Account Updater – a service offered by Visa, MasterCard, Discover and more recently, American Express – provides updated payment card information to help merchants manage “card-not-present” issues. In our Account Updater Trend Report, we discussed issues and trends impacting the Account Updater service with information for subscription and membership recurring businesses to minimise subscriber churn and increase the lifetime value of customers.
With this directory of 25 subscription management and billing platforms that support account updater services, you’ll be able to create a short list of vendor contenders for your subscription business based on applicable industry experience, existing customers, payment gateways and processors supported, as well as pricing.
Why should you choose one over another? Well, that is up to you! A wise mentor always told me to get three bids on any major purchase. This directory is designed to help you evaluate the possibilities as you select a technology platform partner, helping you keep your eyes wide open as you build a better subscription-based business. Choose your future billing partner(s) carefully and make sure they understand YOUR business and budget – be it SaaS, publishing, media or even Internet of Things (iOT), video on demand, Over-the-Top (OTT) streaming and other business- and consumer-focused services. Note that some of the billing and subscription management platforms in this directory are “pure-plays;” that is, billing and processing is the key focus of their solutions. For others, the subscription and recurring billing component is only a part of their overall solutions. As you conduct your bake-off, do your due diligence and confirm that the many best practices for managing recurring revenue will be followed and make sure your final solution includes access to the Account Updater service.
Selecting Vendors that Utilize Account Updater
With such a high percentage of subscriber files being impacted by stale payment card data (and that number is expected to rise exponentially with the reissuance of Eurocard, MasterCard, Visa (EMV) “chip card”-compliant cards, the proper employment of Account Updater is critical to a merchant’s success. To ensure you are taking full advantage of these tools made available by the card brands, vendor selection is key.
What to look for in a vendor:
1) Experience. Whether you’re evaluating a billing platform or a payments platform, or both, look for a vendor that has deep experience with subscription businesses. There are some vendors who dabble in recurring billing, but that is not their core competency. Look for vendors that support the most successful recurring revenue businesses – think Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, etc.
2) Flexibility. Account Updater services, as well as other vendors that assist with recovery and retention tactics, should be flexible and easy to deploy. Having the ability to send accounts to Account Updater based on multiple triggers (i.e. a billing event, a specific day each month, date prior to expiration date, upon receiving a decline, etc.) can help improve results and reduce costs. Weaving together various Account Updater and recycling (re-presentment) tactics will prove optimal.
3) Integrations. Top-notch recurring billing platforms and subscription management platforms with recurring billing capabilities should be integrated with top-tier recurring payments acquirers or processors in order to maximize success. If you are outsourcing the billing management piece, be sure that your billing or subscription management platform is connected to a merchant processor that majors in the art and science of recurring billing.
4) Data. As with anything in business, especially revenue, key performance metrics are required in order to measure and enhance performance. Be sure that your vendor offers detailed reporting, including metrics that analyse retention, recovery and all associated costs.
5) Cost. Typically Account Updater services charge a small fee per response returned. This fee applies to any response within the four categories mentioned previously. Certain processors may offer value-added services to manage the Account Updater process on your behalf at an additional cost. For merchants using a billing management platform, the Account Updater functionality is typically included at no extra cost, though the fees from the processor do still apply.
Account Updater can be engaged either directly through a merchant processor, or via a billing management platform. If your company uses a billing platform or subscription management platform with billing capabilities, you will need to make sure that the merchant acquirer or processor that connects to that platform supports the Account Updater service.
Payment Processors
Merchant acquirers – sometimes generically referred to as “processors” – are the only transaction-handling entity required between the merchant and the card companies (Visa, MasterCard, etc.). They are the primary initiators and facilitators of Account Updater services. Acquirers with deep Account Updater integrations include Chase Paymentech, Vantiv, First Data, Merchant e-Solutions and TSYS, among others.
Payment Gateway Providers
Not all merchants have direct integrations with acquirers, instead, they clear transactions through payment gateways. In such cases, merchants are dependent upon their gateway to support the Account Updater service in tandem with their merchant acquirer. Some gateways support Account Updater services, while many do not. Among the gateways that support Account Updater are Braintree, Cybersource, Digital River and Stripe. Additionally, many acquirers also offer a gateway to connect to their platforms via a simpler integration rather than coding directly. Vantiv, Chase Paymentech, Worldpay and others offer these gateway services. Some of the gateways offered by the acquirers also include value-added services, such as managing recurring billing, tokenization, hosted pay pages and more.
25 Billing & Subscription Management Platforms That Support Account Updater Services
There are many options available for billing management but not all focus on, or have expertise in, recurring billing and subscription management. If you decide to outsource rather than build this feature in-house, make sure you perform your due diligence and evaluate the potential partner for best practices in managing recurring revenue, including Account Updater.
This directory focuses on access to the Account Updater service with information on industry focus, pricing, customers and the payment gateway and/or processors supported. This is really just a snapshot, subscription billing only represents a small percentage of the entire e-commerce billing ecosystem. Some subscription merchants have used those platforms and customised them to their needs. Other vendors not included in this snapshot are platforms that only tie into CMS platforms like WordPress. (That is a future article!)
Of course, when selecting a vendor that supports the Account Updater service, always remember that it is one of many features to look for. Depending on your business model, budget, offering, product line or category, product or service delivery needs- plus, potential fulfilment, customer service, CRM or marketing automation requirements-your requirements for a billing partner are unique. As you review the directory below, note that a number of the vendors below are “pure-play” solutions that focus only on subscription and recurring revenue. Others offer billing and subscription management as part of a larger solution. Below are a few options to evaluate in your quest to find a billing management champion that best fits your business needs:
Aria www.ariasystems.com |
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Avangate www.avangate.com |
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CDS Global www.cds-global.com |
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Chargify www.chargify.com |
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CheddarGetter www.cheddargetter.com
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ePublishing www.epublishing.com
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FastSpring
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Fusebill |
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GoTransverse www.gotransverse.com |
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ICN www.icnfull.com |
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IProduction www.iproduction.com
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MemberGate |
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Mequoda (Haven Nexus) www.mequoda.com |
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MetraTech |
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Monexa |
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MultiPub www.multipub.com |
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Palm Coast Data www.palmcoastdata.com |
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Recurly www.recurly.com |
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Spreedly www.spreedly.com |
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SubscribePro www.subscribepro.com |
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SubscriptionBridge www.subscriptionbridge.com |
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THINKSubscription (Digital River) www.thinksubscription.com |
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Time Customer Service (TCS)
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Vindicia www.vindicia.com |
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Zenbership www.zenbership.com |
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Zuora www.zuora.com |
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