Credits and billing
The invoice does not add up
Where to look to explain a month that came out unusual.
A month spikes and nobody remembers doing anything different. There is nearly always a concrete explanation, and it is in the breakdown: spend is not spread evenly, it concentrates in two or three things.
The four causes, by frequency
| Cause | How to spot it | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| A large batch someone launched | A spike on a single day | Check who and why; it is usually legitimate |
| SMS left on by default in a process | Steady, spread-out spend | Restrict SMS to people who do not read email |
| Reading enabled on a type that yields nothing | Rises with upload volume | Disable reading for that type |
| Resends of a badly filtered batch | Duplicates on the same day | Filter for who did not receive before relaunching |
How to review it in ten minutes
- 1
Open the month's breakdown and sort by item, not by date.
- 2
Check whether one process accounts for more than half.
- 3
Compare with last month: what changed is what needs explaining.
Worth knowing
Before cutting, check whether the spend is returning something. An expensive month because the annual review of 300 suppliers went out is not a problem: it is the annual review, and last year it was done by hand.
Watch out
Be careful cutting SMS wholesale to save money. If those were the ones reaching people who do not read email, next month you will spend less and receive less, which costs more.
Important
If the spike is explained by none of this, check it against the activity log before assuming a billing error. Consumption nobody recognises deserves a look at who launched it.
›Can I see spend per person?
It is shown per process and per team, which is usually what explains it.
›Can the breakdown be exported?
Yes, with its dates.
›Are reminders charged separately?
No. Chasing an already-paid send is not charged again.
A real case
The situation
Usage triples in March for no obvious reason.
What you do
- Sorts the breakdown by item
- Finds a 300-person process had SMS on by default
What you get
Restricts it to the 40 without a work email and April returns to normal without losing deliveries.
The situation
The invoice does not match expectations.
What you do
- Compares it with the period's consumption breakdown
What you get
The difference is located in minutes.
The situation
Consumption appears from a department that did not expect it.
What you do
- Checks the breakdown by department and activity
What you get
The origin is identified.
The situation
There is a spike nobody remembers.
What you do
- Checks what happened on those days
What you get
The spike has an explanation.
The situation
A dispute is raised without specific data.
What you do
- Provides the breakdown of the activities in question
What you get
The dispute is resolved precisely.
The situation
Reconciling takes the same effort every month.
What you do
- Reviews consumption during the month
What you get
The close stops holding surprises.
This article answers
- why did i use more credits this month
- review this month's usage
- unexpected spend on the platform
- reconcile usage with the invoice