Keeping creativity flowing: How Patreon powers payments for millions of fans

A 0% retry success rate for US debit transactions.

That figure alone signaled something bigger: Patreon needed more control and visibility across its global payments. 

Managing recurring subscriptions in over 200 countries means keeping millions of transactions running smoothly. But without granular data, Patreon couldn’t see where payments were failing—or how to lower costs. 

To fix the retry rate, Patreon needed transparency into decline reasons and smarter routing options.

“Looking at our data is a huge focus. That’s where we have the most opportunity to make transactions more cost efficient, so we’re looking into different retries and the types of declines we get.”

Carol Schimmelpfeng

Director, Payments Partnerships & Fraud Operations - Patreon

Patreon also was looking for guidance around alternative payment methods (APMs), both to make it easier for fans to pay and for creators to get paid.

“I had my own list of countries based on our prioritizations, but there were payment methods I did not know or didn’t think through all the way,” said Carol. 

Both goals were perfect proving grounds for Adyen.

After Patreon adopted Intelligent Payment Routing for US Debit, authorization rates have increased and processing costs are down.

“We decided to go with Adyen because the product is set up right there with dynamic routing,” said Carol. “Adding intelligent routing means we now have a safety net of alternative routes if a transaction gets declined for US debit transactions.”

Processing payments through Adyen’s single platform not only lets Patreon tap into cost savings by maximizing US debit-eligible traffic, but also get a bird’s eye view of recurring subscriptions. This full data picture globally helps it make the right decisions for the business and its creators.

Meanwhile, the experience of paying—and getting paid—is becoming easier for Patreon users. Partnership with Adyen means both best-in-class technology and dedicated expertise in the form of an account manager, which the platform has leaned on to navigate the rollout of APMs and global payouts.

“It's important to have an account manager that can help you grow. There's only so much I know about payments, so having that guidance from Adyen was super relevant for us to decide which APMs to enable and how to enable them.”

Carol Schimmelpfeng

Director, Payments Partnerships & Fraud Operations - Patreon

Small changes have led to big results.  

To date, Patreon has seen a 1.89% authorization rate uplift with Intelligent Payment Routing—and a retry success rate of 22%.

It’s also realized a 18.7% cost saving for US debit transactions.

“I love that Adyen is not only sending the transaction directly to the route that is cheaper, but also thinking about which one will be more likely to get accepted. And if that fails, there’s another backup. That increases our chances of a higher profit.”

Carol Schimmelpfeng

Director, Payments Partnerships & Fraud Operations - Patreon

“I don’t sleep at night because I have so many exciting opportunities to launch either new payment methods or new initiatives for optimizations,” said Carol.

One example? Making APMs a competitive advantage, all with fewer partners thanks to Adyen’s capability of processing payments locally.

Looking ahead, success in payments for Patreon is deceptively, yet elegantly, simple. “Fans can go to our platform and pay with their favorite payment method. It’s just done,” said Carol.

Sounds like that future is almost here.

Curious about Intelligent Payment Routing with Adyen? Learn more here.