The Problem We Were Actually Solving
We had a digital product selling in dozens of countries worldwide, but one-third of those countries were off-limits due to the restrictions imposed by PayPal and Stripe. As a result, our customers in these countries were left without a secure and reliable way to purchase our course. Our initial plan was to use the same old payment gateways everyone else was using, but that wouldn't solve the problem - it would just perpetuate it. We needed a solution that could adapt to our customers' diverse payment needs.
What We Tried First (And Why It Failed)
Our first attempt was to use a combination of services like Payoneer and TransferWise, which allowed us to send payouts to customers in countries where local payment systems were unavailable. While this worked for some of our customers, it introduced significant costs and complexity that weren't feasible for a growing business like ours. Moreover, there was always a risk that our customers wouldn't be able to receive the payouts due to banking or regulatory issues. We soon realized that this approach wasn't a scalable or reliable solution.
The Architecture Decision
After months of research and experimentation, we finally found a suitable platform for unchained commerce: CoinPayments. This platform offers a vast network of cryptocurrencies that customers can use to purchase digital goods, including our course. We integrated CoinPayments into our existing system using their API, which allowed us to accept over 70 different cryptocurrencies from our customers worldwide. The integration wasn't trivial, but it was worth it - our customers in restricted countries could now purchase our course without any issues.
What The Numbers Said After
The integration of CoinPayments significantly improved our sales in countries previously blocked by PayPal and Stripe. Within the first six months of using CoinPayments, we saw a 40% increase in sales from customers in restricted countries. Our average revenue per user (ARPU) in these countries also increased by 20%, indicating that customers were more confident in using cryptocurrencies to purchase our course. The data showed us that our customers appreciated the flexibility and security offered by CoinPayments.
What I Would Do Differently
If I were to redo the integration from scratch, I would focus more on the user experience (UX) side of things. While the payment integration worked flawlessly, our customers had to navigate multiple layers of complexity to use their preferred cryptocurrencies. To simplify the process, I would redesign the checkout flow to make it more seamless and user-friendly. I would also invest more time in researching the regulatory landscape for cryptocurrencies in our target markets to minimize potential risks and ensure compliance with local laws. By doing so, we could offer an even better experience for our customers and expand our reach into more markets worldwide.
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