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Set up Paddle Retain

Set up Paddle Retain to start automatically reducing churn and increasing customer lifetime value. Get started in minutes with Paddle Billing, or integrate with other billing platforms.

AI summary

Set up Paddle Retain to automatically reduce churn through payment recovery, cancellation flows, and term optimization — integrated directly with Paddle Billing or connected to third-party billing platforms.

  • • Paddle Billing integrates with Retain automatically — no additional script is needed beyond the standard Paddle.js initialization; pass pwCustomer in Paddle.Initialize() to link customers.
  • • Setup requires personalizing sender email details, verifying via Postmark, and installing Paddle.js — optional steps include DKIM/Return-Path DNS records, a custom logo, and localized outreach.
  • • Retain also integrates with Braintree, Chargebee, Chargify, ReCharge, Recurly, Stripe Billing, and Zuora for teams not on Paddle Billing.

Paddle Retain combines world-class subscription expertise with algorithms that use billions of datapoints to automatically reduce churn. Paddle Billing is fully integrated with Retain, meaning it automatically handles dunning and retention for you.

Set up in minutes with Paddle Billing, or integrate with other billing platforms.

Connect to your billing platform

If you use Paddle Billing, you can set up Paddle Retain to take care of payment recovery for you.

Paddle Billing automatically integrates with Paddle Retain without additional configuration required.

Any team member with the admin, technical, or subscription KPIs roles in Paddle Billing can access Retain.

Once you've completed setup, you can configure advanced payment recovery features, cancellation flows, and term optimization features.

Illustration showing the Paddle navigation bar while on the Retain screen. Retain is highlighted, with other options for Checkout, Business Account, Developer Tools, Subscription Metrics, Documentation, and Help Center.

For US customers

  1. Set up Paddle Retain, if you haven't already.
  2. As part of the setup process, choose Connect to Braintree. Alternatively, go to ProfitWell > Settings > Integrations and click Braintree.
  3. Click Settings, then click Allow access.
  4. Follow the instructions to log in to your Braintree account and authorize ProfitWell to read your data. You must be an admin user in Braintree to do this.
  5. That's it! Wait for your data to ingest. This may take a few hours.

For non-US customers

The technology that lets us integrate with Braintree by signing in isn't available outside the United States flagUnited States. You can integrate by creating a read-only user with API access instead.

  1. Set up Paddle Retain, if you haven't already.

  2. Open Braintree, then go to Settings > Team, then click New user.

  3. Create a new role called "ProfitWell Read Only" with rights to:

    TransactionsDownload Transactions with Masked Payment Data
    Customer managementDownload Vault Records with Masked Payment Data
    Recurring billingDownload Subscription Records
    Recurring billingView Subscription Plans

    Click Save when you're done.

  4. Still in Braintree, go to Settings > Manage users, then click Add single user.

  5. Create a new user with API access, the "ProfitWell Read Only" role you just created, and access to your merchant account. Click Save when you're done.

  6. Log out of Braintree, then log in again using the account you just created.

  7. Go to Settings > API, then click Generate new API key.

  8. Email sellers@paddle.com with the public key, private key, and merchant ID for the API you just created. We'll take care of the rest.

  1. Set up Paddle Retain, if you haven't already.
  2. As part of the setup process, choose Connect to Chargebee. Alternatively, go to ProfitWell > Settings > Integrations and click Chargebee.
  3. Click Settings to open the settings screen, then paste your Chargebee site name. This is the first part of your Chargebee URL. For example, if you log in to Chargebee at yourproduct.chargebee.com then yourproduct is your site name.
  4. Open Chargebee in a new tab, go to Settings > Configure Chargebee > API Keys and Webhooks, then click on the API keys tab. Create a new read only API key with all access, then copy your key.
  5. Hop back over to ProfitWell, then paste your read only API key into your Chargebee settings screen.
  6. Click Save and you're done!
  7. Wait for your data to ingest. This may take a few hours.
  1. Set up Paddle Retain, if you haven't already.
  2. As part of the setup process, choose Connect to Chargify. Alternatively, go to ProfitWell > Settings > Integrations and click Chargify.
  3. Click Settings to open the settings screen, then paste your Chargify site name. This is the first part of your Chargify URL. For example, if you log in to Chargify at yourproduct.chargify.com then yourproduct is your site name.
  4. Open Chargify in a new tab, go to Config > Integrations > API Keys. Create a new API key and copy it.
  5. Hop back over to ProfitWell, then paste your API key into your Chargify settings screen.
  6. Click Save and you're done!
  7. Wait for your data to ingest. This may take a few hours.
  1. Set up Paddle Retain, if you haven't already.
  2. As part of the setup process, choose Connect to ReCharge. Alternatively, go to ProfitWell > Settings > Integrations and click ReCharge.
  3. Open ReCharge in a new tab, go to Apps > API tokens. Create a new API key with write access for all the options, then copy it.
  4. Hop back over to ProfitWell, click Settings on the ReCharge screen, then paste your API key.
  5. Click Save and you're done!
  6. Wait for your data to ingest. This may take a few hours.
  1. Set up Paddle Retain, if you haven't already.
  2. As part of the setup process, choose Connect to Recurly. Alternatively, go to ProfitWell > Settings > Integrations and click Recurly.
  3. Click Settings to open the settings screen, then paste your Recurly site name. This is the first part of your Recurly URL. For example, if you log in to Recurly at yourproduct.recurly.com then yourproduct is your site name.
  4. Open Recurly in a new tab, go to Developers > API Credentials. Click the Add private API key button, then create an API key with full access and copy it.
  5. Hop back over to ProfitWell, then paste your API key into your Recurly settings screen.
  6. Click Save and you're done!
  7. Wait for your data to ingest. This may take a few hours.
  1. Set up Paddle Retain, if you haven't already.
  2. As part of the setup process, choose Connect to Stripe. Alternatively, go to ProfitWell > Settings > Integrations and click Stripe.
  3. Click Settings, then click Allow access.
  4. Follow the instructions to log in to your Stripe account and authorize ProfitWell to read your data. You must be an admin user in Stripe to do this.
  5. That's it! Wait for your data to ingest. This may take a few hours.
  1. Set up Paddle Retain, if you haven't already.
  2. Open Zuora, go to Administration > Manage user roles, then click Add new role
  3. Create a new role called "API user" with API write access only. Leave the UI access box unchecked. Click Save when you're done.
  4. Still in Zuora, go to Administration > Manage users, then click Add single user.
  5. Create a new user with a work email and login name of product+company_name@profitwell.com, where company_name is your company name with spaces or symbols replaced with an underscore. Set the role to the new API user role you just created, then click Save when you're done.
  6. Email sellers@paddle.com with your API user account name in Zuora. We'll take care of the rest.

Complete setup steps

Go to Retain

You can access the setup flow for Retain in the Paddle dashboard.

  1. Go to Paddle > Retain.
  2. Click Get started

Screenshot of the Retain setup process, at Step 1: Retain overview. The screen introduces the service, stating "Retain significantly reduces your churn" and includes a "Get started" button.

Set up emails

Emails sent from Paddle Retain are designed to look like they come from you or someone on your team.

  1. Enter the name of the sender and the email to send from.
  2. Enter a name and title for the signature.
  3. Click Continue

Illustration of the Retain setup process, at Step 2: Personalize your emails. It shows fields for setting the sender's name, email address, and signature name to personalize the recovery emails sent to customers.

Verify your Retain emails

Retain uses Postmark to securely send emails to customers on your behalf. Verify your email sender by following the link provided in the email.

  1. Open your inbox and look for the email from Postmark.
  2. Click Confirm Sender Signature in the email to verify.

Illustration of the Retain setup process, at Step 3: Verify your emails. The user is prompted to check their inbox for a verification email from Postmark to confirm their sender email address.

Install JavaScript snippets

The Retain snippets power in-app payment recovery notifications and engagement tracking.

  1. Follow the instructions to install Paddle.js.
  2. Not technical? Email the instructions to your engineering team under Need help from your engineering team?
  3. Under Check Paddle.js installation, enter the URL of the page where you installed Paddle.js and click Check
  4. You're done. Click Continue to Retain to see all settings.

Illustration of the Retain setup process, at Step 4: Configure Paddle.js. The user is instructed to install the Paddle.js script on their website to enable one-click payment recovery.

Configure optional settings

  1. Make sure emails from Retain reach customers by clicking Verify on DKIM and Return-Path DNS records to set up email authentication methods.
  2. Upload a logo for emails and notifications by clicking Edit on Custom logo upload.
  3. Turn on localized outreach messages for multiple regions by toggling on Localized outreach.

Illustration of the final step of the Retain setup, showing a confirmation modal that says "Congratulations! Retain is now live." An illustration of an in-app notification for an expiring credit card is overlaid.

Configure Paddle Retain interventions

Now you've finished setup, configure and turn on:

Payment Recovery

Fully automated dunning, powered by algorithms that use billions of datapoints to reduce churn.

Cancellation Flows

Personalized offboarding workflows designed to deflect cancellations and gather valuable product insights.

Term Optimization

Seamless one-click upgrades for customers identified as ready to move to a longer-term plan.

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