Collections Management: #3 Tackling Payment Failures

Collections Management: #3 Tackling Payment Failures

Sam refreshed the dashboard.

Warning
"Payment failed".

Same customer. Same subscription. This is happening for the third time. He sends a usual email: "Your renewal payment failed again. Could you please check and retry?"

A couple of days passed, and there was still no response. Sam calls the customer, "Hey, could you update your card details or retry the payment?"

"Oh, yes, yes.. I'll do it today. Just remind me later this evening", the customer responded casually. That "remind me later" became multiple reminders. By the time the payment finally went through, Sam had invested more time following up on one failed transaction than on handling five smooth customers.

At that moment, he realised something important. Failed payments are a niche issue, but following up on them is the real problem.

Dunning to Rescue 

Dunning management in Zoho Billing takes over the moment a payment fails and handles payment recovery automatically. All you need to do is configure the rule for it.


Standard Dunning 

The standard dunning process enables you to configure retries for both online and offline subscriptions.

For online payments, such as card, ACH, and UPI mandates, Zoho Billing automatically retries the payment at predefined intervals, for example, on Days 1, 3, and 7. Whether the payment attempt is successful or not, the customer is eventually notified. The subscription remains active during these retries until it reaches the last and final attempt. Businesses can configure whether the subscription should remain active or be cancelled after all retries are complete.

For offline payments, such as cash or bank transfers, dunning doesn't retry. Instead, Zoho Billing automatically sends follow-up reminders at increasing urgency. Every delayed payment receives a structured and consistent notification sequence. Even for offline dunning, businesses can configure the final action to be taken on the subscription after it has been escalated to the customer.

Advanced Dunning 

Pause & Resume Dunning 
Sometimes, customers genuinely need time to update their payment details, talk to their bank, or resolve a card issue. Now, dunning can be paused for a specific invoice with the following conditions:

  • The resume date must be earlier than the next billing date.

  • The customer can manually resume the dunning process at any time before the scheduled resume date.

When dunning resumes:

  • If the selected resume date falls between scheduled retries, the next retry will occur on the next scheduled retry date.

  • If the resume date is after the final retry, Zoho Billing automatically triggers a retry within a day.

This helps businesses stay structured while giving customers time to breathe.


Stop Dunning 

At any point, you can decide to stop pursuing payment retry for an invoice under dunning. Zoho Billing allows you to,

  • Stop the dunning process entirely, removing the subscription from the dunning flow.

  • Mark the next retry as the final attempt for the auto-charge subscription. 

If the upcoming retry is set as the final attempt (whether successful or not), the configured action under the standard dunning rule for the final action will be triggered.


On-Demand Dunning  

Zoho Billing provides an option to send a link to update payment information when we notify customers of payment failure. This enables customers to update their information instantly without needing to navigate the interface. If a customer updates their card or fixes a billing issue and says, "Can you try charging again now?"


You don't have to wait for the next scheduled dunning to attempt the payment. Zoho Billing offers an On-demand Retry option, enabling businesses to try charging the customer immediately and directly from the invoice. This avoids waiting time and reduces the risk of failure.

Multi-Dunning Rules 

Not all customers should be treated as the same. Some require more time for grace, while others need quick closure. Zoho Billing supports multiple dunning rules, allowing businesses to assign different retry strategies to different subscriptions.

Each rule includes:

  • A personalised retry schedule (number of retries + interval)

  • Unique email template for communication.

  • Criteria that determine when the rule applies.

  • Priority order (Zoho matches rules based on priority)

You can set these criteria based on,

  • Customers

  • Subscriptions

  • Plans or Product

  • Invoice value

  • Currency

  • Billing Frequency.

A total of six unique rules can be created, including the default one. High-value customers can receive more retries and personalised emails, while other customers can have shorter cycles.

​
Reports Based on Dunning 

When payment fails or an invoice enters a dunning cycle, it's more about the retries than the visibility that a business should get. The Under-Risk report in Zoho Billing provides businesses with a real-time view of all transactions currently under the dunning process. It highlights which customers are at risk of churn or suspension, how long payments have been pending and which retry stage each invoice is in.

​
To track down customers who dropped off due to churn, Zoho Billing offers the Churned after Retries report. This report helps businesses re-engage with those customers, as the downgrade/churn was not intended to occur. This gives a high chance of winning them back.
​
What Dunning Management Does to Business 

With these capabilities, Zoho Billing shifts the handling of failed payments from a reactive to a proactive approach. Payment retries are automated, and customers receive notifications without requiring manual intervention. Businesses can pause, stop or define a final retry action. Sending personalised emails and providing time for customers based on their worth ensures reliability and trust.

On the whole, the automated dunning process helps businesses to keep the payment process organised and, at the same time, reduce the risk of losing control over failing payments.

 

Notes
Up Next: Collection as a Journey

 

 

    • Sticky Posts

    • Community Learning Series | Digest #5 — September 2020

      Dear customers, We're happy to bring you the September edition of our #CommunityDigest! Keep track of your subscription KPIs right from your smartphone: Last month, we enhanced our Android mobile app to help our customers get daily updates on their business health. We got to know from a lot of customers that this has made their job much more easier because they no longer have to keep a reminder to manually check on the previous day's revenue or activations. If you have not downloaded it yet, here's

    • Community Learning Series | Digest #4 - August 2020

      Dear customers, We hope you're staying safe and healthy. I'm happy to bring you the fourth edition of our #CommunityDigest with some brand-new updates from us. 1. Daily Business Updates (for Android users) The Zoho Subscriptions Android app has got a cool new update: You can now get a push notification to your smartphone that lets you know how many activations and cancellations have taken place, and what's the net revenue for the previous day. The best part is, you can tell the app when exactly you

    • Community Learning Series | Digest #3 - July 2020

      Dear customers, We hope you're staying safe and healthy. We're glad to bring you the July edition of our #CommunityDigest. New community members can view our previous newsletters here. This time, we have two major updates and three interesting topics for you: 1. Zoho Subscriptions Developer Community Since the inception of Zoho Subscriptions, our team believed that the recurring billing platform we provide should be able to offer an extensive API library that empowers businesses to automate most

    • Introducing: Community Learning Series | Digest #1 - May 2020

      Dear customers, We hope you are staying safe and healthy. Helping businesses manage their customer subscriptions more efficiently has always been, and always will be, our goal at Zoho Subscriptions. We strongly believe this is possible if we grow together as a community and share what we know with each other. To nurture this shared learning experience, here is our brand-new Community Learning Series! ​ Welcome to the first edition of our digest! Each edition of our community digest includes guides

      • Recent Topics

      • [Webinar] Solving business challenges: Secure, real-time, and external collaboration

        Hi Zoho Writer users, We are excited to announce Zoho Writer's webinar for March 2026: Solving business challenges: Secure, real-time, and external collaboration. Zoho Writer supports real-time collaboration by allowing teams to work together in documents.

      • Table dimensions

        I try changing the dimensions of the table on my computer but it doesn't change. Do I have to be a premium member or does it only work on the app?

      • Zoho CRM Community Digest - January 2026 | Part 2

        Hello Everyone! Here’s the second part of January’s Zoho CRM Community Digest, rounding up the remaining highlights from the month. From newly rolled out updates to thoughtful implementation questions and practical solutions, the community once again

      • Find and Merge Duplicates to trigger webhook

        My sales team uses the Find and Merge Duplicates feature often to cleanup records in the CRM. We use webhooks to signal to our internal tools database when new Contacts are created, updated, or deleted, in order to keep our DB in sync with Zoho CRM. However,

      • Introducing WhatsApp integration and quick editing capabilities in Zoho Sign

        Hi there, Zoho Sign already helps users collect signatures via email and SMS, and we're happy to announce that you can now send documents and authenticate recipients right through WhatsApp. Some of the key benefits include: Communication with recipients

      • Dynamic Field Folders in OneDrive

        Hi, With the 2 options today we have either a Dynamic Parent Folder and lots of attachments all in that one folder with only the ability to set the file name (Which is also not incremented so if I upload 5 photos to one field they are all named the same

      • Logging Out of FSM

        I have tried to log out of FSM app of the last person and it will not let me do so. I need to log in to my account.

      • Enhancement in Zoho CRM: Control who gets to participate in a forecast by customizing the user hierarchy

        Include only users from the sales function; exclude the rest Dear Customers, We hope you're well! We started this year with a series of exciting enhancements to Zoho CRM and to this list, we are thrilled to add an enhancement to forecasting. Let's talk

      • Multiple Zoho One accounts

        Hello. I'm searching for a solution to run multiple organizations under 1 Zoho One account or have a different Zoho One account for each organization and still be able to easily login to each. Currently Zoho One doesn't allow the same email address to

      • Tips and tricks #63: Hold and Drag to select elements in the Show app for iOS

        Hello everyone! Welcome to another tips and tricks article. In today's article, we will learn about the Hold and Drag function in the Show app for iOS. The Hold and Drag option lets you select multiple elements on a slide quickly. Once they are selected,

      • Organize and manage PDFs with Zoho PDF Editor's dashboard

        Hello users, Zoho PDF Editor's dashboard is a one-stop place to upload, sort, share PDF files, and more. This article will explore the various capabilities that Zoho PDF Editor's dashboard offers. A few highlights of Zoho PDF Editor's dashboard: Upload

      • Possible to generate/download Quote PDF using REST API?

        See title. Is there any way after a quote has been created to export to a PDF using a specified template and then download it? Seems like something that should be doable. Is this not supported in the API v2.0?

      • Free Webinar - AI for email: Helpful or Hype?

        Hello, Zoho Mail community! 👋 We're kicking things off with a webinar you won't want to miss—and yes, we're going there: Is AI in email actually useful, or is it all hype? In this session, two of our experts will have an open, no-fluff conversation about

      • Balancing access, security, and productivity with Email Policy

        An organization typically includes multiple user groups, such as leadership, sales, and support, each with different email usage patterns and security needs. Administrators must balance flexibility and control, thereby ensuring email usage aligns with

      • Is it possible to update multiple work items at once?

        Hi, Is it possible to update the statuses/release tags of multiple work items at once? I came across this thread that says it's not possible at the moment, but it was related to the Sprints mobile app. Does this feature not exist in the website as well?

      • See Every IM Conversation as It Happens

        Instant messaging moves fast. Customers expect quick replies and smooth conversations across WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and live chat. But without real-time visibility, small issues become big problems. A session stays open longer than expected. A

      • Release Notes | January 2026

        We have rolled out a set of powerful new enhancements across Zoho Vertical Studio that bring several long-awaited capabilities to your applications. These updates focus on deeper customization, smarter automation, better reporting, and improved usability

      • Product Request: Send email to Secondary email

        Guys, we should be able to send the campaign to the secondary email too.  Is this on the plans for Zoho Campaign? It looks like I can map the secondary email from the CRM to the Campaigs, but can not send the message.  

      • Franchise

        Is there a solution of how to organize global franchise organisations?

      • Holidays

        Hi; For defining Holidays, you need to add logic to handle the year as well as the month & day. We need to be able to enter Holidays for the next year. I need to add a holiday for January 2, 2017, but I can't until January 1st, which is a Sunday and we

      • Composite Product (kit) - Dynamic Pricing

        I am setting up Composite Products for item kits that I sell. I also sell the items from the kit individually. Problem is when pricing changes on an individual part, the Composite Product price does not change meaning when the cost of item # 2 in the

      • Urgent: Slow Loading Issue on Zoho Commerce Website

        Dear Zoho Support Team, I am experiencing slow loading times on my Zoho Commerce website, which is affecting its performance and user experience. The issue persists across different devices and networks. Could you please investigate this matter and provide

      • Need help with importing expenses

        I'm using the template downloaded from the application. When I try to import my expenses, I get the message: Duplicate entry in the Expense Date column. Ensure it contains unique values. None of the rows will import. There are duplicate dates, but they

      • Search not working!

        I have items in my notebook tagged but when I search for a tag nothing comes up! Any fix for this?

      • ERROR CODE :550 - 550 5.1.1 Invalid email recipients

        This message was created automatically by mail delivery software. A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its recipients. This is a permanent error. mustafa.ashraf@techlink-eg.net, ERROR CODE :550 - 550 5.1.1 Invalid email recipients

      • What's New in Zoho POS - February 2026

        Hello everyone, Welcome to Zoho POS’s monthly updates, where we share our latest feature updates, enhancements, events, and more. Let’s take a look at how February went. Purchase and sell items on different units We have introduced a unit conversion functionality

      • Can i integrate bigin with google voice?

         I make all my calling through google voice to seprate my personal line from business. I want to log my calls with customers automatically but i domt see anywhere where i can do that. Any help? Im pretty sure i wont be able to. Sad

      • POP/SMTP access authentication failed

        I am unable to log setup outlook for my zoho mail account. I am using these settings poppro.zoho.com port 995 SSL smtp.zoho.com port 587(tls)/465(ssl) username/password works on mail.zoho.com but not with POP access. Can you help?

      • Our Review Of Zoho CRM after 60 Days

        The purpose of this is to just share with Zoho why I love their product, but ultimately why I could not choose Zoho CRM for our next CRM. About two months ago we begun a CRM exploration process for our financial planning firm, based in Texas. We already

      • This domain is not allowed to add. Please contact support-as@zohocorp.com for further details

        I am trying to setup the free version of Zoho Mail. When I tried to add my domain, theselfreunion.com I got the error message that is the subject of this Topic. I've read your other community forum topics, and this is NOT a free domain. So what is the

      • Allow Admin to Configure Report > More Options Button

        As an Admin, I want to configure the options of the Report > More Options button to improve UX and reduce Developer overhead. See attached screenshot. Original question posted here: https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/community/topic/modify-standard-rep

      • Generate a link for Zoho Sign we can copy and use in a separate email

        Please consider adding functionality that would all a user to copy a reminder link so that we can include it in a personalized email instead of sending a Zoho reminder. Or, allow us to customize the reminder email. Use Case: We have clients we need to

      • You cannot send this campaign as there is no contact in the selected mailing list.

        We have synced contact lists and sent campaigns just fine prior to today.  Now no matter what list I upload when I go to send the campaign it gives an error "You cannot send this campaign as there is no contact in the selected mailing list." And now it

      • Pivot Report Formula - using a today() variable

        Is it possible for me to use a value of today() in a formula on a pivot table? I'm trying to identify where the end date of a project is greater than the current date if("10. Projects (Zoho Projects).End Date" > today(), 'Yes', 'No') I get the error that

      • Cannot connect IMAP to outlook

        Hello I have followed the instructions to connect my zoho account to Outlook IMAP but get this message: Session Id: bba118fb-151c-824f-9512-3ad1e91b109d Timestamp: 1708976566964 Error code: INVALIDCREDENTIALS INTERACTIONREQUIRED I'm using the exact configeration

      • Department Overview by Modified Time

        We are trying to create visuals to show the work our agents do in Zoho Desk. Using Zoho Analytics how can we create a Department Overview per modified time and not ticket created time? In order for us to get an accurate view of the work our agents are

      • Enhance Sign CRM integration

        Hello all, I'm working on a custom Deluge script to enhance the integration between Zoho CRM and Sign by using a writer merge template for additional flexibility. I want to replicate the post-sign document integration that exists between CRM and Sign

      • Zoho Workdrive download was block by security software

        Hi Team, Recently workdrive download was blocked by huorong security. Could you please advise how to put zoho workdrive as white list? every time we put "*.zohoexternal.com" or "workdrive.zohoexternal.com", the warning msg will still pop in next dow

      • Choosing a portal option and the "Unified customer portal"?

        I am trialling Zoho to replace various existing systems, one of which is a customer portal. Our portal allows clients to add and edit bookings, complete forms, manage their subscriptions and edit some CRM info. I am trying to understand how I might best

      • General feedback

        I think Zoho is at the moment (potentially) the best, or perhaps the only, real online solution, for business, and not just business. Surely the only one that has all the features that I need (and I've probably tried everything, at least all that has a cost-free option). It has still got lots of bugs and imperfect features, so I do hope it keeps developing and becomes a really professional platform. Lots of people (including me) want to use such one platform for all scheduling/mail/note-taking...

      • Next Page