Dunning SMS Templates: 12 Copy-Paste Texts

A failed payment gives you a short window and a distracted customer. Email does the detailed work, but a text gets seen while the problem is still fixable. The twelve templates below are written to be copied, not admired: swap in your brand name, the amount, and one update link, and each one is ready to send. They sit alongside your email sequence — for the full email side, pair this page with our dunning email templates, and read the channel basics in our guide to dunning SMS before you automate anything.

One discipline runs through all twelve: one message, one job, one link. A dunning text is not a newsletter, a promotion, and an apology stacked together. It tells the customer a payment did not go through, why it matters, and exactly where to fix it. Everything else belongs in email.

How to use these templates

Replace every bracketed placeholder before sending. [First name] is the customer's first name, [Brand] is the name the customer knows you by, [amount] is the exact charge that failed including currency, and [update link] is a single, short link to your secure card-update page. Never paste a raw payment-processor URL a customer cannot recognise, and never ask for card details by text, by reply, or by phone number in the message. The link is the only action.

• Keep it under two segments. A standard SMS segment is 160 characters in plain encoding; most templates below land between 140 and 280 characters, so they send as one or two segments. Longer is not stronger — it is just more expensive and easier to ignore.
• Identify yourself in every text. Customers delete mystery messages. Your brand name appears in the first few words, every time, even mid-sequence.
• Send one link, once. The same [update link] in every message in the sequence. Changing the link mid-sequence looks like phishing and trains customers to ignore you.
• Match the stage. Early texts assume an accident. Late texts state a deadline plainly. Never use final-warning language in a first notice — you will need that credibility later.
• Respect local time. Queue sends for daytime hours in the customer's timezone. A 2 a.m. text about a failed payment reads as a threat, not a reminder.

Stage 1: First notice — day 0 to day 1

Send the first text within a few hours of the failure, after your first retry logic has started and alongside — not instead of — your first dunning email. The tone is helpful and unhurried: most first failures are expired cards, replaced cards, or a bank flagging an unfamiliar charge. Pick one of the three variants and stay with that voice for the whole sequence.

#	Template	Use when
1	Hi [First name], this is [Brand]. Your payment of [amount] did not go through today. Nothing is cancelled — update your card here to keep your subscription active: [update link]	Your default first notice for any soft decline.
2	[Brand]: Hi [First name], we could not process your [amount] payment. If your card changed recently, update it in under a minute: [update link] Reply STOP to opt out.	The decline suggests a replaced or reissued card.
3	Hi [First name], [Brand] here. Your latest payment of [amount] failed, so your next renewal is on hold. Fix it here and everything continues as normal: [update link]	Accounts where access continues during a grace period.

Stage 2: Mid-sequence reminder — day 3 to day 5

By the second text, the customer has usually seen an email and ignored it, or never saw it at all. Do not repeat the first message word for word. Add one new piece of information: what happens next, when the next retry runs, or what they keep by fixing it. Still no pressure tactics — the deadline is real, so state the process, not a threat.

#	Template	Use when
4	Hi [First name], a reminder from [Brand]: your [amount] payment is still outstanding. We will try your card again on [retry date]. Update it before then here: [update link]	You can name the actual next retry date.
5	[Brand]: [First name], your subscription is paused until your [amount] payment clears. Update your card to restart it right away: [update link] Questions? Reply and we will help.	Access is already paused for non-payment.
6	Hi [First name], this is [Brand]. Still no luck with your [amount] payment. Most customers fix this in under a minute with a different card: [update link]	Two retries on the same card have already failed.

Stage 3: Card-update focused — day 6 to day 10

These texts assume the payment method itself is the problem, not the customer's intent. Lead with the fix, keep the amount in the message so the customer can match it to their bank statement, and make clear that updating the card — not paying a penalty or calling anyone — is the whole task. If your update page lets a customer switch to a different card entirely, say so; that option rescues accounts a retry never will.

#	Template	Use when
7	Hi [First name], [Brand] here. The card we have for you ends in [last 4] and is not being accepted. Add a new card here to keep your account active: [update link]	You can safely show the card's last four digits.
8	[Brand]: Your card on file has expired, [First name]. Update it before [deadline date] and your [amount] payment will complete automatically: [update link]	The decline is an expired card with a known deadline.
9	Hi [First name], quick fix from [Brand]: your bank declined your [amount] payment. Try a different card or payment method here: [update link] Reply STOP to opt out.	A generic issuer decline with no more specific cause.

Stage 4: Final warning — day 12 to day 16

The final text is the last one you send, so it has to be true. Name the exact date access ends, state that this is the final notice, and then stop. Sending a fifth "final" message destroys the sequence's credibility for every customer who hears about it. If the account cancels, let your winback sequence — sent later, on a different footing — do any further work.

#	Template	Use when
10	Final notice from [Brand]: Hi [First name], your [amount] payment is still unpaid. Your subscription ends on [deadline date] unless your card is updated: [update link]	Your standard final warning with a firm end date.
11	[Brand]: [First name], this is our last message about your [amount] payment. Update your card by [deadline date] to keep your account and your history: [update link]	Accounts where saved data or history is genuinely lost on cancellation.
12	Hi [First name], [Brand] here. We will cancel your subscription on [deadline date] if the [amount] payment is not fixed. One minute here prevents it: [update link]	The shortest, plainest version — good for price-sensitive audiences.

Timing, spacing, and the retry underneath

Texts support retries; they do not replace them. The work underneath the message matters more than the wording: decline-aware retry timing, spaced over days rather than hours, is what turns a notified customer into a recovered one — see how that layer works in our roundup of the best smart retry tools. Space texts at least two days apart, never send two in one day, and plan the whole cadence — emails, retries, and texts on one timeline — with the dunning cadence planner rather than bolting SMS onto an email sequence after the fact. A practical shape is four texts across a roughly two-week sequence: day 0 or 1, day 4, day 8, and a final notice two to three days before cancellation. If a customer updates their card, every remaining message stops immediately — nothing burns trust faster than dunning someone who has already paid.

Compliance basics

This is general practice, not legal advice, and rules vary by country — check your obligations before you send. The baseline most operators work to: only text customers who agreed to receive texts from you, and keep a record of that agreement. Identify your business in the message. Honour opt-outs immediately and permanently — include "Reply STOP to opt out" where your provider or jurisdiction expects it, and make sure an opt-out from marketing texts is handled the way your legal advice requires. Send from a consistent, recognisable number or sender ID, keep links on your own domain or a domain customers can verify, and never include sensitive personal or card information in the message itself. Dunning texts are about an existing billing relationship, but that does not exempt them from consent, identification, or opt-out rules in most places.

The bottom line

Copy the four templates closest to your voice, one per stage, and resist adding more. A short sequence a customer can trust — identified sender, exact amount, one stable link, deadlines that are real — outperforms a long sequence that cries wolf. If you would rather not run the sequencing yourself, Swipe Again includes SMS in the recovery sequence alongside branded dunning emails and card-update pages for a flat $179/mo, with decline-code-aware retries of up to 6 attempts over about 16 days across Stripe, Recharge, Seal Subscriptions, Skio, Loop Subscriptions, Chargebee, Recurly, Braintree, and Paddle. Either way, the templates above are yours to keep.

Frequently asked questions

How many dunning texts should I send in one sequence?

Four is a practical maximum for most subscription businesses: a first notice, a mid-sequence reminder, a card-update focused message, and one final warning. More than that tends to read as harassment rather than help, increases opt-outs, and rarely matches the honest length of a retry window. Space them at least two days apart and stop the moment the payment clears.

When should the first dunning SMS go out?

Within a few hours of the failed payment, during daytime hours in the customer's timezone. The first text works best alongside your first dunning email rather than instead of it, because email carries the detail and the text makes sure the problem is noticed while it is still easy to fix.

Can I ask a customer to reply with their new card details?

No. Never ask for card numbers, expiry dates, or security codes by text or in a reply. Always send the customer to a secure card-update page through a single link, and make sure that page is on a domain the customer can recognise as yours.

What should I do when a customer opts out of texts?

Stop sending texts to that number immediately and record the opt-out so no later sequence restarts them. The customer can still receive dunning emails and any notices your terms and local rules allow through other channels, but the texting channel is closed once they close it.

Should dunning texts come from the same number as marketing texts?

A consistent, recognisable sender matters more than which number you choose. Many operators keep billing messages on a separate number or sender ID from promotions so customers learn that a text from that sender is always about their account, and so an opt-out from promotions does not accidentally silence payment notices.

If the account cancels anyway, the same channel changes jobs: the winback SMS templates handle the later, separate attempt to earn the subscriber back.