APIs that you can integrate into your product to allow customers to perform actions without involvement from Sales
Overview
B2B customers typically come through sales-led channel i.e., a sales rep talks to the prospect and constructs a custom deal that typically involves custom discounts or even custom terms which are then put in a contract which has a term length anywhere from 1 year to 3 years. Customers coming through sales-led channel are sometimes referred to as Contract customers, Invoiced customers or even Enterprise customers .
However, self-serve channel is quickly becoming a focus for SaaS businesses of all sizes as a way to reduce sales friction and get more revenue and increased customer satisfaction. Broadly, this means two separate things:
- New customers coming through the website (also called product-led-growth)
- Existing customers (who may have come through sales-led or self-serve channel) make changes (for example adding quantity, changing billing frequency etc.,) through the product
Architecture
Existing CPQ tooling was built only for sales-led channel which means it is excruciatingly hard to support the self-serve channel.
Existing Billing tooling is split into two categories - some tools were built for self-serve while others were built for sales-led channel.
What this means is supporting both channels together requires duct-taping the complex spaghetti of several tools and custom code resulting in a very brittle revenue architecture.
Clearly, a new approach is needed.
Going from the first-principles, the following conditions must be met:
- The CPQ and Billing functionality needs to be combined in a single platform.
- The underlying data catalog is enterprise-grade i.e., it can support the needs of both a young startup and a complex enterprise.
- The platform must be channel-agnostic; that means the underlying data catalog can be shared across all sales channels and also:
- To support the self-serve channel, the platform has API-first architecture which means easy integration with any website or product
- To support the sales-led channel, the platform provides robust and intentional connectors with the upstream CRM. Robustness implies being able to move large amounts of data across promptly and without loss. Intentionality implies using standard objects provided by the CRM as much as possible and limit the number of custom objects.
- If a customer first came through the sales-led channel, then any changes made through the self-serve channel are reflected automatically in the upstream CRM.
- Ability to create and destroy sandboxes on-the-fly.
- Allow the product catalog to be created instantly in the sandbox using APIs.
MonetizeNow was designed from the ground-up with these principles in mind to make it extremely easy to support both sales channels.
Self-Serve Workflows
Here are some common self-serve workflows that you can implement for your business:
| Workflow | Description |
|---|---|
| New Business | Allow customers to sign-up, pay and use the product without ever talking to a rep. Billing is completely automated. |
| Upgrades | Allow customers to add more seats (upsell) or add a new module (cross-sell) through in-app product workflows irrespective of the channel the customer came from. |
| Expansion | Allow a self-serve customer to expand into a more complex relationship (a contract with more bells and whistles). This will involve talking to a sales rep who then drafts a contract with usually upfront payments and concessions. |
| Contraction | Allow a customer that came through a sales-led workflow to automatically contract/shrink into a self-serve customer. Usually these customers churn otherwise. |
| In-app account management | Allow customers to o See who the current Account Manager / Support contacts are o See the history of the account (previous Quotes) o See when the current contract is ending o See all invoices o See the current "draft" invoice [relevant for usage-billing scenarios] o Pay invoices o Change payment method o Get W-9 |
| In-app contract management | Allow customers to o Auto-renew the contract (if enabled for that account and the customer is not on evergreen billing) o Perform Upgrades (#2 above) o Go from a low-tier plan to a high-tier plan o Change billing frequencies (e.x. Monthly to Annual) o Account cancellation |
Self-Service APIs
Notice
Self-service APIs are under active development and are not subject to our breaking change policy.
Product Catalog API
Use these APIs to obtain product information which can be used as the data source for your products and pricing on your website and during sign-up and contract management.
Sign-Up API
Use these APIs to sign-up new customers from your website.
Contract Management API
Use these APIs to perform changes to your customers purchased products, including plan changes, add-ons, and cancellations.
Account Management API
Use these APIs to perform changes to your customers account and purchased products.