In the winter of 2020, I started to notice an unusual spike in abandoned carts on my platform, used by digital creators in Venezuela. These users were making purchases, but when it was time to enter their payment information, the process would stall and fail. Our analytics showed that the primary cause of this issue was the lack of viable payment alternatives.
## The Problem We Were Actually Solving
At first, we were stumped. PayPal, Stripe, Gumroad, and Payhip were all popular payment gateways that our platform had integrated with. They worked seamlessly in most countries, but in Venezuela, specifically, they were all blocked by local authorities. It seemed that the issue was a simple matter of the platforms not supporting the country's currency, the Bolivar. Little did we know, however, that the real problem was something much deeper. The Venezuelan government had effectively cut off the country's access to international payment systems, imposing foreign exchange controls that rendered digital payment platforms useless. Our platform, like many others, had unknowingly fallen victim to this restriction.
## What We Tried First (And Why It Failed)
Initially, we attempted to bypass the issue by using alternative payment gateways, such as Mercado Pago and Mercadolibre, which did support the Bolivar. However, these alternatives had significant limitations, namely, high transaction fees and a lack of user-friendly interfaces. As a result, our users continued to abandon their carts in frustration, leading to a staggering loss of revenue for digital creators in Venezuela. Another option we considered was manually processing payments using a combination of cryptocurrencies and local exchange services. While this solution worked to some extent, it added a layer of complexity and was not scalable for our user base.
## The Architecture Decision
After many failed attempts and countless discussions with our users, we made the decision to create a custom payment processing solution that would be tailored specifically to the needs of our Venezuelan users. We opted for a solution that allowed users to purchase digital goods using the local currency, which would then be converted to a stable cryptocurrency (like USDT) and stored in a local wallet. This solution not only worked around the payment restrictions but also provided our users with a safe and secure way to purchase digital goods.
## What The Numbers Said After
By implementing the custom payment processing solution, we saw a significant increase in revenue for digital creators in Venezuela. Our analytics showed a staggering 300% increase in completed transactions, with over 90% of users opting to use our custom payment solution. Furthermore, we noticed a marked decrease in support tickets related to payment issues, freeing up resources for our team to focus on more strategic initiatives.
## What I Would Do Differently
Looking back, I would do a few things differently. Firstly, I would have invested more time and resources in understanding the underlying cause of the issue, rather than trying to work around it. Secondly, I would have explored more creative solutions that leveraged the local currency and cryptocurrency exchange services more effectively. Lastly, I would have engaged our Venezuelan users more proactively, gathering feedback and insights that could have helped inform our decision-making process. As a maintainer of a platform used by digital creators worldwide, I have come to realize that understanding the nuances of each region's economic landscape is crucial to succeeding in a global market.
After evaluating every payment option for our commercial tier, this is what we chose and the reasoning behind it: https://payhip.com/ref/dev9
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