Dunning 101: Measuring your performance
Track and evaluate your subscription recovery success using Recurly's dunning analytics. Learn how to monitor recovery rates, compare campaign data, and measure total recovered revenue.
Retain • Dunning 101
Measuring your performance
The changes you've made only create value if you can see them working. Here's where to look, what to track, and how often to review.
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Measuring your performance
What optimized Dunning looks like in practice
These results come from merchants who overhauled their full dunning setup — window length, email frequency, branding, and personalization — at once. Use them as a benchmark for what could be possible (depending on your current settings), and rely on your Dunning Effectiveness dashboard to track your own progress.
Read the case study to learn more.
Check out their story for more details.
Where to find your dunning analytics
Recurly surfaces dunning performance in two places. Use both — they answer different questions.
Dunning Benchmarks
Found at Analytics → Dunning Campaigns → Dunning Benchmarks. Shows your recovery rate over time compared to Recurly's industry benchmark. Use this monthly to track whether your rate is trending up after configuration changes, and to see how you compare to peers.
Dunning Summary
Found at Analytics → Dunning Campaigns → Dunning Summary. Shows total recovered revenue broken down by recovery method — intelligent retries, Account Updater, customer updates, and manual collection. Use this to understand how your revenue is being recovered.
Compare Campaigns
Found at Analytics → Dunning Campaigns → Compare Campaigns. Shows recovery rate, recovered revenue, and dunning lifecycle data side by side for two campaigns or two versions of the same campaign. Use this to identify which segment is underperforming — and when during the dunning cycle recoveries are happening — so you can make targeted adjustments rather than changing everything at once.
Recovered revenue report
Found at Analytics → Churn Management → Recovered Revenue. Shows total revenue recovered through dunning by time period. Use this alongside Dunning Benchmarks to connect recovery rate improvements to actual dollar impact for your business.
What to track and what good looks like
Not all metrics are equally actionable. Focus on these four — they cover the full recovery funnel from first failure to recovered payment.
| Metric | Where to find it | What good looks like | What to do if it's low |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recovery rate | Dunning Benchmarks | At or above percentile ranking; compare against industry median | Review window length, email cadence, and campaign assignments |
| Revenue recovery | Churn Management | Growing month-over-month as setup improves | Cross-reference with recovery rate — flat revenue on improving rate may indicate volume decline |
| Subscriptions saved | Subscription Details | Growing number of subscriptions saved through dunning efforts; KPIs show a low "past due" count relative to "saved" count | Review which subscriber cohorts aren't recovering and consider creating targeted dunning campaigns for those segments; check if campaign assignments cover the right plans |
| Dunning lifecycle by day (recovery timing) | Compare Campaigns | Most recoveries happening earlier in the dunning cycle, not concentrated at the very end (last few days); shows healthy headroom in the window | If 10%+ of recoveries happen in the last few days of the cycle, lengthen the dunning window. If few recoveries happen at all late in the cycle, the window may be appropriate for your business |
Your overall recovery rate is a blend of all campaigns. A strong monthly campaign can mask a poor annual one. Review Dunning Summary by campaign every month so you can see exactly which segment is underperforming and make targeted adjustments.
Your review cadence
Dunning is not a set-and-forget feature. The merchants who get the most out of it treat it like any other performance channel — checking in regularly and adjusting when the data signals a gap.
Dunning performance review checklist
What's your current dunning recovery rate — and do you know how it breaks down by campaign?
If you've never looked at per-campaign recovery data, that's your starting point. Pull the Dunning Summary report today and note your baseline. Every optimization you've made in this path should produce a measurable improvement from here.
Not sure how to interpret your dunning data?
Bring your Dunning Benchmarks and Summary reports to Global Office Hours. Our CSMs can help you read the data, identify what's working, and prioritize what to change next.
Join Global Office Hours →