> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://documentation.outpost.pub/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Failed Payment Flow
> Automated email sequence to recover subscribers whose payment method fails at renewal time.
The Failed Payment Flow is a dunning sequence that automatically emails subscribers whose card or payment method fails during renewal. It gives them time and reminders to update their payment information before losing access.
Stripe handles the card retries and can send its own dunning emails during the retry window; Outpost's flow runs alongside Stripe's retries so the two recover more subscriptions together than retries alone. The two windows need to overlap — see [Configure Stripe retries first](#configure-stripe-retries-first) below before enabling the flow.
Go to **Autoresponder → Failed Payment Flow** to configure it.
## Configure Stripe retries first
Stripe handles the actual card retries. Outpost runs alongside that retry window and sends the dunning emails. Before turning the Failed Payment Flow on, set two things in your Stripe dashboard's [subscription billing settings](https://dashboard.stripe.com/settings/billing/automatic):
**1. Set the retry window longer than your Outpost flow.**
You can't collect on a subscription that's already been cancelled, so Stripe needs to keep retrying the card for at least one day longer than the Outpost flow — two or three days longer is safer. You can use Stripe's **Smart Retries** (recommended) or a custom retry schedule; either is fine as long as the window outlasts Outpost's flow.
| Outpost Failed Payment Flow duration | Stripe retry window |
| ------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------ |
| 7 days (default) | At least 8 days — Smart Retries set to 2 weeks is a good fit |
| 5–6 days | Smart Retries set to 1 week works |
**2. Set "After all retries have failed" to *Cancel the subscription*.**
On the same Stripe settings page, find the option for what should happen after retries are exhausted and set it to **Cancel the subscription**. If Stripe leaves the subscription open, Outpost has to end the subscription itself — which is less clean and can briefly leave the subscriber with paid Ghost access after retries have stopped working.
For a fuller walk-through with screenshots, see [Setting up your Failed Payment Retention Flow](https://outpost.pub/docs/failed-payment-retention-flow/) on the Outpost blog.
## How it works
When a subscriber's payment fails during renewal:
The subscriber keeps access during the entire flow duration, giving them time to fix the issue.
Outpost sends a series of up to 5 emails across the flow duration encouraging the subscriber to update their payment method. The first email goes out as soon as the flow starts, and the rest follow at regular intervals, leaving a gap at the end. With all 5 steps enabled over 7 days, emails go out at roughly day 0, 1.2, 2.3, 3.5, and 4.7. If you disable some steps, the remaining ones automatically redistribute with wider spacing.
If the subscriber updates their payment method and the renewal succeeds, the remaining emails are cancelled automatically. A "thank you" email is sent (if you have it turned on), which is configured in the **Retention and Renewal** tab of the Basic Autoresponder.
The flow ends and the subscription expires:
* The flow duration expires without a successful payment update and the Stripe period for retry ends, or
* You explicitly cancel the member's subscription in Stripe, or
* You disable the retention flow
When the flow expires without a payment update, the member's extended access period ends and they will be reverted to a free membership.
This flow does **not** apply to subscribers who manually turned off auto-renewal. It only targets genuine payment failures (expired card, insufficient funds, cancelled card, etc.).
## Requirements
The Failed Payment Flow requires an active Stripe billing integration. If your site doesn't have Stripe billing set up, the flow cannot be enabled and you'll see a message directing you to configure Stripe.
## The Big Off/On Button
Like the Basic Autoresponder, the Failed Payment Flow has its own master toggle. When turned off, no dunning emails will be sent to subscribers with failed payments.
## Statistics
The statistics panel shows lifetime performance data:
| Metric | Description |
| -------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Total emails sent** | Total number of dunning emails sent across all steps |
| **Total open rate** | Overall open rate for all dunning emails |
| **Overall number of subscriptions with failed payments** | How many subscriptions entered this flow |
| **Overall number of subscriptions saved** | How many subscribers successfully updated their payment |
| **Overall save rate** | Percentage of failed subscriptions recovered |
| **Revenue recovered** | Total revenue from recovered subscriptions (first payment only) |
## The 5-step sequence
The flow contains 5 pre-built email steps displayed as a visual timeline. Each step shows:
* **Subject line** — Click to edit the email content
* **Stats** — Emails sent, open rate, and "Updated" rate (percentage who updated their payment after this email)
* **Toggle** — Enable or disable individual steps
* **Preview** — Click the eye icon to see how the email will look
* **Edit** — Click the pencil icon to modify the subject and body
| Step | Default Subject | Purpose |
| ---- | ------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------- |
| 1 | Billing issue | First gentle notification that payment failed |
| 2 | Can you help with this billing issue? | Follow-up request for action |
| 3 | Need help? | Offer of assistance |
| 4 | Final notice to update payment information | Urgent warning |
| 5 | We're sorry! | Last chance before subscription expires |
The emails are automatically spaced across the flow duration as described above. Disabling steps causes the remaining enabled steps to redistribute with wider spacing.
Each email contains a special button that links directly to the subscriber's payment update page. **Do not edit the links on these buttons** — they are auto-generated and work specifically for each subscriber's failed payment. They will not work in preview mode, but they do work in the actual emails.
## Settings
Click the **"edit"** link next to the flow heading, or click on the day badges at the start or end of the timeline to open the Settings modal:
| Setting | Description |
| ------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Start** | How long after the subscription was supposed to renew before the first dunning email is sent. Options: Immediately, 1–10 days. **Default: Immediately (0 days).** |
| **Duration** | How long the entire flow lasts. Emails are distributed within this window using the spacing formula. Options: Immediately, 1–10 days. The subscriber's access is extended for this duration. **Default: 7 days.** |
For example, with Start set to "Immediately" and Duration set to "7 days," all 5 emails are distributed across the 7-day window, with roughly 28 hours between each email.
## Editing email content
Click any subject line or the pencil icon to edit a dunning email:
* **Subject** — The email subject line
* **Body** — Rich text editor for the email content
You can also send a test email to yourself by clicking the eye icon (preview) and then **"Send Test Email."**
## Frequently asked questions
The subscriber keeps full access to paid content during the entire flow duration. Their subscription is extended for the number of days Stripe is set to retry the card. If they don't update payment by the end, the subscription expires and paid access stops.
No. The Failed Payment Flow is a fixed 5-step sequence. You can enable or disable individual steps, and you can edit the subject and body of each email, but you cannot add or remove steps.
The remaining emails (steps 3, 4, and 5) are automatically cancelled. The subscriber receives a "thank you" email via the **Failed Payment Flow Thank You** action in the **Retention and Renewal** tab of the [Basic Autoresponder](/features/basic-autoresponder) (if you have that turned on). You can customize that email just like any other autoresponder action.
Most publishers use "Immediately" for Start and "7 days" for Duration. This gives subscribers a week to update their payment while receiving 5 emails spread across that week. Shorter durations create more urgency; longer durations give more time but risk the subscriber forgetting.
In your [Stripe subscription settings](https://dashboard.stripe.com/settings/billing/automatic), set the retry window to at least one day longer than your Outpost flow duration (two to three days is safer), and set the "after all retries fail" option to **Cancel the subscription**. See [Configure Stripe retries first](#configure-stripe-retries-first) for the full walk-through.
The statistics panel at the top of the page shows **Revenue recovered (first payment only)** — the total amount collected from subscribers who updated their payment method through this flow.
***
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