How I Send Automated Dunning Emails Through Baremetrics
Failed payments drain revenue in silence. A card expires, a bank blocks a charge, or a limit blocks a renewal, and a healthy subscription starts to wobble. Baremetrics dunning emails give subscription teams a structured way to win these cus...
Failed payments drain revenue in silence. A card expires, a bank blocks a charge, or a limit blocks a renewal, and a healthy subscription starts to wobble. Baremetrics dunning emails give subscription teams a structured way to win these customers back.
This guide covers how Baremetrics Recover works, which billing platforms are supported, how retries and emails divide the work, the setup steps, a sample cadence, and the numbers to watch. Product details come from Baremetrics pages. Confirm current terms on the Recover page and the Baremetrics pricing page.
Why failed payments need their own recovery system
A cancellation is a choice. A failed payment is often a billing problem wearing a churn mask. Expired cards, temporary declines, and low funds cause many failures, and many customers would stay if the fix were easy.
Baremetrics says around 9% of MRR is at risk from failed payments for the average SaaS and subscription business. The figure is a general Baremetrics estimate, not a Recover result. Treat the number as a reason to measure, not a promise.
Failed-payment churn also needs its own view in reporting. Compare recovered revenue against the broader picture in the guide on SaaS churn metrics and the Baremetrics dashboard. Voluntary cancellations belong in a separate bucket. The guide on Baremetrics cancellation insights covers the cancellation side.
What Baremetrics Recover includes
Recover is a payment recovery add-on. The Recover page lists these core features:
- Billing platform support. Stripe, Braintree, and Recurly, plus Chargebee where customer emails are collected. Saving an updated card straight to the subscription works on Stripe, Braintree, and Recurly. Other gateways still get email and in-app messaging.
- Email sequences. The default sequence holds 7 emails. Teams choose which emails are active, write the copy, and pick a team member as sender. The page also mentions 10 or more turnkey email and SMS sequences, with SMS running alongside email.
- In-app banners and paywall. After a grace period set by the team, in-app banners turn into a paywall until the customer updates the card.
- Pre-dunning reminders. Two card expiration reminders go out 30 days and 7 days before expiry. Two annual renewal reminders also go out.
- Card update flows. Branded card forms and one-click recovery links reduce friction.
One detail surprises many teams. Recover has no retry schedule of its own. The Recover page states the billing processor handles retries, such as Stripe Smart Retries. Recover manages customer communication around those retries. Retries recover some charges invisibly. Emails prompt customers who must act.
Price and trial
The Baremetrics pricing page lists Payment Recovery at $129 per month as an add-on. The page says the add-on includes automated reminders, customizable credit card forms, in-app paywalls, and one-click recovery links. Baremetrics states a guarantee: recover more than the Baremetrics cost or the next month is free. The Recover page also mentions a 14-day free trial.
The pricing page shows two sets of base plan prices, so confirm current prices directly before budgeting. Terms and guarantees can change. The official pages hold the final word.
How to set up Recover
The Baremetrics Help Center article on the Recover 101 setup guide lists the steps.
- Start the setup. Begin the free trial in the Recover app.
- Configure DNS. Update DNS settings so emails reach inboxes instead of spam. Some domain hosts accept only the subdomain portion.
- Customize the emails. Edit the templates in Recover Settings. Seven templates are available.
- Adjust Stripe Smart Retries. Stripe merchants should review retry settings in Stripe. The Help Center says Smart Retries is not dunning by itself.
- Set the billing URL. Use the Baremetrics hosted billing page or host a page for payment collection and card updates.
- Add the widget. Embed Recover in the website or app to reach customers who still have not paid after email reminders.
- Brand the card form. Add the logo, colors, and wording.
DNS setup deserves extra care. Poor deliverability can cancel the value of a perfect email sequence.
A sample dunning cadence
The Recover default includes 7 templates, and the Help Center does not publish exact send times. Teams set the timing. The Baremetrics dunning management guide offers a sample cadence over about 27 days. Treat the sample as a starting point, not a rule.
| Day after failure | Tone | Purpose | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Day 0, within 24 hours | Friendly | Report the failed payment |
| 2 | Day 3 | Friendly | Offer a gentle reminder with common causes |
| 3 | Day 7 | Direct | Explain the consequence, such as paused service |
| 4 | Day 10 | Direct | Add account-level urgency |
| 5 | Day 13 | Direct | Make the last touch before a typical lockout |
| 6 | Day 20 | Re-engagement | Offer help while the account is paused |
| 7 | Day 27 | Final | Send the final notice before cancellation |
The same guide suggests SMS for later steps, when email engagement drops. The guide also advises pre-dunning about 30 days before an annual renewal or card expiry, and 3 to 7 days before a monthly renewal charge. Recover sends its own expiry reminders at 30 and 7 days.
Write emails customers act on
Good dunning emails work like a polite tap on the shoulder. The customer should learn what happened, what to do next, and how long the window lasts. The Baremetrics guide to dunning emails and its dunning best practices support the same approach.
- Put the update link near the top.
- Name the problem in plain words.
- Keep each email to one job.
- Avoid collections-style subject lines such as final notice in the first messages.
- Make the card update take two clicks or fewer, with a mobile-friendly page.
Sample starting copy
- Within 24 hours: Your payment did not go through. Please update your card here so your account stays active.
- A few days later: We still could not process your payment. The fix usually takes less than a minute.
- Before service impact: Your subscription will pause soon because billing still needs attention. Update your payment details to avoid interruption.
Adjust the tone by failure reason. Keep an expired card message practical. For insufficient funds, avoid blame and mention the processor will retry. For a hard decline, offer support in case the bank must clear the charge.
Accounts to treat differently
The dunning management guide suggests personal outreach for high-value accounts and exclusions for accounts which should not receive automated dunning, such as internal accounts and manual-billing enterprise customers. Set the dollar threshold for personal outreach from your own revenue mix.
What to measure after launch
Watch results, not activity. Track these numbers:
- Recovered MRR. The money returned after failed payments.
- Attempted recovery rate. Recovered charges divided by recovery attempts. Baremetrics reports this metric and gives no overall percentage.
- Recovery by email step. Find which message drives the card update.
- Involuntary churn before and after launch. A drop shows the sequence is working.
If many customers open emails but few update cards, the call to action may be weak or the update page may be slow. If late emails do all the work, early messages may be too soft. Fix one variable at a time.
Be careful with outside recovery claims. Vendor pages and case studies show results from selected customers. Results depend on plan price, customer type, and failure mix. Use your own data.
Common dunning mistakes
- Skipping DNS setup. Emails land in spam and the sequence does nothing.
- Using harsh language early. A first message should sound helpful, not threatening.
- Hiding the update link. A buried link adds friction and lowers recovery.
- Sending to the wrong accounts. Internal and manual-billing accounts need exclusions.
- Ignoring the update page. A slow or confusing page wastes a good email.
- Judging results too early. Wait for a full cycle of failures before changing the sequence.
Test the whole path as a customer would. Trigger a test failure, read each email on a phone, click the link, and update a card. Fix any step which feels long or confusing before blaming the copy.
When to review the sequence
Review the sequence after the first full month, then every quarter. Check the open rate, the card update rate, and the number of accounts reaching the paywall. Compare results by plan price and by failure reason. A sequence tuned for small monthly plans may not suit large annual contracts, so build separate paths when the data supports the split.
FAQ
Which billing platforms does Recover support?
The Recover page lists Stripe, Braintree, and Recurly, plus Chargebee where customer emails are collected. Card saving works on Stripe, Braintree, and Recurly.
Does Recover retry failed charges?
No retry schedule belongs to Recover. The billing processor, such as Stripe Smart Retries, handles retries. Recover manages customer communication.
How many emails does Recover send?
The default sequence holds 7 emails. Teams choose which to activate and write their own copy.
What does Recover cost?
The pricing page lists Payment Recovery at $129 per month as an add-on. Confirm the price on the official page.
When do card expiry reminders go out?
Recover sends reminders 30 days and 7 days before card expiry, plus two annual renewal reminders.
Conclusion
Baremetrics dunning emails work best as part of a layered system. The billing processor retries charges, Recover handles messages, reminders, and card update flows, and the team tunes tone and timing from real results.
Start with one clean sequence, set DNS correctly, and measure recovered MRR and involuntary churn. Verify the supported platforms, the price, and the guarantee on the official Baremetrics pages before rollout.
