Featured Canadian Company: QUID

This feature is sponsored by QUID Works Inc.

Digital advertising is one of the most common ways to generate revenue online, but it does have its drawbacks. More people are blocking display/banner ads or tuning out advertising in any form. It requires administrative time and effort to find advertisers and maintain an ongoing relationship with them. Without advertising revenue, the free internet could soon be a thing of the past.

Clearly, we need to get creative with how we monetize our websites, while also diversifying our revenue sources to ensure a sustainable bottom line.

QUID is a new technology company based in Toronto, founded by Mohit Cheppudira and Kevin McCall. The company builds platforms for micropayments, microbanking and micro-monetization, and payment solutions for digital goods and services.

“We are a collective of coders, makers, and tinkerers, passionate about building technologies that are a delight to use,” states the QUID website.

QUID facilitates the monetization of your content or service with easy, affordable and secure micropayments. It plugs you into the pay-per-use economy by letting happy users pay as little as 1¢ to $2 for articles, podcasts, or donations/tips, without the high fees charged by other payment processors. The idea is to make it feasible to receive small payments, which can combine into a significant source of revenue for large content platforms and IoT-based technologies.

No user registration or fees are required to use the payment gateway. You don’t have to collect personal information and the user can pay you without leaving your website. Alternately, users can connect accounts to pay you virtually anywhere, or you can send an invoice to them at their request. When a user connects their QUID account and sets a spending limit for your app or service, payments are automatic.

QUID User Experience
QUID provides an engaging, user-friendly experience.

The need for this functionality is critical, from both the publisher and user’s perspective.

“E-books, audiobooks, podcasts, online newspapers and magazines were used for free or purchased by one-third of Canadians 18 years of age and older in the 12 months to June 2018,” reveals the Digital Economy Survey, published recently by Statistics Canada.  “Total spending on these digital products reached $0.7 billion, with the average purchaser spending $136. The most common products purchased were e-books, followed by subscriptions to online newspapers.”

From the creator perspective, the same survey found 28 percent of adult Canadians say they’ve made money by freelancing online or posting creative content, such as YouTube videos.

Engaging User Experience

With QUID, you can let the user choose how much they want to contribute. By putting the power back into the hands of the user, we can foster a feeling of gratitude, support and engagement, instead of the resentment and frustration that comes with traditional paywalls. That can’t help but be more profitable. There will be situations where you want to set a price and this platform facilitates that as well. Test it both ways and go with what the data decides. If you need transaction-specific data, the Enterprise version comes with reporting and analytics.

Either way, QUID shows the price in the user’s preferred currency, which will be automatically converted for you. Refunds are automated and intelligent monitoring prevents misuse. Customize the payment buttons, sliders or penny walls to match your brand for a polished, professional look.

Customize QUID for branding
Customize the payment buttons, sliders or penny walls to match your brand for a polished, professional look.

How Publishers and Creators are Using QUID

  • Monetizing pay-per-use applications, systems, and content
  • Replacing advertisements or subscriptions
  • Podcasters can monetize their entire catalogue
  • Offering premium or ad-free versions of content
  • Using a micropayments as a form of authorization to stop bots in their tracks
  • Adding the PennyJar so anyone with a QUID account can “virtually” throw in some change
  • Using PennyPortal to enable pay-per-use Wifi access.
  • Developers appreciate the simple, ready-to-use APIs

Get Started

You have the choice of using a WordPress plugin or Javascript API. The Starter plan allows for up to 10,000 transactions/month with no monthly charge. If you need more than that, there are packages available to better suit your requirements.

Sign up for a merchant account and start offering your followers a choice in how they support you. Ask them if they like it and tweak the process until they’re happy with it. Be very clear and concise when you introduce this new, direct means of demonstrating their appreciation through monetary support and tangible recognition of your efforts.

Featured Canadian Company

QUID FoundersThis is Canadian tech innovation at its best. QUID is fulfilling a growing need for alternative methods of digital monetization, in an environment that is in a perpetual state of evolution.

QUID Works Inc.
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Founders: Mohit Cheppudira and Kevin McCall
Backed by Relay Ventures and Mistral Venture Partners
Social Media: @quidworks

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Melody McKinnon
Digital Business & Marketing Manager at  | Website |  + posts

Melody McKinnon is an internet entrepreneur with 25 years of experience in a wide range of online business models, backed by a formal business/marketing education and enhanced by training and mentorship. She has owned or managed both educational and ecommerce websites. Her book, 7 Recession Proof Online Businesses to Start From Home, is available from all major ebook retailers.

Melody has worked with many businesses in a multitude of capacities. She can often be found on CanadianDigitalMedia.com, CanadiansInternet.com, CanadianFamily.net, and AllNaturalPetCare.com, as well as other quality digital publications. Her content has earned reference links from highly-respected websites, magazines and university textbooks.

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Sterling

Clever idea but I don’t know if it will work for websites with low traffic. It can’t hurt to try it if the starter is free.