How to Avoid Business Blunders in your Billing and Invoicing Process

Every business operation is fraught with both challenges and opportunities. It is up to the upper level management to use strengths and opportunities to its advantage, and keep the business thriving. We have put together some commonly occurred blunders in the billing and invoicing process which can be an inhibiting factor for the company.

Customers demand a swift checkout process

A scenario has being laid out which can explain the problem: During holiday season, there is an evident rise in traffic to websites promoting fitness. Someone starting afresh would like to cash on the subscriptions to his program. Interestingly, the results were rather striking to say the least. It was noted that the number of clicks to the website were much more than those making the actual purchase. So what were the reasons behind people departing the website before buying the subscription?

The problem is that the traditional shopper expects purchases to be quick, easy and hassle-free. Most of the times, the cart left mid-way could be due to higher shipping rates, delivery times at a snail pace, or the checkout process took too long. To combat this problem and streamline the checkout process, fields which need to be filled out should be concise and to-the point. Next, you should highlight the least expensive shipping method but also mention other shipping methods. The whole idea is to put only the pertinent details so that the customer can go through the checkout process quickly. Subscription management software offered by SubscriptionFlow is designed to handle recurring billing and take care of all the aforementioned problems.

• Customers are on the lookout for consistent, quality treatment

It is important to bear in mind that within a traditional business model, when a sale is sealed, the customer relationship ends on a positive note. However, the situation takes a completely different turn in case of a modern recurring billing model. Due to the ongoing nature of the customer’s lifecycle, the relationship should continue. If the customer is not given the right amount of support, at any stage, they are most likely to turn to competitors. When departments don’t carry out proper correspondence, or if they work independently, it can lead to lack of information or miscommunication. This will reflect poorly on the customer as they may question the credibility of your business.

In order to tackle this problem, billing, marketing and sales departments should be properly aligned to improve productivity. The free flow of information through various departments offer a consistent and seamless customer experience.

• Limited payment methods

If a vendor or a brick-and-mortar store doesn’t offer multiple payment methods, it is most likely that you will end up losing significant amount of sales. Most of the advance subscription management platforms offer a range of payment options so as to avoid any checkout confusion. The third party payment systems also operate round the clock, customer care department that guides the less computer savvy users. A powerful feature of the recurring billing and e-commerce models which needs to be mentioned is subscription analytics and reporting. This has been around for a few years and is changing the dynamics of the workplace. You can use real-time analytics and financial reports to delve deeper and track the health of your business.