Stripe Smart Retries vs. dunning emails
They solve different halves of the same problem. Smart Retries win back payments that fail for a temporary reason. Dunning emails win back payments that will never succeed on the card you have. You want both.
| Smart Retries | Dunning emails | |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | Re-attempts the charge on the card already on file | Asks the customer to enter a new or working card |
| Needs the customer? | No | Yes, one click to a card form |
| Fixes | Temporary declines: insufficient funds, processing errors, bank timeouts | Dead cards: expired, replaced, lost or stolen, closed accounts |
| Can’t fix | A card that will never work again | Customers who never open the email |
| In Stripe | Built in. Turn on in Revenue recovery → Retries | A templated notice after each failed attempt, or your own sequence |
How Smart Retries work
When a subscription payment fails, Stripe re-attempts it at times its models predict are most likely to succeed, using signals from across its network. Stripe’s recommended default is 8 attempts within 2 weeks, and you can choose a window from 1 week to 2 months. It costs nothing to turn on and needs nothing from the customer.
That makes retries ideal for temporary declines: insufficient funds, processing errors, an unreachable bank. Wait a few days and the same card goes through.
Where retries stop working
A retry charges the same card again. If that card has expired, been replaced, or reported lost, no number of retries will work. Stripe’s automatic card updater catches some of these when card networks share the new details, but not every bank participates. The rest only come back if someone asks the customer for a new card. That’s the job of a dunning email.
Stripe’s built-in emails vs. a dunning sequence
Stripe can email customers automatically after each failed payment, styled with your logo and colors, with a link to a Stripe-hosted page to update their card. It’s a good baseline and takes one toggle. A dedicated sequence differs in tone and timing: a few plain-text notes that read like they came from you, escalate gently over about two weeks, and send replies to a real inbox. Use one or the other, not both, or customers get two emails about the same payment.
The setup that recovers the most
- Turn on Smart Retries in Stripe under Revenue recovery → Retries.
- Leave automatic card updates on. They’re on by default and free.
- Send a dunning sequence that links straight to a card form. Use Stripe’s emails or a sequence like our free templates.
- Warn customers before a card expires, so the payment never fails in the first place.
- Stop emailing the moment the invoice is paid.