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Subscription management services are a game changer for B2B SaaS businesses. They’re crucial to the growth and success of your business because they help you streamline and optimize your subscription processes. If you’re struggling with these processes or don’t have time to manage them, getting a subscription management service is essential.
An SMS streamlines the process of onboarding customers and tracking their subscriptions, maintenance plans, and other related details. The right software also makes it easier to manage user access, update payment information, identify expired accounts, and other important elements that come to the forefront when managing subscriptions.
If you’re thinking about launching a new SaaS business or expanding an existing one, it’s essential to have the right tools from day one. That doesn’t mean you need to spend months developing your own custom solution from scratch though — many third-party subscription management services can get you up and running in no time. Below, we’ll delve into more detail about subscription management software, as well as seven of our best picks for your business.
What Is Subscription Management Software?
A subscription management service (SMS) helps you manage your subscription plans and processes. An SMS can help you create, manage, and monitor subscriptions across various channels, like your website, email marketing campaigns, and billing system. These subscription processes include automatic renewals, payment terms, and cancellations. An SMS can also integrate with your other marketing and business tools, which means you can track, automate, and measure your entire subscription funnel. This is particularly useful for B2B SaaS businesses.
Which B2B SaaS Businesses Need a Subscription Management Service?
A subscription management service is essential for B2B businesses that rely on recurring revenue, like SaaS and membership sites. It’s also useful for B2B SaaS businesses that use a freemium or free trial model. A freemium model lets you offer your product or service for free, but with some restrictions, while a free trial model lets you offer your product or service for free for a limited time. These strategies are great for B2B SaaS businesses because they help you acquire new customers and increase your revenue. In addition, they also require you to manage a complex subscription process, making an ideal use case for a subscription management service.
Why Use A Subscription Management Service?
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A subscription management service has many benefits for B2B SaaS businesses. These include:
- Streamlining your subscription processes — B2B SaaS businesses often have complex subscription processes. And, as your business grows, these processes can become incredibly time-consuming. A subscription management service can help you streamline these processes, making it easier for your customers to sign up and pay for subscriptions, requiring limited human input from your side of the business.
- Increasing your customer conversion rates — many B2B SaaS businesses struggle to convert visitors into customers. A subscription management service can help you create an effective subscription process that drives more conversions from your traffic. This helps you grow your customer base and increase your profits.
- Reducing your churn rates — Unfortunately, many B2B SaaS businesses have unacceptably high churn rates. While it’s fair to say that losing customers is never a good thing, it is an inevitability of any business. However, a high churn rate means you’re losing customers too quickly. A subscription management service can help you create a more effective customer experience, reducing your churn rates and helping you retain more customers and increase your profits in the process.
- Growing your recurring revenue — a subscription management service can help you drive more recurring revenue. This can help you generate a steady and predictable cash flow, which is essential for scaling your B2B SaaS business as it allows you to forecast more effectively.
How to Choose a Suitable Subscription Management Service
When choosing an SMS, you need to make sure that it meets your needs and is the best fit for your business. Here are some important things to watch out for:
Make sure it integrates with your existing tools — You want to make sure that the SMS you choose integrates with your existing tools, like your website and billing system. This makes it easier to manage your subscriptions and decreases the time you spend on administration.
Choose a service that offers multiple payment options — Make sure that your chosen SMS has payment terms that meet your needs. This helps you attract more customers because it’s easier for them to pay for their subscriptions.
Get recommendations from other businesses — You can save a lot of time by getting recommendations from other businesses that already use an SMS. This can help you save time researching different SMS providers and make the process easier.
Scalability — Your business should choose a service that scales smoothly as your company grows.
Customisability — It must support customization and help you to adjust based on the various challenges your business may face in the future.
Flexibility — It must be flexible enough to provide different plans you can choose to move up/down based on your needs.
Price management — The option to re-activate or cancel coupons, promotions, and discounts is a crucial feature to look out for when choosing
7 of the Best Subscription Management Services for SaaS Businesses
- Chargebee: Chargebee is an all-in-one subscription management platform that lets you streamline all aspects of the subscription lifecycle. Subscription management by Chargebee includes analytics, documentation, and billing features that help you identify trends and uncover valuable insights about your business.
- Autopilot: Autopilot is a cloud-based platform you can use to build, manage, and optimize your subscriptions. It includes integrations with many third-party providers and gives you access to a wide range of functionality.
- Bill.com: Bill.com is an online billing and payment platform that supports SaaS businesses. It offers a wide range of tools and functionality, including online payments, expense tracking, and other important features.
- Zuora: Zuora is a full-featured subscription billing and management service provider. It allows you to manage all aspects of the subscription lifecycle, including customer onboarding, payments, and data collection.
- Chargify: Chargify is a cloud-based subscription management platform that focuses on helping SaaS businesses optimize the subscription process. It includes many context-aware features, such as autofill and real-time alerts.
- Subscription Manager: Subscription Manager is a subscription management service optimized for recurring billing. It has integrations with many popular eCommerce platforms, including Shopify and BigCommerce.
- SubsHub: SubsHub is an online service that helps SaaS businesses manage their subscriptions. It includes many useful features, such as payment tracking and alerts, and automatic renewal.
Subscription management is an important element of any SaaS business. To make the most of your customer’s recurring payments, you need a subscription management service. It should provide you with all the tools and functionality you need to manage your subscriptions effectively. When you select a subscription management service, make sure it meets your needs and offers the functionality you require. If not, you can always switch to another service. For more help on choosing the right software for your business, check out our 6 Tips on Choosing The Best B2B Help Desk Software for Your Enterprise.
