How ApproveThis + Billsby Automates Approval Chaos for Subscription Businesses

When Billing Meets Approval Power

Let’s be real – subscription management is messy enough without adding approval bottlenecks. Billsby handles the billing gymnastics, but when you need human sign-offs on customer setups, payment exceptions, or plan changes? That’s where things get stuck in Slack threads and forgotten email chains. ApproveThis cuts through the noise by adding structured approvals to Billsby’s billing engine via Zapier. No more herding cats for sign-offs. Just clean, trackable workflows that keep subscriptions moving while maintaining control.

Why This Combo Doesn’t Suck

Billsby’s great at collecting money and managing plans. ApproveThis is great at getting decisions made fast. Together? They handle the entire lifecycle – from onboarding to upgrades to compliance checks – without creating extra work. The kicker: approvers don’t need Billsby licenses. Finance approves a pricy enterprise plan? Legal reviews a custom contract? Just send them an email approval. They click once. Done. No logins, no training, no $50/seat upsell.

Where This Actually Matters

Mid-market companies (50-5k employees) get hit hardest by approval chaos. You’re big enough to need controls, but small enough that “just buy Salesforce” isn’t the answer. Think:

• SaaS companies approving custom plans
• E-commerce brands auditing high-risk subscriptions
• Agencies managing client billing changes

All need to move fast without breaking compliance rules. That’s the sweet spot.

Real Workflows That Don’t Waste Time

1. New Customer Vetting (Without the Meeting Hell)

When a $20k/mo enterprise deal lands in Billsby, you don’t want it stuck because the CFO’s at a conference. With ApproveThis:

Trigger: New customer created in Billsby → Action: Auto-create approval request with deal terms, contract PDFs, usage data.

Use Case: A cybersecurity SaaS uses approval thresholds – deals under $5k auto-approve, bigger deals route to CRO + CFO. Sales gets instant yes/no without 17 approval meetings.

2. Payment Audits That Don’t Require a PhD

Fraudulent charges? Disputed upgrades? Successful payments needing accounting review? Connect Billsby’s payment triggers to ApproveThis’s audit workflows.

Trigger: Successful payment in Billsby → Action: Generate approval request with payment details, customer history, risk score.

Use Case: A subscription box company flags all $500+ payments for manager review. Approvers get customer LTV, order history, and fraud alerts in one email. Click approve. Move on.

3. Subscription Changes That Don’t Break Everything

When a customer upgrades/downgrades, you need checks – but not 3-day delays. Automate it:

Trigger: Subscription updated in Billsby → Action: Route for approval with change impact analysis.

Use Case: A B2B software company auto-flags plan downgrades with >10 users. Customer success gets notified to confirm via ApproveThis before the change processes.

Setting This Up Without Losing Your Mind

Zapier makes this stupidly simple. Here’s the 3-step process:

1. Connect Billsby to Zapier: Use Billsby’s Zapier integration (takes 2 minutes).
2. Pick Your Trigger: New customer, payment, or subscription change in Billsby.
3. Add ApproveThis Action: Map key data (customer email, amount, plan details) to an approval request.

Pro Tip: Use ApproveThis’s calculated fields to auto-add metrics like “Estimated Annual Revenue Impact” or “Customer Health Score” based on Billsby data.

Who Actually Benefits (Besides Your Sanity)

Finance Teams

Stop playing detective. ApproveThis surfaces payment context (is this a chargeback risk? upgrade anomaly?) so approvals aren’t guesswork. Thresholds auto-approve routine transactions, only escalating exceptions.

Sales Ops

Deal desk bottlenecks vanish. Custom quotes from Billsby auto-route for approvals with all terms attached. Use sequential approvals – first legal, then pricing lead, then regional manager.

Customer Success

Plan changes require oversight but not red tape. CSMs get ApproveThis emails with churn risk scores and expansion history. One-click approve/deny from their phone.

Features You’ll Actually Use

Beyond basic approvals, these matter:

• Vacation Delegation: CFO out? Requests auto-reassign to their deputy. No more “Waiting on Jane” status.
• Conditional Logic: EU customers route to GDPR compliance team; US stays with sales ops.
• Email Actions: Approvers can reject with a comment like “Need contract clause 7 revised” without logging in.

Why This Isn’t Just Another Integration

Most approval tools make you choose between speed and control. ApproveThis + Billsby gives both. Example: A media company slashed subscription change processing time from 48hrs to 2hrs while cutting billing errors by 65%. How? Automated approvals with context, not just more software.

Getting Started (Without the BS)

No “contact sales” nonsense. Sign up for ApproveThis, connect to Billsby via Zapier, and build your first workflow in 15 minutes. Or schedule a demo to see how other subscription businesses are using it.

Pro Tip: Start with one high-impact workflow (like enterprise deal approvals) before scaling to other use cases.

Bottom Line

If your subscription revenue is growing but your approval processes are stuck in 2015, this integration is your exit ramp. It’s not about adding more tools – it’s about making the tools you already use (Billsby) actually work for your team’s reality.