Industry Benchmarks
Compare your recovery performance against industry averages with LostChurn's benchmark analytics, percentile scoring, and per-method recovery rates.
Benchmark analytics let you compare your recovery performance against industry averages. The compute_benchmark_snapshot reducer calculates a 30-day rolling snapshot that shows where you stand relative to peers in your vertical.
How Benchmarks Are Calculated
Every benchmark snapshot measures your 30-day recovery rate -- the percentage of failed payments that were successfully recovered within the last 30 days. The reducer:
- Scans all
payment_eventrows for your merchant in the last 30 days - Counts how many have a
recovery_statewith statusRecovered - Calculates your recovery rate:
recovered / totalFailed - Compares your rate against the industry average
- Computes your percentile ranking using a normal distribution (sigma = 0.12)
Each snapshot is stored as a benchmark_snapshot row with the metric key recovery_rate_30d.
Industry Recovery Rates
LostChurn maintains curated benchmarks from public industry data (sources: Stripe 2024 annual report, Baremetrics 2025 benchmark report, Churn Buster 2024 recovery data, ProfitWell 2025 SaaS metrics). These are updated quarterly.
| Industry | Average Recovery Rate | Top Quartile | Bottom Quartile |
|---|---|---|---|
| SaaS | 57% | 69% | 45% |
| E-commerce | 62% | 74% | 50% |
| Nonprofit | 59% | 71% | 47% |
| Education | 55% | 67% | 43% |
| Gaming | 53% | 65% | 41% |
| Health & Wellness | 51% | 63% | 39% |
| Media / Streaming | 48% | 60% | 36% |
| Fintech | 44% | 56% | 32% |
| All Industries | 54% | 66% | 42% |
Top and bottom quartile thresholds are derived from the industry mean plus or minus one standard deviation (12 percentage points).
Recovery Rate by Method
Not all recovery methods are equally effective. These benchmarks show the average recovery rate by channel:
| Recovery Method | Average Recovery Rate |
|---|---|
| Silent retry | 40% |
| Email dunning | 25% |
| SMS | 15% |
| In-app notification | 12% |
| Phone / voice | 8% |
Silent retries are the most effective because they resolve transient issues (like temporary holds or processing errors) without requiring any customer action.
Decline Code Distribution
Understanding how declines are distributed helps you focus your recovery strategy on the categories with the highest volume:
| Decline Category | Share of All Declines |
|---|---|
| Soft retry (transient, retryable) | 65% |
| Hard customer (requires customer action) | 20% |
| Terminal (card stolen, fraudulent) | 10% |
| Fraud | 5% |
Time to Recovery
Average hours to recover a failed payment varies significantly by decline type:
| Decline Type | Average Time to Recovery |
|---|---|
| Infrastructure (processing errors) | 6 hours |
| Soft retry (insufficient funds, rate limits) | 48 hours |
| Unknown (generic declines) | 72 hours |
| Hard customer (expired card, CVC mismatch) | 120 hours (5 days) |
Interpreting Your Percentile
Your percentile score tells you how your recovery rate compares to other businesses in your industry:
| Percentile | Interpretation |
|---|---|
| 90th+ | Exceptional -- your recovery is best-in-class |
| 75th - 89th | Strong -- you are outperforming most peers |
| 50th - 74th | Average -- there is room for improvement |
| 25th - 49th | Below average -- review your retry strategy and dunning campaigns |
| Below 25th | Needs attention -- significant revenue is being left on the table |
The percentile is calculated using a standard normal CDF approximation with the industry-specific mean and a standard deviation of 0.12.
Viewing Benchmarks
Navigate to Analytics > Benchmarks to see:
- Your current 30-day recovery rate and percentile
- Trend over time (historical benchmark snapshots)
- Side-by-side comparison with your industry average
- Breakdown by recovery method
Benchmark snapshots are computed periodically. You can also trigger a manual snapshot from the dashboard.
Comparison Methodology
LostChurn's benchmarks use a transparent methodology:
- Industry averages are sourced from publicly available reports by Stripe, Baremetrics, Churn Buster, and ProfitWell
- Percentile scores use a normal distribution approximation centered on the industry mean
- Your rate is calculated from actual payment events in your account over the trailing 30 days
- No data sharing -- your recovery data is never shared with other merchants or included in aggregate benchmarks
Benchmark comparisons are most meaningful when you have at least 100 failed payments in the 30-day window. With fewer data points, your percentile may fluctuate significantly between snapshots.
What's Next
- Recovery Metrics -- Deep dive into your recovery performance
- Cohort Analysis -- Track recovery rates by customer cohort
- Failure Prediction -- Use prediction to prevent failures before they happen
Revenue Forecasting
Project future MRR, predict involuntary churn risk, and identify revenue at risk from payment failure patterns. Use scenario analysis and confidence intervals to plan your recovery strategy.
Recovery Optimization Overview
Learn the three pillars of payment recovery — timing, messaging, and channels — and avoid the most common mistakes that cost subscription businesses revenue.