Rhino · 2021–2023

Helping renters resolve failed payments

Rhino is a B2B2C fintech company that helps renters meet lease requirements through flexible payment solutions. Renters who chose Rhino’s insurance alternative paid a monthly premium to protect their landlord, but 25% fell behind on one or more payments. That left $1.9M in outstanding revenue with few recovery options, since property managers controlled policy cancellations. Our goal was to recover that lost revenue.

Results

$405,763 collected 1 month post launch, ~90% drop in delinquent renters, 70% drop in payment-related support tickets.

Key metric

Collect 10% of the $1.9M in unpaid invoices

The team

Lead product managerEngineering managerBusiness stakeholders

Research

Searching for signals

We undertook a multi-method research deep dive to understand renter payment failures within the broader payments system. Our work included mapping the existing payment recovery workflow, analyzing Stripe transaction data and support tickets for failure patterns, and conducting a targeted survey with delinquent renters to understand their bill-paying behaviors.

Failed transaction retries analysis spreadsheet

Insights

Stripe charge data

Stripe only retried missed payments when a new delinquency occurred, charging one invoice at a time. Because most renters had multiple unpaid invoices and insufficient funds, partial recoveries rarely resolved their debt.

Payment recovery workflow

Renters were prompted to update their payment method after a failed charge, rather than paying a past-due balance, leaving renters unsure of how to resolve their delinquency.

Support tickets

“Retry or update payment” was the most common support request, with renters frequently calling to pay their balance using a card already on file.

Survey

Most delinquent renters were financially constrained, typically relied on a single credit or debit card, and allocated funds as individual bills were due.

Key insight

Renters needed a clear understanding of what they owed and a simple way to pay down their balance using the payment method they already had.

Opportunity

Two jobs to be done

Our research led us to define two primary Jobs to Be Done contributing to uncollected failed payments:

When my payment fails, I want to know how much I owe and the reason it failed so I can pay the balance.
When I have an upcoming payment, I want to know how much I owe and the date I will be charged to ensure I have the funds available.

I led a cross-functional brainstorm centered around our insights and defined jobs.

Brainstorm output: prioritization matrix

Design

The design approach

Build a pay-balance workflow accessible from the account, with updated communications directing renters how to pay. We defined design criteria that ensured the experience accurately represented backend payment states while minimizing resolution friction:

Surface actionable feedback by exposing payment failure reasons using error data.
Accurately reflect balance through a total balance view with optional line-item detail.
Enable resolution by allowing balances to be paid directly.
Minimize recovery friction by supporting use of an existing card on file.
Preserve backend charge logic by reflecting partial payments and enabling incremental resolution.

Failed payment email & pay-balance flow

Renters received a failed-payment email lacking clear next steps; the link sent them to an “update payment method” flow that didn’t match how they expected to pay, and they couldn’t tell how much they’d be charged. I redesigned the email and flow with task-focused language, full visibility of itemized charges, and a default card option.

Before

After

Account & confirmation screens

We added a dedicated “action required” section in-account (previously nonexistent), plus a partial-charge confirmation screen alerting renters when a balance remained after Stripe’s retry logic left a partial payment.

Welcome-back + partial charge confirmation screens

Impact

The results

Recovering lost revenue

Direct collections against the $1.9M in previously uncollected invoices

$405,763Collected 1 month post launch

~90%Drop in delinquent renters

Reduced support burden

Clearer payment flows meant fewer renters needed to call in for help

~70%Drop in payment support tickets MoM

67%Email click-thru (compared to 27%)

What's next

Shifting from recovery to prevention

Research showed most renters intended to pay but often didn’t have enough notice to prepare for upcoming charges. We introduced proactive communications before payments were due, shifting the experience from reacting to missed payments to preventing them altogether.