Failed Payments & Retries
Payment failures are inevitable. Floatless provides automatic retry logic and notifications to recover revenue.
When should I read this?
Read this if you need to understand why payments fail, how retries work, or how to reduce involuntary churn.
Common failure reasons
| Reason | Description | Recovery |
|---|---|---|
| Insufficient funds | Card doesn't have enough | Retry later |
| Card declined | Bank rejected charge | Customer updates card |
| Card expired | Card past expiration date | Customer updates card |
| Authentication required | 3D Secure needed | Customer completes auth |
| Processing error | Temporary issue | Auto-retry usually works |
Retry schedule
Floatless automatically retries failed payments:
Day 0: Initial attempt
Day 1: First retry
Day 3: Second retry
Day 7: Third retry
Day 14: Final retry
Customer notifications
Customers receive emails at each stage:
| Event | |
|---|---|
| Payment failed | "Your payment failed" — update payment method |
| Reminder | "Payment still pending" — before retry |
| Final notice | "Action required" — payment method needed |
Dunning management
Dunning is the process of communicating with customers about failed payments:
- Soft dunning — friendly reminders
- Escalation — more urgent messaging
- Final notice — risk of service interruption
Best practices
- Update payment methods proactively — before expiration
- Multiple payment methods — fallback options
- Smart retries — retry on paydays (1st, 15th)
- Easy update flow — one-click link to update card
Reducing involuntary churn
| Strategy | Impact |
|---|---|
| Card updater service | Automatic card updates |
| Pre-dunning emails | Warn before expiration |
| Retry optimization | Time retries strategically |
| Payment method diversity | ACH as backup |