If you have spent any time optimizing your email marketing, you have probably heard the term RFM. It stands for Recency, Frequency, and Monetary and it gets thrown around in e-commerce circles frequently. RFM is one of the most practical and proven frameworks for understanding your customer base and deciding who to email, what to say to them, and how urgently to say it.
The good news is that Klaviyo is built for exactly this kind of analysis. With your Shopify or WooCommerce store connected, Klaviyo already has all the data it needs to power RFM-based segments within your Klaviyo account. You just need to know how to build them and what to do with them once they are ready.
This guide walks you through what RFM actually means, how to translate it into Klaviyo segments, and how to put each segment to work in your email program.
What RFM Stands For
RFM is a customer segmentation model built around three dimensions of purchase behavior: Recency, Frequency, and Monetary.
Recency refers to how recently a customer made their last purchase. A customer who ordered several days ago is more likely to be engaged and responsive than one who ordered 18 months ago. Recency is often the strongest predictor of future purchase behavior, which is why it anchors the model.
Frequency refers to how many times a customer has purchased. A customer who has ordered eight times is a fundamentally different customer than someone who has only ever bought once, even if their last order dates are similar. Frequency tells you how deeply a customer has built a habit around your brand.
Monetary refers to how much a customer has spent in total. This dimension captures customer value and helps you identify who is worth investing more attention and resources into.
When you look at these three dimensions together, you can paint a detailed picture of every customer in your database and group them by behavior rather than just by when they subscribed or what they clicked.
How Klaviyo Supports RFM Segmentation in Email Marketing
Klaviyo pulls in all three dimensions of RFM data automatically when your store is connected. You do not need to calculate anything manually or upload external spreadsheets. Every customer profile in Klaviyo includes their order date, order count, and total amount spent, and you can filter your segments using any combination of those properties.
Klaviyo also has a built-in Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) prediction that uses purchase history to estimate future value, which adds another layer of intelligence on top of raw RFM data. This means your segments can be forward-looking as well as historical, giving you a more complete view of who is worth investing in.
Building Your RFM Segments in Klaviyo
Here is how to translate the RFM model into practical Klaviyo segments. These are the five groups that will cover the most meaningful distinctions in your customer base.
Champions/VIPS
Your champions or “VIPs” are your best customers. They purchased recently, they purchase often, and they have spent the most over their lifetime with your brand. These are the people you most want to retain, reward, and activate as advocates.
To build this segment in Klaviyo, look for customers who have placed their last order within the last 60 days, have placed three or more total orders, and have a total spend above a threshold that reflects your store’s average. That threshold will vary by business, so use your own order data as a guide for what qualifies as high value.
Champions respond well to VIP treatment. Early access to new products, exclusive offers, and loyalty rewards all land well with this group. These are also your best candidates for referral program invitations, because a happy, frequent buyer is far more likely to recommend you to someone else.
Loyal Customers
Loyal customers have a strong purchase history but may not have ordered quite as recently as your champions. They have demonstrated a clear pattern of returning to buy from you, which means the relationship is established even if it has gone slightly quiet.
Build this segment by filtering for customers with three or more orders and a last purchase within the last 120 days. You can adjust these thresholds based on your store’s typical purchase cycle. If your products are replenished monthly, 120 days might already feel like a long time. If your average repurchase window is six months, it might feel very current.
Loyal customers respond well to product recommendations tied to their purchase history, stock restocking alerts, and campaigns that reward their ongoing relationship with the brand.
Promising New Customers
This segment captures customers who purchased recently but have only ordered once. They are in the critical window where the right follow-up can convert a one-time buyer into a repeat customer, and the wrong approach (or no approach at all) lets that window close.
Filter for customers whose last order was within the last 60 days and who have exactly one total order. This group feeds directly into your post-purchase flows, and they should also receive campaigns designed to introduce them to other products in your catalog, share your brand story, and give them a clear reason to come back.
At-Risk Customers
At-risk customers were once engaged and valuable, but their activity has trailed off. They have a solid purchase history but have not bought in a meaningful stretch of time. They have not fully lapsed yet, but if you do not re-engage them soon, they likely will.
Build this segment by filtering for customers with two or more total orders and a last purchase between 90 and 180 days ago. These customers know your brand and have liked it enough to buy more than once. A well-timed win-back campaign with a personalized offer referencing their history with you can be enough to bring them back.
The tone for at-risk customers should feel attentive rather than desperate. Acknowledge the gap, remind them of what they loved, and give them a reason to return that feels relevant to who they are as a customer.
Lost Customers
Lost customers have not purchased in a long time. They may have moved on, found a competitor, or simply lost interest. Winning them back is harder than re-engaging at-risk customers, but it is not impossible, and the cost is still lower than acquiring a brand new customer.
Filter for customers whose last order was more than 180 days ago. For some stores with longer natural repurchase cycles, you might push this to 270 or 365 days. The goal of your lost customer campaigns is to break through with something compelling enough to remind them why they bought from you in the first place. A strong offer, a significant product update, or a simple “we have not seen you in a while” message can all work depending on your brand voice.
Manage your expectations with this segment. Recovery rates are lower than with at-risk customers, and that is normal. Even recovering five to ten percent of lost customers is worthwhile.
Putting Your RFM Segments to Work
Once your segments are built, the most important thing is to use them consistently. Here is a simple framework for how each one fits into your ongoing email program.
Champions/VIPs and Loyal Customers should be receiving your best campaigns first. If you are launching a new product or running an exclusive sale, these are the people who get access before anyone else. Treat them like insiders.
Promising New Customers should be in your post-purchase flow and should also receive campaigns focused on introducing the breadth of your catalog. Your goal with this group is a second purchase as quickly as possible, because data consistently shows that a customer who buys twice is far more likely to buy a third time than a customer who has only bought once.
At-Risk Customers need a dedicated re-engagement campaign at minimum. If you have a win-back flow set up in Klaviyo, this segment is the trigger. If you do not have one yet, a targeted campaign with a personal tone and a meaningful offer is a good place to start.
Lost Customers should receive an occasional win-back attempt, but should be excluded from your regular campaign sends. Emailing inactive profiles regularly hurts your deliverability and costs you money. Give them a genuine shot at re-engagement, and if they do not respond after two or three attempts, suppress them from future sends.
Keeping Your RFM Segments Fresh
One of the best things about Klaviyo segments is that they update automatically as customer behavior changes. A promising new customer who makes a second purchase will move into your loyal segment on their own. A champion who stops ordering will gradually fall into at-risk territory.
This means you do not need to manually manage who is in each group, but you do need to make sure your email program is actually responding to those transitions. Review your RFM segments quarterly, check that the threshold definitions still make sense as your business grows, and make sure the campaigns and flows connected to each segment are current and relevant.
RFM is not a complicated framework. What makes it valuable is the discipline of using it consistently. When every campaign you send is targeted to a specific customer group with messaging that reflects where they are in their journey, the results speak for themselves.
If you want help building out your RFM segments in Klaviyo or connecting them to the right flows and campaigns, we are happy to walk through it with you.
Continue reading: Klaviyo segmentation guide: How to stop emailing everyone the same thing and The 6 Klaviyo flows every e-commerce store needs.