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Responsive · Dark modeFailed Payment Email — Free Responsive HTML Email Template
Transactional · v1.0.0 · Updated 2026-11-03 · Gmail, Outlook & Apple Mail · Dark mode
What's included
Features
About this template
Failed Payment Email — Free Dunning Email Template for Subscriptions
Failed Payment Email is the first message in a dunning sequence: the email you send when a subscription charge is declined. A large share of subscription churn is involuntary, customers who never meant to leave but whose card expired or was replaced. The difference between keeping and losing them is often just how clear and calm this one email is.
Calm, specific and blame-free
A red "Payment failed" pill sets the status without shouting. The headline is plain ("We couldn't charge your card") and the intro does three jobs in two sentences: it says what happened, explains that it usually means an expired or replaced card, and confirms that nothing has changed on the account yet. People act faster when they are not alarmed or embarrassed.
Exactly what failed
A red-outlined panel shows the amount due in large type, then a details box with the plan, the card that was tried, the reason in plain English (for example "The card has expired (10/26)" rather than a decline code), the date of the attempt and the invoice number. Most payment processors, including Stripe, give you a decline reason you can map to a friendly sentence.
Update the card, or just pay now
"Update payment method" is the main button, because a new card fixes this charge and every future one. A quieter "Pay this invoice now" link serves people who would rather pay once with a different card.
A timeline instead of a threat
"What happens next" lays out the automatic retry dates and the day the account would be paused, with the final date in red and a promise that projects and files are kept. Clear dates create urgency honestly, without "your account will be deleted" language. Copy it into Stripe, Chargebee, Recurly, Paddle or your own billing emails. It is transactional. For invoices that are simply due, use the Payment Reminder, and after a successful charge send the Payment Receipt.
Extend with AI
Take This Email Further With AI
Give this prompt to an AI assistant to write your own version of the Failed Payment Email email: draft ten subject lines and preheaders, adapt the copy for a customer segment, translate it, convert it to MJML or React Email, or write the plain-text version. Then paste the result back into the editor above to check it in desktop, mobile and dark mode.
Prompt to recreate it
Copy this into your AI assistant of choice to build the effect from scratch, or as a jumping-off point for your own variant:
Create a responsive HTML email: “Failed Payment Email”, a transactional email.
Purpose: A calm dunning email for a declined subscription charge: a "Payment didn’t go through" status pill, the amount, plan and card that failed, the plain-English reason (expired card, insufficient funds), a three-point timeline of the automatic retry and the date the account would pause, an "Update payment method" button and a reassurance that nothing is lost yet.
Inbox text:
- Subject line: “Action needed: your Acme payment didn’t go through”
- Preheader (hidden preview text): “Your card ending 4242 was declined for $29.00. Update it before Nov 10 to keep your projects active.”
Content, top to bottom:
- Message & button
- Charge details
- What happens next
Headline: “We couldn’t charge your card”. Main button: “Update payment method”.
Put the key facts first (order or account details, amounts, dates) in a clear summary, with no marketing clutter.
Build it like a professional email developer:
- Table-based layout, 600px wide on desktop and fluid on mobile (width 100%, max-width 600px).
- Inline CSS on every element, with one small style block only for media queries and dark mode (prefers-color-scheme).
- A bulletproof, Outlook-safe call-to-action button (padded table cell with a VML fallback), never an image.
- Colours: brand and button #4338ca, button text #ffffff, page background #eef0f7. Web-safe font stack with a fallback after the brand font.
- Every image has alt text and explicit width and height. Use PNG icons, never SVG, because Gmail and Outlook drop them.
- Hidden preheader text, a plain-text version, and a legal footer with the postal address, the reason the person is receiving it and a working unsubscribe link.
Finish with a short checklist of what to test in Gmail, Outlook for Windows, Apple Mail, mobile and dark mode.Want to tighten it up first? Run this prompt through the AI Prompt Studio to score it across 8 quality dimensions, catch anti-patterns, and tune the wording for Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini before you paste it in.
Why use it
Why Use the Failed Payment Email Template
How it’s different
How It’s Different From Other Free Email Templates
Step by step
How to Use
- 1Pick your email platformChoose Mailchimp, Klaviyo, HubSpot or Brevo under Merge tags so first names and unsubscribe links export in its syntax, or keep plain {{first_name}} tokens.
- 2Edit the contentFill in the message & button, charge details and what happens next, or click any text in the preview to jump to its field. Switch the what happens next on or off.
- 3Add your brandUpload or paste your logo, set the brand colour and the light and dark palettes, pick fonts, or apply your saved brand kit.
- 4Preview and checkSwitch between desktop, mobile and dark mode, and fix anything the pre-send checks flag, such as placeholder links or missing alt text.
- 5Export or forkCopy the HTML into Postmark, SendGrid, Amazon SES, Resend or your own code, copy the plain-text version, download a ZIP with images, or fork it into My Code.
Real-world uses
Common Use Cases
Got questions?
Frequently Asked Questions
An email sent to recover a failed payment. A typical sequence has three or four emails: one when the charge fails, one before each retry and a final notice before the account is paused or cancelled. This template is the first and can be adapted for the rest.
The amount, the plan, the card that was tried, a plain-English reason, a button to update the payment method, when you will retry and what happens if payment does not succeed. Keep the tone calm and avoid blaming the customer.
Yes. Trigger it from the invoice.payment_failed webhook, map the decline_code to a friendly sentence for the reason field, and link the button to the Stripe customer portal or your own billing page. Turn off Stripe’s own email if you send this one.
Many businesses retry three or four times over one to three weeks, often with smart retries timed by the processor. Tell the customer the dates in the email so they know how long they have.
Yes. It is about an existing subscription and a specific charge, so it does not need an unsubscribe link under US CAN-SPAM. Keep it free of promotions and send it from your billing address.
It saves an editable copy of your Failed Payment Email in My Code, the UI Snippets code editor: the email markup goes in the HTML panel and its CSS (mobile and dark-mode rules plus fonts) in the CSS panel, so you can keep refining the code and save your own versions.
Yes. It is free for personal and commercial email, with no sign-up and no watermark. Everything runs in your browser, and your edits are saved locally.