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Pay Now
Rhino helps renters sidestep large upfront security deposits by paying a small monthly premium. As we scaled, cracks in the payment experience started to show up on our P&L.
Project Summary
Launched a payments recovery initiative to reduce bad debt and improve cash flow — recovering $2.5M in 8 months.
Background & Context
In 2022, roughly 20% of Rhino’s gross premium revenue was going uncollected — over 4x the industry benchmark and up from just 5.4% in 2019. For every dollar of missed premium, we not only forfeited our 25% commission, but also paid the remaining 75% out of pocket to our reinsurance partners, compounding the loss.
The business was burning ~$500K to ~$800K per month as a result. Our goal was to stop the bleeding fast and recover at least $4.5M by EOY — a critical milestone to meaningfully extend runway. Improving collections wasn’t just a nice-to-have. It was a path to survival.
Problem Statement
Product gaps in the payment experience made it challenging for renters to resolve missed payments:
- Poor visibility — Renters often didn’t realize they owed money. We only sent one email after a failed payment, and the Portal only showed a passive banner.
- Lack of clarity — Renters couldn’t see a clear breakdown of what they owed or why, undermining trust.
- No flexibility — We didn’t allow partial payments or let renters retry their card on file.
The Solution
MVP
- Itemized Balance Breakdown – Added clear statements so renters understood what they owed and why
- Dunning Campaign (email + SMS) – Launched reminder flows with product education to increase awareness and drive repayment
- Payment Method Retry / Update – Allowed renters to easily retry failed cards or switch payment methods to settle balances quickly
Future Iterations
- Digital Wallets (Apple Pay / Google Pay) – Reduced friction by integrating mobile-native payment options
- Payment Plans – Introduced flexibility for renters who couldn’t pay in full
Results & Learnings
Key Results
Over the span of 8 months, we implemented these iterations and successfully recovered $2.5 million in uncollected premium. The combination of dunning campaigns, product education, and flexibility in payment options drove this recovery effort by reducing payment friction for our renters.
Learnings
A key learning was knowing when to prioritize exploitation over exploration. As we launched Pay Now, the team debated A/B testing different dunning cadences to find the optimal recovery flow.
But we didn’t have time to chase perfect — every day we waited, balances grew and recovery odds dropped. I encouraged us to ship with our best guess and optimize later. I was later introduced to the statistical concept of multi-armed bandits — a reminder that when delay carries real opportunity cost, it’s often better to exploit what you believe works and learn as you go, rather than wait to optimize for perfection.
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ABHI
SINGH
