Automation use-cases

In this guide, we provide popular automation use-cases to give you an idea of how to use automations in different scenarios. To get an overview of the different triggers, filter conditions, and actions available, see Automations.

Custom dunning flow for annual subscribers

Increase your recovery rate by customizing dunning behavior based on billing period, invoice amount, or customer segment. For example, you might want to grant longer grace periods to annual or high-value customers, or retry more frequently for a specific customer segment.

To customize automations:

1. Click New automation.
2. Give the automation a descriptive name, such as “Annual subscriber dunning.”
3. Select the Subscription payment fails as the trigger.
4. (Optional) Choose the conditions that must be met for the automation to run. In this case, the interval is: yearly.
5. Add the Start retry policy action, and select + Create new retry policy in the dropdown. Choose Smart Retries for subscriptions and retry up to 8 times within 2 months.
6. (Optional) Add a delay of 7 days as an additional grace period for manual outreach.
7. Add the Cancel subscription action.
8. Add the Mark invoice uncollectible action (which makes it a write-off for Revenue Recognition).

Notify your team when high value invoices are overdue

To improve cash flow and customer communications, keep track of high-value unpaid invoices. This recipe automates notifications for high-value invoices, enabling your team to take proactive measures to encourage the customer to pay the outstanding invoice.

To implement these notifications:

1. Click New automation.
2. Give the automation a descriptive name, such as “Notify Collections team of high-value late invoices.”
3. Select the Invoice is overdue as the trigger.
4. Add a filter condition to select invoices greater than $500.
5. Add a Send email action and select a recipient using the company email domain.
6. Write a short memo such as “Invoice over $500 is overdue by X days” in the memo field.

Modify this recipe to meet your specific business needs, such as adjusting the overdue dollar amount and length of overdue period. The recipient must use the company email domain or be a user on the Stripe account.

Email a confirmation when a subscription is canceled

To enhance customer communication, automatically send subscribers a confirmation email when their subscription is canceled.

Sending the confirmation email doesn’t prevent churn, but it can help to maintain a positive customer relationship and provide an opportunity to gather the cancellation reason, which allows you to further improve your service.

To set up this recipe with automations:

1. Click New automation.
2. Give the automation a descriptive name, such as “Subscription cancellation confirmation.”
3. Select the Subscription is canceled as the trigger.
4. (Optional) Add a filter condition to restrict the automation by customer segment, subscription product or plan, or subscription amount.
5. Select the Send email to customer action.
6. Stripe provides a predefined email template for the confirmation email. The email includes the subscription details and confirms the cancellation date. You also have the option to include a link to a cancellation reason survey.