When a Stripe payment fails, the immediate impact is simple: the money doesn't move. But what happens next—the cascade of retries, notifications, status changes, and potential subscription cancellations—is where the real revenue risk lives.
The Failed Payment Lifecycle in
Stripe
From the first decline to cancellation, here's every stage your subscription goes
through — and where revenue leaks out.
01
The charge is attempted and declined
Stripe sends the payment request to the card network, and the customer's issuing bank returns a decline. This could be for any number of reasons —insufficient funds, an expired card, a fraud flag, or a generic "do not honor" response. Stripe logs the attempt and assigns a specific decline code.
02
The subscription enters "past due" status
Stripe doesn't cancel the subscription immediately. Instead, it marks it as past due and enters the retry window. During this period, the customer typically retains access to your product, but no payment has been collected.
03
Stripe retries the payment
If you have Smart Retries enabled, Stripe uses machine learning across its network to determine the best time to retry. If you've configured a custom retry schedule, it follows your specified intervals (for example, retry after 3 days, then 5 days, then 7 days). The number of retries and the timing between them depend entirely on your billing settings.
04
Dunning emails are sent (if enabled)
Stripe can automatically email the customer when a payment fails, letting them know there's an issue and providing a link to update their payment information on a Stripe-hosted page. These emails are configurable under Settings → Subscriptions and Emails.
05
If all retries fail, the subscription is actioned
After all retry attempts are exhausted, Stripe takes whatever action you've configured: cancel the subscription, mark it as unpaid, or leave it as past due. In most configurations, this means the subscription is canceled—and the customer is churned.
This is involuntary churn. The customer didn't choose to leave. A payment failure pushed them out.
What Decline Codes Will You See?
Understanding decline codes is only half the battle. Here's how FlyCode turns each
one into a targeted recovery strategy.
Insufficient Funds
The customer's balance is too low. Retrying at a better time might succeed.
Expired Card
The card on file has passed its expiration date.
Insufficient Funds
The customer's balance is too low. Retrying at a better time might succeed.
Stolen or Lost Card
Fraud-related declines. Retrying will never work—you need a new card.e is too low. Retrying at a better time might succeed.
Incorrect Card Number
A data entry error from the original signup.
Why Stripe's Native Tools Aren't
Always Enough
Stripe provides a solid foundation, but its built-in recovery tools leave significant
revenue on the table.
Stripe Alone
35-40%
Average recovery rate
✓
Network-wide Smart Retries
✓
Templated dunning emails
✓
No backup card support
✓
Limited customization
Stripe + FlyCode
60-65%
Average recovery rate
✓
Custom ML models per merchant
✓
Coordinated email outreach
✓
Automatic backup card charging
✓
Timezone-optimized messaging
The core limitation is that Stripe's tools are generalized. Smart Retries optimize across the entire Stripe network, not for your specific customer base. Dunning emails are templated and not coordinated with retry timing. There's no mechanism to automatically try a backup card on file or route through an alternate payment path.
How FlyCode Changes the
Outcome
FlyCode layers on top of Stripe, adding intelligent retry logic, branded
dunning, and real-time analytics — recovering the revenue Stripe's
tools leave behind.
AI-Powered Retry Logic
Instead of network-wide retry logic,
FlyCode's AI models analyze hundreds
of data points per transaction—decline
code, card type, issuing bank, customer
timezone, historical patterns—to predict
the exact moment a retry will succeed.
Automatic Backup Card
Support
If the primary card keeps failing, FlyCode
automatically charges a backup card the
customer already has on file.
Coordinated Email Outreach
FlyCode's email outreach system
coordinates messages with retry
attempts, sending from your domain, in
the customer's timezone, with
messaging tailored to the specific failure
reason.
Capsho boost recovery rate from 63% to 91%
By integrating FlyCode into their Stripe account, Capsho achieved a substantial uplift in revenue with a clear ROI.
>23X
Increase in payment recovery
45%
ROI
GitBook boost ARR by 8% with FlyCode
GitBook is a modern documentation platform that helps teams create, maintain, and share beautiful product documentation. With thousands of businesses worldwide relying on GitBook for their technical docs, the platform has become essential infrastructure for developer-focused organizations serving customers in 100+ countries.
>11x
Increase in payment recovery
10.5%
ROI
Rewardful recovers 29% more revenue with FlyCode
Rewardful helps you to manage your affiliate and customer referral programs seamlessly and get started with the affiliate marketing software built for SaaS professionals and marketers.
>17X
Increase in payment recovery
45%
faster time to recovery
29%
ROI
A failed Stripe payment doesn't have to mean a lost customer
Get started with FlyCode today and recover more revenue from failed payments.
Get Started with FlyCode →
