Companies that want to increase customer acquisition and market growth are quickly adopting digital business models. New subscription and recurring revenue-based businesses are constantly being launched across practically every industry.

Gartner estimates that by 2022, more than 90% of software providers will have upgraded to subscription-based business platforms. These types of business practices will soon become standard in modern day business. Even well-established industries like telecom and utilities that have been utilizing subscription models for years will need to update antiquated systems.

Beyond product features, consider what other factors are important in your decision-making criteria. You want a vendor that’s easy to work with and responsive whenever you have questions about how to use the software features or face operational dilemmas. Every second counts when potential sales are on the line.

Here are some questions to ask vendors when evaluating the level of service and customer support they are able to provide:

• What service level agreements do they offer and how quickly will they respond you?

• Do they offer continued relationship management such as a Customer Success team?

• Do they have dedicated customer support that will provide hands-on assistance to your team until the onboarding is complete?

• If you decide to eventually switch subscription management solutions, will they port sensitive data securely and map it to the other provider?

Chargebee

Chargebee was ranked the highest by customers out of all the solution providers evaluated. The company consistently received the highest score across all product-level indicators, and was also rated highly for service-level indicators.

Positive remarks from customer reviews also include the platform being incredibly easy to use, whether it’s creating a new plan, collecting unpaid invoices or keeping track of the total MRR.

Where the platform lacks is in the reporting dashboard, which could be made a little more robust and user friendly. Although some customers experienced difficulties in customising invoices and other features of the platform, the customer support team was rated highly at answering questions and providing clarity.

Zuora

Across the board for product- and service-level indicators, and overall, Zuora was rated the lowest by its customers. Zuora is the largest subscription management software company in the market, regularly wins industry awards and Forrester names the company as the leading subscription provider. However, results from customer reviews tell a different story when compared to the products and services provided by competitors.

The software offers a solid billing system that is able to cater to companies of all sizes, are constantly adding new functionalities and the security of the product is very well developed. Unfortunately, many reviews stated that the software is very buggy, slow and not the easiest to use. Also, the complexity of the tool results in a double-edged sword where it has the capability to be a very powerful platform, but the learning curve is immense and prevents users to be productive at a quick rate.

Vindicia

At the time this buyer’s guide was written, Vindicia did not receive enough customer reviews for a valid representation of data. Based on Gartner’s assessment, Vindicia’s platform appeals to companies seeking an integrated solution encompassing customer acquisition, billing and retention. It competes most strongly in B2C media, entertainment, content and telecom segments, and B2B businesses having similar requirements.

Features most commonly used include electronic payments such as credit card, new digital payment methods and automated clearinghouse. Its revenue recovery tools help with churn prevention and revenue uplift, which is appealing to businesses when considering the total cost of ownership of a subscription management solution. Post-sale, Vindicia also offers customers ongoing consulting and analytics services.

Recurly

Based on customer reviews, the platform’s user interface is very appealing, easy-to-use and intuitive.

Setting up the platform can take some time and require support, but once the software is implemented, it is easy for users to interact with and achieve the tasks they need to get done.

The quality of customer support was ranked the highest for Recurly. This is particularly beneficial to users when setting up their system, where guidance is highly required. Overall, customers commented that it is generally easy to onboard new internal users.

Chargify

The customer ratings for Chargify were in the middle of the pack. They ranked well for all product- and service-level indicators. Many reviews commented on the platform’s ease of use and setup, and simple user interface.

The quality of the dunning management was very favourable and integration with payment processors was excellent. Overall, the company has created a solid program that works well for SaaS companies.

From a features and functionality standpoint, there are some limitations on coupon set up depending on the type of promo. Also, users are not yet able to update contact information on billing statements after a charge has been processed.

Businesses across all industries have experienced major benefits by automating their subscription management processes with software solutions. But, finding the right tool to automate a complex business process can be daunting for any buyer. Within subscription management, you’ll find an ever growing number of solutions claiming to be the best in the business. Unfortunately, many customers decide on a solution that fails to provide the features, functions and services that are critical to their businesses. Even for subscription management systems that are rated highly by analysts like Forrester or Gartner, you will find case after case of customers describing weak and missing features in their reviews of the systems, as was displayed in this guide.

When conducting your due diligence, make sure you take a broad and narrow analytical approach. From a broad perspective, be as thorough as possible in considering all the scenarios that would utilise your subscription software. On the flip side, be as narrowas possible in identifying all the areas where things could go wrong. With the right subscription management software, your engineering and IT teams will be able to fast-track new pricing, billing, payments, accounting and integrations in order to capitalise on as many new opportunities as possible.