NSF (insufficient funds) is the #1 reason for card declines worldwide. More than 50% of failed payments come from NSF, draining billions in revenue every year. For subscription merchants, the stakes are even higher: a failed renewal can quickly turn into churn, causing the end of a customer relationship.
Chasing payments after a decline
When a renewal fails, most subscription teams spin up a full “chase” sequence: multiple retries spread over 1-3 weeks, dunning emails and in‑app nudges, SMS, and sometimes phone outreach. The first touch can lift a meaningful share of failures, yet each additional attempt delivers less. Late‑cycle reminders convert in the low single digits while costs keep rising.
Why this hurts:
- Bad timing. Batch rules miss the moments funds actually land or banks process.
- Wasted attempts & fees. Hard declines get retried anyway, costs add up with little upside.
- Customer fatigue & trust risk. Repeated nudges feel pushy and look phishy, nudging good customers toward cancellation.
- Operational drag. Billing and support time goes to chasing renewals and fixing misfires instead of serving customers.
This is before churn. The longer the chase runs, the more cancellations follow.
A different flow
The idea is simple: act before the decline. Merchants and issuers work together to prevent the failure from happening. If a payment looks like it might be declined, the issuer can quickly check if the merchant is open to covering some of the risk. That step gives the issuer the chance to approve the payment instead of turning it down.
Take a loyal subscriber who’s briefly short on funds. In many cases, the payment fails and the merchant follows up with retries and emails to keep the subscription active. With issuer support, there’s another option: the payment can be approved upfront. The subscriber never sees a decline, and the merchant keeps both the customer and the revenue.
This approach doesn’t replace existing systems. Retry tools and reminders still have their place, but prevention creates a smoother, stronger baseline. Instead of reacting to failure, merchants start from a position of success.
What merchants gain
- Protect revenue: Secure renewals before cancellations happen.
- Boost approvals: More payments succeed at first time.
- Lower friction: Customers avoid repeated failed payment emails and reminders, stay engaged longer, and enjoy uninterrupted service that builds trust and loyalty.
Retry systems can still run in the background, but the real shift comes from preventing declines altogether. By avoiding failures upfront, merchants protect renewals, reduce cancellations, and give subscribers a smoother experience. Contact us to learn more.
