Every business needs to get payments for its services or products, which is why you need to get quality SaaS billing software. What does SaaS even mean? It’s short for Software as a Service, and it involves using an online service based on cloud computing.
Simply put, when you get SaaS billing software, you can get paid for the ongoing services you provide. You can take care of all your billing needs online on a single platform. However, there are a lot of different solutions out there, and they are all different.
It can be difficult to find the right thing for you. That’s why we’ve decided to share some advice on how to recognize quality SaaS billing software.
Choosing the wrong SaaS billing software can hurt your business by slowing cash flow.
Why online Billing Is So Important for Small Businesses
The SaaS business model means that customers will have ongoing access to your products or services. How long the customer will have access depends on how long they subscribe for. That’s a billing issue, and it can affect customer retention.
Simply put, customers love having the option to pay for software every month and use it whenever they want. However, that creates problems for SaaS companies in subscription billing and managing payments.
Having a good SaaS billing structure will improve your bottom line, cut down on your work, and help keep customers satisfied.
What Do These Tools Do?
In the past, buying software was different. Customers paid for the license, and they got a hard copy of the software or the credentials to download a product. However, things are different today with all the variables, add-ons, subscriptions, recurring payments, and different plans.
That’s where SaaS billing systems come into play. These systems help you take care of all your payment needs via a single platform. It checks all the accounts you have active, lets people make their recurring payments, extend subscriptions, and so on.
Companies use a straightforward interface to administer all payment functions and integrate any solutions that they might need.
Types of SaaS Billing Systems
First of all, not all SaaS billing systems are created equal. There are three main types including:
- Merchant account systems
- Payment gateways
- Subscription systems
1. Merchant account systems<
As a business, you need to have your own merchant account. That’s the only way to receive legit payments as a service provider. Not all billing systems have merchant accounts, and you should definitely look for one that does.
2. Payment gateways
These systems are designed to make transactions between issuing and merchant banks secure. It handles the communication between two banks. Simply put, it can give information on how much the customer needs to pay for a service and processes the transaction.
3. Subscription systems
These systems are essential if you have a subscription model. They let you manage all kinds of specifics, including different plans, downgrade or upgrades, discounts, different subscriptions in terms of length, and so on.
Cash Flow is essential to every business. The right billing software will help provide positive Cash Flow.
Even though these are the three different types of billing systems, there are solutions that offer all of them at once.
Invoicing and Taxing Support
Invoicing is an important element of payments. An invoice template lets you quickly take care of your invoicing process without using a lot of your time. Furthermore, invoicing is essential to get paid on time, remind customers of their obligations, and give them details about what they are paying you for.
A lot of billing systems support invoicing and give you the option to do this directly while billing. Why use separate platforms for your whole payment process? You can streamline everything and make your accounting easier.
Instead of using a third-party invoice maker, create your invoice format in the SaaS billing system and have complete control of the process.
Data and Analytics Features
Your whole billing process is tied directly to accounting and bookkeeping, so having a comprehensive platform will make these things easier. However, a billing system can also give you further insight into your operations.
How, when, and in what way you are getting paid can tell you a lot about your business. That’s why you should look for a system that has built-analytics and data-tracking features. Through these things, you will be able to perfect your payment process.
Security and Compliance Features.
There’s always a risk of various disputes, theft, payment cancellations, customer returns, and fraud when it comes to payments. That’s why every business needs to meet compliance and security standards to protect itself and its customers.
There are three core reasons why you need a tool that offers great security and compliance features. First of all, you need to ensure there are no data breaches. If you lose customer data, you might be forced to pay for expensive settlements.
Meeting standards also helps build trust with customers. They will know that they can rely on you and do business securely. In the end, using the right billing system makes achieving compliance easier. You will have the time to focus on your core business.
Organized User Access Management
Look for a good system that lets users access their profiles. It will allow them to manage subscriptions, check what they paid for, and all the other details related to their subscription.
It’s important to offer transparency to your customers, as it helps build trust and ensure there are fewer disputes. You will also have better control over access and which users can use certain functionalities or features of your product.
In the end, all of this leads to increased customer retention and overall growth of the customer base.
Conclusion
If you are running a SaaS company having capable billing software is a must. Invest in one as soon as possible before you put your business and your customers at risk. We hope this post has helped you understand what to look for in a billing system.
