Author: Maria Sparagis

Maria Sparagis is President of DirectPayNet, where she's spent over 20 years helping businesses scale to six-, seven-, and eight-figure revenue through optimized payment processing. She works hands-on with business owners to solve merchant account challenges, reduce processing costs, and implement payment strategies that support real growth. Maria is a regular speaker at fintech conferences and writes about practical approaches that help businesses break through revenue plateaus.

How to Respond to Negative Reviews on Your Shopify Store

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No matter how good or how unique your product is, your entire business can be ruined by negative reviews. Luckily, negative reviews can be flipped around and become a powerful marketing tool. Here’s how you should respond to negative Shopify reviews (even the worst of the worst). SECURE YOUR SHOPIFY STORE WITH A BACKUP PAYMENT […]

StripeShutMeDown! How to Recover and Keep Your Business Running

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You wake up one morning, excited to check your Stripe account and see the latest sales figures, only to find a gut-wrenching email stating that your account has been terminated. Panic sets in as you realize your primary payment processor is no longer available, putting your entire business at risk. Sound familiar? You’re not alone. […]

Stripe Tokens, How to Migrate Them Before It’s Too Late

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If you’re running a subscription-based business and using Stripe for payment processing, you’ve likely encountered Stripe Tokens. These tokens, also known as network tokens, represent encrypted customer payment data stored in a secure vault. While using Stripe Tokens for subscriptions may seem convenient, relying solely on them can put your business at risk. In this […]

Cold DMs Could Be Your Secret Marketing Weapon

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Cold DMs, or cold direct messages, are the modern equivalent of cold calling and cold emailing. Instead of picking up the phone or sending an unsolicited email, businesses are now sliding into potential customers’ DMs on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and even TikTok. Just like their predecessors, cold DMing aim to start […]

Maximizing Revenue Recovery for Failed Subscription Payments in GoHighLevel and Stripe

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Subscription businesses inevitably face failed payments, which can lead to involuntary churn if not addressed. Here’s how to optimize your failed payment recovery process when using GoHighLevel as your CRM and Stripe as your payment gateway. AVOID SUBSCRIPTION CHURN Stripe’s Default Failed Payment Handling Stripe offers a built-in feature called “Smart Retries” that automatically retries […]