5 reasons to automate your subscription billing - now!

5 Reasons to Automate Subscription BillingJanuary 28, 2013

Steve Adams

• Subscriptions aren’t just for newspapers…– Examples of Retail Subscriptions

• Challenges of implementing subscriptions

• 5 Benefits of Automation

• How Fusebill can help – Quick Demonstration

The expanding Subscription World

It’s one of the simplest of truths For a subscription business to make

money, it must bill and collect from customers.

bill

collect

make money

Too bad it’s simpler to say than do

The devil’s in the details of requirements and architecture.

Traditional systems are slow, inaccurate and unable to scale

Challenges

• Automation• Accuracy• Agility• Analytics

Advertise

Web Visits

Conversions

$$$$$

Build Repeat Business

One Decision – multiple orders

Order• Online• Customer

Service

Get Paid

• Credit Cards

• Invoices• PayPal

Ship• Inventor

y• Fulfillme

nt• Shipping

Linear Processing Flow

Linear ERP SystemsTransactional

Transactional back office systems fail

9

Upsell

Cross-sell

Renew

Recurring Billing

Multiple Concurrent

Subscriptions

Usage Based Charges

Credit CardExpiry, Fraud, etc.

Initial SalesProcess

Traditional transactional systems don’t support recurrence

So What Happens?

• Improvisation– Track in Excel– Ticketing systems

• Pilot Projects– Quick and Dirty development projects

• Or long and twisted development projects

Security Risks

Errors & Revenue Leakage

Lack of Visibility

Barriers to Scale

Why Automate?

The key benefit of automation is automation…

• Reduce people power – increase ability to scale

• Outsource security issues– Note that most shopping cart platforms don’t store

credit cards

• Process Payments – Automate collections, retries, client notifications

• Process renewals – and expiries

Accuracy

• Get paid before shipping– Properly calculate amounts (discounts, coupons, taxes)– Collect automatically

• Notify downstream systems of problems!

– Invoicing and Account statusing

• Ship the right things– Manage change– Customer self-service– Central view of customer orders

• Stop delivering …

Agility – cope with pricing changes

• Seasonal offerings

• Upgrade Options

• Variations

• Promotions / Coupons

• Customer lifecycle:– Cancel– Renew– Options

Analytics

• So, what are we selling anyway?

• What geographies are performing well?

• What online programs bring us long term customers?

• How long do customers subscribe for?

Accounting

• Accurate Taxes

• Discounts, Write-offs

• Earned vs Deferred Revenues

• Cash vs Revenue

Brief Demo – Monthly Soap Delivery

Basic offering – soap and shampooPremium Plan – Salon quality soapsOptions to purchase extra or upgrade

Contact Fusebillsales@Fusebill.com

stevea@Fusebill.com1-888-519-1425