CardPointe has many features and benefits for SMBs to Fortune 500 companies. Today we will look at the recurring billing solution.
The basics… What is recurring billing?
Recurring billing is setting up an automated payment plan using a customer’s credit card, debit card, or bank account.
Can my business benefit from setting customers on a recurring billing plan?
Yes! Almost every business can find a way that this CardPointe feature can help them.
Some everyday industries use recurring billing on a daily basis as part of their business model. Some of these business types are e-commerce subscription based companies, gyms, child care centers, and tanning salons. In these scenarios, setting customers up for a set billing schedule makes is a must when a customer signs up for a membership.
But what if my business doesn’t do memberships? How can I use recurring billing?
The initial thinking of many businesses is that they have no need for the recurring billing functionality.
Ask yourself these questions:
Do I have some customers who, from time-to-time, end up 30/60/90/120+ days late making payments?
How much revenue are we losing by waiting for customers that end up in collections?
Are there a segment of customers we are losing because they cannot afford our product or service in one upfront payment?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, your business can benefit from setting up customers on recurring billing.
How to use CardPointe’s recurring billing features:
It’s easy! Simply create a customer payment plan by giving it a name. Then put the amount you want to bill to your customer followed by the frequency (every day, week, month, etc). Finally add the length of time of the billing plan. CardPointe recurring billing gives you the ability to choose a start and end date or just let it the plan run forever until cancelled.
A very cool feature! Account Updater
If you have a customer on a recurring billing plan long enough, chances are eventually their credit or debit card on file is going to expire. Rather than manually having an employee call the customer numerous times chasing them down to obtain new payment information, CardPointe has a better solution. This feature is called Account Updater.
Account Updater comes with every CardPointe account. It automatically communicates with the card issuer when a credit card on file is expiring and updates with the new credit card information. The feature saves your company time by eliminating the hassle of contacting customers asking for their updated card information. More importantly, it also makes sure you get paid on time! Account updater does not work in the scenario where the customer changes to a different card issuer.
If you are interested in learning more about adding recurring billing or any other CardPointe features to your merchant account, we are always here to help. Just say hello!
Authored by: Jimi Romanus 11-11-2017
