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Managing Subscription Dunning: Payment Follow-up Notifications and Reminders

Dunning is the process of identifying subscriptions that are about to expire, or that have already expired, and sending the customer reminder notifications in an attempt to collect payment. SpringBoard's dunning management system provides you with the ability to automatically follow up with your customers when their subscription payment fails due to credit cards expiring, getting lost, or being cancelled.  

This dunning process consists of up to four notification steps, with a requirement of one notification that gives customers a minimum of three days to go to a provided URL to correct or update their payment information before their subscription is cancelled. The timing and content of these notification emails can be customized by going to SpringBoard's Store Home » Store Settings, and clicking on the Subscriptions tab.

Reminder Email Notifications

602.pngAfter the initial email notification, you can decide whether or not to extend the time given to customers to update their payment information before the subscription is automatically cancelled.

If you select None for 2nd Step and 3rd Step, then the subscription will be cancelled three days after the initial email notification.
 

 

Selecting Remind for 2nd Step and selecting 3, 5, 7, 14, or 21 days after the previous step will send a second reminder email notification after the selected number of days after the initial email. Selecting Remind for 3rd Step and selecting 3, 5, 7, 14, or 21 days after the previous step will send a third reminder email notification after the selected number of days after the second email.

Three days after the maximum three reminders, the subscription will be cancelled, so customers can be given up to 45 days to update their failed payment information.

Cancellation Email Notifications

If you select Cancel for 2nd Step or 3rd step, and select 3, 5, 7, 14, or 21 days after the previous step, then the subscription will be cancelled after the selected number of days after the previous step. This will override the final 4th Step which will not be triggered.

Customizing Dunning Email Notifications

603.pngAlhough there are default messages for all follow up email notifications, they can be fully customizable by going to SpringBoard's Store Home » Store Settings, and clicking on the Subscriptions tab.
 

 

The following are the default messages for the follow up email notifications. After you customize the notifications, you can set them back to the default subject and content by selecting Reset.

Subscription Payment Declined, First Followup

This initial email notification occurs when the recurring payment fails.

Subject: #{display} Subscription Payment Declined

Content:

Hi #{firstName},

Thanks for using our product!

Unfortunately your most recent #{display} subscription payment was declined.

Please go to #{url} and update your payment information as soon as possible to avoid cancelation.

Best Practices

Once the renewal date has come and gone, and payment has failed, this notification should focus its message on persuading customers to update their payment information. You should provide customers with an explanation of the benefits they will be missing when they lose access to your subscription product or service. This notification should serve as a warning of the value your customers will be missing by not updating their payment information and the consequences that will occur when their subscription is not renewed. This first notification should be gently worded.

Subscription Payment Declined, Reminder

This notification will occur when you choose to select Remind and a specific number of days after previous step in 2nd Step or 3rd Step, as described above.

Subject: #{display} Subscription Payment Declined Reminder

Content:

Hi #{firstName},

This is a reminder that your most recent #{display} subscription payment was declined.

Please go to #{url} and update your payment information as soon as possible to avoid cancelation.

Best Practices

Once the renewal date has come and gone, payment has failed, and the customer has already received notification of the failure, this notification should continue to focus its message on persuading customers to update their payment information. You should continue to provide customers with an explanation of the benefits they will be missing when they lose access to your subscription product or service. This notification should further serve as a warning of the value your customers will be missing by not updating their payment information and the consequences that will occur when their subscription is not renewed. This first notification may contain more urgent wording that better provokes a sense of urgency for customers to act. You may even consider adding an incentive to act, such as a discount coupon code.

Subscription Deactivated, Non-Payment

This notification will occur as the final step of the payment dunning process, or if you select Cancel and a specific number of days after previous step in 2nd Step or 3rd Step, as described above.

Subject: #{display} Subscription Canceled

Content:

Hi #{firstName},

We had trouble processing your payment. Your #{display} subscription has now expired due to non-payment.

Please go to #{url} for more details.

Best Practices

Although customers have not updated their payment information and their subscription has been deactivated, you can still use this email as an incentive to purchase again. You may consider adding an incentive to act, such as providing a discount coupon code off of a future purchase of this or another subscription product, and provide the URL to purchase.

Customizing Pre-Bill Dunning Subscription Notifications

604.pngTwo subscription reminder notifications are sent before payment for a subscription payment fails. One reminder occurs toward the end of the first subscription period when the price of the first period is different than than the price of the regular period, as in the case of a free trial when a customer is about to be charged for the subscription. The other reminder occurs toward the end of the rebilling period of subscriptions with lengths of 6 months or longer and is designed to give customers an opportunity to update their payment information in case their credit card expired, got lost, or was cancelled.

The following are the default messages for the follow up email notifications. After you customize the notifications, you can set them back to the default subject and content by selecting Reset.

Subscription Reminder, End of Trial Period

This notification, independent of the dunning email notifications, is sent a certain number of days prior to the start of the next billing period. It gives customers the opportunity to update their payment information before their first regular period charge.

The number of days lead time is as follows:

  • 3 day first period: Reminder sent 1 day prior to next billing period
  • 1 week first period: Reminder sent 2 days prior to next billing period
  • 2 week first period or longer: Reminder sent 5 days prior to next billing period

Subject: #{display} Subscription Renewal

Content:

Hi #{firstName},

We wanted to give you a heads up that your #{display} subscription is up for renewal on #{nextPeriodDate}. You will be charged #{totalPrice}.

If you'd like to cancel your subscription before it renews, please follow the instructions below:

1. Access your settings at #{url}
2. Press "Cancel Subscription"
3. Confirm the cancelation

Thanks for using our product.

Best Practices

When you want to convert customers from a free or reduced-priced trial subscription to the full priced subscription, you should inform them of what they would be missing if they did not continue using your product or service. Make sure to highlight the value that your subscription product or service provides. Research suggests that this notification should provide an explanation of the benefits of your subscription product or service along with a hint at the upcoming new charge.

Subscription Reminder, 6 Month+ Renewal

This notification, independent of the dunning email notifications, is sent 10 days prior to the the start of the next billing period for subscriptions that have a regular subscription period of 6 months of longer. It gives customers an opportunity to update their payment information in case their credit card expired, got lost, or was cancelled, which is a common occurrence in a six-month or year interval. If you would like to disable this notification, please open a support ticket.

Subject: #{display} Subscription Renewal

Content:

Hi #{firstName},

We wanted to give you a heads up that your #{display} subscription is up for renewal on #{nextPeriodDate}. You will be charged #{totalPrice}.

We hope you stick around! If you do not want to renew #{display}, please follow the instructions below:

1. Access your settings at #{url}
2. Press "Cancel Subscription"
3. Confirm the cancelation

Thanks for using our product.

Best Practices

When you want customers to renew their subscriptions, you should inform them of what they would be missing if they did not renew your product or service. Make sure to highlight the value that your subscription product or service provides. Research suggests that this notification should provide an explanation of the benefits of your subscription product or service along with a hint at the upcoming charge.

Subscription Canceled

This notification, independent of the dunning email notifications, is sent as the final part of a subscription. A subscription can be cancelled after a defined number of periods have occurred, after an end date has been reached, by a regular cancellation (Cancel at Next Period), or by an immediate cancellation from SpringBoard (Cancel Now).

Subject: #{display} Subscription Canceled

Content:

Hi #{firstName},

Your subscription has been canceled. It ends on #{endDate} and you won't be charged anymore.

For more information, please see your subscription details:

#{url}

Notification Translations

You can customize your dunning email notification emails to display in other languages. For more information, see Translating Notification Emails.

We're Here to Help

If you need assistance with managing subscription dunning, including payment follow-up notifications and reminders, please open a support ticket.