Hashtags are a great social media marketing tool that many businesses dismiss simply because it reminds them of something that teenage girls use on Instagram. The truth is, hashtags are an underappreciated marketing campaign tool. Using them the right way can bring in traffic and new customers to any business.
When I am reading news from the e-commerce industry, regardless of the country or the continent, it seems that it’s the only sector of the economy where crisis is not as noticeable. Hell, one might even say it’s actually… non-existent!
Recurring payments, known also as recurring billings or subscriptions, is a mechanism that processes payments for all kinds of repetitive transactions. This payment method allows e-businesses to collect money from customers’ card, bank account or PayPal account. Once the client agrees, payment is initiated regularly at set time intervals.
How recurring payments work
Your client has to create an account on your website and order your service. When it comes down to the payment process they fill out the payment form, with the card or bank account data (such as card or bank account number, card expiration date, cardholder name, CVV etc.) or are sent to their PayPal account. Data are collected when clients create an account on an e-business website or after the trial version’s expiration. This is also the moment when you ask your clients for permission to collect recurring payments.
After first processed transaction you receive from PayLane your transaction ID. After 30 days or any other payment period, your system, through PayLane API, makes the next payment. To do it, there is no need to ask the payer to enter card or bank account data once again. The payment takes place using the transaction ID from the first purchase and transaction amount, which can be changed, so if your clients upgrades their account there is no need to ask him again for permission.
Whenever we’re explaining one-click payments to our partners or clients, it’s always good to add the “just like Amazon or Apple” phrase. In most cases it says more than any detailed description would and there’s always the “big brand effect”. Of course one of the greatest advantages of one-click payments is that this solution is fast and convenient. That’s why when making a purchase, I was a bit surprised that Apple asked me to provide additional specific documents in order to prove my identity. But, as I wrote recently, confirming my identity is completely understandable in some cases. What struck me was the way it was handled.
Before I tell the story, I have to clearly state that this was a local Apple department (not the US Apple), but after some googling it looked like the same department contacts also, for example, UK customers. We also do not intend to mock or criticize Apple – we just want to present an interesting case study and an example that even really big brands either make mistakes or sometimes do not fully control their representatives.
Everybody (and their uncle) knows about the Facebook Timeline. On March 30th the brand profiles changed their look. Some companies embraced the Timeline earlier, which made the design job a real challenge: how to do something quite original and stay within the borders of company’s policy?
We wanted something special for the PayLane’s Facebook cover. Naturally, it had to be connected with our business: credit cards, online payments… But we wanted the cover to convey more than that. We wanted to show that we are a group of people with passion for payments.
If some of you were wondering what a graphic designer actually does at a payment processing company, now is the time to lift the shroud of mystery. Designing a 404/500 error page seems rather trivial (especially in comparison to infographics), but it proved an interesting task.
You could have seen the finished designs in one of the previous posts. I’d like to show you some of the designs that could have been… And why they didn’t make it. In other words: welcome to my sketchbook.
What factors make for a successful business? Is it the product? Of course. Customer support? Sure. Competitive prices? Naturally. But what if a potential customer doesn’t get to experience the quality of your services, because they have been put off by your company’s site, which looks as if it was “designed” by a 10-year-old in 1996?
An attractive, eye-catching website has become the norm in today’s e-commerce world. Is it still possible to run a business without a site or one that is absolutely atrocious? Have you ever been discouraged from shopping online or using someone’s services based on their www?
A website is a make-or-break of a company. So, to make sure you don’t fall into the latter category, here are 4 main tips you might want to follow…
The one-click payments method is becoming more and more popular among PayLane’s clients. We allow e-businesses to offer this payment model to their customers. It makes the whole process of online shopping and payments a lot easier, faster and more convenient.
We’ve all left 2011 behind. This was a good year for Paylaners. Hope it was for you too.
Along with 2012 and New Year’s resolutions came a nice surprise – a few free days extra. Heritage from 2011. Naturally, I wanted to use them.
Took a globe, closed my eyes and pointed a random holiday destination. Wish me luck!
Well, not really, I just googled. Thailand? Why not?
Is it rewarding to take care about good quality and prices? ‘Sure’, you’d probably say. ‘It attracts the costumers, puts you ahead of others and so on’. That’s all true. But about a month ago I learned at work about one more advantage.
Every day a catering company delivers breakfasts for us. About 9:30 AM two guys walk into our kitchen with a few boxes filled with a large variety of different sandwiches, salads, cocktails etc. They sell the food at reasonable prices, we get to choose from different products, sizes, tastes.
And everybody was happy that way. That is until one day.
