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Payouts that have failed: How to Handle Them Within Your Membership Website

Jul 28, 2022

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When you create an online membership website and you're excited to earn a steady income through an online company. But, there will be times that problems could be encountered, for instance, a failure to pay or a delay on your recurring income.

This can be a stressful scenario, but you can be confident that there are a few easy methods to deal with this situation!

In this article we'll look at the reasons why the online payment process may not work on your membership website.

Also, we'll discuss the ways your online business can deal with these unpaid payments with the least amount of difficulty, as well as a look at ways to preventfailed transactions from the beginning.

Let's go!

What are the causes of failed payments?

The beauty of having an online store is the ability to accept payment in a variety of ways (credit/debit cards, Stripe, PayPal as well as digital wallets etc. ).

But, when a failed payments occurs, the business owner quickly realize that these easy payment methods can be an advantage and a disadvantage.

The most common causes of non-payments include:

  • A cancelled or expired debit/credit card
  • An insufficient amount of money on the debit or credit card
  • Incorrect bank account or card details
  • A bug in your payment gateway
  • A hold is placed on the card or account of the client in connection with the bank's fraud prevention

How can a failed payment affect My Company?

Whether or not a failed payment was your fault, it can negatively affect your membership business.

  • It is possible that you won't be able to withdraw your cash whenever you want, or you may have to forfeit that money completely.
  • A member whose payment fails might not wish to endure the stress of returning to make another payment. You could be losing a client.
  • A customers might lose trust with your business in the event of the payment is not successful or is not received, and may not want to come back.

Losing a customer can be a severe loss. If you have a website that has a lot of failed payments, those consequences can be disastrous. Therefore, it's crucial to understand what to do when the payment fails to be made.

How Do I Handle a Failed Payment?

Failure to pay is a common occurrence. This is a common occurrence when doing business online. If they do happen to you, ensure you're well armed to handle the situation.

Below are a few useful ideas.

Don't panic.

The first thing you need to take when the possibility of a missed payment arises is be sure to remain calm.

Like we said, failed payment can happen even to the most seasoned of us. And the calmer you are the better chance you won't offend your customer in a rash reaction. You're allowed to be a bit worried however, you must be at ease so that you can manage the situation in a manner that is appropriate.

Be sure that everyone is aware.

This one is super important! In the event of a non-payment Don't presume that the customer knows about it.

So first, call your customer and inform them about the problem. This is not only good customer service, it also shows your customer that you're mindful of their concerns and also that you value them to you.

Offer a solution.

Once you've alerted your customer to the issue You'll need to provide the solution to fix it.

If the issue is at your own end, inform them know that you've solved the issue. If it's something that they can do, give them easy-to-understand steps on how to get things squared away.

The more simple and concise your instructions, the higher the chance that your client will be able to follow your directions.

Be professional.

In the event of a failed payment, it is embarrassing for the customer and you. However, it's crucial to remain professional for the sake of the client as well as your own good.

Don't take a missed payment or a lack of a response from your customer to the heart. What you need to do is explain the problem with a solution and let the customer wait. There is no way to force a customer to go back to the membership site, and you don't need to!

Learn from it.

The last thing to do is take the opportunity to learn from the mistake. No matter if it was due to an error at your own end or not, you are able to always use the situation as an opportunity to learn and improve your performance in the future!

Tips to Prevent Failed Payments from the beginning

You know how the phrase says: Prevention is the most effective treatment. Same goes for failed payments.

There are, however, many options to get ahead of the problem of failed payment before it begins.

includes features to assist with failed payment recovery that work together with the payment gateway.

In the next section, we'll review some of the basic settings that can be used to prevent payments from failing as well as some specific solutions for gateways. Then, we'll let you in on an awesome plugin that will continue to record lost payments for a long time after the gateway has given up.

Settings for payments that fail

has a handy setting just to recover your payment that failed. For it, go to your WordPress dashboard > > Settings > Emails tab.

If you look through the list of automatic email messages, there's the option, "Send Failed Transaction Notice". Make sure to check the box and allow this setting.

When enabled, this feature will be able to send an email any customer whose payment fails.

The default message comes that comes with the program However, you're able to edit the text however you like. As an example, you could include a hyperlink to the member's account page so they can quickly and easily change their account information.

Rectifying failed transactions with Stripe

If you are using this Stripe payment gateway, it is possible to set up an custom retry schedule.

To get this functionality, go to the Stripe Dashboard > Settings > Billing > Subscriptions and emails > Manage failed payment Set it up so that a customer's account is charged after X amount of time.

You can also make use of Stripe Smart Retries. This amazing feature determines an optimized time, then attempts to charge the card of the customer at that time.

Recovering failed payments with PayPal

It's not necessary to setup or alter with PayPal's payment recovery.

In the event of a failed transaction, PayPal will complete three retries over fifteen days (each attempts 5 days apart). If the attempts all fail within 15 days, the subscription will be cancelled automatically.

Rectifying failed payment with Authorize.net

In terms of payment recovery, the Authorize.net payment processor is fairly straightforward (though nevertheless, it's a great option! ).

If you enable this Automatic Retry feature, a member's subscription will remain in the "pending" status until the card's update.

The Churn Buster Plugin

Of course, long after your payment gateway has stopped working, Churn Buster is still at work trying to retrieve the failed transactions should they occur. The program even includes options that will enhance the timing of strategic transactions and frequency of card retries and can result in better success.

Churn Buster's optimized retry schedule is highly effective in helping in recovering failed payment attempts that are caused by issues like daily limits on spending temporarily held, holds for a short period, or processing timeouts.

The greatest benefit? Churn Buster offers new customers a free 14-day trial.

Final thoughts

What ever type of online business you run, insolvent payments could be a surprise in any moment. Just never forget to stay at peace and deal with the issue in a calm and professional manner.

Keep in mind that prevention is the best medicine. Hopefully, our tips will help you handle your unpaid bills like a pro!

Have you ever had to handle a non-payment payee? What did you do?