One Plan, Many Users: Nailing Recurring Payments for Group Subscriptions

Group subscriptions are now a business essential. From streaming services, to memberships, to subscription boxes—every business has something in store for users that prefer shared access. Whether it’s families sharing a streaming platform, or business clients requiring multi-user access to a software, group subscriptions are widely popular today.

But for merchants, these subscription plans pose a unique challenge. They must figure out how to bill for shared access, who to bill, and how to keep the payment cycles functioning well. So let’s dive into these challenges, and learn how to overcome them for refined group subscription operations.

How Do Group Subscriptions Work & Who is Charged?

Group subscriptions provide service access that is meant to be shared. Whereas a regular subscription plan entertains only one user, a group plan extends access to multiple consumers. These consumers are either close-knitted groups such as families, people with the same interests such as students, or businesses that need a service for multiple employees.

Group plans typically require a single user that is responsible for paying the invoices. The user pays as per the agreed upon billing cycle. This user, also referred to as the admin, has the authority to add or remove the other users.

For group plans, businesses have to create login credentials for each user accessing the service. Each user has their own self-service portal, but if they’re not the admin, they have limited control over account settings.

What’s more, businesses can also create different roles for their clients, and then offer them role-based access. In this case, users are only able to access the service according to what their role allows. For instance, if a user is assigned the role of reviewer in a document management platform, they can’t actively edit the document. They can only review it and highlight errors.

An admin, on the other hand, has complete service access. And in B2B scenarios, admins can typically monitor the usage of the sub-users as well. These admins are charged on the behalf of each user utilizing the subscription plan. Hence, invoices are delivered to the admin’s portal, while only access links are sent to other users.

Why Recurring Payments Are Trickier for Group Plans?

Compared to single-user plans, recurring payments for group subscriptions are trickier to manage. Here are the reasons why:

• Consolidated invoices need to be created

One invoice is created per group plan, and delivered to the group admin. But this invoice combines the charges of all the users. This is less complicated for standard group plans with fixed user seats and charges. But for services involving usage-based charges, consolidated invoicing can be pretty complex.

• One payment controls the access of many

If managed right, group subscriptions boost retention rate. Otherwise, they can increase churn too. In a group plan, there is not one but many customers at stake. So if an admin account’s payment fails, the business risks losing the other members in the group too.

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• Plan changes can make charges complicated

Groups may change their subscription plan, and if this change occurs mid-cycle, then their charges need to be adjusted. The business also has to determine whether to update the user’s billing cycle too, or whether to continue with the existing cycle by adjusting charges.

Moreover, some plans charge according to the number of users or seats occupied. So if a user’s license is added or removed, the group’s billing must catch up with the change.

Challenges Businesses Face Without a Strong Billing Software

Managing recurring payments for group subscriptions is challenging as it is. And the absence of a capable billing software makes it all the more difficult. This is why:

• Manual tracking of group members

All users within a group have to be tracked and monitored manually. Such as by keeping spreadsheet-based records. Businesses can’t view the active users, their level of access, their joining dates, etc. This leads to confusion in billing too.

• Difficulty in prorating charges

Prorating charges without an automated billing system can lead to errors. These errors are manifested in the customers’ invoices, costing them incorrect amounts. Moreover, it is difficult to upgrade or downgrade access for all users in a group without automation in place.

• No unified view for group admin

Without an automation-backed system, admins cannot be given a real-time overview of their group members. They don’t have any dashboard where they can see the sub-users’ activities or charges. Due to that, they cannot determine the usage of individual users in the subscription.

• Not possible to offer usage-based plans

It is not manually possible to track service consumption of all users in a group. So businesses operating without advanced billing systems cannot offer plans that require usage-based billing. 

• No automated access for entering or leaving users

If a new user enters the plan, the admin has to enable access for them manually. For example, by sharing the service access link with them. There is no way for the new user to receive that automatically, since there is no billing and access management system running in the background.

Similarly, if a user leaves, the admin or the business has to manually restrict their access. These tasks involve keeping pace with the users’ activation and deactivation, and they can be inefficient and demanding.

How Group Subscription Billing Software Helps You Nail Recurring Payments

Software such as SubscriptionFlow is the go-to solution for group subscription billing. With its smart automation, usage-tracking, and dynamic invoicing power, it helps businesses elevate their payment workflows.

Here’s what SubscriptionFlow has to offer:

• Automated billing for admins, smooth access for members

Admins and other group members get access to self-service portals. Invoices are auto-generated and sent to the admins for payment. These invoices contain the charge breakdown of all the users in the group. Businesses can also send invoice copies to all members.

When admins pay, the other users continue access without disruption. Since billing is automated, subscription renewal is automated too. So you have less manual work to deal with.

• Easy mid-cycle adjustments

Group plans can be upgraded and downgraded by the admins. Businesses don’t have to worry about giving access to the upgraded or downgraded services to each member individually. The billing software automates it all. It also adjusts bills according to plan modifications, and prorates charges precisely.

• Insightful dashboards

Group admins get access to smart and intuitive dashboards in their customer portal. They can easily view which of their members is using which service, and how much.

• Failed payment management

The software makes renewals more efficient by supporting automatic payment retries. If a group admin’s payment fails, then the business risks losing all members in the group. But by utilizing payment retries, it can prevent this unintentional churn. Payment retries speed up pending renewals by helping acquire the due funds faster.

• Dynamic invoicing

Invoices automatically reflect any changes made to the group subscription. For instance, if any members are added or removed, or if the client purchases add-ons for some users, or if the entire plan is upgraded etc. Businesses don’t need to keep pace with such changes manually. SubscriptionFlow has got their back.

• Smart billing logic for custom roles

This feature is particularly relevant for B2B clients, as they often need to create custom roles for service access. Each role may come with its own cost, depending upon the level of access it provides. The billing system tracks the consumption of each role, and generates the total bill accordingly.

Group subscription billing feels messy? Not anymore. SubscriptionFlow gives you the best billing engine to run recurring payment cycles for groups.