Plastiq Accept

Plastiq Accept started when businesses paid by Plastiq wanted to know how they could get paid by more customers.

The Plastiq team quickly made an easy way for these businesses to track incoming payments, add deposit account information and create a link to send direct payments.

Northstar Goal: Plastiq customer using both Pay & Accept products

However, companies wanted more controls and access to the payment details. So I was then hired to help the Director of Product Management and the lead developer take Plastiq accounts receivable to the next level.

We desired to turn Plastiq Pay recipients into card-accepting merchants with active Plastiq payers. We aimed to create a simple and intuitive way for businesses to get paid faster, track and request payments, and work with their current invoicing method.

Plastiq Accept quickly became the simplest way to accept credit cards online with zero merchant fees and no merchant account.

Note

The following will cover some core milestones I accomplished while working on the Plastiq Accept product; the initial launch, embedded checkouts, and terminal charge processing.
If you are interested in hearing specific details on a feature; full process, planning and project results, please contact me.

Milestone: Accept Launch

In May 2020, we launched the first version of Plastiq Accept. The goal was to build a product with minimum delightful functionality to allow existing recipients to sign up as card-accepting merchants and get paid. The MVP features included the following foundational flows.

Registration

We needed a simple Registration flow that would allow our Risk team to review and approve merchants carefully. By capturing business details, payment category, and deposit account information, the Risk team could analyze the business to ensure no past or current fraudulent activity.

Custom Payment Link

After the merchant was approved, we would create a payment link specifically for the merchant's business. Any payment made through this link would be deposited directly to the business's connected account.

The business could embed this link on their website, share or add the payment link to their invoices. Businesses can customize these links further with logos, specific contact emails, and phone numbers.

We also allowed merchants to create custom forms based on their business needs. The custom forms included inline validation, prompts, and integrated forms into the merchants reporting. This helped reduce manual errors and smoothen reconciliation.

Payment Link Landing Page

Send Payment Requests

Customers can further create payment link customization with Requests. With request creation, Plastiq sends a custom payment link to the payer with a Request ID embedded, invoice attachments, amount, and due date.

Payment Tracking

Under the Request tab, merchants can track payment status in real-time from payment initiation to deposit. Whether payment comes from a link or specific request. Down the road, we included other payment methods like SDK and Terminal; see further sections.

The MVP was launched successfully, proving that further investment was needed. We then took the data and set up customer interviews to gain insight into how the users liked and disliked the newest version of Accept.

Milestone: Guest Checkout

Guest Checkout was the most substantial request after Accept launch. Merchants needed a way for their customers to pay without creating a Plastiq Pay account.

Guest Checkout Launched

As we improved on Accept, making minor updates, we researched and gained additional insight for more significant Accept strategic features.

At the same time, the larger Plastiq organization decided to take on a larger rebrand project.

Rebrand Project

Guest Checkout evolution over my time at Plastiq

Milestone: Imbedding Payments for Partners

Post Guest Checkout launch, we found that customers wanted a seamless way to accept card payments within their own checkout experience.

How It Works

Plastiq creates and hosts a unique SDK (js file) for the merchant. The merchant embeds the SDK script block to import Plastiq’s checkout and pay features within the biller’s purchasing process.
Visually the payer will see a “Pay” button at checkout.
Once the payer clicks on the “Pay” button, a unique payment request URL for the payer’s order, inclusive of the amount due, is displayed in a popup window. The payer chooses “guest checkout,” confirming payment due information and adding desired card payment information. The Payer then clicks “submit” to begin the process. Plastiq SDK verifies & validates the amount sending back the appropriate success or failure message.

Check out all the ways user can make payments using Plastiq Accept

Milestone: Terminal Payments (MVP Autopay)

With the success of Guest Checkout, merchants and payers began to request a way to save payment methods for future transactions. Partnering with the pay team, we began to research the best way for merchants to save payment methods on behalf of their customers. We looked at competitors, payment processing laws, and user research.

After creating a Northstar concept with the leadership team, we broke down the project into release cycles, the first processing Terminal payments and the second saving cards within the Terminal payment flow.

Key Product Additions:

Terminal navigation element
Ability to save cards within the Terminal charge flow
Displaying incoming terminal payments with the incoming and complete payment views
View, edit, and delete customers and their corresponding cards

Please contact me if you want more details on a specific feature; complete process, planning, and data points.

Back to Plastiq