Overview
Zuora's Cascading Payment Method feature allows for dynamic retries of failed payments using alternative payment methods, enhancing payment success rates by following a priority list. This feature supports various payment run types but is not compatible with Advanced Payment Manager.
Zuora supports the management of multiple payment methods for a single customer account. When processing a payment, the default or a specified payment method is used for the first attempt. If the first payment fails, retries are attempted by using the same payment method until the payment method on the customer account is manually changed to another one. This approach might be ineffective if the payment failure persists because of issues such as insufficient funds or an expired payment method.
To address this issue, Zuora provides the Cascading Payment Method feature to dynamically retry the failed payment with alternative payment methods on a customer account, according to a payment method priority list. When cascading payment method consent is turned on, the first payment method in the priority list is the default payment method of the customer account. A closed payment method will not be used in retries even though it is included in the priority list.
Currently, the Cascading Payment Method feature is supported in payment runs, including:
- Manual ad-hoc payment runs
- Scheduled payment runs
-
Payment runs invoked by Configurable Payment Retry
, including:
- Retry with customized retry rules
- Smart Retry
Note that the Cascading Payment Method feature is not supported in payment runs invoked by Advanced Payment Manager.
The following two cascading modes are available:
|
Mode |
Condition |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
Cascading within retry |
Immediate cascading is not enabled. |
If the first payment transaction fails, the payment will be automatically retried with the next available payment method in the priority list, following the manual or scheduled retry cycle until the payment is processed. A new payment will be created for each retry. For a use case example, see Example 1: Cascading within retry. |
|
Immediate cascading |
Immediate cascading is enabled. |
If the first payment transaction invoked by the payment run fails, the payment is immediately retried with the next available payment method in the priority list. The process continues until either the payment is processed or all payment methods in the priority list are used once. If all payment methods in the priority list have been used once but the payment has not been processed, immediate in-transaction retries will be invoked again during the subsequent manual or scheduled retry cycle. For a use case example, see Example 2: Immediate cascading. By using the immediate cascading mode, the same payment is used in the retries for a payment run. During the retries, the payment reference information, typically the payment number, is sent to the gateway. However, some gateways do not allow duplicate payment references, resulting in errors if the same payment number is sent multiple times. If your gateway provider restricts duplicate payment references, it is recommended to disable the immediate cascading mode. Instead, use the cascading within retry mode, which creates a new payment for each retry. |
The following diagram illustrates the logic of using Cascading Payment Method:
Using Cascading Payment Method in payment runs increases the
Consecutive Failed Payments
value of a payment method, same as the behavior when Cascading Payment Method is not enabled. If the out-of-the-box Payment Run retry rules
are enabled, these rules also apply to the payment methods used in Cascading Payment Method.
The Cascading Payment Method feature is in the Early Adopter (EA) phase. We are actively soliciting feedback from a small set of early adopters.
Prerequisites
- Before using the Cascading Payment Method feature, you must collect consent from your customer to pay with payment methods in the sequence agreed by the customer in case of failed payments.
- Auto-Pay is enabled in the Billing and Payment Info section on the customer account page.