PayPal Integration

InstantPresenter was searching for a way to set their product apart from the competition, such as Webex and Citrix (GoToMeeting). We decided to provide customers with a method to monetize their web meetings and recordings. The best way to do this was to provide access to a 3rd party payment system that everyone trusts and is familiar with. We couldn't think of a better candidate than the de facto payment processor on the web; we chose to go with PayPal.

PayPal integration into our system needed to be simple and re-usable. We already had the framework in place to allow presenters to facilitate the use of a unique login and password to gain access to a web meeting. All that was needed was an injection point somewhere in the process of obtaining these unique logins and IDs.

InstantPresenter refers to the process of obtaining a login ID and password for a web meeting or recording as "Registration for an event". The process begins by sending the possible attendee to a URL which contained a "Registration Form". The attendee would fill out this form and then be shown a "Thank You" screen indicating their success of registration for the event. Our injection point was between the "Registration Form" and the "Thank You" screen.

All we needed from the customer (host of the meeting) was their PayPal email address, the one that payments could be made to, and the price of the web meeting. Then, a modification was made to the design of the "Registration" web page, which made it redirect to PayPal in order to collect payments. If the attendee made a payment, they would be redirected to our "Thank You" page. The "Thank You" page would authenticate the purchase and display the appropriate message to the attendee. If the attendee did not complete the payment through PayPal, their login and password would not work until payment was received.

The PayPal project was a huge success with our customers. We noticed an increase in customer sales and generated press release for this particular feature. One particular individual, named Ken Molay, who is the Internet Web Conferencing Guru and has his own site dedicated to hosting successful web conferences, performed a review of the project and gave it excellent reviews. Ken Molay had this to say, "PayPal integration made InstantPresenter immediately attractive for small businesses, consultants, and trainers who want to charge clients for their expertise… InstantPresenter is definitely worth putting on your short list when evaluating webinar technology vendors. If you are charging for your events, it should be one of the first ones you test." Integrating PayPal with web conferencing proved to be just what we needed to pick up our sales, gain some publicity, and satisfy our customers.