Harnessing Square Subscriptions for Your Small Business

Subscription-selling services have been on the rise in recent years all over the world. Call it the Netflix effect but these days every other service has optioned itself out as a subscription that you can license for a particular time period.

If you too own a business that follows the subscription model, you will no doubt be looking for ways to effectively handle these subscriptions. This is where Square subscriptions enters the fray. It is a payment processing solution that has branched out to also integrate with subscription-management services so that it can better its Square Subscriptions.

What is Square?

Essentially, Square is a payment processing solution. This means that Square allows you to accept and process customer payments for a small processing fee. Square offers processing options like accepting online credit card payments, helping setup POS payment systems in your brick-and-mortar stores, etc.

One key reason why a lot of businesses flock to Square is due to it not having any setup fees or fixed monthly costs for handling payments (i.e. subscriptions). However, because Square has slightly higher transaction fees than an alternative like Stripe, it’s only suitable for businesses with little technical knowledge of how complicated payment processing works, and those who know they will not be handling monthly revenues of more than a few thousand USD.

What are Square subscription payments?

It is important to note that Square in itself does not offer subscription-management for its Square subscriptions. It is simply a payment processor. To utilize Square subscription payments, you will need to integrate Square Subscriptions with a recurring billing management software like SubscriptionFlow. This is a necessary step that any business seeking top-notch subscription-management services will need to do to manage Square subscriptions.

Should you make use of Square subscriptions? Is it for everyone?

Let us now list some of the advantages of Square subscription management to see if it makes sense for you to jump on the Square monthly subscription bandwagon.

1. It is quite user-friendly

Users with different levels of technological expertise can easily navigate Square thanks to its straightforward and user-friendly layout. This makes the handling of subscriptions using both software feel like a walk in the park.

User-friendliness is important because in, say, selecting an eCommerce platform, eighty-five percent of small entrepreneurs give priority to user-friendly interfaces, as according to a 2022 Tech Jury survey. This is because they often do not possess the technically literate labor who would be able to manage a more complicated payment processing solution, and so they like sticking with Square.

2. Offers Flexible Pricing

Unlike a designated Point of Sale (POS) app, which solely charges for transaction processing, Square provides a flexible pricing structure without monthly fees for basic services. It uses a flat-rate pricing scheme, charging 2.5% for online or invoicing transactions and 1.75% for card-present purchases.

Square also offers custom programs with customizable pricing and extra reductions for big businesses that cumulatively process over £200k yearly. Companies can select from three distinct service tiers, each with a different set of features: Free, Plus (£20/a month), and Premium (£64/month). Businesses can also add additional tools, like promotion and loyalty programs, for an additional price.

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3. You can monitor your subscription metrics with ease

Square subscriptions provide a number of tools for reporting and analytics related to tracking subscription metrics. The rate of churn, revenue collection, along with customer lifetime value are a few of these metrics. You can use this information to inform decision-making so that your subscription service is improved.

Based on these metrics, Square provides fully customizable reports that you can tailor to represent each plan, subscription, or customer demographic of your subscriber-base. This is especially helpful for those businesses looking to break into new markets where they need to keep track of how their product/subscription are performing in key markets.

4. Communicate with your customer

Square subscriptions offer you to notify your subscribers about any modifications to their plans, impending payments, and the status of their subscription. You can do this chiefly by sending automated notifications and emails.

5. Automate Billing

Square subscriptions gives you the option to set up automatic recurring billing, which makes sure that your clients are billed on a predetermined schedule. This lessens the need for manual labor and supports consistent cash flow.

That said, if you require more control over your Square subscriptions, it would be better to integrate with a subscription management software like SubscriptionFlow. Square in itself is not a subscription management software which is why it is unable to offer some of the more advanced features of managing Square subscriptions, like having the option to customize your shipping labels. This is a crucial feature for Square subscriptions that is offered by subscription management software because of the lasting impact that it has on your brand and its value in the eyes of the customer.

6. Integration Capabilities

Square Subscriptions include a range of tools and APIs to enhance integration flexibility and streamline business operations. Its API allows developers to integrate subscription functionality directly into their applications, making it particularly suitable for companies with specific software needs. However, businesses requiring extensive customization may find the feature somewhat limited. Therefore, Square is best suited for businesses that do not have large-scale or highly complex operational requirements.

Additionally, recent improvements to Square’s APIs for Catalog and Orders have simplified the management of client orders and inventory. Combined with tools for creating checkout links, generating barcodes, and embedding subscription service buttons on websites, Square Subscriptions offers a robust payment processing solution for small businesses seeking a balance between customizability and integration.

Final word

All in all, Square subscription payments is a great option for small businesses without much technical knowledge of the SaaS world. Square is an ideal payment processor for businesses who want to operate mostly within a single territory. Book a demo now to integrate this payment processing solution with SubscriptionFlow and find out for yourself how brilliantly this integration works to provide your Square subscriptions with the best recurring payments management.