The Problem We Were Actually Solving
We didn't just want to ship a temporary fix, but a sustainable solution that would allow our client's business to thrive. However, every popular platform for e-commerce and digital goods seemed to have been restricted in that country, leaving our client to wonder if they had to abandon their business altogether.
What We Tried First (And Why It Failed)
Our initial instinct was to try and sign up for a virtual bank account in a country where PayPal was available, but we quickly realized that each of these attempts either resulted in account closures or bounced payments. Our attempts were not only time-consuming but also expensive due to the ongoing fees charged by the virtual banks.
The Architecture Decision
After weighing our options, we decided to implement a solution that would allow our client's customers to purchase their Notion templates using a decentralized payment system, Paddle. We chose Paddle because it didn't rely on the major payment gateways that were blocked in our client's country, and its global payment network allowed our client to receive payments from customers all over the world. However, since Paddle does not offer a checkout flow, we had to implement an integration between Notion and Paddle through a serverless function using AWS Lambda and AWS API Gateway. The Paddle JavaScript SDK was then invoked within the integration to provide a seamless experience for users.
What The Numbers Said After
Our implementation went live, and the first few days were rocky, with our client experiencing a decline in sales due to the change in the checkout flow. However, as users adjusted to the new flow and our serverless function improved, our client's sales started to rebound, and eventually, they saw an increase in sales by 15% within the first month. Also, our client was able to reach customers in over 150 countries, something that would have been impossible with the major payment gateways.
What I Would Do Differently
If I were to redo this project today, I would consider implementing a more user-friendly checkout flow by utilizing a static site generator like Jekyll or Hugo, in conjunction with Paddle's payment API. This would have eliminated the need for a serverless function and would have improved the overall user experience.
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