So today I did an email blast to flyte’s Maine-based contacts about our inaugural Working Lunch Seminar on Understanding Web Site Traffic Reports. (Sorry, but the email blast was successful. We’re all booked up. If you’d like to attend How to Plan, Build and Promote a Business Blog on Wed., February 21st, 2007 there’s still a few slots left.)
I got a number of responses, including a few people who wanted to attend but didn’t have PayPal accounts and weren’t sure how to pay.
It’s not cost-effective for flyte to take credit cards directly so we use PayPal to handle transactions for Visa, American Express, Master Card, Discover and Chalmer’s Big and Tall Men’s Shoppe, a seven-outlet chain in the Pacific Northwest.
For the past five or so years the following has been true:
You don’t need a PayPal account to pay via PayPal, all you need is a credit card.
Yet people still don’t know that. I don’t blame them, there’s too much information to know everything. In fact, maybe PayPal should be doing a better job of promoting the fact that anyone with a credit card and a mouse finger can use PayPal.
The lesson I’ve learned is that if I’m using PayPal and not taking credit cards directly, I need to go out of my way to explain that membership is not required for our Working Lunch Seminars.
However, a healthy appetite for flatbread pizza and learning is.
Rich Brooks
Web Marketing Seminars in Maine
So true about PayPal and the necessity of taking the time to explain it to people.
And on another topic – I found a link to your 'how to Subscribe to a blog' movie, watched it, liked it, was about to ask you if I could link to it when I closed the tab. Now I can't find it. I have flu and my brain's addled – it's my excuse.
So this led me to something else, I can't find a search box on your blog. Even worse, I can't find one on mine! It must have disappeared in my recent sidebar redesign. Mine's coming back, asap. Do you have one? Did I just miss it?
Back to the main reason for the comment – if it's ok to link to the movie could you please send me the link.
Thanks
I hear the same thing at least once-per-week from clients, colleagues, etc. They're all happy to hear that they can send PayPal $$ w/out establishing an account, and they tend to open accounts after using the service because of its simplicity. Yet it mystifies me that PayPal (read eBay) hasn't effectively gotten the word out about this. (Actually, maybe it doesn't mystify me anymore)
Small-scale e-commerce sites that deploy PayPal would also have a much easier time closing sales. I recall a study and subsequent discussion a couple years ago regarding the fact that PayPal had more abandoned Shopping Carts than any other merchant provider.
Rich – looks like flyte is really soaring high lately. Keep up the great work!
Sam,
I had trouble finding it too! It turns out I hadn't ever posted it to this blog; instead I posted it to Business Blog Consulting (http://www.businessblogconsulting.com ) and Internet Marketing 101 (http://business.mainetoday.com/smallbusiness/internetmarketing/) only.
I've since remedied the situation by posting it here: http://www.flyteblog.com/flyte/2007/01/how_to_subscrib.html
I've wanted a search box for flyte's blog, but I've never found one that wasn't overly branded for TypePad. If you know of one, let me know. I don't like Google's or Rollyo's.
Yes, please go ahead and link to either one of the posts above or directly to the movie: http://www.flyte2.biz/media/blog-subscribe.html