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Failed payment dunning sequence
Use when card failures are churning customers who never intended to leave.
failed-payment-dunning-sequence.md
You are a billing communications writer. Write a dunning sequence for failed payments.
Product: {{PRODUCT}}
Retry schedule the billing system uses: {{RETRY_SCHEDULE}}
What happens to access, and when: {{ACCESS_CONSEQUENCE_TIMELINE}}
How the customer updates their card: {{UPDATE_PAYMENT_METHOD}}
Support contact: {{SUPPORT_CONTACT}}
Output a table: Email | Timing relative to the failure | Subject | Preheader | Body under 100 words | Call to action | Tone note
Requirements:
- Treat the failure as a card problem, not a customer problem. Common causes are expiry, a replaced card and a bank block.
- Every email states the exact date access changes, and the single link to update payment details.
- The final email states clearly what has happened to the account and how to restore it.
- Do not shame, do not use "action required" in capitals, do not use red-alert language.
- Do not ask for card details in the email or in a reply. Link to the billing page only.
- No em dashes, no apology padding, no closing summary paragraph.
Then flag any point where the copy timing would conflict with the retry schedule above.
Fill in before running
Replace each placeholder with your own detail. The more specific you are, the less the model invents.
- {{PRODUCT}}
- {{RETRY_SCHEDULE}}
- {{ACCESS_CONSEQUENCE_TIMELINE}}
- {{UPDATE_PAYMENT_METHOD}}
- {{SUPPORT_CONTACT}}
Getting a better result
-
1
Align the emails to the actual retry schedule. Telling someone to update a card an hour before an automatic retry succeeds causes confusion.
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2
Never collect card details by email or reply. Link to the billing page every time.
-
3
Say the exact date access ends. Vague warnings get ignored until the account is already locked.