Back

Documentation

Getting Started

RevGuard helps you recover failed subscription payments automatically. Here's how to get started:

  1. Connect Your Stripe Account

    Click "Get Started" on the homepage or dashboard. You'll be redirected to Stripe's OAuth page to authorize RevGuard. We only request read/write permissions needed to detect and recover failed payments.

  2. Automatic Monitoring Begins

    Once connected, RevGuard starts listening for invoice.payment_failed webhooks from Stripe. No additional setup required.

  3. Recovery Happens Automatically

    When a payment fails, we automatically schedule smart retries and send recovery emails to your customers.

  4. Track Results in Dashboard

    Monitor recovery rates, revenue saved, and individual payment attempts in your dashboard.

How It Works

Smart Retry Logic

Unlike Stripe's default retry schedule, RevGuard uses optimized timing based on best practices:

  • Immediate retry (3 hours after failure)
  • Early retry (1 day later)
  • Mid-cycle retry (3 days later)
  • Late retry (7 days later)

This timing maximizes recovery while minimizing customer frustration.

Email Recovery Sequences

Customers receive branded emails with a clear call-to-action:

  • Payment failure notification with reason (card expired, insufficient funds, etc.)
  • One-click link to update payment method
  • Branded with your business name
  • Mobile-optimized card update page

Card Update Flow

When customers click the email link, they land on a secure, branded page where they can:

  • See their failed invoice details
  • Enter new payment information using Stripe Elements
  • Update their default payment method
  • Automatically retry the failed invoice

Payment Method Options

Give customers flexibility when updating their payment information:

  • Card, ACH, Link, and PayPal supported
  • Configure available methods in Settings
  • Customers choose their preferred option on the card update page

Dashboard Overview

Your RevGuard dashboard provides real-time insights into payment recovery performance. Here's what you'll find in each section:

Dashboard Home

Your at-a-glance view of recovery activity:

  • Total revenue recovered this month
  • Active failed invoices awaiting recovery
  • Recovery rate percentage
  • Recent recovery activity feed

Analytics Page

Deep dive into your recovery metrics with interactive charts:

  • Recovery Trend — Track recovered revenue over time
  • Failure Breakdown — See why payments fail (card expired, insufficient funds, etc.)
  • Email Funnel — Measure email open rates, click rates, and conversions
  • Time to Recovery — How quickly payments are recovered after failure

Subscription Health

Understand the health of your subscriber base:

  • Health Scores — Each customer gets a score based on payment history, engagement, and risk factors
  • Cohort Analysis — Track retention by signup month to spot trends
  • LTV Summary — See average customer lifetime value estimates

Communications

Review all recovery communications sent to customers:

  • Email delivery status (sent, opened, clicked)
  • SMS messages (if enabled)
  • Filter by date, status, or customer

Connections & Settings

Manage your Stripe integration and customize recovery behavior:

  • View connected Stripe accounts
  • Configure email templates and timing
  • Set up SMS recovery (optional)
  • Adjust retry schedules and payment methods

Pre-dunning & Card Expiry Alerts

✨ Included free with all RevGuard accounts

Pre-dunning alerts proactively notify your customers before their payment methods expire, preventing failed payments before they happen.

How It Works

  • RevGuard monitors card expiry dates for all your subscribers
  • When a card is expiring soon, we send a friendly reminder email
  • Customers click through to update their payment method before it fails
  • No failed payment, no recovery needed — smoother customer experience

Enabling Pre-dunning

  1. Go to Settings → Connections
  2. Find your Stripe connection and click the settings icon
  3. Toggle "Pre-dunning Alerts" on

When enabled, RevGuard will automatically start monitoring card expiry dates and sending alerts.

Subscription Health Platform

RevGuard gives your team a real-time view of subscription health, churn risk, and retention performance.

  • Health scores for each subscription (0-100) to flag weak accounts early
  • At-risk customer detection with churn probability scoring
  • Cohort retention analysis with monthly cohort curves
  • LTV (Lifetime Value) tracking for each customer

Find this in the Analytics page under Subscription Health.

Billing

Performance-Based Pricing

You pay 25% of additionally recovered revenue (revenue recovered above Stripe's baseline). If we recover nothing extra, you pay nothing.

How We Calculate Your Bill

Total Recovered: All successful payment recoveries for the month

Stripe Baseline (70%): What Stripe would have recovered on its own

RevGuard Impact: Total Recovered - Stripe Baseline

Your Bill: RevGuard Impact × 25%

Example

• $10,000 in failed payments

• $8,500 recovered by RevGuard (85%)

• $7,000 Stripe would have recovered (70%)

• $1,500 additional recovery

• You pay: $375 (25% of $1,500)

You keep $8,125. We get $375.

Invoicing

Invoices are generated automatically on the 1st of each month via Stripe. You'll receive an email with a link to pay.

Email Customization

Customize your recovery emails in Settings → Email tab:

  • Edit subject lines and email body content
  • Customize messaging for each email type (payment failed, reminder, final notice)
  • Emails are branded with your business name from Stripe
  • Preview emails before saving changes

Coming soon:

  • Pre-designed template gallery
  • Custom sender name and email
  • A/B testing
  • Multi-language support

SMS Recovery (Optional)

Boost recovery rates by adding SMS notifications alongside email.

  • Requires your own Twilio account (you control costs)
  • Enter Twilio credentials in Settings → SMS tab
  • SMS sent for payment failures and reminders
  • Credentials are encrypted at rest

SMS is optional. RevGuard works great with email-only recovery.

Unsubscribe Handling

Every recovery email includes an unsubscribe link. Here's what happens when a customer clicks it:

  • Emails stop immediately — No more recovery emails will be sent to that customer for your account
  • Smart retries continue — RevGuard will still attempt payment retries (just no email notifications)
  • Per-merchant setting — Unsubscribing from your emails doesn't affect other merchants using RevGuard
  • Confirmation page — Customers see a confirmation that they've been unsubscribed

Unsubscribe preferences are stored securely and honored automatically. There is currently no self-serve re-subscribe option — contact support if a customer wants to opt back in.

Win-back Sequences

RevGuard can automatically run re-engagement campaigns for churned customers after cancellation.

  • Triggered after subscription cancellation
  • Automated sequence on Day 1, Day 7, Day 14, and Day 30
  • Personalized offers and incentives by customer segment
  • Win-back performance tracking in Analytics

Security

What Data We Access

  • Failed invoice events (via webhooks)
  • Customer email addresses (to send recovery emails)
  • Payment method information (to process retries)

What We Don't Access

  • Your bank account or payout information
  • Full credit card numbers (only last 4 digits via Stripe)
  • Any data outside of payment recovery context

Data Storage

We store minimal data required for recovery tracking:

  • Stripe customer IDs (not full customer data)
  • Invoice IDs and amounts
  • Recovery attempt timestamps and outcomes
  • All data is encrypted at rest in Supabase (PostgreSQL)

Compliance

RevGuard is PCI-compliant through Stripe. We never handle raw card data - all payment processing happens securely through Stripe's infrastructure.

Settings & Management

Disconnecting Stripe

You can disconnect your Stripe account anytime from the Connections page in your dashboard. This will:

  • Stop monitoring for new failed payments
  • Cancel any pending retry schedules
  • Revoke RevGuard's access to your Stripe account
  • You'll still be billed for any revenue recovered up to that point

Support

Need help? Email us at support@getrevguard.com

We aim to respond within 24 hours on business days.

Troubleshooting

Common issues and how to resolve them.

No recoveries showing

If your dashboard shows no recovered payments:

  • Check your webhook setup: Verify that Stripe webhooks are correctly configured in your Stripe Dashboard → Developers → Webhooks
  • Wait for failures: RevGuard only recovers payments that have already failed. If no payments have failed recently, there's nothing to recover yet
  • Check connection status: Go to Connections in your dashboard and verify your Stripe account shows as "Active"
  • Processing delay: It can take up to 24 hours for new recoveries to appear in analytics

Stripe connection issues

If your Stripe connection isn't working:

  • Re-authorize: Disconnect and reconnect your Stripe account from the Connections page
  • Check permissions: Ensure you granted all requested permissions during OAuth. RevGuard needs access to invoices, subscriptions, and payment methods
  • Stripe restrictions: Some Stripe accounts have restrictions that prevent third-party access. Contact Stripe support if you see permission errors

Recovery emails not sending

If customers aren't receiving recovery emails:

  • Check email settings: Verify recovery emails are enabled in your Settings
  • Unsubscribed customers: Customers who clicked unsubscribe won't receive emails. Check the Communications page for delivery status
  • Missing email addresses: If a customer has no email on file in Stripe, we can't send them recovery emails
  • Spam folders: Ask customers to check spam or add your sending domain to their contacts

Dashboard shows no data

If your dashboard appears empty:

  • New connection: Data starts populating after your first failed payment. It may take a few days to see activity
  • Date range: Check the date filter — you may be viewing a period with no activity
  • Processing delay: Analytics data updates periodically. New events may take up to an hour to appear
  • Connection inactive: Verify your Stripe connection is active on the Connections page

Still having issues? Contact support@getrevguard.com and we'll help you resolve them.

Ready to start recovering revenue?

Connect your Stripe account in under 5 minutes.

Get Started