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Smart Dunning 2025: Optimal Retry Logic for Failed Payments

Smart dunning retry logic: when to retry failed payments, optimal timing, and ML-powered optimization. Recover 30-50% of failed payments.

June 2, 2025By Lisa Wang

Failed payments cause 20-40% of involuntary churn. Smart dunning logic can recover 30-50% of failed payments with the right retry strategy.

Understanding Payment Failures

Payments fail for many reasons: insufficient funds, expired cards, bank blocks, and technical issues. Each requires different retry strategies.

Optimal Retry Timing

Retry insufficient funds around paydays (1st and 15th). Retry technical failures immediately. Space retries to avoid triggering fraud detection.

Retry Frequency Best Practices

Most successful dunning uses 4-6 retry attempts over 14-21 days. Too few misses recoverable payments; too many annoys customers and wastes resources.

Intelligent Retry Optimization

Use ML to optimize retry timing based on customer payment history, failure reason, and historical success patterns. Personalized dunning outperforms one-size-fits-all.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many times should I retry failed payments?

4-6 attempts over 2-3 weeks is optimal for most businesses. Monitor recovery rates and adjust based on your specific customer base.

What is the best time of day to retry?

Morning retries (6-9 AM customer local time) often perform best, but test with your specific customer base. Avoid late night retries.

Key Takeaways

Smart dunning is one of the highest ROI investments in revenue operations. Even small improvements in recovery rates significantly impact bottom line.

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