Stripe Dunning & Failed Payment Recovery
Recover failed Stripe payments before they become churn.
StayPaid watches your Stripe account for failed payments and helps you recover them with personal emails — sent from your address, signed with your name. Nothing goes out without your approval.
No credit card required · Connects to Stripe in 2 minutes
0.0%
Recovery Rate
$0.00
Revenue Recovered
0
Churn Prevented
John Smith
$49.00/mo · Card expired
Sarah Chen
$99.00/mo · Insufficient funds
Mike Johnson
$29.00/mo · Card expired
To mike@tech.co · From you@yourdomain.com
Your payment didn't go through
P.S. Hey Mike, noticed you've been with us for 8 months. Really appreciate your support! — Robert
The Problem
20-40% of your churn isn't churn
Expired cards. Bank holds. Insufficient funds. Research from Paddle and ProfitWell puts involuntary churn — customers lost to failed payments, not cancellations — at 20-40% of total subscription churn. Most dunning tools recover some of it, but they send robotic emails from a faceless domain. Your customers can tell the difference.
Active paying subscribers at the start of the month.
Cancelled or churned out during the month.
Your total MRR in USD.
Share of monthly billing that fails on the first attempt. 5–15% is typical for subscriptions.
Monthly churn rate
5.0%
compounds to 46.0% annually
Churn costs you / year
$3,600
$300 MRR walking out monthly
Failed payments cost / year
$5,760
$480 fails every month
How much of that is recoverable?
With a real dunning setup, founders typically recover 30–70%of failed payments. At the mid-point, that's $2,880 / year back in your pocket — about 8.3× the cost of StayPaid ($348/yr).
Share your numbers
Download your report card or post it — founders comparing churn numbers is how we all get better.
The math we used
- Monthly churn rate = customers lost ÷ customers at start × 100
- Annual churn = 1 − (1 − monthly churn)12— churn compounds, it doesn't add
- ARPU = MRR ÷ customers = $50.00
- Failed payments = MRR × 8.0% = $480/mo
Dashboard Preview
See every failed payment in one place
No more digging through Stripe emails. Your dashboard shows who failed, why, and what to do next.
Customer names, amounts, and metrics shown here are illustrative. Your dashboard will display real payments from your Stripe account.
How It Works
A dunning workflow that keeps you in control
StayPaid connects to Stripe, watches for failed payments, and helps you recover them with personal emails — while you stay in the loop.
01Payment Fails
A customer's card expires or gets declined. StayPaid finds it on the next hourly Stripe sync.
Stripe sync · just now
Sarah Chen
$99.00/mo · Insufficient funds
Caught within the hour, before Sarah even notices.
02You Review It
See the failure in your dashboard with customer history, tenure, and total revenue.
Sarah Chen
sarah@startup.io
14 mo
Customer for
$1,386
Total revenue
Full context before you decide what to say.
03Add Your Touch
Write a personal P.S. note, choose a tone, and send — or let it auto-send if you prefer.
To sarah@startup.io · From you@yourdomain.com
Your payment didn't go through
Hi Sarah, your latest payment of $99.00 didn't go through...
P.S. Hey Sarah, 14 months with us, that means a lot. Anything I can help with? — Robert
04Track Recovery
Watch your recovery rate and revenue saved. See which emails worked and which didn't.
66.7%
Recovery Rate
$128
Recovered
2
Churn Prevented
Email timeline
Stripe sync · just now
Sarah Chen
$99.00/mo · Insufficient funds
Caught within the hour, before Sarah even notices.
Why StayPaid
Why founders choose StayPaid
The founder-in-the-loop alternative to traditional dunning software.
Sent from your email address
Recovery emails go out from your address with your signature. Customers reply to a person they know — not a no-reply domain they've learned to ignore.
You approve every email
Review each failed payment with full customer context. Add a personal note, pick the tone, and send. A 24-hour auto-fallback keeps recovery moving when you're away.
$29 flat, not $249
Every feature included, one honest price. Free until StayPaid recovers 3 real payments for you — no credit card required to start.
| StayPaid | Stripe retries | Churn Buster | Baremetrics Recover | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $29 flat | Free | From $249/mo | MRR-based, up to $499+ |
| Recovery emails | From your address | Retries only | From their domain | From their domain |
| You approve every email | ||||
| Personal note per customer | Templates | Templates | ||
| Best when | Customers should hear from you | You only want auto retries | You want to hand it off | You want all-in-one analytics |
Where other tools win:Stripe's built-in retries are free and fully automatic, and platforms like Churn Buster suit teams that want to hand everything off. If you never want to think about failed payments, those are good options. If you want customers to hear from a person — that's what StayPaid is built for.
A note from the founder
I run a SaaS myself. When payments failed, my options were a $249/month tool that sent robotic emails from a domain my customers didn't recognize — or no follow-up at all. So I built what I wanted: recovery emails sent from my own address, approved by me, at a price that makes sense for a bootstrapped product.
If that sounds right for your customers, your first 3 recoveries are free.
Robert
Founder, StayPaid
Pricing
Simple, honest pricing
FAQ
Common questions
What is dunning?
Dunning is the process of recovering failed subscription payments — usually by retrying the card and emailing the customer to update their payment method. Left alone, failed payments quietly turn into churn. See how automated dunning works.
How is StayPaid different from Stripe Smart Retries?
Stripe Smart Retries re-attempt the charge automatically, but never contact the customer. Many declines — like an expired card — can't be fixed by retrying. StayPaid reaches the customer with a personal email from your address, which is what actually gets the card updated. Learn which declines need an email.
Do my customers know a tool sent the email?
No. Emails go out from your own email address with your name and signature, and you approve each one. You can add a personal note to any recovery email before it sends.
How much revenue am I losing to failed payments?
Research from Paddle and ProfitWell puts involuntary churn at 20-40% of total subscription churn — customers lost to failed payments, not cancellations. Estimate your own numbers with the free churn calculator.
Do I need a credit card to start?
No. StayPaid is free until it recovers 3 real payments for you. After that, it's $29/month flat — every feature included, no tiers.
From the blog
Dunning thoughts, short and practical
What Is Churn Rate in SaaS? The Plain-English Definition (and the Part Most Guides Skip)
Churn rate is the percentage of customers or revenue you lose each period. Here's the plain-English definition, the types, and how to read your number.
Why Is My SaaS Churn Rate So High? A Diagnostic for Founders (Before You Panic)
Churn rate way above the benchmarks? Run this diagnostic first — most 'high churn' is a bad comparison, blended numbers, or fixable failed payments.
How to Reduce Voluntary Churn: The 5 Levers That Actually Work for Subscription SaaS
Voluntary churn is customers choosing to leave. Five levers move it: onboarding, value reminders, pricing fit, cancel flows, and real exit reasons.
First 3 recoveries free · No card requiredFirst 3 recoveries free
Start free