RecoverDunning emails
Reflects the code as of 28 July 2026. If the product changes and this page does not, that is a bug worth emailing about.
Step 1 sends when the recovery case opens. Later steps follow the retry schedule, so the email cadence tracks the retry cadence rather than running on a separate clock.
The sequence
| Step | Tone | What it says |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Friendly reminder | The payment did not go through, this usually means a card needs updating, and no action is needed if they have already fixed it. |
| 2 | Follow-up | Still outstanding, with the amount, asking them to update the card so the subscription is not interrupted. |
| 3 | Final notice | Several attempts have failed, and this is the last reminder we will send. |
Every email ships an HTML part and a plain-text alternative. Mail without a text part is a spam-filter signal, and dunning email that lands in spam is worth nothing.
What the emails never say
They never name the decline reason for a lost, stolen or blocked card. Stripe's guidance is that a precise message is useful to whoever is holding a card they should not have, and separately, nobody wants to read the word "stolen" in an email from a company they pay.
Step 3 says it is the last reminder we will send. It does not tell the customer their subscription will be cancelled, because that depends on your own Stripe end-of-retry setting, which we neither see nor control. Telling a customer their subscription is about to be cancelled when it may not be would be a false statement made on your behalf.
Open and click tracking
Recovery emails record opens and clicks. This is disclosed in the privacy policy rather than buried. We publish no benchmark open or click rates anywhere on this site, because we have none worth standing behind.
What these emails do not do yet
This is the least finished part of the product and it would be silly to pretend otherwise.
- Copy does not vary by decline reason. The three steps are generic. The free dunning email generator on this site actually produces better reason-aware copy than the product currently sends, which is an odd thing to admit and a fair reason to hold off if reason-aware copy is what you came for.
- The sequence is not editable in the dashboard. Three steps, fixed wording.
- No custom sending domain yet.
Common questions
How many dunning emails does RecoverFlow send?
Three steps. The first sends when the recovery case opens and the later ones follow the retry schedule, so the emails and the retries stay in step rather than running on separate clocks.
Can I edit the dunning email copy?
Not yet. The three steps are currently fixed wording and do not vary by decline reason. This is the least finished part of the product.
Do the emails tell customers why their card was declined?
Not for lost, stolen or blocked cards. Stripe's guidance is that naming the reason gives useful information to whoever holds a card they should not have, so those emails ask for updated details without stating the cause.
Will the email tell my customer their subscription is being cancelled?
No. Whether a subscription cancels after failed payments is your own Stripe setting, which RecoverFlow does not see or control, so the final email says only that it is the last reminder we will send.