Originally Posted by PR_Phil
depending on how you implement the new options, it can definitely hurt revenue and sales. Doesn't matter if you have an affiliate program, it goes for any site anywhere.
you're joins can be $24.95 regardless of what type of payment it is, and each one will bring in a different amount of cash at the end of the day, so adding a new billing option, is only beneficial if it brings in additional sales that you would have otherwise missed.
if you introduce a billing option in the US that credit card bearing customers will choose to use instead of pulling out their cards, then you are not benefiting. If you introduce a payment option across the board that only works in 15 countries, than anyone whop sees in in other countries might try it, fail and choose not to join.
if you can determine the following
- what's the take home on a sale with this method (and compare it to others)
- does this method also offer recurring
- where does it work
- does it allow for chargebacks
- in the locations where it works, is it the primary form of online payments, or a secondary / tertiary
- what percentage of people in those territories have credit cards
- what percentage of people in those territories that have credit cards feel safe using them online.
- on what platforms is this payment type used most.
then you can really make an informed decision. Display the new option only in regions where it is popular. If if the people in that region have credit cards, still display the cc option, if the people in that region have confidence in using their cards online, display the cc option more prominently. On a desktop where there is lots of screen space, don't be afraid of offering several options (ever seen a online casinos pay page, with 24 options). If the new option is time consuming and requires a lot of input, make it even less prominent on mobile. then watch.
if your overall sales go up, good, but watch the ratio of how many additional sales you get to how many credit card sales you loose, in countries where 50+ % of people use credit cards online, you don't want to be loosing credit card sales, you only want to be capturing new sales. In countries with only like 15 to 25% of consumers using cards online, you should expect your cc sales to drop, but the sales from the more popular platforms to go up 2, 3, or even 4 X the amount your cc sales went down. then watch the bottom line.
and never compare today to yesterday, they are too different, the biggest information gathering companies in the past several decades ignore yesterday, and worry about comparing to the last day that was the same, or similar (today is a sunny Thursday in May, with little precipitation at all in north America, with a long weekend coming up for many countries, so there are 2 to 3 times the normal amount of people with the day off, tomorrow is one of the most requested days off of the spring in many countries because it is the first long weekend with nice weather, so people won't be going to bed as early tonight but many will be travelling, Basketball playoffs are on, Hockey playoffs are on, Inter league is starting in baseball this weekend, yada yada so many other factors to consider). I know I may be going overboard on the factors, but you have to consider them, our sales are way better on a cold rainy Thursday when most channels are showing reruns then they are on a sunny warm Thursday when Lebron James is playing.
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