PayPal trial: results and next actions

riaz7

Hi everyone,

A little while ago, we let you know that we were doing a few tests with PayPal when you activate a SIM card.

As you might remember, the reason we were doing this experiment was because we’d seen that members who were activating with PayPal were having a poor experience.

What the trial results show is that of the people who chose PayPal during activation, a high number of members got lost during the PayPal journey and didn’t manage to complete their activation.

Working closely with PayPal, we set up a trial to see if not having PayPal as an activation option would result in fewer people struggling to activate.

When we removed PayPal from the activation flow, we ended up seeing more successful activations, not less as we had expected. In short, when we first implemented PayPal, we thought it would improve the joining experience, but it turns out from this trial, it doesn’t.

Because of this, starting on Monday, 12th November, 2018 we’ll be removing PayPal from the activation journey. From the results of our experiment, we’re confident that this will mean that more members have a smoother time joining giffgaff.

Knowing this was quite a popular idea, we will do our best to bring this to life in a way that benefits our members. So, we’re going to continue to work with PayPal on the experience of using PayPal in general.

PayPal will still be available after you’ve activated a SIM card, so you’ll be able to continue to use PayPal if you currently use it today.

I’m sure you’ll have some questions, so I’ll keep an eye on the thread and respond as much as I can.

Thanks,

Riaz

bluemoonbaz

@riaz7

Thanks for the update , i suppose it shows although a great idea its not allways the best option

gwpreston

@riaz7

Many thanks for your update I will be following it closely to see the final outcome

pauljohn7

@riaz7

Thanks for the update on this option.

Its important that potential members have a trouble free Activation as possible. If the Paypal Activation fails, they are likely to try a second time using Paypal. If they have problems the second time, there is a high chance they will give up and not attempt to Activate using a different payment method.

It's good that you are keeping Paypal as a method of buying top-up / goodybags

team_leader

Thanks for the update @riaz7 no point in scaring away new customers.

I usually do top-up via PayPal and at times doesn't go smoothly so I understand.

brulaw

@riaz7

Thank you for the update / info , it's good to know that the removal of PayPal from the activation process won't affect those who are already using it , hopefully the ongoing work with PayPal will help to find a smoother way of including it during activation in the future .

figment_uk

@riaz7

Do you have any data indicating why so many did not complete the activation journey using PayPal?

Would it be because of the insistance by giffgaff that a continuous payment authority was required, with members bailing out when confronted by the lengthy and somewhat startling message advising them of all the information they were required to consent to sharing?

jokeyboi77

That's ashame @riaz7 because I thought it would've been easier because I've never had a problem with PayPal when buying my goodybag but I can understand why it's been pulled.

But I share Figment's view that it could've been down to the intrusive message about the information required to share, hopefully it'll be back as an activation option but can't see it.

giffgaff20147

@riaz7

Thanks shame it was not working correctly

davidvarley

Good cause its the only way I want and others want to top up giffgaff with as its more secure than adding a debit card to Giffgaff.

claire1uk

Very sensible approach @riaz7.

It's very frustrating when your new to the network and something comes along to complicate matters. It puts people off.

Well done team.

doricom

Thanks for keeping us updated.

clikasarus

Thanks for the update @riaz7

subasht

yup.. the paypal service has been slowly degrading over the years from my own experience.. to the point where i don't feel comfortable enough to use it nowadays.. because i get anxious if the payment is going to go through or not..

still kudos for maintaining it as a payment option for those that still rely on paypal..

riaz7

Hi @figment_uk, While PayPal worked very closely with us, we weren't able to get performance statistics for the PayPal journey. We saw was members leaving giffgaff.com to go to PayPal and then never returning or returning back to the homepage. With regards to recurring by default, this was, like all of our decisions, driven by analysis. Before recurring was the standard at activation, we found many members becoming frustrated about being left without service when their goodybag expired, despite our reminders to renew. Being left without service is a dreadful experience, especially if you're relying on your phone for something like navigation. With the majority of our members coming from either rolling or fixed contracts, we found that many who would contact agents about lack of service were surprised to find they had to go in and manually buy another goodybag. Those that didn't want a default recur experience were in the minority. To cater to what members were telling us, we rolled out recurring as the default and saw a reduction in the number of goodybag/service related agent cases one month after activation fall by 5.04%. This is thousands of cases per year, which meant that agents could respond faster to other types of queries. While PayPal's additional text was quite heavy, the advantages of recurring still apply here. Even accounting for members who might be turned off by a continuous payment, we would've expected PayPal to maintain activations, not decrease them. Thanks, Riaz

mcilwraith

a bit of a surprise that but if its not working as its supposed to then its fair enough to scrap the idea

mw854

Yeah I know 2 people who got frustrated with it and didn't bother joining giffgaff. I told them to just buy a top up voucher and then start using PayPal later but they wouldn't for some reason

isabel1066

same here if not working then no point keeping it going all i use is an o2 top up voucher and seems to work ok.

itzyourboytank

Thanks for the update!

sm_b

Probably best to close it down until it's sorted. I only use giffgaff vouchers anyway