The Best Subscription Management Software of 2021

What Is Subscription Management Software?

Any business based on the internet that wants to operate a subscription-based business and wants to retain subscribers and build loyalty to the brand or product should turn to subscription management software. Also known in some places as recurring billing or subscription billing, subscription management software allows an individual or business to subscribe to a certain item, then stores their payment information and automatically ensures that the proper amount is charged to the customer every month and that the customer can end the subscription if they wish.

Basically, subscription management software charges the right customer the right amount, based on the subscription cycle the customer has chosen — for instance, monthly, quarterly or yearly.

Companies can purchase subscription software as part of a suite that deals with all aspects of a subscription-based business, such as subscribing, unsubscribing, credit card processing, etc., or as a standalone add-in that make it easier for a company to add subscriptions to its current offerings.

The best subscription management software integrates easily with other important tools used in a subscription-based company like e-commerce platforms, payment gateway software, catalog management software, advanced analytics and tracking, email marketing or invoicing and other e-commerce tools.

Must-Have Features of Subscription Management Software

Among the many important tasks that good subscription management software should fulfill are:

• Subscription management: A customer should be able to easily and quickly subscribe and unsubscribe to a company’s product. By the same token, they should be able to pause and resume a subscription, especially for a product like a newspaper, a meal delivery service or a book service.
• Integration of inventory software: If the company sells a subscription to a more tangible item like socks or a magazine, subscription management software should enable easy integration with inventory management software so that when a customer places an order, it immediately connects to inventory management so the customer is shipped the correct product right away.
• Reports: As previously noted, the best software is incomplete if you don’t know how it’s helping you. Detailed analytic reports about the number of new customers, recurring customers and those who have left are important, as well as the reason they left and when they left. Reports on monthly revenue and how each subscription management product is contributing to that revenue help companies make long-term forecasts.
• Invoice reminders: If a company has numerous subscriptions — say, to a cable provider or a coffee service that covers an entire campus — and they pay via invoice, subscription management software will email the correct person the correct invoice on time, ensuring there’s no interruption to the service. Reminders also need to be sent out if payment has not arrived on time.