What is dunning?
Dunning is the process of automatically sending communications to customers whose payment has failed, with the goal of recovering subscriptions before they lapse.
Why it matters for SaaS
Involuntary churn — cancellations caused by payment failure rather than dissatisfaction — accounts for an average of 20 to 40% of total SaaS churn.
That's revenue left on the table from customers who actually wanted to stay.
The 3 pillars of an effective dunning strategy
1. The email sequence
A solid dunning sequence includes:
- Day 0: Immediate email notifying the customer of the failure
- Day 3: Follow-up with a direct payment update link
- Day 7: Final notice before suspension
2. Timing
Reaching out too soon (within hours of the failure) creates friction. Waiting too long causes the customer to forget about the subscription entirely.
3. A frictionless update link
Every email should include a unique, secure link that takes the customer directly to the card update form — no login required.
How Dunlo automates all of this
Dunlo connects to your Stripe account in 2 minutes and handles the entire dunning flow: failure detection, email sending, and recovery tracking.