Payment Retry Logic
Payment retry logic determines when and how often to re-attempt a failed payment charge. Smart retry logic goes beyond simple time-based retries by analyzing failure reason codes, customer payment patterns, and optimal retry windows to maximize recovery rates.
Why Payment Retry Logic Matters for SaaS Companies
Default payment processor retry logic recovers 25-35% of failed payments. Custom retry logic, optimized for failure type and timing, recovers 50-70%. The difference on $300K in annual failed payments is $75-105K in additional recovered revenue. For Seed to Series B companies, this is one of the highest-ROI automations you can build.
An Operator's Take
The key insight that doubled our recovery rate at BatchService was simple: failure reason codes tell you when to retry. 'Insufficient funds' means the money is not there right now — retry on the 1st and 15th of the month (paydays for most businesses). 'Card expired' means the credentials are stale — do not retry until after sending an update link and allowing 48 hours for the customer to act. 'Processor decline' can be transient — retry 4-6 hours later. One-size-fits-all retry schedules leave money on the table because they treat every failure the same way.
Common Mistakes
What I see go wrong at Seed to Series B companies.
Using the same retry schedule for all failure types. Insufficient funds, expired cards, and processor declines all need different timing.
Retrying too aggressively. Multiple rapid retries can trigger fraud detection on the customer's card, making recovery harder.
Not combining retries with customer communication. A retry paired with an email reminding the customer to update their payment method is far more effective than a silent retry.
What to Do This Week
Concrete steps you can take right now.
Check your current retry configuration in your payment processor. How many retries, on what schedule?
Build custom retry schedules by failure reason code: insufficient funds on paydays, expired cards after customer notification, processor declines after 4-6 hours.
Pair retry attempts with customer communication: send an email before the first retry, another if the retry fails.
Related Resources
Frequently Asked Questions
How many times should you retry a failed payment?
4-8 retries over a 14-21 day period is typical. Space retries based on failure type: insufficient funds benefit from payday timing (1st, 15th), while expired cards need customer action between retries. Diminishing returns set in after 6-8 attempts — if a payment has not recovered by then, escalate to customer outreach.
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