Decline Management helps your organisation handle failed recurring credit card payments by identifying which declines may succeed if retried and which should not be retried. It can then apply the appropriate Smart Retry Strategy, reschedule eligible payments and perform configured follow-up actions.
When a recurring payment fails, the payment gateway returns a response code. Payments2Us can use this response to determine whether the payment should be retried and, if so, when the next attempt should occur.
For example:
- A Soft Decline is a failure that may succeed if tried again, such as insufficient funds.
- A Hard Decline is a failure that should not continue to be retried.
Smart Retry Strategies allow you to control the retry schedule for Soft Declines.
Step 1 — Configure Default Soft Codes
Open the Merchant Facility that processes your recurring payments.
Locate the Default Soft Codes field under Processing Options.
Enter the payment gateway response codes that your organisation considers retryable, separated by commas.
For example:
51,61,JDIf a failed payment returns one of these codes, it can be treated as a Soft Decline and Smart Retry can attempt to recover the payment.
A response that is not included in the list is treated as a Hard Decline.
If Default Soft Codes is left blank, Smart Retry Decline Management will not process failed payments for that Merchant Facility and the existing Payments2Us retry process continues to apply.
Step 2: Building a Smart Retry Strategy
Step 2.1: Create the record
Go to the Smart Retry tab, click New, and enter a name. Then select the Merchant Facility this strategy applies to. This limits the strategy so it only applies to gifts processed through that facility.
Step 2.2: Open the setup wizard
From the saved record, launch the "Update through Guidance" button
Step 2.3: Enter the strategy details
The wizard guides you through the following Smart Retry settings.
- Strategy name — the name of the Smart Retry Strategy.
-
Active (
Active) — determines whether the strategy can currently be used. -
Priority (
Priority) — where more than one strategy matches, the strategy with the lowest Priority number is selected.
-
Maximum retry attempts before stopping (
Max Retries) — the maximum number of failed attempts allowed before the Recurring Payment is suspended. -
Allowed retry days (
Retry Days) — controls which days of the week a retry can be scheduled. If the calculated retry date falls on a day that is not allowed, it moves forward to the next allowed day
Decline response codes (optional) (Retry Response Codes) — specifies which Soft Decline response codes should use this strategy. When configured, Payments2Us first looks for an active strategy for the same Merchant Facility with a matching Payment Response Code or Payment Response Text. If multiple strategies match, the strategy with the lowest Priority number is selected. If the Priority is also the same, the oldest strategy based on Created Date is selected. If no response-code-specific strategy matches, the lowest-priority eligible strategy is used as the fallback.
Please note: Default Soft Codes determine whether a failed payment is a Soft or Hard Decline. The Retry Response Codes on each Smart Retry Strategy can then be used to decide which strategy should handle that Soft Decline.
For example, if the Merchant Facility has Default Soft Codes 50,51,52, you could create:
- Strategy A →
Retry Response Codes = 50 - Strategy B →
Retry Response Codes = 51 - Strategy C →
Retry Response Codes = 52
A failed payment with code 50 uses Strategy A, 51 uses Strategy B, and 52 uses Strategy C. If more than one strategy matches the same code, the lowest Priority number is selected. If the Priority is also the same, the oldest strategy by Created Date is selected.
How should the retry delay be applied?
Choose how the delay between retry attempts should be calculated:
-
Same for every retry — displays Days to wait between retries. This value is stored in the
Retry Delay Daysfield and the same delay is used for each retry. -
Custom - vary the delay for each retry — allows a different delay to be entered for each retry attempt. These values are stored together in the
Cadence Patternfield.
For example, if the delays entered are:
1,7,14the first retry is scheduled after 1 day, the second after 7 days, and the third after 14 days. The calculated date is then adjusted according to the configured Allowed retry days.
Follow-up actions
Choose what should happen after a payment fails. These settings control customer communication and follow-up actions and do not affect which Smart Retry Strategy is selected.
-
Send soft decline email (
Send Soft Decline Email) — sends an email when a Soft Decline occurs, including retry-related notifications. -
Send hard decline email (
Send Hard Decline Email) — sends an email when a Hard Decline causes the Recurring Payment to be suspended. -
Add the contact to a failed-payment Campaign (
Add To Failed Campaign) — adds the Contact to the selected Campaign when the configured failed-payment condition is reached. -
Failed payment Campaign (
Failed Campaign) — selects the Campaign the Contact should be added to. -
Enable SMS follow-up (
Send SMS Demo) — enables SMS follow-up for the strategy. Payments2Us does not send the SMS automatically from this setting; a separate Flow or SMS integration must be configured. -
Send SMS after how many failed attempts? (
SMS After Attempts) — specifies after how many failed attempts the SMS follow-up should occur.
Step 2.4: Save and confirm
Click Next to save. The wizard confirms the strategy was created.
Smart Retry Strategies are associated with a Merchant Facility. You can create multiple strategies for the same Merchant Facility where different retry behaviour is required.
How It Works
When a recurring payment fails, Payments2Us records the payment gateway response, such as the Payment Response Code or Payment Response Text, on the Payment Txn.
Decline Management compares the payment gateway response with the Default Soft Codes configured on the Merchant Facility to determine whether the failure is a Soft Decline or Hard Decline.
For a Soft Decline, Payments2Us:
- identifies the appropriate active Smart Retry Strategy;
- saves the selected strategy in the Smart Retry Strategy lookup on the Recurring Payment;
- checks the current Retry Attempts against the strategy's Max Retries;
- calculates the next retry date using the configured retry delay or cadence and the allowed retry days;
- updates the Next Payment Date; and
- updates Remaining Cadence to store the delays still remaining in the current retry cycle.
When all values in the custom cadence have been used, Remaining Cadence displays DONE. The Flow's current logic removes each used cadence value and stores the remainder. This is maintained automatically by Smart Retry and should not be edited manually.
If the maximum retry attempts are reached, the Recurring Payment is suspended and any configured follow-up actions, such as email notifications or adding the Contact to a failed-payment Campaign, can be performed.
For a Hard Decline, the Recurring Payment is suspended immediately and is not scheduled for another Smart Retry. A Smart Retry Strategy can still be used to control configured follow-up actions, such as sending a hard decline email or adding the Contact to a failed-payment Campaign.
When the payment later succeeds and the retry cycle resets, the Smart Retry Strategy and Remaining Cadence are cleared so that a future decline starts a new retry cycle.
Example 1 — Custom delay for every retry
A Smart Retry Strategy has:
Max Retries: 4
Cadence Pattern: 1,7,14
Allowed Retry Days: Any DayThe retry cycle would work as follows:
1st Soft Decline → retry after 1 day
Remaining Cadence: 7,14
2nd Soft Decline → retry after 7 days
Remaining Cadence: 14
3rd Soft Decline → retry after 14 days
Remaining Cadence: DONE
4th failed attempt → Max Retries reached
Recurring Payment is suspendedExample 2 — Same delay for every retry
A Smart Retry Strategy has:
Max Retries: 4
Retry Delay Days: 2
Allowed Retry Days: Any DayThe retry cycle would work as follows:
1st Soft Decline → retry after 2 days
2nd Soft Decline → retry after 2 days
3rd Soft Decline → retry after 2 days
4th failed attempt → Max Retries reached
Recurring Payment is suspendedIf specific Allowed Retry Days are configured, the calculated retry date is moved forward to the next permitted day.