Rescue Failed Paddle Payments With an Automatic SMS Nudge

When a Paddle charge fails, this reaches the customer over SMS with a friendly heads-up and an update-card link, and flags finance — recovering revenue that silent dunning would lose.

difficulty Intermediatesetup 35 minresult Failed Paddle payments trigger an immediate, polite SMS recovery message and an internal flag, lifting recovered revenue.
  1. 1

    Step 1 — Catch the failure

    Add the Paddle trigger (or webhook) for the payment failed / invoice.payment_failed event.

  2. 2

    Step 2 — Pull customer + reason

    Add a Set node capturing the customer email, the amount, and the failure reason (e.g. expired card) for a helpful message.

  3. 3

    Step 3 — Reach the customer on SMS

    Add a Twilio node. Set Operation to Send SMS, enter the destination number, and build the text from a friendly note, the amount, and an update-payment link. Add your Twilio SID + auth token.

  4. 4

    Step 4 — Flag finance

    Add a Slack/Sheet step so finance can see at-risk revenue and follow up on anything the automated nudge doesn't recover.

Frequently asked questions

Does Paddle already retry cards?

Yes, most have smart retries — this complements them by reaching the human, who often just needs to update an expired card the retry can't fix.

How many times should I message?

One clear SMS nudge, optionally a follow-up before the subscription cancels. Respect the customer; over-messaging costs goodwill.

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