Metered Billing: What is it and when should it be used?

Metered billing has been steadily growing in popularity, with more and more businesses starting to adapt to its model.

It is now a mainstay in most SaaS billing software, making it relatively easy to implement.

Although it is popular for good reason, if you’re thinking about trying out a metered billing model for your business you should take it step by step. In fact the first thing that you should do is fully understand what metered billing is all about – and when it should be used.

“What is Metered Billing?”

To put it in simple terms, metered billing is a type subscription billing that is based on usage. In other words customers are charged based on their actual usage rate.

Make no mistake this model is not new and has been around for some time, as evidenced by utility bills such as water or electricity. It can take on various forms however – such as fully usage based billing, or charging a monthly minimum with additional fee based on usage.

The main reason why metered billing is attractive is the fact that customers love it. Unlike other models it feels fairer to them seeing as that they’re paying only for what they need – and not wasting any money on things that they don’t need.

For businesses that often translates into an increase in customers, as well as an increase in revenue from heavy users that have high usage. Seeing as it benefits both businesses and consumers, it is essentially a win-win.

“When Should Usage Billing Be Implemented?”

Before you decide whether or not to start using metered billing, you should first consider whether or not it is suitable for your business.

The fact of the matter is that not all businesses can successfully take advantage of metered billing. More to the point, if your business and the product it provides aren’t suitable – you won’t be able to benefit from it.

To determine if you should implement metered billing, there are a few areas you should look at:

How can the usage be broken down?

The main prerequisite for a metered structure is that the usage must be able to be broken down into specific units. Ideally the units of usage should be easy to identify and understand.

For example in mobile phone plans the usage can be charged based on the duration (i.e. call minutes).

What affect does usage have on costs?

For metered billing to feel ‘fair’, the usage needs to correspond with operating costs. If it does not, customers may question why you’re charging them for it in the first place.

For example in web hosting packages the usage of storage space and bandwidth directly adds to the operating costs of the service.

What is the frequency of units being used?

Metered billing works best when the frequency of units being used is high, such as on a continuous or daily basis. If it isn’t high there may be other models that are more appropriate, such as individual purchases or pay-as-you-go.

For example electricity usage can be tracked continuously, meaning that its frequency of usage is very high.

How much does the usage vary?

One often overlooked factor is that metered billing is perfect when the usage for different users varies quite a bit. That way the heavy users pay more, while others do not – making it feel fair.

If the usage doesn’t vary much a simple monthly subscription may do the job just as well as metered billing.

Suffice to say usage based billing works best when the usage can be broken down, affects the cost, and is both frequent and varied.

Conclusion

At this juncture you should fully understand what metered billing is, and when it should be used. That should be more than enough for you to look at your business and its products or services, and decide whether or not implementing the model is a good idea.

Keep in mind that you explore different types of usage based billing and find the one that fits your products or services best. It may take a bit of planning on your end, but it will help you ensure that the metered billing model you implement is the best fit.

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

Giffgaff fined £1.4m fine by Ofcom for unacceptable over charging

Mobile phone group Giffgaff has been fined £1.4m for “unacceptable” billing mistakes as they over charged 2.6m customers, the industry watchdog said.

Giffgaff who are owned by O2 parent Telefonica overcharged customers for almost eight years totalling £2.9m, Ofcom said.

Ofcom found that Giffgaff had overcharged customers on pre-pay bundles of voice minutes, texts, data between May 2011 and February this year.

The affected customers have already been refunded totalling £2.1m and has donated the balance of funds to charity were customers were unable to be found or traced.

The fine was reduced by 30% as Giffgaff agreed to settle and had reported the mistakes, the fine will be paid to the Treasury Ofcom said.

Gaucho Rasmussen, director of investigations and enforcement at Ofcom said, “Getting bills right is a basic duty for every phone company.

“But Giffgaff made unacceptable mistakes, leaving millions of customers out of pocket.

“This fine should serve as a warning to all communications providers: if they get bills wrong, we’ll step in to protect customers.”

Ernest Doku, mobiles expert at uSwitch.com said, “Giffgaff users will be concerned to learn that 2.6m customers were overcharged by almost £2.9m.

“Anyone who bought the firm’s ‘goodybag’ bundles of calls, messages and data while using pre-paid credit was unfortunately billed twice every time they used their phone.

“Giffgaff deserves credit for reporting the mistake to industry watchdog Ofcom and acting quickly to refund 2.1m customers. But the fact that almost half a million consumers are still out of pocket is disappointing.

“If you are a Giffgaff customer and believe you could have been overcharged, contact your provider as soon as possible.

“The size of Giffgaff’s fine represents how seriously the watchdog takes this error. And providers be warned: mobile phone users will be quick to vote with their feet if they believe they are being treated unfairly.”

Five crucial factors for a successful web design

Not dissimilar to fashion, web design is subject to constant change, with current trends coming and going.

When it comes to creating a sleek website for your company that will leave a lasting professional impression, it’s crucial to ensure that both the initial and ongoing design is up to date, current, and on-trend.

Businesses today are relying more than ever before on online interactions with their customers, so your website and online presence plays a huge, central part when it comes to achieving business success and turning over a growing profit. It’s never been more important to have a website that’s up to date, interesting, and easy to navigate for your users, both in terms of SEO, your Google ranking, and the reputation that you build with your customers.

We’ve put together five of the best web design tips that any online company can use in order to boost and improve their website, getting the most from their online presence.

#1. Consider Using a Professional:

Today, there’s an abundance of options available when it comes to creating and designing your own website, and thanks to user-friendly design tools, it’s become easier than ever to put together a website that you love and that works well for your business, even if you have no previous experience of coding or web design at all. But, whilst creating your own website to save money can be a useful option to have, it’s wise to be aware of the limitations that this can have on your company and the website’s growth overall.

Many DIY web design platforms work on a template basis, which can be great if you need something quickly, but will limit the amount of bespoke design that you can do for your site. We’d recommend checking out PWD for professional, bespoke design services with no limitations. Their portfolio really stands out and shows how diverse their client base is, so no matter what your website is about, they can create something bespoke.

#2. Clean and Clutter-Free:

Whether you’re using a professional web designer or doing it yourself, one of the key things to remember when building your website is to keep the design clean and clutter-free. Less is definitely more when it comes to successful web design; whilst interesting or unusual design elements can grab attention and keep visitors on your website for longer, bear in mind that trying to do too much or incorporate too many different design elements into your site can make it look busy and cluttered, leading to it having the opposite effect. Minimal web designs are one of the longest-standing trends in the industry, and it’s easy to see why – you simply can’t go wrong with a site that is simple, easy on the eye, and uncluttered, therefore, allowing you to navigate and get to where you need to be quickly and easily.

#3. Easy to Read:

When it comes to visuals, it’s important to make things as easy and hassle-free as possible for your users. Whether you’re running a blog or an online shop, you’re likely going to have some text content on there to help your visitors understand more about the website, your business, the services that you offer or the products you sell, and much more. You might not put much thought into inputting text content into your site, but the truth is that how it’s laid out and how well it reads can have a huge effect on user satisfaction. For example, choose a font that’s easy to read and understand, make sure that it is sized large enough, and break down any large chunks of text into smaller, more manageable segments. This is especially important if your website has a lot of text content for users to take in, like long-form blog posts or lengthy informational pages about your services.

#4. Great Visuals:

Whilst less certainly is undoubtedly more when it comes to your website design, don’t forget to include interesting visuals in the design, which will help your brand stand out, generate more interest in your content, and give visitors a clearer idea of what your brand is all about. A hero image on your front page, for example, can be just what it takes to incorporate an interesting visual into the design without going overboard, whilst a carousel can be ideal for helping your users learn more without taking up too much site space. Or you could even opt for a background video, for even more interesting visual appeal.

#5. Responsivity:

Last but certainly not least, a key web design element to consider is how well the site responds to being viewed on a range of different devices. Mobile-friendliness, in particular, is extremely important, as more and more users are choosing their smartphones and other mobile devices to browse the web, compared to laptop and desktop PC use. Ensuring that you are using a responsive design will not only boost your reputation and trustworthiness with users who land on your site but also improve your standing with Google, who are quick to penalise any sites that haven’t incorporated mobile viewing into their design.

When it comes to success with your business website, these factors are absolutely essential.

5 Business apps that will revolutionise your business

We’re always looking for ways to make our business and day run more smoothly, here we have five apps that will do just that

Pipedrive

PipeDrive is management software for small businesses alike

Pipe drive is a business tool that allows small businesses to manage sales, customer relationships, strategies etc. It furthermore includes built in features which provide modernized solutions to time conserving tasks.

A customer of pipedrive, and luxury travel site owner, John Harvey www.opulentafrica.com commented: “Pipedrive is an incredibly versatile business tool and provides us with absolute clarity on our business strategies, prior to selecting pipe drive we evaluated all of the top providers in this field and pipedrive, for us, is head and shoulders above the rest. Their online support service is first class. Since implementation of pipedrive just six months ago, our output and efficiency has increased exponentially.”

CamCard

CamCard, the time saving business card scanner

>CamCard is a scanning tool which is connected to your LinkedIn account; after a business conference, simply scan the business cards you have collected throughout the day, this will automatically create links with the businesses displayed on the card, not only into your contacts, but also into LinkedIn

Confide

Confide is a fully encrypted, message-deleting, business messaging service.

Confide, is not only fully encrypted, it also automatically deletes all sent messages as soon as the recipient has read them, not only from your screen but from confide’s databases as well, it’s also screenshot-proof, so you can rest assured that all the messages you send have the same level of privacy as if you were talking face-to-face. Although it can be used for non-entrepreneurial services, it was originally designed for business co-workers to communicate confidentiality.

Trello

Trello is great for project management and keeping up to date with all your tasks that need to be completed.

It allows users to group tasks and track progress, along with inviting users to share access to boards. Whilst it may lack some of the features of other platforms, the user friendly interface, and simple to use tools makes it great for staying up to date, and hitting deadlines.

CoinCap

An underdog in the crypto world, CoinCap offers an easy to use interface for keeping up to date with the latest market changes.

Not only is your information protected with useful Touch ID and passcode security, it allows users to personalise their experience, when to receive push notifications, informs you of price change, recommends when to buy and when to sell. There is no signup required and so it is extremely easy to keep up to date with the status of your crypto currencies, 24/7

TeamGate

Teamgate is the simply smart Sales CRM with the strength to power your success. Armed with a series of intelligent integrated features; such as Mailchimp, Zendesk, Quickbooks, Zapier and a multitude of others, the award-winning Teamgate software provides your sales team with both the simplicity and the strength to organically grow your business.

For three years in a row Teamgate has been recognised internationally and has received a host of awards acknowledging its exceptional customer service and support, its user friendly interface, and has additionally been included among the leaders in the world of Sales CRM software.

These, are Business Matter’s; if you disagree on any or want to recommend your favourite, be sure to leave them in the comments below, or tweet us at @BizMattersmag
Tobias Millar-Harvey