05/29/2026
A few months ago, a client asked us to add Affirm as a payment option on their website.
Simple request, right?
Not exactly.
At the time, we believed it wasn't possible.
Based on the information we had, including guidance from Stripe support, enabling Affirm appeared to require changes that could impact another important payment option their customers relied on.
So we moved on.
For a while.
Then one day, the client asked a simple question in Slack:
"Matt, are we sure those systems are actually connected? Isn't that other payment option handled differently?"
The problem hadn't left him.
Maybe it came to him during a walk. Maybe over a morning coffee. Either way, he spotted a potential flaw in the assumption we'd all accepted.
That one question sent us back into investigation mode.
After digging deeper, testing different scenarios, and working through a few technical roadblocks, we discovered the original assumption wasn't actually accurate.
The result?
AFFIRM WENT LIVE.
Within the first 14 hours, orders were already coming through using the new payment option. In fact, adoption was immediate, quickly moving near the top of the list of preferred payment methods alongside PayPal, Afterpay, Apple Pay, and HSA/FSA payments.
The biggest takeaway isn't the sales.
It's the reminder that good development work isn't just about writing code.
It's about asking better questions.
It's about challenging assumptions.
It's about solving problems together and staying curious enough to look one step further.
Sometimes the breakthrough isn't a new technology, a new strategy, or even a new feature.
Sometimes it starts with a simple question nobody thought to ask.
Need help with your e-commerce website? Let's talk.
👉 www.unifiedwebdesign.com
