Cards get declined. They expire, or there isn't enough money in the account. Ontraport can do most of the chasing for you. There are two situations to plan for: a decline on an order form, and a failed charge on a subscription or payment plan. Here's how to handle each.
First, the terms. A failed charge shows up as a Declined payment. The invoice it was for moves to Collections while Ontraport tries again. If it's never paid, it ends up as Write off, which marks it as bad debt. And Void cancels an invoice.
When a card is declined on your order form, the purchase doesn't go through. But that person still filled out your form, so they're a warm lead. Follow up. In an automation, add the Contact submits a form trigger, pick your order form, and choose the path for when the order fails. Then send an email inviting them to try again.
Subscriptions and payment plans are open orders. On each charge date, Ontraport charges the card on that open order. If the charge is declined, the invoice moves to Collections, and Ontraport starts retrying the card for you. It retries only the card on the open order, not other cards the customer has on file.
You control those retries in Recharge Settings. Go to Sales, then Settings, then Recharge Settings. Set how often to retry, in days, and how long to keep trying. The default is every three days for 90 days. That's 30 attempts, and you don't have to set anything up. When the time runs out, the invoice is marked Write off, and Ontraport stops trying. Click Save.
Below that, you can add rules that run at each stage. Name the rule, click Add, add a condition if you want one, then add an action and save. When you're done, click Save at the top right. There are four sections.
The first time the transaction fails: let the customer know right away, with an email that explains how to update their card.
After the first failure, run these rules every additional time it fails. These run on every retry, so every three days by default. Use them for reminder emails.
After the last failed attempt: these run once the invoice is written off, so the customer can't pay it anymore. Point them to a new order form, ask them to contact you, or create a task so your team can review it.
If the transaction is successful: these run when a failed charge finally goes through. For example, notify the contact owner, or restore membership access.
To target one product, use the Transaction contains product condition. That way you can remove access to a membership only when that membership's payment fails.
The best fix is to let customers update their card themselves. One way is a card update form. It's an order form that sells a $0 product. In Form settings, under Advanced, check "If charge is successful, then use this card for all transactions in collections." You can also check the option to update all their open orders with the new card. Some cards reject a $0 charge. When that happens, Ontraport places a temporary $1 authorization and then removes it, so mention that on the page.
The other way is a customer center, where customers can update or delete their cards and choose a default. Link to either one in your failed payment emails. The Customer center lesson shows how to set one up.
You can also build this process with automations. Use the Open order is charged or updated trigger, pick the product, and choose Charged but declined. Add the Recharge Transactions action to retry the card. Each time a contact reaches that action counts as one of your retry attempts, even before the next scheduled retry. Then add a goal, Open order is charged or updated, set to Charged and successful, to catch customers once they've paid. This example removes WordPress membership access on a decline and gives it back when the payment goes through.
And you can always step in yourself. On the contact's Purchases tab, select an invoice that's in Collections and click Pay to charge a card on file, including a different card from the one that failed. If that charge is declined too, you choose whether to keep the invoice open to try another card, run collections to go back to your recharge settings, or void it.
Request payment emails the customer the unpaid invoice with a View and Pay button. And Write off marks the invoice as bad debt and stops collection. These invoice actions are available on Plus and above.
So: follow up on order form declines, let Recharge Settings retry and remind, make it easy for customers to update their card, and step in by hand when you need to. Next up: invoices.