The Problem We Were Actually Solving
We're a platform-agnostic product, which means we need to handle payments wherever our customers are. This is a problem when you rely on traditional payment processors that either don't support international transactions or have draconian anti-money-laundering rules that make it hard to verify customers. Our goal was to find a way to accept payments without a merchant account, which ruled out most of the popular payment gateways.
What We Tried First (And Why It Failed)
Initially, I thought that using a third-party payment processor that supports international transactions was the way to go. I tried using services like PayHip and Gumroad, but they either imposed exorbitant fees or didn't support the cryptocurrencies I needed to accept. I also tried using a combination of PayPal and a third-party processor, but even that didn't work - PayPal's limitations meant I couldn't accept multiple payment methods without having a merchant account. My churn rate skyrocketed, and my MRR plummeted.
The Architecture Decision
After weeks of wrestling with this problem, we finally settled on a solution that worked for our use case: using a custom-built system that accepts a variety of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin. This means we can handle international transactions in a way that's compliant with the regulations of all the countries we operate in. We also chose to use a custom-built billing system, which allowed us to decouple payment processing from our core product and focus on optimizing the conversion rate for our platform.
What The Numbers Said After
After implementing the new payment system, our MRR saw a significant increase of 35% within the first two months. Our churn rate decreased by 25%, and our activation rate improved by 18%. The switch to a crypt-based payment system was a game-changer for our business, and I'm happy to say that it's now a key part of our growth strategy.
What I Would Do Differently
In hindsight, I would have considered using a blockchain-based payment gateway from the start. These gateways, such as BitPay and Coinbase, provide a simple and secure way to accept cryptocurrencies and convert them into fiat currency. While they may not offer the same level of customization as our custom-built system, they would have saved us a significant amount of time and resources in the long run. However, in our case, I'm glad we chose to build our own solution, as it gave us the flexibility we needed to optimize our payment processing for our unique use case.
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