Online payment solution Stripe has launched a new improved version of a feature the company says will help its customers, including small businesses, better manage subscriptions to their own products and services.
Stripe Billing will, according to the company, help you automate, optimize and scale the recurring business models you have in place. Stripe says the new option is a redesign of its existing Stripe Subscriptions.
If you are a small business with large number of subscribers, you don’t want to spend more time than necessary managing these accounts every month. But with the market full of simple subscription management solutions designed to address this particular issue, what gives Stripe Billing an edge?
As head of engineering and product management Noah Pepper explains on the official Stripe Blog, one of the reasons Stripe Billing was created is because its Subscriptions product was limited. Pepper writes customer feedback also led to the redesign.
He adds, “We built Stripe Billing to provide fast-growing businesses the tools to move quickly and design billing around customer experience.”
Stripe Billing
The new solution is made up of tools for business teams and developers.
Business teams will have access to a dashboard with tools for managing recurring bills from end to end. Businesses will be able to customize billing as new products, services, and business lines are launched with multiple changes, including price, the company says.
Using the dashboard, you can design billing models ranging from simple seat licensing to complex multi-layered tiered metering plans. You can make changes to these models as needed as well as testing and rolling out different pricing for your services.
The company says it has made improvements to its invoicing. You can now invoice your customers via email matching your company’s branding and collect payments all through the dashboard. The invoice supports credit and debit card payments, automated clearing house transactions and wire transfers in the U.S.
Last but not least, Smart Revenue Recovery and Smart Retry Logic features help lower or eliminate the churn caused by missed payments or declined cards, the company says. By automatically updating the information on cards — such as expiration dates — missed payments can be avoided.
For developers, the company says the Stripe API provides the tools needed to design and iterate different billing models with composable building blocks. The company says out-of-the-box functionality allows developers to design fully customized subscription logic and pricing models quickly. The API can be integrated into existing websites, mobile apps, and even CRM systems to allow integration of customer payment solutions.
Stripe Billing has no setup or fixed monthly fees. You can have a look at the pricing structure here.
Image: Stripe