Any business intends to generate good revenue continuously and, by extension, profit. Barring a few outliers, the mainstream payment mode for these services has been the pre-or post-purchase, single-time type.
This is great for receiving a large sum upfront, but it does have its drawbacks. These drawbacks have been hard to deal with for some businesses, especially small startups.
Fortunately, the solution to their problems has always been with those outliers who used the regular subscription payments. With the help of technological advances, the subscription model can be extended to all sorts of businesses.
Timely Trickle Downs
Subscription billings and payments effectively eliminate the risks that come with one-time payment methods. They also bring a slew of advantages that are helpful for any business, especially a startup.
Regular Payments
By far, the biggest drawback of the one-time payment method is the risk of missed payment due to various reasons. Some customers will miss the deadline for payment and ignore the product/service because it is too expensive upfront. With a subscription model, however, such concerns will no longer exist.
Loyal customers will subscribe to your services and regularly keep paying the fee to your business. This way, the revenue source will remain constant and timely, albeit in smaller amounts and for a longer duration. This increases the overall revenue of the business.
Easy Cost Management
In the case of pay-per-use, one has to consider the total customer base’s usage of service/purchase of products to get an average cost for the product/service. This can penalize those who have generated a bill above the average costs as there is a lack of baseline after it.
Subscription payments get around this problem by giving the customer the choice of what to use and how much. There will be a simple price structure that will determine the final cost to the customer.
Stronger Customer Retention
As it is a recurring form of availing service/product, the customer tends to stick around longer, instead of using it once and leaving. Moreover, the clarity in the pricing structure and options to choose according to their needs will help keep them in the loop. The greater the number of loyal customers, the more guaranteed the growth.
Automation Integration
Automation is taking over everything nowadays, and with subscription management software, one can automate the entire process if needed. This eases the burden of extra labor for the same while reducing errors and building customer confidence. The software does the invoicing and the reminding of payments to the customers, and also collects it. This cut costs as well.
Easier Resource Management
The straightforward payment system‘s dynamic nature makes it a volatile endeavor in terms of resource allocation and management. It doesn’t allow for the ability to accurately estimate what the demand will be like, leading to the overstocking or understocking of resources.
Subscription service will allow the company to know the number of customers and the number of resources being utilized by each, making it easy to allocate the necessary amount of resources for a great customer experience and cost reduction.
Like many drops of water making an ocean, the subscription payments method of business will incrementally improve the businesses’ standing in the market and among its customers.
High-Risk Merchant Account
High-risk merchant accounts are established as the payment processing accounts for those businesses that are considered as high risk to the banks. High-risk merchant account processing is done for high-risk businesses because they are more prone to chargebacks and require paying higher fees.