For the thousands of Americans aiming to be their own boss and get their subscription service company off the ground, it’s important to enlist a billing provider that will directly connect operations to a steady revenue stream. If you’re in the market for a subscription billing service, your options could be overwhelming and confusing. What should you look for in a service? Explore these must-have features of a subscription billing service.
End to End Processing
Electronic billing will become the newest medium for financial exchange, predicts Javelin Strategies, as increasing mobile payments will soon dominate the marketplace. An end to end processor provides the accounting services needed to handle credit card transactions and e-payments, replacing a cash-based financial service. Better still, the introduction of e-payments allows for financial tracking and analysis to determine which products are selling and which aren’t pulling their weight.
Royalties
If you sell products that end up funneling royalty fees to artists, musicians, or authors, account for every penny or else your company could wind up facing a lawsuit. Despite the fact that royalties owed to some artists aren’t all they’re cracked up to be—the Music Business Journal reports that 80 percent of albums never even reach the break-even point, let alone a profit—you still have to pay the piper his due in order to sell music, books or other materials. While losing dollars on each sale stings, it’s better than receiving word of a lawsuit for failure to pay what’s owed. A good billing service should track royalties and take money out of each payment to ensure everyone’s getting their share.
Transaction Volume
Avoid the possibility of your system crashing on a high-volume business day like Black Friday, where some 250 million Americans flock to shops and e-checkouts to buy everything from toasters to magazines. Keep your site or sales service up and running with a billing service that can handle a high volume of transactions, whether they take place on the phone or through bandwidth. You can get information and tips on how to keep an e-business going steady through rough waters from sites like Chargify.com, which offers advice on how to handle heavy invoice quantities.
Cost Efficiency
You want a billing service with excellent cost-to-benefit ration. The Cost-Benefit Knowledge Bank reminds business owners that there’s a difference between cost/benefit and return-on-income; namely, that ROI (return on investment) calculates net benefit instead of a single category. As such, you may need to crunch the numbers yourself of all net benefits to see if the juice is worth the squeeze. Some providers will require a large up-front cost to get up and running while others may take a percentage of each sale.
