When you take payments, a little communication goes a long way. Customers should know what they paid, what's coming up, and what to do when a card expires or gets declined. Most of this can run on its own with automations. Here are four messages to set up.
The first one is already done for you. Every time a payment goes through, Ontraport emails the customer an invoice receipt automatically. The Invoices lesson shows how to brand it or build your own.
Next, give customers a heads-up before a payment is due. Go to Sales, then Settings, then Invoice automations, and click New automation. Use the trigger "Today is relative to Invoice's date field," set to a few days before the due date. Add a condition so only invoices with the status Open qualify. This works for one-time invoices and payment plans. Invoicing is available on some account levels.
Then add a Send an email element. Use merge fields for the amount and the due date, and add the OP Payment Link merge field so customers can pay right from the email. Add End elements to any empty paths, and publish.
Subscriptions and payment plans depend on a card that works. When a card expires, the next charge is declined, and your customer may not even notice. So warn them ahead of time.
Go to Automations, then New automation. If you've turned on other objects, like Companies or Deals, you'll find automations under Contacts instead. Add the trigger "Today is relative to contact's date field." Pick the card expiration date in the contact's record, and choose how many days before it to start, like a week.
Below the trigger, add a wait set to "some time passes," and pick a time in "Then wait until the time of day is." Choose the contact's time zone, so the email arrives at a sensible hour for each person. Then add a Send an email element. Tell them their card is about to expire, and give them a link to update it. Add End elements, then click Publish.
You can also start from a prebuilt template. Under New automation, browse the templates and pick one, then edit the emails so they carry your message and your brand.
Where should that link go? Either to a card update form, which is an order form for a $0 product, or to a customer center, where customers update their own payment details. The Declines and collections and Customer center lessons show how to set up each one.
Now for declines. Some customers submit a payment and leave without noticing that it didn't go through. A quick follow-up brings them back. In a new automation, add the trigger "Credit card is charged or declined," and set it to Declined.
Give them a little time to try another card first. Something like 15 to 30 minutes works. Then send an email letting them know the card was declined, with a link to try again. If they still haven't paid, send another email the next day. Interest cools quickly, so this is a good place to offer a small bonus.
Finally, add a goal below the emails: "Credit card is charged or declined," set to Charged. Under "If contact is already on map," choose "Move here when achieved." Once a customer pays, they skip the rest of the decline emails.
For subscriptions and payment plans, Ontraport also retries failed charges for you, and the rules in Recharge Settings can email customers at each stage. The Declines and collections lesson covers that in detail.
So: receipts go out on their own, reminders head off surprises, expiration warnings prevent declines, and decline follow-ups win back the sale. That wraps up Ontraport for payments. Next up: the Ontraport for memberships course.