How to grow your payments app with genealogists and family history researchers
By SendPay Business · · 2 min read
Genealogists and family history researchers help people trace their ancestors, find lost relatives, search parish, census and military records, and visit archives on a client's behalf. Many sell research in blocks of hours paid up front, with extra fees for archive visits, certificates and written reports, and a lot of their clients live in another country from the records they want. A payments app that sends links for research blocks, takes payment from clients abroad and keeps a clear record can win researchers, and every client who pays them sees your app.
Talk to genealogists and family history researchers
Ask local researchers:
- How do clients pay for research today, up front or at the end?
- Do you sell blocks of research hours, and how are they paid?
- How many of your clients live abroad, and how do they pay you?
- How do you charge for archive visits, certificates and reports?
Send links for research blocks
A payment link for each block of hours means clients can pay from their phone before work starts, and researchers can top up a block with a new link when more is needed.
Make it easy for clients abroad to pay
Many clients live far from the records they want searched. A simple link they can pay by card saves them bank transfer fees and gets the researcher paid faster.
Grow through related businesses
Genealogists work alongside translators, bookbinders and antique dealers. When those businesses take payments through your app, each researcher can bring more of them onto it.
Build it
Create your own financial platform.
Pick a template, name it, brand it, preview every page before you pay. Your brand, your users, your fees.
Build my platform →Questions people ask
What about translators and interpreters?
The translators and interpreters guide covers translators who often work for clients in other countries and wait a long time to be paid.
Translators and interpreters →What about bookbinders?
The bookbinders guide covers binders who repair and rebind old books, bind theses and make handmade notebooks and albums, often with a deposit before work starts.
Bookbinders →Can I call it a bank?
In most countries "bank" is a protected word you can only use with a banking licence. Call it an account, a wallet, an app or a platform. The accounts and payments behind a SendPay Business platform are powered by licensed partners.
Is there a step-by-step plan I can follow?
Yes. The free launch checklist takes you from picking your people and naming your app to setting fees, going live and winning your first ten customers.
Digital bank app launch checklist →How do I start?
Pick a template, name it and preview every page before you pay. Your platform can be live on your own domain within 24 hours of confirmation.
Build my platform →Read next
This guide is general information, not legal or financial advice. SendPay Business is a technology company, not a bank, and does not take deposits; regulated services on the platforms are provided by licensed partners. PayPal, Patreon and Substack are named as reference points only and are not affiliated with SendPay Business.