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Paypal's logo designed to look like a recommendation?

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Re: Paypal's logo designed to look like a recommendation?

#41

Post by ams6110 »

JacobAldridge wrote: post #15
lwhi wrote: post #3

Fox News has a slogan 'fair and balanced' underneath their logo. It doesn't change my opinion.

It's a rule I called 'Processed Cheddar Cheese Food'. When I worked at McDonalds (1st year of university) the cheese slices for the burgers were delivered in a box marked 'Processed Cheddar Cheese Food Product'. I built the rule then and there: If you have to say it's food, it probably isn't. I now apply that in the business world. Got a slogan that says 'We're the best' or 'Fair and Balanced'? Processed Cheddar Chee…

All "American Cheese" of that type is labeled this way. Check any package at the supermarket, from Kraft to the house brand. The phrasing is likely an FDA requirement of some type.

Re: Paypal's logo designed to look like a recommendation?

#43

Post by mlinsey »

ams6110 wrote: post #42

Somewhat meta: why offer a customer three ways to pay? It's confusing; which one do I chose? What if I pick the wrong one?

Your concern is legitimate, but you'd have to look at real data to see if the impact of that confusion is outweighed by the impact of forcing people to register for another payments service just to buy your product. I know that I don't want a PayPal account or Google Payments account. Without the option to use Amazon Payments, I would have not bought the Humble Indie Bundle. I suspect many people felt the same about the other payment options.

Re: Paypal's logo designed to look like a recommendation?

#44

Post by euccastro »

cobralibre wrote: post #37

I was surprised that the article didn't comment on the wording of the slogan in the PayPal button. The words 'safer' and 'easier' are comparative adjectives; they create an implied recommendation for PayPal against other options, which are both less safe and less easy. The other buttons don't acknowledge other options -- rather, they merely emphasize speed: 'now' and 'fast'. If you were a naive online shopper present…

What I ask myself when I see such comparative slogans is why they often say the likes of "the safer and easier" instead of "the safest and easiest". I guess this is basic stuff for advertising pros.

Plausible reasons that come to mind: "safest and easiest"...

- sounds more open to challenge; it invites the reader to challenge such a bold claim.

- might put you in a mood to maximize. "Safer and easier", on the other hand, puts in a positive light any improvement over some other alternative, or over what you have currently. Thus it invites you to satisfice and act.

- sounds more like bragging, like a phrase said from the advertiser's perspective. "Safer and easier" sounds more like an observation from the user's perspective. I'm not sure how to argue this, but it sounds that way to me.

Re: Paypal's logo designed to look like a recommendation?

#45

Post by wmeredith »

jeff18 wrote: post #30
wmeredith wrote: post #7

First of all, this isn't PayPal's logo, it's just a button, and if anything "The safer, easier way to pay" may be their slogan. The button itself is just a web graphic that contains their logo. I'm not trying to be pedantic, but to designers/marketers (me), this stuff is important. Think of someone trying to offer the general Hackernews user some insight by discussing some aspect of Microsoft's Internet Explorer sear…

Not sure if I parsed your comment correctly, but I'd just like to clear up that it was my understanding that that's the official button you're supposed to use, not a ploy to drive people through PayPal by me. -humble bundle cofounder

Yeah, I get that. Reading it back it's a little fought to discern, but my intent was in fact to convey that all design considerations of the button and the logo was in PayPal's hands.

Congrats on the bundle by the way. It's great product!

Re: Paypal's logo designed to look like a recommendation?

#46

Post by Elepsis »

goldins wrote: post #10

I think it's also interesting to note the Amazon button. The button has a strong call to action ("Pay now" rather than "* Checkout *") and only mentions the method (Amazon payments) underneath. This (I think) is a good method to get those users who don't have a preference (or don't know the difference) between PayPal, Amazon, or Google Checkout.

The Amazon button was also the most appealing to me, because it looks the most like my internal notion of what a "Buy now" button should be. I'm so trained by my experience on Amazon that that's what I click to make the purchase that it's the natural place I want to click to buy--even on a different site.

Re: Paypal's logo designed to look like a recommendation?

#47

Post by ams6110 »

mlinsey wrote: post #43
ams6110 wrote: post #42

Somewhat meta: why offer a customer three ways to pay? It's confusing; which one do I chose? What if I pick the wrong one?

Your concern is legitimate, but you'd have to look at real data to see if the impact of that confusion is outweighed by the impact of forcing people to register for another payments service just to buy your product. I know that I don't want a PayPal account or Google Payments account. Without the option to use Amazon Payments, I would have not bought the Humble Indie Bundle. I suspect many people felt the same about…

I seem to recall being able to make a payment with a credit-card via PayPal without setting up an account. That was at least a few years ago; is that no longer possible?

Re: Paypal's logo designed to look like a recommendation?

#48

Post by mlinsey »

ams6110 wrote: post #47
mlinsey wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your concern is legitimate, but you'd have to look at real data to see if the impact of that confusion is outweighed by the impact of forcing people to register for another payments service just to buy your product. I know that I don't want a PayPal account or Google Payments account. Without the option to use Amazon Payments, I would have not bought the Humble Indie Bundle. I suspect many people felt the same about…

I seem to recall being able to make a payment with a credit-card via PayPal without setting up an account. That was at least a few years ago; is that no longer possible?

Probably, but part of the reason I didn't want to register for a new account was just so I wouldn't have to go through inputing all my information again.

Re: Paypal's logo designed to look like a recommendation?

#49

Post by stoney »

euccastro wrote: post #44
cobralibre wrote: post #37

I was surprised that the article didn't comment on the wording of the slogan in the PayPal button. The words 'safer' and 'easier' are comparative adjectives; they create an implied recommendation for PayPal against other options, which are both less safe and less easy. The other buttons don't acknowledge other options -- rather, they merely emphasize speed: 'now' and 'fast'. If you were a naive online shopper present…

What I ask myself when I see such comparative slogans is why they often say the likes of "the safer and easier" instead of "the safest and easiest". I guess this is basic stuff for advertising pros. Plausible reasons that come to mind: "safest and easiest"... - sounds more open to challenge; it invites the reader to challenge such a bold claim. - might put you in a mood to maximize. "Safer and easier", on the other h…

I think it's because "safest and easiest" is quite a definite claim - they would be saying that no other payment method is safer than them, which could lead to claims of false advertising from their competitors. "Safer and easier" doesn't really mean anything at all without knowing what it is being compared to.

But I also agree with your assessment - safer and easier might have psychological advantages

Re: Paypal's logo designed to look like a recommendation?

#50

Post by AgentConundrum »

jessriedel wrote: post #13
NumberFiveAlive wrote: post #6

In our online store 'The safer, easier way to pay.' is a part of the page. The logo gif and the markup is part of the specs when you implement Paypal. The code looks like this, and came directly from the Paypal implementation guide: The safer, easier way to pay. Edit: formatting

Meta: Is the scroll bar behavior in the above comment broken for anyone else? I can click and drag to scroll, but the scroll bar itself doesn't actually move until I release my mouse button. (Firefox 3.6.13 on Mac 10.4.11)

Works on Firefox 3.6.13 on WinXP.
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