PayPal Archives - Page 39 of 40

PayPal Revives X.com Domain for its Lab Site

By Jim Bruene Posted on October 9, 2007
Categories: Epayments, JP Morgan Chase, PayPal

Last century, serial entrepreneur Elon Musk launched what he expected to be a top-10 bank by now. And in true late-1990s dot-com fashion, it was simply called X.com. In retrospect, maybe not the best name for a bank, but it certainly was more memorable than First Security Bank of Whatever. The company soon merged with PayPal, dropped the single-letter name, and eventually took over the world of alt-bank payments.

For most of the past eight years, if you typed X.com into your browser, you simply ended up on the PayPal homepage. But recently, PayPal has opened a new area under the X.com URL called PayPal Labs. This is a place where competitors, developers, analysts, and anyone with too much time on their hands can see the latest new "beta" services under development at PayPal.

With just two services listed (see below), it's no Google Lab, but it shows that PayPal still has Silicon Valley DNA at its core, despite five years working within the shadow of the larger eBay brand.

My take: More financial institutions should open "lab sites" to demonstrate their commitment to innovation. The only one I remember was JPMorgan's LabMorgan, which was really was part VC, part incubator. But its URL only shows an error message these days, a shame.

Update (10 Oct): A reader reminded me about Fidelity's lab site, fidelitylabs.com.

In the PayPal Lab

PayPal Request Money for Facebook (see previous coverage here)
MySpace Fundraising Badge

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Geezeo iWants Facebook Users

By Jim Bruene Posted on September 26, 2007
Categories: Epayments, Facebook, Geezeo, P2P Lending, PayPal, Personal Financial Management

I check Facebook about once or twice per week to see what new financial apps have been posted. So far the ones we've looked at include (see previous coverage here):

Lending Club's P2P marketplace
Prosper's Fantasy Banker
PayPal
Wesabe
Buxfer
TD Bank's Split It
Obopay's BillMonk

The latest entrant, iWant from online personal finance specialist Geezeo (see screenshot below). iWant is an application that allows Facebook users to share with friends their wants and needs, such as "buy an iPhone" or post more goal-oriented items such as, "pay off my student loans" or "throw a graduation party." And Geezeo ties it up nicely by tapping PayPal's API to facilitate "contributions" to the financial goals. It's also integrated into Geezeo's online personal finance application so users can track their goal progress in real time. ChipIn offers similar payment functionality in its Facebook app (previous coverage here).

I wonder if Geezeo will make a P2P lending play here? If Geezeo's software included a repayment option, the iWant "donors" could easily become iWant "lenders" and a whole new market might open up.

If you are attending our upcoming FINOVATE conference next week in New York, you'll be able to ask co-founders Peter Glyman and Shawn Ward yourself. We are fortunate to have not only Geezeo, but two other early Facebook innovators, Prosper and Lending Club on the DEMO stage. If you can't make the event, check our website in two weeks for full length videos of each DEMO.

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Finally, a Major U.S. Financial Services Company Not Named Wells Fargo is Blogging (PayPal)

By Jim Bruene Posted on September 4, 2007
Categories: Bank 2.0, Blogs, PayPal

Update: Quicken Loans has also published a recruiting blog for the past year (thanks Ann-Marie, see comments below and NetBanker post here).

I've been a big proponent of blogging. In my Online Banking Report on the subject published last fall (here), I predicted there would be 300 financial institution blogs by the end of this year. While there is no definitive listing, OpenSource CU's blogroll lists just 15 CU company blogs. Even if you add the CU employee blogs, MySpace pages, and four blogs from Wells Fargo, the grand total is less than 100 today, and unlikely to get much higher than that by year-end.

Why the slow start? Having worked inside several banks, I do not underestimate the difficulty in creating a new communication channel. And from what I've heard, many banks and credit unions just don't believe the benefits, which are largely intangible, will outweigh the costs. And with so few banks blogging, Wells Fargo being the only major in the U.S., it's hard to show examples to demonstrate the power of the blog.

That's why we were happy to see one of our favorite companies, eBay's PayPal unit, launch a blog a few weeks ago (here). As you can see it's not too fancy, and they post to it only a few times each week. But it really hits the mark, in my opinion.

Here's why:

1. Humanizes the organization: The initial posts are by various department heads or senior staff and discuss briefly what they do and a major initiative each is involved in. Each post has a small head shot in the upper left that increases the credibility of the posting (see screenshot below).

2. Educates in a more interesting way: PayPal managers are obviously excited about their projects as their enthusiasm comes across in the writing and makes the reader interested in the subject. For instance, last week CIO Michael Barrett posted seven paragraphs (here) on improving the safety of your online computing experience. It's a good way to get a simple message across, that users should use up-to-date operating systems and browsers. Usually, that advise is buried five layers deep in a security FAQ.

3. Sells with a more "consultative" approach: Several of the blog entries are designed to "sell" but again, when the head of consumer marketing blogs about the latest program, as Hillary Mickell did about PayPal's back-to-school shopping portal (here), it's much more believable than a banner ad slapped onto the homepage (see screenshot below).

4. Communicate during an outage or severe service problem: The most recent entries (here and here), both posted on the Sept. 2 holiday, informed and reassured customers about the problems with subscription services.

The challenge is generating readership. Would I subscribe to the blog if I was a consumer making an occasional PayPal purchase? Unlikely. But if I'm a merchant, and the PayPal system is an integral part of my livelihood, you can bet I'll pore over every word (note 1).

So, financial institutions, if you want to get into blogging, find the communities where you really make a difference and start speaking to them (see note 2).

Note:

1. The press and analysts will subscribe, spurring articles on your company such as this one.

2. Although perhaps just a shade too critical of the industry for my tastes (see the first comment for some balance), Verity Credit Union's latest post (here) speaks from the heart about the sub-prime lending fiasco and the CU's "Keep the Dream" fund to help at-risk borrowers keep their homes. Great post. Great program. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything on the website about it.

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PayPal Unveils New Homepage (beta)

By Jim Bruene Posted on August 9, 2007
Categories: PayPal, Website Usability & Design

PayPal is offering visitors the option of using a newly designed homepage, calling it a beta version. A small link notched into the top of the screen handily allows users to switch back to the original look.

The design change was needed. PayPal's homepage, which had been so good I often used it as an example of how to focus on user needs, became cluttered over the years. The company now uses "personal" and "business" tabs, a common banking convention that allows the very different constituencies to more easily find what they need.

The new homepage (below) is dominated by a safety theme, with a large blurred image of a credit card number meant to reinforce its point of being a "safer, easier way to pay without exposing your credit card number." It's a good idea, but the huge blurred image makes me feel like I'm having eye trouble.

PayPal has also pulled the credit card logos out of the main graphic and put them on their own line. They are easier to see now and will help new users understand they can use PayPal with their existing payment cards.

They also made two subtle changes in the login area:

Changed the wording from "member login" to "account login," a more accepted phrase. Most people don't really feel a membership bond from their payment device, and it probably confused a few infrequent users.
Added "PayPal" in front of "password," again to make it more obvious to novice users as to what to enter here.

Finally, PayPal finally added a search box (top right), ending its reign as one of the last major holdouts for this common website utility.

Overall, it's a great improvement. And should help with navigation, sales, and support. Given its position as one of the busiest financial destinations on the Internet, we recommend taking a look and comparing it to your own website design.

For more info on financial institution homepage design, see our Online Banking Report on the subject here.

New PayPal homepage (beta)

Current PayPal homepage

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PayPal Really Launches on Facebook

By Jim Bruene Posted on July 9, 2007
Categories: Epayments, Facebook, PayPal

Two weeks ago I heard from PayPal corp communications who felt that my “PayPal launches on Facebook” title was misleading. They had a point. As I explained in the post, the new Facebook app was PayPal-powered but developed by Australia’s Yellow Media. The title could have been better.

However, that’s moot now since PayPal has now launched its own app on Facebook (here). It appears to have been posted on July 3 and has 218 users as of this morning. The application provides a simple interface to request and track money requests from Facebook friends (see inset above). Additional functionality is said to be on the way.

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ChipIn, Another PayPal-powered Application Launches on Facebook

By Jim Bruene Posted on July 9, 2007
Categories: ChipIn, Facebook, PayPal

Watching the explosion of content, and users, at Facebook, may be the most interesting thing we've seen since the rise of the commercial Web in 1995/1996. Marc Andreessen, not know for hyperbole, had this to say in a lengthy blog posting (here) that should be required reading for all content providers, including banks and credit unions:

(Facebook Platform) is an amazing achievement — one of the most significant milestones in the technology industry in this decade.

Every time we head over to the Facebook application directory, there's an interesting new financial app. Friday we found ChipIn, a nifty little widget that allows users to post a badge on their Facebook page or website that allows users to contribute money for a certain event or cause. It can be a charitable event such as Vancity's Bike Share program or a private event such as pooling funds for someone's birthday party. ChipIn is the second developer to launch on Facebook using PayPal's engine. The first was PayMe (see our coverage here).

ChipIn <chipin.com> is a Honolulu-based firm formed in mid-2005 with seed funding from CommerceNet. The company emerged from stealth mode in Feb. 2006 and launched its service on the Web in November 2006. The Facebook app launched June 24 and has 415 downloads as of 9 AM this morning, impressive growth compared to the 134 it had on Friday.

Initially, ChipIn was a full-service payments company, actually holding and managing the funds for users. However, after a few months of those headaches, it outsourced all payments-related functions to PayPal. Check out the Chipin blog for the full company history.

How it Works
ChipIn uses the PayPal engine to do the heavy lifting similar to PayMe that we wrote about two weeks ago (here) (see note 1). To create a ChipIn badge on Facebook, users select a Facebook event (created separately within the social network), set the fundraising goal, then customize the text and colors of the widget.

In our test, we created a ChipIn badge with the goal of raising $100 to donate to Vancity's Bike Share program (see screenshot #1 below). Although, we were able to successfully install the widget on our Netbanker Facebook page (see screenshot #3 below), we had trouble with the customization. Every time we moved from the customization step to installation, our changes were lost (note 2).

To use the widget, visitors click on the "chip in" button to launch a PayPal window. Users choose an amount to pay, then login to PayPal, to complete the transaction. A progress bar on the Chipin widget shows the progress towards the fundraising goal.

With a single click the badge can be placed within an individual's Facebook page (see screenshot #2 below). ChipIn also provides cut-and-paste code to load the badge on any blog or website. ChipIn badges can also be built directly through its website without the need for a Facebook account.

Financial Institution Opportunities
PayMe and Chipin are cool little apps that can and should be sponsored by banks, credit unions, or card issuers. Although the PayPal brand name makes Chipin relatively trustworthy, a widely recognized financial brand would be even better. At this point, ChipIn is still a tiny, relatively unknown company. If I were at a major bank, I'd write them a $50,000 check and have them rename their Facebook app, "Chipin by YourBank," instantly becoming the first bank with an official Facebook app. The company will also build white label versions you could provide to customers for use outside Facebook.

For more on how to use social networking in financial services, see our Online Banking Report on Social Personal Finance.

Screenshots

1. Simple ChipIn Widget Creation
Using an existing Facebook account and an existing Facebook event, in this case Vancity's Bike Share (thanks to William Azaroff), a new widget can be created and posted to your Facebook profile in about a minute.

2. Facebook Promotion
Once the badge has been created, the Facebook integration provides simple ways to promote the cause. You can invite up to 10 friends each day, post it on your Facebook profile, or cut and paste the code onto your own website or blog. But the key to viral growth is the Facebook mini-feed which automatically notifies all your friends about any Facebook activities, including the addition of the Chipin badge to your profile.

Posted on the NetBanker Facebook Page
Here's how the ChipIn badge looks on my Facebook profile page (here). Note, you'll need to be logged in to Facebook to view.

Notes:

1. PayPal is not the developer of Chipin, nor do they have any financial interest in the company. Chipin is an independent developer using PayPal APIs.

2. Tests conducted on July 5 using Firefox 2.0.

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PayPal Launches on Facebook: Who Wants to be the First Bank?

By Jim Bruene Posted on June 22, 2007
Categories: Facebook, Lending Club, MySpace, PayPal, Personal Financial Management, Social Networks

The social networking phenomena has entered a new phase: eCommerce. It has always been a bit hard to visualize mainstream businesses, like banks, book sellers, or phone companies making a profit on MySpace. It's been a great place for musicians and online dating companies to grab market share, but a MySpace Checking Account didn't seem just around the corner (see MySpace coverage here).

All that changed May 24, when Facebook opened its network to outside developers, making its service more like Windows than MySpace. Already the service has grown by 3 million users, more than 10%, in the past 4 week, to 27 million (see Facebook profile in today's Wall Street Journal).

More interesting are the 893 new services have opened their doors on the platform. The most popular, Top Friends by Slide, already has 6.4 million users. Yes, that is no typo, in one month a Facebook service grew to more than 6 million users. With traditional marketing, it would have cost a bank or card company as much as $1 billion to attract that many customers assuming acquisition costs of $100 to $150 per new account.

And it's not just the one app. A new Seattle-based music preference service, iLike, has added 3.8 million. There's not a whole lot happening in commerce apps YET, the first financial company with a service offering, Lending Club (see previous coverage here), is the most popular business app, with just under 10,000 users. That's about what iLike attracts in a busy hour, but for a financial services company, and especially a startup, that's huge, a grand slam using tired baseball metaphors.

For many reasons, it takes longer for traditional companies to pounce on new opportunities. But over the summer we'll start seeing hundreds of businesses launch on Facebook. By next year at this time, the Facebook apps directory will probably look like the New York City Yellow Pages (or at least San Jose).

Financial Institution Opportunities

Searching the site, we only see four financial services that have launched on Facebook:

Lending Club's person-to-person loan marketplace
Prosper's lending game
Wesabe's personal finance groups
Pay Me, a payment service developed by Australian Ad Agency, Yellow Media using the PayPal engine (screenshot below, we'll provide more details once we finish testing it)

But so far there is no:

Bank
Credit union
Credit card issuer
Mortgage lender
Brokerage (although there are several stock monitoring service including Forbes, Yahoo, and Social Picks)
Rates tracking service
Credit report monitoring service (though Identity Guard is advertising heavily today)
Identity theft protection service

Let the race begin. But you better move faster than you've ever moved before, if you want to get the huge first-mover advantage on the Facebook platform. Good luck.

For more information, see our latest Online Banking Report, Social Personal Finance.

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PayPal Email: Simple Steps to Protect Against Fraud and ID Theft

By Jim Bruene Posted on November 1, 2006
Categories: Email Samples, PayPal, Security & Privacy

Despite calls for banks to stop marketing via email (see here) to help reduce fraud, PayPal, probably the most phished brand in the world, shows that the technique can still be effective.

It requires a professional layout, good personalization, and behind-the-scenes fraud monitoring to nip phishing attempts in the bud.

Here's the latest from PayPal. Note the 30-second credit card button (bottom left) and personalized greeting at the top of the message.

Classification

Type: Marketing email with educational focus

Product: Payments with credit card cross-sell

Customer Type: Active customer

Personalization: Hello <yourname> at top of message

Header

Date received: Wed 11/1/2006 9:38 AM
From: PayPal [paypal@email.paypal.com]
To: Jim Bruene
Subject: Simple Steps to Protect Against Fraud and ID Theft

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Webby Award Deadline Oct. 27

By Jim Bruene Posted on September 19, 2006
Categories: Allstate, Bank of America, PayPal, Website Usability & Design

The 11th annual website beauty contest, The Webby Awards, is accepting entries for the best websites and interactive advertising campaigns. Financial institutions may compete in any of the advertising categories, or one of the three website categories:

Best Banking/Bill Pay
Insurance
Financial services (everything other than banking or insurance)

Last year the winners were Bank of America in Banking/Bill Pay; PayPal in Financial Services; and Allstate's nowwhat.com in the Insurance category (see inset).

Early entry deadline is Oct. 27. Fee is US$125.

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PayPal’s 30-Second Credit Card Application

By Jim Bruene Posted on September 15, 2006
Categories: Credit/Debit Cards, Forms & Loan Applications, PayPal

PayPal is advertising its PayPal Plus card with this box located in the upper-right of the main account start-page within the secure area (click screenshot below for a closeup).

With the falloff in response to traditional direct mail raising acquisition costs to $200 or more, a pitch delivered within an online banking session can be far less expensive. And with online banking users typically wanting to get in and out quickly, the 30-second response shows that the company is sensitive to the time constraints of its customers (notice they did NOT say that it was a 30-second process).

The PayPal card is issued by GE Money Bank, the same company behind PayPal Buyers Credit used by sellers to offer longer-term financing of major eBay purchases. The Plus card includes a free rewards program offering 1 point per dollar purchased. The current rewards structure includes three levels:

1,000 points – Free shipping up to $7 on a PayPal purchase
2,500 points – $25 voucher (for merchandise at most PayPal merchants)
9,500 points – $100 voucher (for merchandise at most PayPal merchants)

The card carries a variable rate from 14.24% to 24.24% and has no annual fee.

Here's the main account page displayed after login:

Here's the landing page displayed after clicking on the apply button:

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PayPal Mobile Promotion in Print this Fall

By Jim Bruene Posted on July 24, 2006
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, Mobile Payments, PayPal

Conde Nast's Lucky magazine will use PayPal Mobile technology to allow users to buy products from 18 advertisers in its September issue (see inset). Using PayPal's Text2Buy technology, readers will be able to purchase products from magazine advertisers by simply sending a text message to the number in the ad, then confirming the purchase when PayPal automatically calls back a few seconds later (see NB June 5 for more on how it works).

This is believed to be the first major offline promotion of PayPal's new service. According to The New York Times, the following advertisers have signed on: Avon, Bulova, Dooney & Bourke, Estee Lauder, Ford, Le Tigre, Liz Claiborne, L'Oréal, Perry Ellis, Sephora, Target, and Unilever.

Readers will also be able to order online via a special website <livebuyit.com> that was not operational at press time.

Banking applications
While spur-of-the-moment buying is not a major part of financial services, Text to Buy in financial advertising could be a simple way to order information, such as a loan application, mutual fund prospectus, or a new account kit. Advertisers would list a code in their print ad, billboard, or other offline promotional device (see UNICEF example in the inset; buyers simply text "water" to the 5-digit number to make a $10 donation). This would allow users to request info by simply entering 10 characters into their cellphones or mobile device. The information packet would ship to the "buyer's" PayPal address.

An even bigger application, especially around the holidays, would be ordering prepaid MasterCard/Visa/American Express gift cards. Different codes could be set up for different amounts. For example, text "card25" for a $25 gift card, "card50" for a $50 card and so on. A handling charge could cover the 3% processing fees due to PayPal.

Finally, financial institutions could use Text to Buy for non-financial items such as:

Donations to community causes
Entry fees for a community event such as 5k run
Signups for seminars
Schwag, e.g., t-shirts, hats and so on

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More Free Credit Monitoring

By Jim Bruene Posted on May 11, 2006
Categories: Credit Reports & ID Theft Protection, Equifax, PayPal, SunTrust

One day after SunTrust announced free credit monitoring for checking customers (see NetBanker May 8), PayPal launched a similar service for its 50+ million U.S. account holders (see landing page below for details). Both services use Equifax to power alerts based on credit bureau info.

However, SunTrust includes one free look at the customer's credit report. PayPal users would have to pay for that, or sign up separately at <annualcreditreport.com> to see their report free of charge.

While SunTrust bends over backwards trying to upsell users into a more comprehensive fee-based option, PayPal takes the high road, at least initially, simply redirecting users to an Equifax sign-up form devoid of sales pitches (click on screenshot below for closeup).

However, we expect the upsell offers will be along shortly. We'll keep you posted. As a previous Equifax credit-monitoring customer, we've witnessed the company's aggressive email marketing schedule.

—JB

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