Dunning
Dunning is the automated process of recovering failed subscription payments — retrying the charge on a schedule and prompting the customer to update their card.
Good dunning quietly saves a large share of involuntary churn.
Why it matters for publishers
Dunning quietly protects revenue you have already earned. A well-designed sequence recovers a majority of failed payments; a badly designed one — a single retry and a silent cancellation — throws away subscribers who never chose to leave.
How publishers use it in practice
- Combine automated retries with email: retries recover the card issues, email recovers the human ones.
- Three to four emails over 14–21 days is the common pattern: heads-up, first failure, second failure, final notice.
- Keep the tone helpful and the call to action singular — update your card.
- Keep access on during the retry window; cutting it off immediately increases the chance the reader simply leaves.
Frequently asked questions about dunning
- How long should a dunning window be?
- Two to three weeks is standard. Longer windows recover a little more but delay the point at which you know your true subscriber count.
- Should I offer a discount in a dunning email?
- No. A failed payment is usually a technical problem, not a price objection — discounting trains subscribers to let payments fail.