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Failed payment survey template

See what a failed payment costs you, and how easy it is to fix

Three quick questions after a failed payment is resolved: whether the customer understood why it failed, what they did next and how easy it was to sort out. Add an open question and Usertick reads every written answer for you.

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What this failed payment survey tells you

A failed payment survey asks customers about a declined or failed payment once it is sorted. This template asks three questions in about 25 seconds: whether they understood why the payment failed, what they did next and how easy it was to sort out.

It is written for an email after the failed payment is resolved, while the customer still remembers the message they saw. The same template runs as a link in your own resolution email, or as a popup in your web app on the page where customers retry a payment, so you can ask right after the fix.

Results shows the share who understood the failure, the share of each next step and the effort score with the share who found it easy, each against the period before, and selecting an answer filters the whole page to those customers. Add an open question and Usertick reads each written answer, files it under a category such as Payments and transfers and gives it a type and an urgency.

In an emailAs a linkOn your websiteAs a conversation
Questions
3
Time to answer
Under a minute
Written for
An email after a failed payment is resolved
Plans
Every plan, the free plan included

See it on every channel

The same template on your website, behind a link, in an email and as a conversation.

In an email

Send it from Usertick to a contact list, with the first question inside the email. A tap on an answer opens the rest of the survey with that answer already kept. Usertick sends 50 emails a month on the free plan, or connect your own sender.

The 3 questions, one by one

What each question asks, why it is there, what it shows you and what to change.

Question 1 of 3 · Yes / No

Did you understand why your payment failed?

Why ask it
A failure the customer understands is an inconvenience. One they don't understand becomes a support call or a lost customer, and the reason message is the part you control.
What you learn
Results shows the share that said yes, against the period before, so a rewrite of your decline messages shows up in the next period's share.
Make it yours
Keep it first, so customers can answer inside the email with one tap and the rest of the survey opens with that answer kept.
Question 2 of 3 · Multiple choice

What did you do next?

Why ask it
What customers do after a failure shows what it cost you: a retry is cheap, another card may be a competitor's card, and Gave up is a lost payment.
What you learn
A donut shows the share and count of each next step, and over time as stacked shares. Select Gave up to narrow the page to those customers and see whether they understood the reason.
Make it yours
Change Used another card to a wider option, such as Paid another way, when your customers often pay by bank transfer.
Question 3 of 3 · Customer effort

How easy was it to sort out?

Why ask it
Effort to recover is what customers remember about the failure. A 7-point scale from very difficult to very easy shows whether your fix flow works.
What you learn
Results shows the average on the 1 to 7 scale and the share who found it easy, with a hard-to-easy bar, against the period before.
Make it yours
Select Contacted support and look at the effort score, which shows whether customers who reached your team still found it hard.

What the answers show

Results turns each question into numbers you can follow week by week.

How easy was it to sort out?

The average on its own scale and the share who found it easy, against the period before and by device.

What did you do next?

The share of each answer with its count. Select an answer to narrow the whole page to those people and read what else they said.

Use this template in four steps

From the template to the first answers.

  1. 1

    Open the template

    Sign up free and pick Failed payment in the template gallery. It opens in a matching style, ready to change.

  2. 2

    Make the questions yours

    Reword any question, change the options, and add logic or more questions.

  3. 3

    Choose where it runs

    Show it on your website, send it by email, share its link and QR code, or switch it to a conversation.

  4. 4

    Publish and read the answers

    Answers arrive in Results and the inbox as people send them, each written one read and filed by Usertick.

Tips for this survey

Small choices that keep people answering and the answers useful.

  1. 01

    Send it once it is resolved

    Send it to the week's resolved payments as a contact list, or have your system put the link in its own resolution email. Usertick doesn't send it on its own when a payment fails.

  2. 02

    Ask on the retry page

    In a web app, call Usertick.trigger('payment_retried') when a retry succeeds and use that custom event as the trigger, from Starter or on 1 survey on Free, so the survey opens right after the fix.

  3. 03

    Add one open question

    The template has no written question. Add an optional What would have made the reason clearer? at the end, so Usertick reads which messages confuse people.

  4. 04

    Follow up on Gave up

    On every plan, a workflow can post every Gave up answer to Slack or Microsoft Teams, so someone contacts the customer before the payment is lost for good.

Customer supportFinancial services surveysEmail surveysBusiness banking questions

More support templates and questions

Templates like this one, and single questions from the library to add to it.

Templates

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SupportTrust and supportMeasure how well a request was handled and how much customers trust you with their money. Send it after a support case is closed.
SupportFraud alert follow-upLearn how customers experienced a fraud alert: how fast you acted, how clear you were and how safe they feel now. Send it once the case is closed.
SupportCard disputeLearn how customers experienced a card dispute, from raising it to the outcome. Send it once the dispute is closed.
SupportSupport follow-upCheck whether a support conversation actually solved the problem, how much effort it took and how the person who helped did. Send it automatically when a ticket is closed.

Questions from the library

Browse the question library
  1. How big is your business?Dropdown · Business banking
  2. How easy is it to give staff access to the account?Customer effort · Business banking
  3. Which of these do you use for the business?Multiple choice · Business banking
  4. Who runs payroll at your company?Multiple choice · Payroll and invoicing
  5. How easy is it to run a pay cycle?Customer effort · Payroll and invoicing
  6. How many minutes does a pay run take you?Ruler · Payroll and invoicing

Frequently asked questions

Once the failed payment is resolved, within a day or two. Asking while it is still failing adds a message to a problem the customer is trying to fix.

Every customer with a failed payment, including those who gave up. Their answers show how much the failure cost you, which the customers who fixed it can't.

Three or four. This template asks three taps and takes about 25 seconds, and all three are required, so every response you get is complete.

Select No in Results to see what those customers did next, then rewrite the decline message for the reason they hit most. Compare the share of Yes answers in the next period.

On every plan, a workflow can open a Zendesk ticket with the answers attached, or send an event to Intercom for existing contacts. Freshdesk and Help Scout get the answers through a Zapier step.

Yes. Every template comes with every plan, the free plan included, and the free plan covers 150 responses a month across your surveys.

Yes. The template becomes your own survey, so reword any question, add or remove questions, and change the options and the logic. The gallery stays as it is.

Yes, from Starter. The template is written in US English. Add languages by hand or with AI translation, and each person sees the survey in their browser's language.

Listen better, act faster, and build what truly matters.

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  • 150 responses a month on Free
  • Every channel and AI analysis
  • No card needed