SaaS Billing Software: Lemon Squeezy, The Ultimate Solution 

Subscription-based pricing has ushered in a new era of growth for SaaS companies. However, while it has enabled businesses to sell tiered subscription products and services across the globe, it has also heightened complexity in the industry.

Managing your subscription model, customer accounts, customer life cycle, and subscriber retention can quickly become overwhelming—especially when you add in additional considerations, like remaining tax compliant in states or countries with vastly different tax laws.

To maximize subscriber growth and boost revenue, SaaS companies must consistently attract new customers through free trials, recover lost revenue, increase sales, and upsell existing customers onto higher-tier subscriptions. 

If this is already starting to sound daunting, we’ve got you covered.

Keep reading to find out how Lemon Squeezy’s SaaS billing software solution takes care of the entire subscription life cycle so you can get back to doing what you do best—running your business.

In addition to Lemon Squeezy offering SaaS billing software, you also get the benefit of a global merchant of record. Passing off the burden and liability of sales tax compliance, fraud protection, payment recovery, and more.

Why Do You Need SaaS Billing Software?

As a SaaS company, growing your business means keeping track of recurring billings for your products and services. 

Keeping track of the billing process manually or with software that isn’t adapted to your unique needs will take up more of your team’s time than it should—and as every business owner knows, time is money. 

Initially, many startup SaaS businesses use in-house SaaS billing software, but as your company scales, you’re likely to realize you need a more robust billing solution.

Not only does SaaS billing software allow your business to scale seamlessly, but letting billing software handle daily billing tasks frees up resources and time so that you can focus on big-picture thinking and strategic decision-making.

Selecting a SaaS billing software solution can feel daunting, and you’ll probably have loads of questions, including:

• Which features are essential for my SaaS business?
• Which billing software is best for a company of our size?
• When do I know it’s time to change my current accounting software?

If you still aren’t sure whether your SaaS business needs billing software, read on and see if you answer ‘yes’ to any of the questions below:

• Is your business a startup? As mentioned, many SaaS businesses initially use in-house software to manage their billing. You can, of course, always switch to billing software once your company has matured—but implementing billing software as soon as possible can help you get your business off the ground faster and more smoothly.‍
• Does your business have high involuntary churn? Involuntary churn occurs when a customer’s payment method fails, and their subscription is automatically canceled. Good billing software will have dunning management built in to manage failed payments and reduce churn. 
• ‍Do you know how your SaaS metrics are impacting your business? Spotting trends requires having a high-level overview of metrics such as the cost of customer acquisition, churn rate, and customer lifetime value. Your billing software will help you see how your company performs against key metrics, giving you actionable data to inform your growth strategy.
• ‍Can you offer your customers flexible subscription billing? In today’s always-on world, customers are used to having options regarding when and how they are billed. If you only offer fixed billing, your customers may look to competitors for added flexibility. Luckily, many SaaS billing systems have flexibility built into their offering.

What Is Lemon Squeezy? 

Lemon Squeezy is an all-in-one subscription management platform that makes running your SaaS business easy-peasy! 

We offer integrated marketing solutions, payments, subscription billing software, and PayPal integration, giving your customers a seamless check-out process without you needing to worry about coding, sales tax compliance, or failed payments.

Lemon Squeezy was initially created out of frustration with the existing software solutions on the market. Our platform is designed to be intuitive for those with no coding experience, while offering flexible API, Webhooks, and documentation for developers.

No matter what stage of the journey your SaaS business is in, we’re here to help. Our entire team manages customer support, ensuring you receive top-notch service—whether setting up for the first time or spearheading a massive migration to our platform.

Lemon Squeezy: Key Features and Benefits

Dunning management

Dunning management is the process of managing failed payments—and Lemon Squeezy brings together payment processing, email marketing, and transactional emails to do dunning right and minimize voluntary churn.

Our dunning management features give you the power to prevent involuntary churn with a robust suite of failed payment recovery features. You can choose to enable or disable dunning management, and once it has been enabled, our platform will provide you with the following:

• Default customer emails.
• Subject lines.
• Email content.
• A custom delivery schedule.

So, you can control the entire experience from end to end. Some of our failed payment recovery methods include:

• Pre-notification email for expiring payment methods.
• Automatic payment reattempts.
• Abandoned cart emails.
• Promotional and downgraded offers when canceling a subscription is canceled.

Merchant of record (MoR)

In short, Lemon Squeezy is a merchant of record for 1,000's of software companies. A merchant of record is an intermediary that facilitates the sale of services to a customer, and handles all transactions relating to the sale. 

Your company can be its own merchant of record, but if your company sells its product in multiple states (or even countries), tax compliance can become tricky.

We are registered to file and pay taxes on our clients’ behalf. With us as your merchant of record, you can focus on running your business while we take care of the following:

• Liability for payment methods.
• Complex tax laws.
• Fraud prevention.
• Subscription billing.
• Invoicing.
• Secure file delivery.

Various payment methods 

Lemon Squeezy has a range of different payment methods, including:

• PayPal.
• Apple Pay.
• Google Pay.
• Credit card payments.
• Digital wallet payments.
• Bank debits.
• Bank transfers.

International payments

Want to take your SaaS business global? Lemon Squeezy allows you to immediately begin selling your services worldwide by facilitating payments (along with the associated sales tax) in 95 different currencies.

Reporting and analytics

Key to any SaaS business’s success is the ability to utilize key metrics to inform your growth strategy going forward. We offer a comprehensive analytics dashboard that enables you to track your sales and customer data.

Fraud prevention

We constantly monitor user behavior and transactions using real-time artificial intelligence. This lets us immediately detect suspicious logins, refunds, and payments to protect your business from fraudulent transactions.

Prevent revenue leakage

From abandoned carts to failed payments and everything in between, Lemon Squeezy gives you unmatched insight into sources of revenue leakage.

Revenue recognition

Revenue recognition is a generally-accepted accounting principle (GAAP) that identifies the specific conditions in which SaaS companies can recognize income as revenue. 

Say, for example, a customer signs up for a one-year subscription valued at a total of $1,200. The company can only recognize this as revenue once it has all been paid, and they can only recognize $100 per month as monthly recurring revenue.

Revenue recognition can become increasingly complex as customers churn, upgrade, or downgrade their subscriptions. Lemon Squeezy’s subscription billing software seamlessly manages your revenue recognition for you. 

Subscriptions

Your SaaS subscription billing software should provide comprehensive insight into your subscription metrics, offer flexible billing models, manage recurring payments, and provide a seamless subscription life cycle that scales with your business. At Lemon Squeezy, we do it all—and more!

Payment processing

Your payment processor manages the entirety of the transaction process, which involves communicating information from the customer’s bank card, to their bank, to your bank. 

It’s essential to bill customers the correct amount on the right date to reduce voluntary and involuntary churn.

Not only does Lemon Squeezy offer seamless payment processing, but we also act as your merchant of record to keep your SaaS business sales tax compliant wherever you sell your product.

Marketing automation

Along with our all-in-one SaaS billing software, we also offer various marketing automation tools that enable you to find new customers and build stronger relationships with your existing customers. Our marketing automation features include:

• Discount codes.
• Email marketing.
• Lead magnets.
• A digital download marketplace.

How Much Does Lemon Squeezy Cost?

Easy-peasy, Lemon Squeezy is more than a name. We do out best to simplify everything when it comes to selling digital products. That includes our pricing. You get everything you need in the platform for one low transaction fee.

• Monthly fees: $0 per month.
• Transaction fees: 5% + 50c.
• Chargeback fees: $15 per dispute.
• Subscription management: $0 per month.
• Additional payment methods: $0 per month.
• Currency localization: $0 per month.
• Fraud prevention: $0 per month.
• Failed payment recovery: $0 per month.

How to Get Started with Lemon Squeezy

Are you ready to supercharge your business with a seamless subscription billing platform from Lemon Squeezy? Here’s how to get started!

• Visit our website to get started for free.
• We’ll walk you through filling in your details and customizing your plan to your needs.
• If you have a WordPress website, add the Lemon Squeezy plug-in and start making sales!
• If you get stuck at any point, our highly-trained customer service team is here to help.

Conclusion

Whether you’re a startup SaaS business or already well established, ensuring you have comprehensive SaaS billing solutions in place is the first step to stress-free scaling. At Lemon Squeezy, we offer an all-in-one billing system that includes automated marketing features at no extra cost. 

No matter what growth stage your business is in, our solutions are tailored for those with no coding experience, along with additional robust features for developers. If you’re ready to boost your business, click here to get started with Lemon Squeezy today.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Does a startup SaaS business need billing software?

Many startup SaaS companies begin by using an internal revenue management platform or managing their billing manually. But, as your company grows, these platforms are unlikely to be able to scale seamlessly with you. This could lead to a lengthy and complex migration process further down the line.

Launching your company with comprehensive subscription billing software like Lemon Squeezy gives you the peace of mind to keep your focus on where it matters most—growing your business.

Does Lemon Squeezy allow a company to offer free trials?

One of the best ways to attract new customers is to give them a free trial of your product. Lemon Squeezy gives SaaS companies complete control over their free trials, whether they want to offer it for days, weeks, or months.

What is the best SaaS subscription billing software?

Finding the “best” SaaS billing software can be daunting because every company has unique needs. Some of the most important features to look for include:

• Payment processing.
• Subscription management.
• Recurring billing.
• Flexible pricing models.
• Ability to handle failed payments.
• Revenue recognition.

At Lemon Squeezy, we offer all of the above—and more!

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