How do I set up Triggered Emails for Recurring Commitment Failure?
A Triggered Email automatically notifies a donor when their recurring commitment payment fails — even if they’ve unsubscribed from your regular emails, since this is a transactional message. Follow the steps below to set one up.
Step 1: Open the Triggered Emails tab
From the Targeted Email dashboard, select the Triggered Emails tab.
Step 2: Find and create the Recurring Commitment Failure template
Locate the Recurring Commitment Failure template in the list and select Create.
Enter a name and your organization’s details. You’ll then be taken to the Compose Message step.
Note: Because this email sends to any contact whose payment fails, there is no audience selection step and you don’t control when it sends — it goes out immediately when the event is triggered.
Step 3: Compose your message
Compose your message as you would any Targeted Email. A few specific considerations:
Send copies to staff (optional): Use the Send Email Copy To field to notify up to 10 staff members when a message sends. Keep in mind that their opens and clicks will be included in your statistics. Consider scheduling an Email Performance Report instead if you want to track failures without affecting stats.
Include a link to the payment update page: Link directly to a Contributions Self-Service page and an Update Payment popup using the SmartLinks dialogue to open the Self-Service portal in edit mode.
Use conditional content for multiple attempts: The source article includes a table of merge fields for personalizing the message based on payment method, number of attempts, failure reason, and more.
Key merge fields for Recurring Commitment Failure emails:
| Merge Field | What It Contains |
| Failure Reason | Reason for the failure (Invalid Expiration Date, Decline, etc.) |
| Most Recent Processing Attempt Number | Which attempt number this is (credit cards tried up to 9 times; EFT tried once) |
| Payment Method | The payment type (Visa, Mastercard, etc.) |
| Credit Card Last 4 Digits | Last 4 digits of the card (credit card payments only) |
| Bank Account Last 4 Digits | Last 4 digits of the account (EFT payments only) |
| Credit Card Expiration Date | Card expiration date (credit card payments only) |
| Most Recent Processing Date | Most recent failed attempt date |
| Number of Contributions Received | Total payments processed successfully |
The standard disclaimer at the bottom of this email automatically informs recipients that this is a transactional email and why they’re receiving it even if they unsubscribed.
Step 4: Track donor corrections
The best way to verify that a donor fixed their payment is the Recurring Commitment Changes Report, which shows changes to recurring commitments, what changed, and how. Use the Recurring Commitment Processing Report to confirm successful processing.
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How do I set up a recurring commitment failure email in EveryAction? | How do I notify donors when a payment fails in EveryAction? | How do I set up a Triggered Email in EveryAction? | How do I use the Recurring Commitment Failure template in Targeted Email? | How do I track failed recurring payments in EveryAction? | Can I send an email to an unsubscribed donor about a failed payment in EveryAction? | How do I use conditional content in a triggered recurring commitment email?