Reduce involuntary churn
Involuntary churn occurs when a customer is unable to pay for their subscription or service due to issues with their payment method, such as expired cards or insufficient funds. This can lead to lost revenue and customer dissatisfaction.
This topic describes how to manage the dunning process by creating automations that help reduce involuntary churn, such as customer notifications for declined payments, past due invoices, expired payment cards, and invoice retry configuration.
Email notifications
Use these email notifications to manage communication with customers while dunning invoices. Email notifications help inform customers of their payment status and prompt them to take action. You can also include invoice payment links the emails. These links open payment forms where customers can enter their card details and pay any outstanding amounts.
Renewal invoice payment declined notifications
Email customers when payment for a subscription renewal invoice is declined. This notification alerts customers to potential service loss and prompts them to check their payment card information. This process describes how to add a payment link to the email.
Create a transaction declined email notification
- In the left navigation bar, press Automations .
- In the Data and alerts section, press Email notifications.
- In the Customer notifications section, press Billing events, then select the Renewal invoice payment declined event.
- Press Create notification.
- In the Notification name field, enter a unique name for the notification.
- In the Labels field, enter one or more labels to help categorize the notification.
- Optionally, to specify additional conditions on when the notification is sent:
- In the Conditions section, clear the No conditions checkbox.
- In the Filter dropdown, select a filter.
- In the Operation dropdown, select an operation.
- In the Value field, enter or select values.
- Optionally, to add another filter, press Add filter.
- In the Emails section, press Add email.
- In the Title field, enter a meaningful title.
- In the From field, select your address. If your address is not listed, press Add email address.
- In the To field, add a placeholder or an email address.
- Optionally, to stay informed on all emails, press Add BCC and enter your email or a support email.
- In the Subject field, enter a subject or placeholder.
- In the Email content field, enter the content of the email.
- Press Add placeholder to add placeholders to the email content, such as first name, last name, invoice number, and amount.
- In the bottom of the email, press Add placeholder, then select Invoice payment link.
When customers click the invoice payment link, they are redirected to a payment form where they can pay the invoice. - Optionally, to attach the invoice to the email, select the Attach invoice checkbox.
- Press Save notification.
Invoice past due notifications
Email customers when an invoice is past due. This notification informs customers of their outstanding payments and prompts them to take action. This process describes how to add a payment link to the email.
Create an invoice past due email notification
- In the left navigation bar, press Automations .
- In the Data and alerts section, press Email notifications.
- In the Customer notifications section, press Billing events, then select the Invoice past due event.
- Press Create notification.
- In the Notification name field, enter a unique name for the notification.
- In the Labels field, enter one or more labels to help categorize the notification.
- Optionally, to specify additional conditions on when the notification is sent:
- In the Conditions section, clear the No conditions checkbox.
- In the Filter dropdown, select a filter.
- In the Operation dropdown, select an operation.
- In the Value field, enter or select values.
- Optionally, to add another filter, press Add filter.
- In the Emails section, press Add email.
- In the Title field, enter a meaningful title.
- In the From field, select your address. If your address is not listed, press Add email address.
- In the To field, add a placeholder or an email address.
- Optionally, to stay informed on all emails, press Add BCC and enter your email or a support email.
- In the Subject field, enter a subject or placeholder.
- In the Email content field, enter the content of the email.
- Press Add placeholder to add placeholders to the email content, such as first name, last name, invoice number, and amount.
- At the end of the email content, press Add placeholder, then select Invoice payment link.
In the bottom of the email, press Add placeholder, then select Invoice payment link.
When customers click the invoice payment link, they are redirected to a payment form where they can pay the invoice. - Optionally, to attach the invoice to the email, select the Attach invoice checkbox.
- Press Save notification.
Expired payment card notifications
Email customers when their payment card expires. This notification informs customers of their expired payment card and prompts them to update their card information to avoid service interruptions.
Create a payment card expired email notification
- In the left navigation bar, press Automations .
- In the Data and alerts section, press Email notifications.
- In the Customer notifications section, press Billing events, then select the Payment card expired event.
- Press Create notification.
- In the Notification name field, enter a unique name for the notification.
- In the Labels field, enter one or more labels to help categorize the notification.
- Optionally, to specify additional conditions on when the notification is sent:
- In the Conditions section, clear the No conditions checkbox.
- In the Filter dropdown, select a filter.
- In the Operation dropdown, select an operation.
- In the Value field, enter or select values.
- Optionally, to add another filter, press Add filter.
- In the Emails section, press Add email.
- In the Title field, enter a meaningful title.
- In the From field, select your address. If your address is not listed, press Add email address.
- In the To field, add a placeholder or an email address.
- Optionally, to stay informed on all emails, press Add BCC and enter your email or a support email.
- In the Subject field, enter a subject or placeholder.
- In the Email content field, enter the content of the email.
- Press Add placeholder to add placeholders to the email content, such as first name, last name, card brand, and last 4 digits of the card.
- Press Save notification.
Schedule invoice retries
Use invoice retries to automatically dun invoices by retrying failed payments when renewal invoice payments are declined. Define a schedule for retries at times when payments are more likely to be approved. The payment amount can be adjusted on each retry — either as a partial payment or with a discount. When a final retry attempt fails, you can configure the action to cancel the subscription and abandon the invoice.
To create an invoice retry automation, see Create a schedule invoice retry action.
Guess card expiration dates
Use the guess payment card expiration date automation to estimate the new expiration date of expired cards before payments decline and customers churn.
When a payment card expires, this automation makes up to three attempts to guess the new expiration date. For each guess, it attempts a $1 authorization. If the authorization is successful, the customer's payment card is updated with the new expiration date and the $1 authorization is voided. This automation is useful because it can help recover payments without requiring customers to manually update their card information.
To create this automation, see Guess payment card expiration.
Account updater
A service provided by card networks, such as Visa and MasterCard, that updates cardholder information, such as expiration dates, card numbers, and account numbers. Using account updater services can help prevent involuntary churn and reduce the need for customers to manually update their information. Contact your payment gateway to learn more and enable this service if it is available.