Start, build, and scale your organization in the Recurring Revenue Economy with the most comprehensive product suite in Microsoft Dynamics 365. Bluefort’s lead-to-payment business automation enables recurring revenue SMBs and Enterprises to scale and cut costs.
Increase revenue by 20% with up and cross-selling opportunities, customer portals, eradication of sales leakage, unlocking FSCM Loyalty functionality, and solid revenue management capabilities.
Mitigate overhead by up to 25% and control your cost/revenue ratio through enterprise-wide connectivity, finance and sales process automation, and a lean organisation.
Increase loyalty and reduce churn with self-service customer portals that enable your customers to manage their own subscription plans.
Project payback after 1 year & an NPV of 5 times the investment in 5 years.
Partnered with world leading brands
Finding a comprehensive payment collection solution that ticks all the finance requirements.
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Microsoft ISV with core competence in Subscription Management & Recuring Revenue based SMBs and Enterprise businesses.
As the Center of Excellence, with a strong reputation in the Microsoft Cloud Partner Programme and recognition in the Business Applications space, Bluefort offers strong expertise the Microsoft environment and product offering.
Bluefort provides access global expertise in a vast range of business areas, through strong strategic partnerships spanning some of the largest and best Microsoft partners.
Our Enterprise Solution framework highlights our deep expertise in recurring business models, including subscriptions, memberships, utilities, telecommunications, SaaS, and IT services.
Our products are flexible for any needs, from an SMB needing a scalable subscription financial management platform to a global enterprise seeking a Cloud ERP built for recurring and subscription businesses.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 stability for smart SaaS recurring revenue business.
Powerful, customer centric subscription fulfillment for eCommerce and retail.
Retailers used to running physical stores can miss opportunities to sell and expand their business with E-Commerce. This article talks through the limitations of bricks-and-mortar, how E-Commerce can boost your business, and where to find the best retail E-Commerce help. In this article: Why Bricks and Mortar Isn't Enough for Retailers Anymore What E-Commerce Can Give Your Business How the Right Solution Can Crush Obstacles Easily The Impact of Bad Decisions on Subscription Retail SMBs The Secret to Good Decisions Is In Plain Sight AI-Driven Insights: How They Give You Everything You Need A well-designed brick-and-mortar retail space can bring a lot of joy. But it isn’t enough. Not these days. They’re not enough to meet the demands of modern customers or to expand your consumer base. If you want to expand, grow, and make your mark, it's important to consider offering online shopping. But as a retailer, adding an e-commerce strand and creating an online store might feel completely overwhelming. Where do you begin? We’re here to reassure you that the shift is not as daunting as you may think. You just need good information and the right tools to start bringing in all the benefits that e-commerce delivers. Why Bricks and Mortar Isn't Enough for Retailers Anymore Bricks-and-mortar stores do provide a shopping experience that many customers love. Around 94% of customers still shop in physical stores. However, the exclusive brick-and-mortar store does have real limitations. Reach: You’re stuck with customers in your general geographic location, which means you cut your business off from the global market. At least 52% of shoppers shop internationally. Costs: Physical stores demand high overhead costs, including everything from rent, heating/AC, security, staff, etc. rent, utilities, etc. 6 in 10 experts say an online store is cheaper to start, and 8 out of 10 says it’s cheaper to run, with 75% saying bricks and mortar doesn’t break even as quickly. Consumer Behavior and Preference: It’s a fact that online shopping grows each year. Online retail sales around the world have dramatically risen from $1.3 trillion in 2014 to $4.4 trillion in 2023, and by 2027, it’s expected to hit $8 trillion, accounting for nearly a quarter of total retail sales. Expanding your bricks and mortar store through E-Commerce will help you stay competitive. If you stay bricks-and-mortar only, you risk losing out to your competition because they will meet the customers where they are. What E-Commerce Can Give Your Business There are plenty of potential benefits of an online store. Here are a few of the most popular: Increased Reach and Accessibility - Not only will your brand be able to reach that global audience, but your products will be more accessible. And because your online store can run 24-7, your customers can buy what they want, when they want it. Scalability: You might be used to having to hire extra help to deal with much more seasonal demand, and those costs can add up. But growing your base (both temporarily and long-term) doesn’t necessarily stretch your resources in the same way. Most of the process is automated, and online fulfillment isn’t as costly as it is in-person (unless you're selling massive products, like ships). Customer Insights: It can be difficult, if not impossible, to get in-person customers to fill out surveys and give feedback. But online, this comes without any effort. You get detailed and valuable analytics from your customer data. This helps you understand what they like and their behavior much more. Personalization: Not only does data give you information on segments and opportunities, but you can personalize shopping experiences for your customers. This boosts conversion rates and meets expectations while boosting your revenue by up to 40%. These benefits are extremely tempting; every retailer could use each one of them. Of course, creating an online store can feel daunting. There are important factors that a retailer has to consider. A website has to be created (or expanded to accommodate E-Commerce). The site must contain an intuitive and user-friendly interface. It needs data and financial security for compliance and safety. Mobile optimization creates a great customer experience on the go. A rock-solid secure payment process brings you your cash. Stock management is a little different too. Because customers can purchase your products at any time, stock levels can change frequently. This can require real-time updates. Fulfillment and delivery logistics have to be fast and efficient. Rather than the 9-5 (or whatever your hours), customer service has to expand to 24-7 availability. Returns and exchange policies should be clear and easy for both parties. At first glance, it sounds like a massive effort. But it doesn’t have to be. Not with the right solution. How the Right Solution Can Crush Obstacles Easily When you get the right software, things get a lot easier. In fact, once the right solution is in place, you’re mostly to find you have more time to focus on the things you want to do. Like interacting with customers, thinking about the future of your brand, and creating the best strategies moving forward. It's the stuff you don’t have time to do because you’re stuck in permanent admin. You might be wondering how that’s possible, but software can ease not only the creation of an e-commerce strand, but it can take care of the obstacles for you: Financial management: Everything from correct billing to automated payments (using the payment platforms that customers love), reconciliation, reports, and audit preparation can be a cinch that saves lots of money and time. It also ensures a hassle-free experience for you and your customers. Inventory: Real-time inventory tracking that perfectly suits 24-7 shopping will help you avoid the dreaded stockouts and overstocks, which saves you money and customer alienation while protecting you from emergency supplier exploitation. Customer Relationship Management (CRM): These systems give you invaluable insight into your existing and potential customers by crunching the data. You’ll discover customer behavior across regions and countries, pricing variations, segmentation, product/add-on recommendations, and everything else you need to offer that personalized experience they expect and love. Security: It can bring you robust security measures, including legal compliance (no matter which region you sell in) including SSL certificates, and PCI compliance. Everything that protects customer data and builds trust. Conclusion A retail brand needs everything possible to build and differentiate its brand. Expanding from bricks and mortar to E-Commerce via an online store can give you the best of both worlds. All you need is the right solution to help you do it. Curious about how a solution could put you on the right path? Book a free Discovery Call with our team today.
Growth is everything in the SaaS world. But how can a CEO know how impactful their growth strategies might be? Prioritizing four metrics in particular will empower tech CEOs to drive customer satisfaction and sustainable growth, driving insight on what is working and what needs to be adjusted. In this article: Growth is Everything The SaaS Playbook: Decoding Four Key Metrics to Ignite Success Recommendations to Make Things Easier For Yourself Customer Retention: The Key to Eliminating Churn and Building Growth SaaS is a tough game to win. And growth is at the center of it. You as a tech CEO must build, scale, and push your resourcefulness to the limit. Every gain comes from countless hours spent strategizing, analyzing, and figuring out what best works for your brand. CEOs must drive growth. But they often lack the tools they need to bring the results that are expected of them. That’s where KPIs come in. This article talks through what KPIs are, and how they can be used to harness growth in the short and long term. Growth is Everything As a tech CEO, you must build, scale, and push your resourcefulness to the limit. Every gain comes from countless hours spent strategizing, analyzing, and figuring out what best works for your brand. As a CEO you’re in charge of: Revenue growth and profitability while controlling costs Product development Market expansion and strategic partnerships Customer and employee satisfaction Regulatory compliance and data security Company valuation and funding But you face a lot of challenges: Scaling the business demands: How do you find and implement the right systems, people, and processes to grow, while ensuring costs are low? Outmaneuvering the competition: How do you differentiate your brand and products while innovating and staying relevant? Acquiring and retaining talent: How do you attract the best talent to keep your brand cutting-edge? Customer churn: How do you retain customers and prevent them from being poached by competitors? Security and compliance: How do you lock down your data, so you avoid financial penalties and loss of trust in you or the brand? Maintaining positive cash flow: How do you keep positive cash flow (even when scaling) so the company’s financial future isn’t at risk? Complexity in pricing strategy: How do you decide on competitive pricing that pleases customers and benefits the company? Adapting to market changes: How do you anticipate and adapt to changes, and not miss any opportunities? That’s a tall list of obstacles and responsibilities. It can be hard to get an accurate picture of what works, how quickly (or slowly) you’re growing, and which investments in the business bring the best results. That’s why KPIs are important. Measuring KPIs will give you the information you need on current metrics, what needs to change, and which is the biggest priority. The SaaS Playbook: Decoding Four Key Metrics to Ignite Success Four pivotal KPI signposts form the bedrock of your successful SaaS business model. Customer Churn Rate (CCR) CCR measures the percentage of customers who decide to drop your service in the middle or at the end of a subscription period. The higher the score, the more your bottom line is at risk. Formula: Lost Customers ÷ Total Customers at the Start of Time Period) x 100. There are multiple causes of churn: Bad pricing Payment processing or billing errors Lack of automation in subscription renewals. Inability to personalize the product offering Subscription or product dissatisfaction Poaching by competitors A poor UX Out-of-date offerings Currently, the average SaaS churn rate is 7.6% and a good churn rate is below 6% annually. Churn is costly because it costs you in two ways. First is the missing revenue from your churned customers. Second is the investment into customer acquisition (and reacquisition) required to make up for lost revenue. If your churn rate is too high, it can be turned around. With the right tools you can boost customer satisfaction, high product value, and customer loyalty. Revenue Churn Rate (RCR) Where CCR is about customer count, RCR is about the money count. Formula: Net Revenue Lost from Existing Customers ÷ Total Revenue The RCR is like a machine that monitors the financial vitals. Specifically, it’s the net revenue impact of lost customers either monthly or annually. When the RCR is low, that means you’re currently keeping customers happy. But when the RCR soars, it’s time to refocus and investigate your strategy to stop the leak. Revenue loss needs to be fixed fast because it also has a knock-on effect on growth potential, product innovation, and brand reputation. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) CAC is all about balance. The CAC analyzes the average sales versus the marketing cost involved in winning over a customer. This cost takes a lot into consideration, including everything from your social media to following through on sales leads. Formula: Customer Acquisition Cost = Cost of Sales and Marketing divided by the Number of New Customers Acquired. Spending a lot of money acquiring each customer can be worth it when it’s working and you see great results. If not, action has to be taken because a high CAC combined with a low CLTV (more on that in a second) will burn through your cash reserves. Though constantly monitoring your CAC can be stressful, it can be the wake-up call your business stakeholders need to finally give you the space to create and implement smart and cost-effective customer acquisition strategies. Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV) CLTV represents the net present value of the revenue stream from an average customer over their lifetime - in other words how much money one customer will give to your business over your entire relationship. Formula: CLV = average value of sale x number of transactions x retention time period. Maintaining a healthy CLTV is a big commitment because it requires so many resources. You have to play the long game. You have to ensure continual customer satisfaction despite ever-shifting needs and wants. You have to drive customer loyalty and beat the competition. A high CLTV speaks to high customer retention, consistent product value, and successful upselling strategies. And it boosts trust in you and your decisions. And if it’s low, there are important decisions to make. Fortunately, the right steps make boosting your CLV much easier and cheaper than you’d think. With all four of these KPIs, it’s important to remember that each of these four metrics don’t just exist in isolation. They have to be treated like a cohesive whole to fuel sustainable growth. Recommendations to Make Things Easier For Yourself As a tech CEO, it’s important that you measure and track the performance of these KPIs, starting with setting a baseline. Setting a baseline will help you gauge where you stand and what your targets could and should be. That way you’ll know exactly how much progress you’ve made (or how much work needs to be done). If all the KPIs aren’t ideal, there are priorities that will turn things around faster. Start by mitigating CCR and RCR. This involves: Interacting with and engaging your customers Listening to their feedback to improve product offerings and pricing Boost their perception of your product value Ensure your UX is as good as possible With CAC, you can create a strategy with your sales and marketing people to streamline it. This can include: Targeting campaigns Using analysis on your customer data to make better decisions Studying your customer retention trends vs. your competition’s rates Optimizing your digital channels for better reach and conversion Lead nurturing Finally, work on improving your CLTV. Acting on the other KPIs can automatically boost this figure, but there are other things you can do, including: Identify sales opportunities Optimize your website and web presence Make on-time payment painless for customers Cut costs including invoicing, billing and reconciliation Boost add-on and cross-selling. All these can make your customers stick around and continue to buy from you. There's one additional specific way you can drive growth. Customer Retention: The Key to Eliminating Churn and Building Growth Customers who stick around the longest are the most valuable. It’s easier and cheaper to keep the ones you have compared to finding new ones. The average cost of acquiring each new SaaS customer is $702, but can reach as high as an eye-watering $1,450. But existing customers spend 31% more than your new customers and are 50% more likely to try your new products. And that's key for successful add-ons and cross-selling. Not only do long-term customers bring in more money, but they are a treasure trove of other resources including brand advocacy, recommendations, and useful feedback for both product R&D and product offerings. So the key to converting a new customer into a long-term customer is to smash churn into oblivion. Though there isn’t a hard and fast roadmap that works for every SaaS business, CCR, RCR, CAC and CLTV are great places to start. They let you know where you’ve been, where you are, and where you could go. They also point toward the issues and work and the issues that need fixing. Curious about getting the tools you need? Book a free Discovery Call with our team today.
Information is power. And this is particularly true for the recurring service industry, because workers need the right details to do their job. Without it, a recurring service company has to contend with delays, mistakes, unhappy customers, churn, and job dissatisfaction. These problems have a knock-on effect for the business in both the short and long-term. Fortunately, an operations system that promotes the free flow of information across teams in real time empowers service workers. It streamlines resource allocation and revolutionizes both operations and results. In this article: Why the Lack of Information Makes Service Workers’ Jobs Hard How It Hurts You As a Recurring Service Business What Real-Time Information Flow Brings to Service Workers The Extra Benefits You Get Recurring service workers need accurate instructions on where, when, how, and what they’re supposed to do. The problem is that many recurring services companies don’t give them what they need to delivery a service. So how can they do their job correctly? The short answer is they can’t. And that can have a massive impact on the bottom line of a recurring brand. But providing all the information necessary is a mammoth task if your operations are manual. This article will discuss the problems that come with the lack of free-flowing information. It will analyze how these problems impact your workers and your business. It will then give a good picture of what is needed to turn things around, smoothing out service provision and improving the bottom line for your business. Why the Lack of Information Makes Service Workers’ Jobs Hard Recurring service workers have jobs that require information to be correct and available. This includes things like contracts, terms, and usage. Recurring services companies that use manual processes will have fleets that struggle to deliver consistent, reliable services. In these circumstances, here are the ongoing pain points they contend with on a daily basis: Silos everywhere: When there’s little or no information sync between the financial, sales, customer service, and other teams, the chances of the information going through being correct and timely plummet. Delays aplenty: Thanks to both the manual recording of data and the manual retrieval of information, the data’s delayed, and so is service delivery and decision-making. Bottlenecks in the day: Manually created workflows (especially combined with the delayed and incorrect info) impede service workers' productivity and service quality. This makes bottlenecks that can put them hours or days behind. Mistakes in delivering service: Any outdated data (which can occur at any time with siloed data) leads to costly mistakes in service provision. Resource misallocation: Without reliable information, and with bottlenecks, effective resource allocation becomes impossible. Plunging worker morale: Frustration from manual processes, delays, and lack of access to real-time data, and mistakes in resource allocation can lead to decreased job satisfaction and motivation. All of these throw a monkey wrench into your operations and revenue while both disappointing and infuriating your workers. And these problems will impact your business as a whole as well. How It Hurts You As a Recurring Service Business These problems can spread across anywhere in your recurring service organization. Do any of these impacts sound familiar to you? Higher cost and less incoming revenue: Inefficient operations cut into revenue at any given time because you have to spend more to get results. It also cuts future revenue, because you have continual delays in service onboarding, contract processing, etc. Resource allocation: This is one of the most important challenges in recurring service. You can’t allocate your resources properly when there are delays and data silos that stop information flow. Because manual operations mean phone calls with suppliers. Sales and customer service teams phoning customers putting out fires. Finance checking with sales and customer service about contracts and terms so they can set things up and approve installation. And these scenarios are just for starters. Expensive worker turnover: Employees in burnout or employees who quit are expensive. Either way, it’s most costs for you as you look for replacements who will face the same challenges. Customer dissatisfaction: Customers need consistency in their service quality from installation all the way through the lifetime of your relationship. Without it, customers get unhappy. They rumble. They complain to your customer service department. You’re forced to offer benefits and discounts that you wouldn’t have had to before. Less cash flow: Because inaccurate invoicing, billing discrepancies and delayed payments slows down inbound revenue, you’ll get cash flow issues, and perhaps creditor and supplier issues too. That adds more pressure to workflows to find the money from somewhere else. Churn: There are multiple reasons why you’ll have more churn, and not just because of the problems directly related to your service team. Word of bad service gets out. You competition will notice you’re losing customers. If your base catches wind you’re having service delivery and operations problems, that damages trust in your brand. It also harms your relationships with your customers which drives up customer acquisition and cuts Customer Lifetime Value costs. Given these harms, it’s no wonder that original problem of lack of the free-flow of information poses such a threat. Fortunately, with the right information flow, things can look up, and fast. The solution comes in the form of subscription management platform that analyses and shares data in real time. It brings all the benefits of real-time information, with zero additional effort from you and your workers. In fact, you’ll save them time and resources. What Real-Time Information Flow Brings to Service Workers Subscription management software eliminates data silos so that all the information about your customers, their needs, their contracts and terms, and usage are readily available, anytime, and all the time. It’s accurate and free from manual errors too. This information is available to you, your sales team, customer service, finance, fleet management, and anyone else in your operations who need it. Real-time information flow transforms how service workers operate within recurring service businesses. They get real-time access to important data, which includes usage, changes in contract terms, offerings, and service schedules, preferences, inventory/supplies, etc. This helps them with any decision-making they’ve got along the way. When data flows in real time across the service-related departments, service workers know where they are supposed to go, when, and for what. Management becomes more…manageable because the free-flow of data also gives them bonuses - proactive issue resolution, predictive maintenance, and personalized customer interactions. Workflows are nicer too, because they’re not based on errors or guesses. Which all means…satisfied service workers with a much less stressful day-to-day schedule. And that’s not all… The Extra Benefits You Get Just like the lack of data flow causes knock-on impacts for you and the greater business, so does free-flowing information. Here’s how things turn around for the greatest business and brand beyond your happy service workers: Your customers get an exceptional experience: Everything from fast responses to personalized services right down to the service delivery and invoicing/payments, everything’s customized end-to-end for them. That creates loyalty and cuts churn in general. Siloes are cut down, and communication is better between all teams: Real-time data that is automatically and freely shared means that numbers are more reliable, forecasting more accurate, and reports are great foundations for strategic decisions. All people can collaborate more effectively because no one has to chase or guess anything. Resource allocation is optimized: It won’t just be your service team that loves this free flow of information. When your scheduling is efficient, your maintenance planned, and your resources utilized in the best way, you cut costs and boost efficiency. More revenue growth: With proactive service management and the best billing and payment processes that are automatically run for you by a good solution, revenue grows because you don’t have costly errors. Your teams aren’t throwing out expensive discounts to keep customers with later service on side. You aren’t replacing your burned out service workers. You’re not waiting for payments. And word of mouth works in your favour between customers. Long story short, you get the competitive edge. Conclusion Real time information flow isn’t just a tech upgrade. It’s a necessary investment in the contentment of your service workers, and the future revenue growth of your business. The efficiency and effectiveness of service workers will play a pivotal role in any recurring service business. They just need the tools necessary to their jobs. Going with the right subscription management solution will solve these problems and bring so much more to the table. Curious to see how it will work for you? Book a free Discovery Call with our team today.
Retailers used to running physical stores can miss opportunities to sell and expand their business with E-Commerce. This article talks through the limitations of bricks-and-mortar, how E-Commerce can boost your business, and where to find the best retail E-Commerce help. In this article: Why Bricks and Mortar Isn't Enough for Retailers Anymore What E-Commerce Can Give Your Business How the Right Solution Can Crush Obstacles Easily The Impact of Bad Decisions on Subscription Retail SMBs The Secret to Good Decisions Is In Plain Sight AI-Driven Insights: How They Give You Everything You Need A well-designed brick-and-mortar retail space can bring a lot of joy. But it isn’t enough. Not these days. They’re not enough to meet the demands of modern customers or to expand your consumer base. If you want to expand, grow, and make your mark, it's important to consider offering online shopping. But as a retailer, adding an e-commerce strand and creating an online store might feel completely overwhelming. Where do you begin? We’re here to reassure you that the shift is not as daunting as you may think. You just need good information and the right tools to start bringing in all the benefits that e-commerce delivers. Why Bricks and Mortar Isn't Enough for Retailers Anymore Bricks-and-mortar stores do provide a shopping experience that many customers love. Around 94% of customers still shop in physical stores. However, the exclusive brick-and-mortar store does have real limitations. Reach: You’re stuck with customers in your general geographic location, which means you cut your business off from the global market. At least 52% of shoppers shop internationally. Costs: Physical stores demand high overhead costs, including everything from rent, heating/AC, security, staff, etc. rent, utilities, etc. 6 in 10 experts say an online store is cheaper to start, and 8 out of 10 says it’s cheaper to run, with 75% saying bricks and mortar doesn’t break even as quickly. Consumer Behavior and Preference: It’s a fact that online shopping grows each year. Online retail sales around the world have dramatically risen from $1.3 trillion in 2014 to $4.4 trillion in 2023, and by 2027, it’s expected to hit $8 trillion, accounting for nearly a quarter of total retail sales. Expanding your bricks and mortar store through E-Commerce will help you stay competitive. If you stay bricks-and-mortar only, you risk losing out to your competition because they will meet the customers where they are. What E-Commerce Can Give Your Business There are plenty of potential benefits of an online store. Here are a few of the most popular: Increased Reach and Accessibility - Not only will your brand be able to reach that global audience, but your products will be more accessible. And because your online store can run 24-7, your customers can buy what they want, when they want it. Scalability: You might be used to having to hire extra help to deal with much more seasonal demand, and those costs can add up. But growing your base (both temporarily and long-term) doesn’t necessarily stretch your resources in the same way. Most of the process is automated, and online fulfillment isn’t as costly as it is in-person (unless you're selling massive products, like ships). Customer Insights: It can be difficult, if not impossible, to get in-person customers to fill out surveys and give feedback. But online, this comes without any effort. You get detailed and valuable analytics from your customer data. This helps you understand what they like and their behavior much more. Personalization: Not only does data give you information on segments and opportunities, but you can personalize shopping experiences for your customers. This boosts conversion rates and meets expectations while boosting your revenue by up to 40%. These benefits are extremely tempting; every retailer could use each one of them. Of course, creating an online store can feel daunting. There are important factors that a retailer has to consider. A website has to be created (or expanded to accommodate E-Commerce). The site must contain an intuitive and user-friendly interface. It needs data and financial security for compliance and safety. Mobile optimization creates a great customer experience on the go. A rock-solid secure payment process brings you your cash. Stock management is a little different too. Because customers can purchase your products at any time, stock levels can change frequently. This can require real-time updates. Fulfillment and delivery logistics have to be fast and efficient. Rather than the 9-5 (or whatever your hours), customer service has to expand to 24-7 availability. Returns and exchange policies should be clear and easy for both parties. At first glance, it sounds like a massive effort. But it doesn’t have to be. Not with the right solution. How the Right Solution Can Crush Obstacles Easily When you get the right software, things get a lot easier. In fact, once the right solution is in place, you’re mostly to find you have more time to focus on the things you want to do. Like interacting with customers, thinking about the future of your brand, and creating the best strategies moving forward. It's the stuff you don’t have time to do because you’re stuck in permanent admin. You might be wondering how that’s possible, but software can ease not only the creation of an e-commerce strand, but it can take care of the obstacles for you: Financial management: Everything from correct billing to automated payments (using the payment platforms that customers love), reconciliation, reports, and audit preparation can be a cinch that saves lots of money and time. It also ensures a hassle-free experience for you and your customers. Inventory: Real-time inventory tracking that perfectly suits 24-7 shopping will help you avoid the dreaded stockouts and overstocks, which saves you money and customer alienation while protecting you from emergency supplier exploitation. Customer Relationship Management (CRM): These systems give you invaluable insight into your existing and potential customers by crunching the data. You’ll discover customer behavior across regions and countries, pricing variations, segmentation, product/add-on recommendations, and everything else you need to offer that personalized experience they expect and love. Security: It can bring you robust security measures, including legal compliance (no matter which region you sell in) including SSL certificates, and PCI compliance. Everything that protects customer data and builds trust. Conclusion A retail brand needs everything possible to build and differentiate its brand. Expanding from bricks and mortar to E-Commerce via an online store can give you the best of both worlds. All you need is the right solution to help you do it. Curious about how a solution could put you on the right path? Book a free Discovery Call with our team today.
Growth is everything in the SaaS world. But how can a CEO know how impactful their growth strategies might be? Prioritizing four metrics in particular will empower tech CEOs to drive customer satisfaction and sustainable growth, driving insight on what is working and what needs to be adjusted. In this article: Growth is Everything The SaaS Playbook: Decoding Four Key Metrics to Ignite Success Recommendations to Make Things Easier For Yourself Customer Retention: The Key to Eliminating Churn and Building Growth SaaS is a tough game to win. And growth is at the center of it. You as a tech CEO must build, scale, and push your resourcefulness to the limit. Every gain comes from countless hours spent strategizing, analyzing, and figuring out what best works for your brand. CEOs must drive growth. But they often lack the tools they need to bring the results that are expected of them. That’s where KPIs come in. This article talks through what KPIs are, and how they can be used to harness growth in the short and long term. Growth is Everything As a tech CEO, you must build, scale, and push your resourcefulness to the limit. Every gain comes from countless hours spent strategizing, analyzing, and figuring out what best works for your brand. As a CEO you’re in charge of: Revenue growth and profitability while controlling costs Product development Market expansion and strategic partnerships Customer and employee satisfaction Regulatory compliance and data security Company valuation and funding But you face a lot of challenges: Scaling the business demands: How do you find and implement the right systems, people, and processes to grow, while ensuring costs are low? Outmaneuvering the competition: How do you differentiate your brand and products while innovating and staying relevant? Acquiring and retaining talent: How do you attract the best talent to keep your brand cutting-edge? Customer churn: How do you retain customers and prevent them from being poached by competitors? Security and compliance: How do you lock down your data, so you avoid financial penalties and loss of trust in you or the brand? Maintaining positive cash flow: How do you keep positive cash flow (even when scaling) so the company’s financial future isn’t at risk? Complexity in pricing strategy: How do you decide on competitive pricing that pleases customers and benefits the company? Adapting to market changes: How do you anticipate and adapt to changes, and not miss any opportunities? That’s a tall list of obstacles and responsibilities. It can be hard to get an accurate picture of what works, how quickly (or slowly) you’re growing, and which investments in the business bring the best results. That’s why KPIs are important. Measuring KPIs will give you the information you need on current metrics, what needs to change, and which is the biggest priority. The SaaS Playbook: Decoding Four Key Metrics to Ignite Success Four pivotal KPI signposts form the bedrock of your successful SaaS business model. Customer Churn Rate (CCR) CCR measures the percentage of customers who decide to drop your service in the middle or at the end of a subscription period. The higher the score, the more your bottom line is at risk. Formula: Lost Customers ÷ Total Customers at the Start of Time Period) x 100. There are multiple causes of churn: Bad pricing Payment processing or billing errors Lack of automation in subscription renewals. Inability to personalize the product offering Subscription or product dissatisfaction Poaching by competitors A poor UX Out-of-date offerings Currently, the average SaaS churn rate is 7.6% and a good churn rate is below 6% annually. Churn is costly because it costs you in two ways. First is the missing revenue from your churned customers. Second is the investment into customer acquisition (and reacquisition) required to make up for lost revenue. If your churn rate is too high, it can be turned around. With the right tools you can boost customer satisfaction, high product value, and customer loyalty. Revenue Churn Rate (RCR) Where CCR is about customer count, RCR is about the money count. Formula: Net Revenue Lost from Existing Customers ÷ Total Revenue The RCR is like a machine that monitors the financial vitals. Specifically, it’s the net revenue impact of lost customers either monthly or annually. When the RCR is low, that means you’re currently keeping customers happy. But when the RCR soars, it’s time to refocus and investigate your strategy to stop the leak. Revenue loss needs to be fixed fast because it also has a knock-on effect on growth potential, product innovation, and brand reputation. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) CAC is all about balance. The CAC analyzes the average sales versus the marketing cost involved in winning over a customer. This cost takes a lot into consideration, including everything from your social media to following through on sales leads. Formula: Customer Acquisition Cost = Cost of Sales and Marketing divided by the Number of New Customers Acquired. Spending a lot of money acquiring each customer can be worth it when it’s working and you see great results. If not, action has to be taken because a high CAC combined with a low CLTV (more on that in a second) will burn through your cash reserves. Though constantly monitoring your CAC can be stressful, it can be the wake-up call your business stakeholders need to finally give you the space to create and implement smart and cost-effective customer acquisition strategies. Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV) CLTV represents the net present value of the revenue stream from an average customer over their lifetime - in other words how much money one customer will give to your business over your entire relationship. Formula: CLV = average value of sale x number of transactions x retention time period. Maintaining a healthy CLTV is a big commitment because it requires so many resources. You have to play the long game. You have to ensure continual customer satisfaction despite ever-shifting needs and wants. You have to drive customer loyalty and beat the competition. A high CLTV speaks to high customer retention, consistent product value, and successful upselling strategies. And it boosts trust in you and your decisions. And if it’s low, there are important decisions to make. Fortunately, the right steps make boosting your CLV much easier and cheaper than you’d think. With all four of these KPIs, it’s important to remember that each of these four metrics don’t just exist in isolation. They have to be treated like a cohesive whole to fuel sustainable growth. Recommendations to Make Things Easier For Yourself As a tech CEO, it’s important that you measure and track the performance of these KPIs, starting with setting a baseline. Setting a baseline will help you gauge where you stand and what your targets could and should be. That way you’ll know exactly how much progress you’ve made (or how much work needs to be done). If all the KPIs aren’t ideal, there are priorities that will turn things around faster. Start by mitigating CCR and RCR. This involves: Interacting with and engaging your customers Listening to their feedback to improve product offerings and pricing Boost their perception of your product value Ensure your UX is as good as possible With CAC, you can create a strategy with your sales and marketing people to streamline it. This can include: Targeting campaigns Using analysis on your customer data to make better decisions Studying your customer retention trends vs. your competition’s rates Optimizing your digital channels for better reach and conversion Lead nurturing Finally, work on improving your CLTV. Acting on the other KPIs can automatically boost this figure, but there are other things you can do, including: Identify sales opportunities Optimize your website and web presence Make on-time payment painless for customers Cut costs including invoicing, billing and reconciliation Boost add-on and cross-selling. All these can make your customers stick around and continue to buy from you. There's one additional specific way you can drive growth. Customer Retention: The Key to Eliminating Churn and Building Growth Customers who stick around the longest are the most valuable. It’s easier and cheaper to keep the ones you have compared to finding new ones. The average cost of acquiring each new SaaS customer is $702, but can reach as high as an eye-watering $1,450. But existing customers spend 31% more than your new customers and are 50% more likely to try your new products. And that's key for successful add-ons and cross-selling. Not only do long-term customers bring in more money, but they are a treasure trove of other resources including brand advocacy, recommendations, and useful feedback for both product R&D and product offerings. So the key to converting a new customer into a long-term customer is to smash churn into oblivion. Though there isn’t a hard and fast roadmap that works for every SaaS business, CCR, RCR, CAC and CLTV are great places to start. They let you know where you’ve been, where you are, and where you could go. They also point toward the issues and work and the issues that need fixing. Curious about getting the tools you need? Book a free Discovery Call with our team today.
Information is power. And this is particularly true for the recurring service industry, because workers need the right details to do their job. Without it, a recurring service company has to contend with delays, mistakes, unhappy customers, churn, and job dissatisfaction. These problems have a knock-on effect for the business in both the short and long-term. Fortunately, an operations system that promotes the free flow of information across teams in real time empowers service workers. It streamlines resource allocation and revolutionizes both operations and results. In this article: Why the Lack of Information Makes Service Workers’ Jobs Hard How It Hurts You As a Recurring Service Business What Real-Time Information Flow Brings to Service Workers The Extra Benefits You Get Recurring service workers need accurate instructions on where, when, how, and what they’re supposed to do. The problem is that many recurring services companies don’t give them what they need to delivery a service. So how can they do their job correctly? The short answer is they can’t. And that can have a massive impact on the bottom line of a recurring brand. But providing all the information necessary is a mammoth task if your operations are manual. This article will discuss the problems that come with the lack of free-flowing information. It will analyze how these problems impact your workers and your business. It will then give a good picture of what is needed to turn things around, smoothing out service provision and improving the bottom line for your business. Why the Lack of Information Makes Service Workers’ Jobs Hard Recurring service workers have jobs that require information to be correct and available. This includes things like contracts, terms, and usage. Recurring services companies that use manual processes will have fleets that struggle to deliver consistent, reliable services. In these circumstances, here are the ongoing pain points they contend with on a daily basis: Silos everywhere: When there’s little or no information sync between the financial, sales, customer service, and other teams, the chances of the information going through being correct and timely plummet. Delays aplenty: Thanks to both the manual recording of data and the manual retrieval of information, the data’s delayed, and so is service delivery and decision-making. Bottlenecks in the day: Manually created workflows (especially combined with the delayed and incorrect info) impede service workers' productivity and service quality. This makes bottlenecks that can put them hours or days behind. Mistakes in delivering service: Any outdated data (which can occur at any time with siloed data) leads to costly mistakes in service provision. Resource misallocation: Without reliable information, and with bottlenecks, effective resource allocation becomes impossible. Plunging worker morale: Frustration from manual processes, delays, and lack of access to real-time data, and mistakes in resource allocation can lead to decreased job satisfaction and motivation. All of these throw a monkey wrench into your operations and revenue while both disappointing and infuriating your workers. And these problems will impact your business as a whole as well. How It Hurts You As a Recurring Service Business These problems can spread across anywhere in your recurring service organization. Do any of these impacts sound familiar to you? Higher cost and less incoming revenue: Inefficient operations cut into revenue at any given time because you have to spend more to get results. It also cuts future revenue, because you have continual delays in service onboarding, contract processing, etc. Resource allocation: This is one of the most important challenges in recurring service. You can’t allocate your resources properly when there are delays and data silos that stop information flow. Because manual operations mean phone calls with suppliers. Sales and customer service teams phoning customers putting out fires. Finance checking with sales and customer service about contracts and terms so they can set things up and approve installation. And these scenarios are just for starters. Expensive worker turnover: Employees in burnout or employees who quit are expensive. Either way, it’s most costs for you as you look for replacements who will face the same challenges. Customer dissatisfaction: Customers need consistency in their service quality from installation all the way through the lifetime of your relationship. Without it, customers get unhappy. They rumble. They complain to your customer service department. You’re forced to offer benefits and discounts that you wouldn’t have had to before. Less cash flow: Because inaccurate invoicing, billing discrepancies and delayed payments slows down inbound revenue, you’ll get cash flow issues, and perhaps creditor and supplier issues too. That adds more pressure to workflows to find the money from somewhere else. Churn: There are multiple reasons why you’ll have more churn, and not just because of the problems directly related to your service team. Word of bad service gets out. You competition will notice you’re losing customers. If your base catches wind you’re having service delivery and operations problems, that damages trust in your brand. It also harms your relationships with your customers which drives up customer acquisition and cuts Customer Lifetime Value costs. Given these harms, it’s no wonder that original problem of lack of the free-flow of information poses such a threat. Fortunately, with the right information flow, things can look up, and fast. The solution comes in the form of subscription management platform that analyses and shares data in real time. It brings all the benefits of real-time information, with zero additional effort from you and your workers. In fact, you’ll save them time and resources. What Real-Time Information Flow Brings to Service Workers Subscription management software eliminates data silos so that all the information about your customers, their needs, their contracts and terms, and usage are readily available, anytime, and all the time. It’s accurate and free from manual errors too. This information is available to you, your sales team, customer service, finance, fleet management, and anyone else in your operations who need it. Real-time information flow transforms how service workers operate within recurring service businesses. They get real-time access to important data, which includes usage, changes in contract terms, offerings, and service schedules, preferences, inventory/supplies, etc. This helps them with any decision-making they’ve got along the way. When data flows in real time across the service-related departments, service workers know where they are supposed to go, when, and for what. Management becomes more…manageable because the free-flow of data also gives them bonuses - proactive issue resolution, predictive maintenance, and personalized customer interactions. Workflows are nicer too, because they’re not based on errors or guesses. Which all means…satisfied service workers with a much less stressful day-to-day schedule. And that’s not all… The Extra Benefits You Get Just like the lack of data flow causes knock-on impacts for you and the greater business, so does free-flowing information. Here’s how things turn around for the greatest business and brand beyond your happy service workers: Your customers get an exceptional experience: Everything from fast responses to personalized services right down to the service delivery and invoicing/payments, everything’s customized end-to-end for them. That creates loyalty and cuts churn in general. Siloes are cut down, and communication is better between all teams: Real-time data that is automatically and freely shared means that numbers are more reliable, forecasting more accurate, and reports are great foundations for strategic decisions. All people can collaborate more effectively because no one has to chase or guess anything. Resource allocation is optimized: It won’t just be your service team that loves this free flow of information. When your scheduling is efficient, your maintenance planned, and your resources utilized in the best way, you cut costs and boost efficiency. More revenue growth: With proactive service management and the best billing and payment processes that are automatically run for you by a good solution, revenue grows because you don’t have costly errors. Your teams aren’t throwing out expensive discounts to keep customers with later service on side. You aren’t replacing your burned out service workers. You’re not waiting for payments. And word of mouth works in your favour between customers. Long story short, you get the competitive edge. Conclusion Real time information flow isn’t just a tech upgrade. It’s a necessary investment in the contentment of your service workers, and the future revenue growth of your business. The efficiency and effectiveness of service workers will play a pivotal role in any recurring service business. They just need the tools necessary to their jobs. Going with the right subscription management solution will solve these problems and bring so much more to the table. Curious to see how it will work for you? Book a free Discovery Call with our team today.
Bluefort is the Microsoft Cloud Partner and Authority with core competence in Subscription Management and Recurring Revenue automation for SMBs and Enterprise Business.
