Digital marketing agencies may not think of themselves as an ideal use case for a subscription management and billing platform, but Black Propeller, an award-winning digital marketing agency based out of Bel Air, Maryland, doesn’t like to do things the traditional way.

“Being able to easily keep an eye on metrics like churn rate, MRR, and ARR has helped us better understand our business and ultimately optimize for faster growth,” says John Thornton, Black Propeller’s CEO.

According to Thornton, Black Propeller’s goal is to hit $1 million in ARR by the end of 2021. A major aspect of that is the company’s decision in 2020 to move from billing its clients based on a percentage of spend to a fixed monthly retainer.

But why did the agency choose Recurly to handle its subscription billing?

Black Propeller considered a number of subscription platforms, narrowing it down to Recurly and two other solutions. After a thorough analysis of each, Black Propeller chose Recurly for several reasons:

1. The direct integration with QuickBooks—seamless integration with its accounting software was a must-have

2. Recurly's user interface was much cleaner and intuitive compared to the competition

3. Recurly's customer list instilled a lot of confidence

The bet on Recurly paid off for Black Propeller. In the first year of partnering with Recurly, the company doubled in growth and minimized the time spent on billing by a whopping 95%.

“Previously, we spent up to 20 hours per month on billing. Now we spend less than an hour per month.” 

John Thorton, Founder and CEOBlack Propeller

Wrap Up

Recurly fully automates Black Propeller’s billing, saving the company hours of time, and has provided insights into billing and revenue metrics that the company never had before. 

Read the full Black Propeller case study to learn more.