The Problem We Were Actually Solving
In hindsight, we were not just selling pre-made templates. We were trying to create an experience for our customers - to make their lives easier by delivering seamless payments regardless of their geographical location. We wanted our customers to be able to pay regardless of where they were in the world. But a lot of platforms failed us. A lot of platforms failed to deliver that promise.
What We Tried First (And Why It Failed)
Our first solution was to use a popular platform like Gumroad. We liked Gumroad's ease of use, simplicity, and minimal setup requirements. All you need to do is upload your templates, connect your payment information, and voila - you're ready to sell. However, their success was short-lived. Our Brazilian customers were unable to use Gumroad due to a "country not supported" error. We were confused at first because Brazil has a thriving economy and is a major contributor to global e-commerce. However, upon further investigation, we discovered that Gumroad doesn't support all countries, even ones with a strong e-commerce presence. The reasons weren't entirely clear, but we can only speculate - perhaps it's due to local bank restrictions or regulatory hurdles.
The Architecture Decision
Our next (and winning) solution was Stripe. Yes, you read that right. We thought about using Stripe initially but ruled it out because it was more complex to set up than Gumroad. However, we later learned that Stripe didn't have the same country restrictions as Gumroad. With Stripe, we could easily accept payments from any country where Stripe is supported. When it comes to the technical complexity, we also used Stripe's webhook callbacks to handle payments more efficiently and provide real-time notifications to our customers and team members.
What The Numbers Said After
We saw a significant decrease in cart abandonment rates after switching to Stripe. In the past month, we've seen a 25.6% decrease in abandoned carts. Our revenue from Brazil increased by 13.6% and from India by 22.2%. We attribute this success to the seamless payment experience Stripe provided. Our customers were no longer hit with "country not supported" errors, and they were able to complete their purchases easily.
What I Would Do Differently
I would not have dismissed Stripe initially due to the setup complexity. We would have saved ourselves a significant amount of time and effort by choosing Stripe in the first place. Secondly, I would have conducted more thorough research on the platforms we chose to use, including their country support and limitations. This would have saved us from the frustration and costs associated with platform changes.
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