Industry Glossary

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Billing Chain

The billing chain encompasses all the processes, systems, and teams that work together to define, price, and invoice SaaS products and services. This includes plan and feature definition, pricing model determination, sign-up processes, invoicing, payment processing, and self-serve billing portals. All of these components work together to create a seamless billing experience for both the SaaS provider and the customer. The billing chain is essential for ensuring accurate invoicing, payment processing, and customer satisfaction and requires careful coordination between product, engineering, pricing, sales, and finance teams.

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Currencies

You might want to offer your SaaS product in currencies other than just USD. Offering your SaaS product in various currencies, as supported by Wingback, can provide numerous benefits for your business. One such benefit is increased accessibility, allowing you to reach customers in different regions of the world, expand your customer base, and boost revenue. Moreover, pricing your product in the local currency of your target audience can reduce barriers to entry, making it more convenient for potential customers to try your service and preventing them from being discouraged by unfamiliar or inconvenient currencies. Another advantage of offering multiple currencies is the improved customer experience, as customers can view pricing in a currency they are familiar with, avoiding confusion or unexpected surprises on their bills. Additionally, providing your product in multiple currencies can give you a competitive edge over other SaaS providers who only offer pricing in a single currency, attracting and retaining customers who prioritize services available in their local currency. Finally, offering pricing in multiple currencies enables you to optimize revenue by adjusting pricing based on local market conditions and exchange rates, maximizing revenue and profitability across various regions globally.

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Cash-to-quote

The quote-to-cash process is the series of steps a company takes to create and deliver an accurate quote to a customer, receive payment, and recognize revenue. This process involves several different functions, including sales, marketing, finance, and accounting. The process typically begins with the sales team generating a quote for a potential customer. Once the quote is accepted, the customer is invoiced and payment is collected. The finance and accounting teams then record the payment and recognize the revenue. The quote-to-cash process can be automated using SaaS tools, which can improve efficiency and accuracy. For example, a SaaS platform might offer a quoting tool that integrates with a CRM system to automatically generate quotes based on customer information and pricing data. Automating the quote-to-cash process can also help companies reduce errors and improve customer satisfaction. By streamlining the process, companies can improve their cash flow and gain better visibility into their revenue streams. Wingback supports the quote-to-cash process end to end, which makes the process as seamless as possible.

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Customer-Facing Feature

A customer-facing feature in SaaS refers to any functionality or capability of a SaaS product that is directly visible and accessible to the end user or customer. These features are the basic building blocks of everything in Wingback and serve as permissions that grant access to different parts of your product. Customer-facing features are designed to provide value, and thus play a crucial role in managing and maintaining customer satisfaction. They can include elements such as user interfaces, dashboards, reporting and analytics, collaboration tools, integrations with third-party applications, customer support, and self-service features. Ultimately, customers will pay you to gain access to these valuable features of your product.

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Entitlements

Entitlements refer to the rights and permissions that a user or organization has to access and use a particular software service. SaaS entitlements may include a variety of permissions, such as the number of users who are authorized to access the service, the specific features or functionality of the service that a user has access to. The level of access a user has to the data stored in the service, and the measures in place to ensure the security and compliance of the service.

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SaaS Billing

SaaS Billing refers to the process of calculating the correct amount to be invoiced to customers for ongoing access to SaaS product. Customers typically pay a recurring fee at regular intervals, such as monthly or annually, in order to continue using the service.

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SaaS Subscription Management

SaaS subscription management platforms are a category of product that SaaS companies like you use to manage and customer subscriptions. At a high level, SaaS subscription management involves tasks such as creating and managing plans and pricing, handling customer sign-ups and cancellations, managing subscription billing and invoicing, and providing customer support and account management. Wingback is not a SaaS subscription management product, but every feature that you would expect from a SaaS subscription management product is available in Wingback too. So if you were looking for a SaaS subscription management product, you are in the right place. If you are currently looking for SaaS subscription management products, it might be easiest to thing of Wingback as the next generation of SaaS subscription management.

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Payments

Payments (in the context of SaaS) refers to collecting payments from customers for subscriptions, typically through online payment processing services such as Stripe.

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Payment Gateway

A payment gateway is a service that authorizes and processes electronic payments. It securely transmits payment data and processes the transaction. At the moment, Wingback is integrated with Stripe for payments. We will add other providers in the future so that you can always choose the payment provider that works best for you. Once you sign on with Wingback, you’ll continue to use Stripe for payments and will not need to ask customers for payment details again (we keep using the existing authorization). However, since Wingback effectively takes the place of Stripe Billing, you may cancel this service and recoup the 0.5% transaction fees.

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Pricing Tiers

Pricing Tiers are different packages your customers can choose from that contain a certain set of features, typically a set of three packages like Standard, Gold, and Platinum. Instead of offering just one pricing plan, you segment the pricing of your product into different packages. This allows customers to choose the option that best accommodates their needs.

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Self-Serve

Self-serve refers to a sales and customer service model where customers can purchase and use a SaaS product without direct assistance or intervention from a sales representative or customer service representative. In a self-serve model, customers typically sign up for the product online and can immediately begin using the software. The pricing and features of the product are clearly displayed on your website, and customers can select the plan that best fits their needs. The customer service and support provided in a self-serve model is often minimal, with customers relying on online help centers, knowledge bases, and user forums to find answers to their questions and resolve any issues they encounter. Self-serve models are often used by SaaS companies that offer relatively simple and straightforward products with low barriers to entry. This model can be highly scalable, allowing companies to reach a large customer base with minimal resources devoted to sales and customer service. However, the lack of direct interaction with customers can make it more difficult to build strong relationships and loyalty, and can limit the ability of companies to upsell and cross-sell additional products or services.

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High-Touch

High touch sales refers to a sales model where sales representatives interact closely with prospective customers to understand their needs and provide tailored solutions. This sales approach typically involves a higher level of personalization and engagement than low touch or self-serve sales models. In a high touch sales model, the sales representative may conduct extensive research on the prospect’s business and industry, provide detailed product demonstrations, and address any questions or concerns the prospect may have. The goal is to build a strong relationship with the prospect and provide a personalized experience that addresses their unique needs and challenges. High touch sales can be particularly effective for SaaS companies selling complex or high-value solutions that require significant investment from the customer. By providing a high level of personalization and engagement, sales teams can help customers understand the value proposition of the product and build trust in the company’s ability to deliver on its promises. However, high touch sales models can also be resource-intensive and require significant investment in sales personnel and processes. SaaS companies must carefully balance the costs and benefits of a high touch sales approach to ensure that it aligns with their overall business goals and objectives.

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Product-Led Growth

Product-led growth (PLG) is a go-to-market strategy where a software product is designed to acquire, activate, and retain users through the product itself. Rather than relying solely on traditional sales and marketing techniques, PLG relies on the product to drive user acquisition and growth. PLG companies typically offer free trials or freemium plans to allow users to experience the product before committing to a paid plan. The goal is to create a product that is so intuitive and valuable that users naturally want to upgrade to a paid plan. PLG also involves gathering user feedback and data to continually improve the product and increase user engagement. By focusing on the product experience, PLG companies can build a loyal user base and achieve sustainable growth over time

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Mid-Cycle Upgrades

A mid-cycle upgrade refers to the process of upgrading a customer’s subscription plan to a higher tier or level of service before the end of the current billing cycle. For example, if a customer is currently subscribed to a basic plan but wants to upgrade to a premium plan with more features, they may request a mid-cycle upgrade to take effect before the end of their current billing cycle. By allowing customers to upgrade their plans mid-cycle, you can help ensure that customers have access to the features and functionality they need at all times, without having to wait until the end of the billing cycle to make changes. However, mid-cycle upgrades can also create some challenges, particularly in terms of billing and invoicing. If a customer upgrades mid-cycle, you may need to prorate the cost of the new plan for the remainder of the billing cycle, which can be complex to calculate and may require adjustments to the customer’s invoice. Wingback handles mid-cycle upgrades for you, so that you don’t have to worry about any of these issues anymore.