Dunning

What is the difference between dunning and debt collection?

Dunning is what you do while the customer is still a customer: reminders, calls and notices from your own team or your own tools. Debt collection starts when those steps have failed and the invoice is handed to a collection agency or a lawyer. Good dunning keeps the second step rare. The wording also differs by country, so you will see the same idea called credit control in the UK and accounts receivable follow-up in the US.

What are the stages of a dunning process?

Most dunning sequences have four stages. The days below are an example schedule, so adjust them to your payment terms and your customers.

Is dunning the same in subscription billing and in B2B invoicing?

The word covers two different jobs. In subscription billing, dunning means retrying a failed card payment and emailing the customer to update their card. In B2B invoicing, it means chasing an unpaid invoice that a person at the customer has to approve and release. Billing software handles the first well. The second is mostly a conversation, which is why the call matters.

Which channel should each dunning step use?

Use the phone first, because it is the only channel where you learn why the invoice is unpaid and get a date on the spot. Everything else supports the call.

What should a dunning call say?

A stage-one call is short. It can follow four lines:

• Say who you are and which invoice you are calling about, with the number and amount.
• Ask whether the invoice has arrived and whether anything is blocking payment.
• Ask for a specific payment date and repeat it back.
• Say you will send the invoice link on WhatsApp now, and note the date for follow-up.

If the customer disputes the invoice, stop the sequence for that invoice and send it to whoever owns the dispute. Chasing a disputed invoice with reminders damages the relationship and does not get it paid.

How does AI fit into a dunning process?

The call step is the one most teams skip because it takes hours of dialing. An AI voice agent can make those calls from your list of overdue invoices. It records the promised payment date, sends the WhatsApp message with the invoice link and flags the invoices that need a person. That is what Sono's payment reminder calls do. For the full sequence and the cost comparison with recorded calls, read the guide to the dunning process, or see how automation fits the wider accounts receivable workflow.