Have you ever committed to something you quickly began to regret? Signed a flat lease for one year, then three months into it you realise that stylish apartment of your dreams isn’t all it was cracked out to be? The walls are paper thin; your electric bill is obscene and the novelty of having neighbours who party every night has swiftly worn off. The feeling of being locked and stuck in any contract is not a desirable situation to be in.

Technology is enabling property managers to streamline repeated processes and take control of their schedule through a variety of different SaaS-based applications. Contracts for SaaS systems are crucial; they allow the maintenance and ongoing support of the software. At SnapInspect, we believe long-term agreements that aim to lock in clients are an outdated way of conducting business. Heres why:

Most companies want to lock you into a long-term fixed contract, charge you ridiculous amounts of money for their software and then finish with you. After signing a long-term (12 months plus) contract, it is common for communication between the two involved companies to slow down or drop off altogether. Long-term agreements put stress on the SaaS companies integrity and support model; it is up to them to engage with their clients in regards to tech support, additional features and anything else that needs changing. The motivation to do this seems to disappear in a lot of companies that offer long-term contracts as they have already gotten your money. It is common for businesses to get so frustrated with their contracts agreements they end up paying out the deal in full and cancelling their subscription to the service.

When you sign an ongoing monthly contract, it forces both companies to engage in communication regularly. Short term contracts mean your business has better contact with the SaaS provider, overall experience and real-time performance will improve as a result. It also gives you the flexibility and freedom to cancel at any time. Clients prefer this option as technology is ever changing, the system that was working for you last month may not work for you equally as well next month.

One common misconception of using month-to-month billing is that it increases the likelihood of companies stopping their subscription with you as it is easy to exit. This is not the case in most situations when a company decides to subscribe to a SaaS they see it as a long-term solution for their business. Setting up and getting clients and employees used to a new procedure is a task in itself and doesn’t make sense for companies to be changing software systems month to month constantly.

Monthly billing has become the industry standard for a vast majority of SaaS operating companies. 70% of SaaS companies are offering monthly billing, and it’s evident as to why, Regular billing gives you freedom, empowers you, provides you with a manageable upfront fee and is often the critical factor in securing potential clients that are sitting on the fence about software.
Naturally, it’s best to explore both options of annual and month to month billing, most industry leading SaaS companies offer a trial period in which you can experiment with features, billing and anything else you will be using with the service. Have you ever wondered why Spotify & Netflix suddenly stopped asking for an annual payment and started pushing month-to-month billing?

Perhaps, one of the leading driving forces behind Spotify & Netflix’s success is their ability to offer short-term, easy to cancel, month-to-month contracts. They are always keeping up with payment trends and have realised that humans are attracted to the idea of freedom and do not want to commit to anything for a prolonged period of time. At SnapInspect we value our customers and want to make things as simple as possible for them so that they can focus on the important things. That’s why we offer long-term and short-term contracts to our clients.

Click here to explore different options or start your free trial today!