Churn
Failed payments
Payment retries
Gal Cegla
Jan 15, 2025
Happy 2025! The Art of Payment Procrastination. It's not a bug, it's a feature! New year, same old billing and payments woes. While others are busy setting lofty resolutions and tackling inefficiencies head-on, why not take a moment to appreciate the things you *didn’t* do? After all, it’s not procrastination—it’s tradition. Here’s a tongue-in-cheek checklist of everything you’ve successfully ignored in your SaaS billing and payments strategy this year, along with the delightful KPI impacts that follow. Cheers to another year of doing the *bare minimum*!
Ignored Failed Payments Like They’ll Just Fix Themselves
Automation? Overrated. Let’s wait for customers to call us in a panic.
Impact: Monthly churn rate skyrockets as customers quietly leave, while MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue) starts its slow
Turned Off Card Account Updater for the Thrill of It
Who needs updated payment details when you can chase customers like it’s 2005?
Impact: Decline rates balloon as expired cards pile up, slashing your ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue) and increasing involuntary churn.
Skipped Using Network Tokens Because…What Are Those Again?
Who has time to make payments smarter? Declines build character.
Impact: Payment success rates stay embarrassingly low, and your LTV (Lifetime Value) per customer takes a hit.
Sent a Separate Email for Every Failed Payment
Customers love inbox clutter. It’s like a digital scavenger hunt!
Impact: Email open rates nosedive, and support ticket volume surges with angry replies, leading to lower customer satisfaction scores.
Made Absolutely No Effort to Prevent Churn
Lost revenue = found serenity. It’s all about balance.
Impact: customers churn, leaving a wake of bad reviews and fewer referrals.
Ignored Expiring Credit Cards Entirely
If it’s really expired, the customer must not want to renew. Problem solved.
Impact: Revenue leakage becomes a norm, and involuntary churn eats away at your growth metrics.
Kept Offering Only One Payment Method
Variety is for ice cream, not payments.
Impact: Cart abandonment rates soar, especially in regions preferring alternative payment methods, while conversion rates plummet.
Didn’t Bother Testing Payment Flows
A “404 Error” at change card flow is a great way to test customer loyalty.
Impact: Conversion rates drop to rock bottom as frustrated potential customers abandon the process.
Added an Extra Click to the Checkout Flow for Good Luck
Every great conversion funnel deserves a secret “Exit” button.
Impact: Bounce rates increase, and your sales funnel leaks potential revenue.
Use a basic or “out of the box” Alternative Retry Logic for Declined Payments
One-and-done is the motto. Try, fail, forget.
Impact: Recovery rates stagnate, leaving revenue on the table and amplifying churn.
Didn’t Track Decline Rates Because Ignorance Is Bliss
If you don’t know, it can’t hurt you (or your revenue).
Impact: Critical opportunities to optimize are missed, and the team celebrates a false sense of success as revenue quietly slips away.
Avoided Running Anomaly Detection and Analyses on Charges and Subscriptions
Why review data when you can trust everything is magically accurate?
Impact: Hidden billing errors go unnoticed, leading to unhappy customers, potential refunds, and lost trust. Meanwhile, you miss valuable insights that could boost retention and revenue.
And there you have it—our ode to the Anti-Resolutions of SaaS billing and payments. If you’ve checked off even half this list, congratulations! You’re officially keeping the “fun” in dysfunctional.
But let’s be real—while tradition is nice, growth is better. Here’s to turning those unchecked boxes into opportunities this year with FlyCode. After all, 2025 could be the year you finally say goodbye to billing woes and hello to optimized revenue streams.
Until then, remember: if at first, you don’t succeed... blame the payments team.
Cheers to progress (or the lack thereof)! 🥂
#AntiResolutions #SaaSBilling #FinTech
