Recurring Billing

Subscription billing is a payment model where companies charge according to a specific schedule (e.g. once a month, once a quarter, annually, etc.). Subscription billing is therefore by definition the same as recurring billing and can be used interchangeably.

Billwerk+ offers several strong aspects of a well-integrated recurring payments platform.

Independent acquiring:
With Billwerk+, you have a free choice of acquirer. If you already have one you’re happy with, you can choose to keep it. We are collaborating with several acquiring banks, so we can easily help you get matched with the acquirer that suits your business needs the best.

All your needs in one platform:
Our recurring payment solution, Billwerk+ Lite and Expert, offers you a built-in payment gateway that makes it easy for you to accept recurring payments online, along with a system that handles plans, trial periods and integration with your business in one and the same solution. Your saved cards are securely tokenised using our game-changing tokenisation feature Visa Token Service, developed in collaboration with Visa. A token feature for Mastercard saved cards is planned to launch soon, to add to your seamless, secure and automated recurring payment experience.
With Billwerk+ Hosted Pages feature, selling subscriptions has never been easier.

Over 50 payment methods to choose from:
With an extensive range of payment methods across Europe you can choose the payment methods of your customers preference, no matter where in Europe you do business. Choose among international payment methods such as Visa and Mastercard payment cards, or mobile payment apps like Apple Pay, Google Pay, MobilePay, Swish, Vipps and many more payment methods. For an overview of the available payment methods please visit the payment method page in the Billwerk+ platform.

More than 1400 integrations:
Our plugins are built to make it simple and easy to integrate our solution into your stack and communication flow. We match with several integrations and flow through make.com and work with partners who contribute to GitHub repositories to support your need for integrations.

With Billwerk+ you get an easy-to-manage and flexible platform, that is easy to try, easy to integrate, easy to grow – without the need of a developer. Our dedicated customer support team offers you support, should you need any help or have any questions.

Inhouse solutions offer recurring billing providers the advantage that the competencies are within the company and the distances for coordination are short. The complete control over the development process without dependencies on external providers is also a point for developing the recurring billing software in-house. But in-house development is often both costly and time-consuming in both development and maintaining.

Modern recurring billing solutions have a high level of maturity and a comprehensive range of functions. Especially in terms of compatibility with other software systems, scalability, and integrations, a recurring billing platform like Billwerk+ offer the user more options and higher standards. State-of-the-art security, robust and performant structures, as well as a continuous development aligned to the requirements of the market, are the decisive advantages.

With Billwerk+ Lite and Expert you get a subscription and payment solution made by developers for developers, with an open API and webhooks to support your growth. You will get scalable subscription software with the best payment gateway for recurring billing, equipped with tokenisation for seamless and secure recurring payments automation. Handle plans, trial periods, payments and hosted pages in one single, flexible platform.

Billwerk+ is easy to test, easy to integrate, and easy to activate.

With features like these, recurring billing systems can help businesses save a lot of time and money:

Billing: Invoices for recurring payments can show all types of charges, including pending or open payments, interest, or taxes. In doing so, recurring billing platforms generate a clear history along the complete customer journey. In addition, the billing function can automate the creation, scheduling and sending of invoices. Customers also have the option to conduct upgrades, downgrades, or data changes, among other things, via a self-service portal.

Dunning: The dunning function is an essential component of recurring billing software. It helps the vendor to deal with failed payments (e.g. bounced checks or declined credit cards). Tedious and time-consuming tasks such as repeated debiting of the payment and communication with the customer are automated. In this regard, state-of-the-art billing systems can send automated form-based emails to inform customers about non-payments, price adjustments and next steps.

Product Catalogue: Software that processes recurring invoices has one primary goal – to simplify processes and free up capacity. Each product has its price plan, additional services, fees, or currencies, which makes things even more complex. A product catalogue helps to centrally manage all product lines and plans and to accelerate the time-to-market for products or services.

Analytics & Reporting: Every company monitors key metrics such as (monthly) revenue, churn rate, and customer acquisition costs. Subscription data allows for meaningful analytics that can be used to align a business. Ergonomic, customizable dashboards provide all the necessary information clearly and in detail. In this way, revenues can be analyzed from various perspectives such as product, sales, marketing, finance, and customer loyalty – appropriate recommendations for action can be derived.

Once a customer has subscribed to a product or service, recurring billing software ensures that recurring payments are processed on time and securely. Appropriate gateways are used for this purpose. Once authorized and processed, the transaction can be routed to accounting and reporting for detailed revenue recognition. A customer history (viewable at any time) provides information on all bookings for each customer.

For example, open payments, reminders, and other irregularities can be viewed. The software recognizes these automatically and issues multi-level reminders without employees having to deal with them manually. However, the vendor has complete control over when invoices are sent and what notifications are sent to customers to ensure timely payment.

Recurring payments pose major challenges for companies, especially when their number increases. Manually keeping track of the flood of data and information is almost impossible. Additional staff is needed to handle processes and keep track of all necessary KPIs. Reconciling invoices and managing open items (including dunning procedures) takes time. Navigating international banking procedures is also time-consuming, and non-payments (e.g. due to changed address or account data) and incorrect bookings potentially harm the business. Therefore, once a company reaches a certain size, it is essential to automate recurring billing with the use of the software.

Unlike proprietary applications, cloud-based software solutions store data online – accessible at any time. Especially large companies with multiple locations benefit from the fact that all data is available in real-time at any location (any branch). Of course, the data is protected against loss and access utilizing the latest security standards.

Recurring billing as a business model is suitable for any company that issues recurring invoices to its customers – regardless of size. Industries such as the SaaS industry, hosting & IaaS, digital media, e-publishing, e-commerce, health & online, and streaming media, E-learning platforms and smart services can all benefit from a recurring payments solution like Billwerk+.

Industries such as the food and beverage industry, passenger transport (with monthly and annual passes) or fitness studios with gym memberships can also automate payments and thus simplify their operational processes.

Simply said, recurring billing software is a good choice for any company that generates revenue through recurring billing.

Merchants gain more insight into customer behaviour and have the opportunity to adjust their marketing and sales campaigns. In addition, recurring billing provides companies with reliable revenue streams, making it easier to plan for a longer period. Learn more about benefits of recurring payments in 5 compelling reasons why you should start with subscriptions.

Offering your customers a broader and more specific product range is also possible, thanks to recurring billing. Product updates or maintenance contracts can easily be processed and offered to customers. License scopes can be expanded, and customer loyalty increased. Potential customers are more willing to try out add-on products in addition to their regular subscription package, making upselling easier. Upgrades and downgrades are also possible, so the product or service can always be adapted to customer needs.

Using software to manage recurring billing offers companies numerous benefits:

Improved data management: A high-quality recurring billing system makes it easier to capture, manage, retrieve and analyze billing data. As a central location for storing data, it also enables flexible management of customer relationships. It also enables data to be transferred to other systems such as MES and ERP, if required.
Increased transparency: One of the most important benefits of recurring billing software is the improved visibility of internal processes. Users maintain an overview and can display relevant information in a targeted manner.
Improved efficiency: If you no longer have to manually take care of invoices and reminders, you have more time to focus on your core business. This is particularly advantageous in times of increasing digital networking, heightened global competition and constantly changing customer requirements.
Increased ease of use: Recurring billing software enables companies and their employees to send invoices automatically, to send automated reminders in the event of late payments, and to keep track of all tasks at all times.
GDPR compliance: Data protection is one of the key issues in customer data management. Far too often, companies still operate in legal gray areas or murky waters. Their own competencies or proper handling of sensitive data is often not clearly understood. Recurring billing software relieves companies of this challenge and ensures legal certainty with tested conformity.
Simplified customer acquisition: trial subscriptions can help to increase awareness but also sales. Without an automated recurring billing solution, this is almost impossible to achieve in practice. The status of each trial subscription must be tracked manually and access terminated at the end of the trial period. If payments are billed automatically, this problem does not exist. If customers subsequently opt for paid use, recurring invoices are automated and do not require any effort on the part of employees.

Recurring billing software is an invoicing and payment software. It includes all the necessary applications to automate invoicing, avoid late payments and, above all, simplify processes on the part of both the vendor and the customer. In addition, it has extensive options for clearly displaying the most diverse KPIs.

Subscription and recurring billing offers customers various advantages. These include greater liquidity and more convenience. Greater convenience because the order, payment data and authorization for recurring billing only have to be placed once. Greater liquidity because the cost of a product or service is often spread over months or even years.

Example: In the past, creatives had to pay up to 3,500 euros per license for Adobe Creative Suite, depending on the version scope. The amount was due immediately. For a version update, up to another 1,000 euros was due. Today, subscribers pay around 70 euros per month (840 euros per year) per license for Adobe Creative Cloud. You can cancel at any time.

Recurring invoices occur in different types and many different industries. Among the most common forms of recurring invoices are subscriptions and membership fees. Typical examples include cell phone bills, gym membership fees, electricity bills, magazine subscriptions, or software-as-a-service, Internet service providers, and many more.

Recurring billing is when a merchant or service provider (collectively, vendor) invoices a customer for certain goods or services on a recurring basis and settles the invoice (compare Recurring Payment and Subscription Payment).

Recurring billing requires that the customer authorizes the vendor in advance to collect future recurring charges (invoice amounts) (e.g., by credit card, SEPA direct debit mandate or PayPal). This process is carried out until the customer withdraws the authorization.

Any product or service that is suitable for being subscribed to or rented on a regular basis is suitable for this purpose. It is irrelevant whether the prices/rate options (or a combination of both) remain the same or vary.