customers, products, revenues and other financial metrics.
• #18: Service availability is key:You need to confident your billing service is working, accessible, and processing transactions at all times. We monitor our systems externally, and real time results are available on our website.Historical data is also available.