RFM segments in plain English: recency, frequency and money
RFM sorts customers by how recently they bought, how often they buy and how much they spend. Here's how it works, and what to send each group.
The Wizel Team
Email marketing strategist · · 2 min read
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RFM sounds technical, but it's how a good shopkeeper already thinks. You know the regular who comes in every week, the one who used to visit and stopped, and the person who bought once at Christmas. RFM turns those instincts into three simple scores.
What the three letters mean
3 letters
Recency, Frequency, Monetary: when they last bought, how often they buy and how much they spend
- Recency: how long ago the customer's last order was. Recent buyers are the most likely to buy again.
- Frequency: how many orders they've placed. Two orders is a big step up from one, because it shows the first wasn't a one-off.
- Monetary: how much they've spent in total. It separates a customer who buys one small item four times from one who buys four big ones.
Each customer gets a score for each letter, usually from 1 to 5, by comparing them with the rest of your customers. A 5-5-5 customer bought recently, buys often and spends the most. A 1-1-1 customer bought once, a long time ago, and spent little.
The groups that matter for email
You don't need all 125 combinations. A handful of groups covers most of what you'll send:
- Champions: high on all three. Treat them like insiders with early access, new products first and a proper thank-you. They rarely need a discount.
- Loyal customers: buy often, but maybe not lately. Remind them of what they usually buy and show them what's new.
- New customers: one recent order. Your job is the second order, so help them use what they bought and suggest the natural next product.
- At risk: used to buy often, haven't lately. Reach out before they're gone, with something personal rather than a blanket sale.
- Lapsed: low on recency and frequency. This is a job for a win-back flow, and it's fine if most of them don't come back.
Send different emails to different groups. A champion and a lapsed one-time buyer should never get the same message.
How to start
Klaviyo segments can use how many times someone has ordered and when they last ordered, so you can build rough RFM groups without another tool. Start with two: a VIP group (two or more orders, one of them recent) and an at-risk group (two or more orders, none in the last 120 days). Adjust the day count to your own buying cycle. A coffee subscription and a furniture store run on very different clocks.
Ask your own numbers in Wizel
Wizel works out RFM groups from your order data and tracks who moves between them. Ask the chat:
- “Show me my RFM segment distribution.”
- “Break down my customers by buyer segment: 1x, 2x and 3x+.”
- “What percentage of customers become repeat buyers?”
Frequently asked questions
What does RFM stand for?
Recency, Frequency and Monetary value: how recently a customer bought, how often they buy and how much they've spent in total.
Do I need special software for RFM?
No. You can build rough RFM groups as Klaviyo segments using order count and days since the last order. Dedicated tools score every customer automatically and show how people move between groups.
How often should RFM groups update?
As often as your tool allows, because every new order changes a customer's scores. Klaviyo segments update on their own as people meet or stop meeting the conditions.
