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There are two things most businesses can never get enough of—time and money. You’re constantly racing against the clock to get your product off the ground and generating revenue as quickly as possible. One of the best ways to reduce costs and decrease time-to-market is to use a SaaS-friendly billing system. Since SaaS-friendly billing, also known as recurring billing, is designed specifically for companies who sell online services with a subscription model, it offers many advantages over a typical payment system.

Keep reading to learn why implementing recurring billing is the right strategy for scaling your SaaS business.

3 Benefits of Using a Recurring Billing Solution

The first step in growing your revenue through recurring billing is to carefully consider your current product offerings and see if there is an opportunity to switch any of them over to a recurring billing model. Could you provide a better customer experience by transitioning your desktop offering to a subscription-based web application? Or is there an opportunity to generate extra revenue by offering certain services to your customers on a recurring basis instead of a one-time sales model?

Implementing a recurring revenue model helps increase customer retention, improve checkout experience and grow customer loyalty — and at the same time helps to reduce your operating costs by automating payment processing.

Benefit #1: Improve Cash Flow and Business Forecasting
Start growing your company with more predictable revenue streams and avoid the unpredictability of one-time sales. Confidently scale your business knowing that you have a predictable source of revenue coming in to support your growth every month.

Benefit #2: Foster Customer Loyalty
One of the biggest perks of a recurring revenue solution is the flexibility to offer your subscription customers a range of billing models. With FastSpring’s full-service ecommerce solution, you can set flexible payment schedules on a weekly, monthly, or annual basis and even offer support for usage-based billing. Giving your customers the flexibility to choose how they pay for your subscription products and services helps foster greater customer loyalty.

Benefit #3: Increase Operational Efficiencies
Recurring revenue is an important metric for SaaS growth so it’s in your best interest to make sure that there isn’t an interruption in the revenue coming into your business. FastSpring manages the process of following up with customers after their payments fail. This includes dunning management and reminder emails to ensure that payments are reinstated and continue to bring revenue for your business.

4 Features to Look For in a Recurring Billing Solution

Your recurring billing solution is only as good as you make it. It’s important to plan ahead and understand what you need in a solution in order to succeed. When you’re ready to start looking for an ecommerce partner to support recurring billing, make sure they check all the boxes below:

  1. Multi-Currency Support
    Today’s ecommerce shoppers are global. Offering support for popular global currencies is one way to start capturing more global software sales.
  2. Localized Order Pages
    Build trust at checkout and improve the conversion rate on your site by localizing the checkout experience to reflect your customer’s preferred language and native currencies.
  3. International Customer Tax Collection and Management
    If you think that your online business does not need to be compliant with international taxes and regulations just because your online store does not have a physical presence in these countries—think again. Digital businesses are still responsible for collecting and remitting taxes where applicable. Protect your bottom line and avoid costly fees by staying compliant with GST, VAT, and other taxes
  4. PCI Compliance
    Faulty security measures can slow processing times and increase failed transactions. FastSpring’s ecommerce platform securely handles payment card information and is fully PCI Level 1 compliant.

Comprehensive Recurring Billing Management

Whether your business is selling software, SaaS, or digital products online FastSpring’s full-service ecommerce platform includes recurring revenue solutions that are designed to help you reduce your time-to-market, increases revenue and grow customer lifetime value (CLV).

Ready to see how FastSpring can help you maximize your revenue potential? Click here to get your free demo today.