Dunning / Getting Started
Getting Started
Here's how Churn Buster recovers failed payments, what to expect in your first 45 days, and the few things that move your results the most.
How Churn Buster works: the basics
Churn Buster helps recover failed subscription payments by coordinating retries, customer communication, and optional recovery tools in one campaign.
Adaptive Campaigns: the foundation
Adaptive Campaigns organize the recovery process around each failed payment:
- They detect failed payments from your billing platform.
- They time retries and customer messages around the campaign stage.
- They keep recovery activity visible in your dashboard.
The goal is to give each customer the right next step without asking your team to manage every failed charge by hand.
Three ways payments are recovered
1. Retries
Retries attempt the failed charge again after the original decline. Churn Buster spaces those attempts across the campaign instead of treating every failure the same way.
- Retries happen automatically once your account is connected.
- The schedule gives temporary payment issues time to clear.
- Your dashboard shows which payments were recovered through retry activity.
2. Email Campaign + Card Updates
Email campaigns ask customers to fix their payment method, and card update pages give them a focused place to do it. These messages should look and sound like your brand so customers recognize the request.
- Email templates can be adjusted to match your tone and support expectations.
- Hosted card update pages reduce friction for customers who need to add a new card.
- Sender authentication helps those messages reach inboxes reliably.
3. Advanced Recovery Features (optional)
Some teams add SMS, last-chance offers, campaign escalations, or data testing after the core campaign is running. These features are useful when they match the customer relationship and the recovery problem you are trying to solve.
- SMS can help when customers expect transactional updates by text.
- Last-chance offers can give customers one final reason to keep the subscription active.
- Campaign escalations and testing help larger teams refine the recovery path over time.
Your first 45 days
The first month is mostly about setup, campaign starts, and waiting for enough completed campaigns to read performance clearly.
| When | What's happening |
|---|---|
| Week 0 | Your account is connected, settings are confirmed, templates are reviewed, and campaign tracking starts. |
| Weeks 1-2 | New failed payments enter campaigns. You will see activity in the dashboard, but many customers are still early in the recovery window. |
| Weeks 3-6 | More campaigns have had time to run. Patterns begin to show, but the dashboard still includes customers who have not reached the end of their campaign. |
| Day 45 | There is usually enough history for an initial review of setup, deliverability, customer response, and early recovery trends. |
In your first few weeks, the dashboard blends customers who are partway through dunning with campaigns that just started, so the rate reads low. Give it 45 to 90 days of completed campaigns before you judge performance. If you migrated from another tool, expect this even more, since early cohorts carry customers who were already mid-failure when you switched.
What moves your results
Once the basics are live, the biggest improvements usually come from the parts of the recovery experience customers actually see.
Email deliverability
Recovery emails need to reach the inbox before the copy or timing can matter. Authenticate your sender domain, keep your sending identity recognizable, and watch for bounces or spam complaints as campaigns begin. The sender email authentication guide walks through the DNS setup.
Brand alignment
Customers are more likely to trust a payment update request when it looks like it came from the company they already know. Review the email templates and card update page before launch so the language, logo, sender name, and support path match the rest of your customer experience.
Configuration and ongoing tuning
The right settings depend on your billing platform, product, customer base, and support model. Start with the recommended campaign structure, then use completed campaigns and customer feedback to decide whether timing, messaging, optional features, or escalation paths should change.
How much time this takes
Most teams spend the most time on the account review, brand details, sender authentication, and template feedback. After launch, Churn Buster handles the campaign work in the background while your team checks the dashboard and brings questions to scheduled reviews.
How we measure performance
Performance should be judged from completed campaigns, not from the first few weeks of in-progress activity. Use the dashboard to understand recovery sources, customer status, and campaign outcomes, then review results after 45 to 90 days when the early cohorts have had time to finish.
Where to go next
These docs cover the setup areas and optional features most teams review after the getting-started page.
- Docs home
- Retries
- Email templates
- Card update pages
- SMS
- Last-chance offers
- Campaign escalations
- Data testing
Need help?
Email support@churnbuster.io or book an account review if you want help checking your setup, reading early results, or deciding what to tune next.