Adding PayPal to Checkout Drove 18% Revenue Growth for SaaS

Executive overview

Neil Patel's software company Uber Suggest added PayPal as a payment option after dismissing it for years due to low customer requests. Within 30 days, new revenue grew 16%; over time it reached 18%. Over 35% of customers chose PayPal, and those customers retained longer — subscribing roughly one month more than credit card users. The mechanism is simple: PayPal reduces checkout friction, and lower friction compounds across acquisition, conversion, and retention.

Why PayPal outperforms expectations for SaaS

• Customers rarely request PayPal explicitly but choose it readily when offered
• 35%+ of payers prefer PayPal even when credit card is available
• PayPal users connect bank accounts, reducing involuntary churn from card expiry
• PayPal subscribers retain ~1 month longer than credit card subscribers
• Multi-currency payouts remove friction for international customers

Signals from the checkout that lift conversions earlier

• Buy now pay later messaging on product pages lifts retail conversions 20-30% (RBC data)
• Buy now pay later also increases average ticket size 30-50%
• Reducing page load time and click count compounds with payment option improvements
• Text prompts at each funnel stage push users forward before they reach checkout

Using promotions to acquire net-new customers

• Honey (PayPal's coupon extension) reaches 10M+ Chrome users as a distribution channel
• Honey offers discounts without the brand-cheapening effect of direct price cuts
• Inflation-aware consumers actively seek savings tools — meeting them there captures demand
• Promotions via email lists or on-site offers reactivate existing visitors at low cost