Recover failed payments automatically
Recurly sells subscription billing software. This playbook works on your own code and does not ask you to buy anything.
Customers with an expired or declined card stay subscribed instead of silently churning.
The number it moves
Cancels from failed payments · Typical: 1.06 of 3.22 points of yearly churn come from failed payments (Recurly)
Customers lost because a card payment failed, as a share of all customers lost.
What your AI does
Find the billing webhook handler (Stripe invoice.payment_failed, customer.subscription.updated). Check that failures are handled: the user is emailed with a link to update their card, access is kept for a grace period, and status is updated when payment later succeeds. Propose the missing handler branches and a billing-portal link in the failure email.
Done when
- A failed payment emails the customer a link to update their card
- Access stays on for a grace period
- The account recovers by itself when the payment later succeeds
The prompt
Paste this into any AI coding tool, or run it in MightyMouse and your AI works on your own project.
Recover failed payments automatically (Subscription app) Find the billing webhook handler (Stripe invoice.payment_failed, customer.subscription.updated). Check that failures are handled: the user is emailed with a link to update their card, access is kept for a grace period, and status is updated when payment later succeeds. Propose the missing handler branches and a billing-portal link in the failure email. Done when: - A failed payment emails the customer a link to update their card - Access stays on for a grace period - The account recovers by itself when the payment later succeeds Read the code first. If it already does this well, change nothing and say so. Otherwise make the smallest change that makes every line above true. Work with what this project already uses. Do not add a paid tool or service unless I ask for one. Playbook: https://getmightymouse.com/playbooks/saas-recover-failed-payments-automatically/ - published by MightyMouse. Source: Recurly, https://recurly.com/research/churn-rate-benchmarks/
The skill file
Save this as SKILL.md and Claude Code or Cursor can run the playbook any time you ask.
--- name: saas-recover-failed-payments-automatically description: Customers with an expired or declined card stay subscribed instead of silently churning. Use on a subscription app project to improve "Cancels from failed payments". --- # Recover failed payments automatically Find the billing webhook handler (Stripe invoice.payment_failed, customer.subscription.updated). Check that failures are handled: the user is emailed with a link to update their card, access is kept for a grace period, and status is updated when payment later succeeds. Propose the missing handler branches and a billing-portal link in the failure email. ## Done when - [ ] A failed payment emails the customer a link to update their card - [ ] Access stays on for a grace period - [ ] The account recovers by itself when the payment later succeeds ## How to run it Read the code first and tick every line that is already true. If all are true, change nothing and say so. Otherwise make the smallest change that makes the rest true, then report each line as done or not done. Work with what this project already uses. Do not add a paid tool or service unless I ask for one. Playbook: https://getmightymouse.com/playbooks/saas-recover-failed-payments-automatically/ - published by MightyMouse. Source: Recurly, https://recurly.com/research/churn-rate-benchmarks/