Audit payment-error recovery: the median checkout abandons 23% of users after one declined-card screen.

Audit payment-error recovery: the median checkout abandons 23% of users after one declined-card screen.
The leak isn't acquisition — it's the second attempt that never happens.
— Log every gateway decline with its reason code (insufficient funds vs AVS mismatch vs fraud hold).
— Measure retry rate per reason: how many re-enter after each error type.
— AVS/CVV errors should recover >60%; if yours don't, your error copy is the problem.
— Rewrite messages to name the field at fault, keep card data filled, offer an alternate method.
A generic 'payment failed' converts the soft declines into hard exits. Read the number, not the story. [n=14k declines]