Feature walkthrough
Note: The RFM analysis report is available to users in 2 ways: through Marketing Analytics and or the intelligence section of Klaviyo Advanced KDP. Since you have purchased Marketing Analytics, you will find this feature in your own account under Marketing analytics > Customer insights.
This demo video shows the feature located under CDP > Intelligence. The location in the side panel is the only difference; all feature details and capabilities outlined in the video should match what you see in your account.
When creating RFM flows, you control whether profiles can re-enter and how often. Because RFM segments change over time, you can choose to automatically re-trigger a flow or require profiles to meet specific re-entry criteria before entering again.
This unlocks powerful lifecycle moments, like rewarding customers each time they become a Champion, re-running winback when someone moves back into At risk, or reinforcing loyalty as behavior evolves. In contrast, flows tied to one-time offers or milestones are usually best set to run once. Use re-entry deliberately to keep your messaging timely, relevant, and aligned to real customer behavior.
Target your customers by RFM segment
Once you’ve configured and saved your RFM model, follow the steps below to build segments for your RFM groups. Then, use those segments for targeted campaigns and flows designed to retain customers and boost customer lifetime value.
Build a segment for each RFM group
In order to target your RFM groups, you will need to create a segment for each group using the RFM profile properties that are automatically created when you configure the report. Use the criteria Properties about someone > $current_month_rfm_group equals *NAME OF GROUP*. Do this for every RFM group.
You can also create segments to isolate folks who move from one group to another within a given month by specifying additional criteria using the $previous_month_rfm_group property. Specifically, we recommend building:
- Became Needs attention: profiles whose previous month group was Recent, Loyal or Champion and current month group is Needs attention
- Became At risk: profiles whose previous month group was Recent or Needs attention and current month group is At risk.
- Became Loyal: profiles whose previous month group was Inactive, At risk, Needs attention, or Recent and current month group is Loyal.
- Became Champion: profiles who moved from any other group last month to Champion this month.
Need help building these segments? Follow along in our RFM segment-building guide.
Build flows to address group change
Automate customer retention efforts by building a flow to address each group change segment. Create segment-triggered flows to automate messaging to customers who have experienced group change. Your automations may include special incentives, discounts, or exclusive invitations to your Champions.
You may also want to send automated messages to folks who move into Became Needs attention asking them to provide you with feedback on how you can improve their experience. You might consider setting the reply-to address of this flow to an inbox where your team can read and respond to customer feedback. Within the email, you can request that customers reply to the email directly so you can connect with your customers and address their concerns.
Note: Since the CDP takes into account all profiles in your account, RFM group membership is completely unrelated to the marketing consent status of a profile.If you did not include any consent-related criteria in your RFM segment definitions, be sure to include a flow filter that only allows profiles who are not suppressed for email to move through the flow.
Send a targeted campaign to Needs Attention and At Risk customers
Your biggest opportunity is to try and win back customers who are in your At risk and Needs attention groups. Depending on your strategy, you may choose to combine these two groups into one larger segment, or treat them separately. Either way, design an email campaign that gives them a shopping incentive to come back and shop, asks them to share feedback with you, or tries to re-engage them in some other way.
Re-engage inactive customers through ad retargeting
Klaviyo’s vertically-integrated data platform makes it easy for you to send segment data to third-party systems in just a few clicks. You can install both the Facebook Ads and Google Ads integrations to retarget less-engaged customers on platforms where they may be more likely to engage. Sync your At risk and Needs attention segments to these platforms.
Determine your thresholds for RFM scoring
Klaviyo allows you to customize the thresholds for whether someone is scored as a 1, 2, or 3. While you don't need to change the preset values, you have the ability to set thresholds that more accurately reflect what you know to be true about your audience. Consider the following for each dimension:
Recency: What would you consider to be a recent purchase?
If you sell consumer packaged goods (CPG), food, beverages, or items that would be considered a low-involvement purchase, you may want to choose a smaller time window, like 30 or 60 days. If you sell products that are a high-involvement purchase (larger financial investments with longer staying power in the consumer’s mind), you may want to go with 90 or 180 days.
Frequency: How many purchases have your best customers made?
This will vary business-to-business depending on your sales cycle, the industry you are in, and how many products you offer. Again, if you sell disposable or CPG products, your best customers have probably purchased upwards of 10 times. If you sell luxury furniture or mattresses, your best customers may have only purchased 3 times. If you prefer to use a relative weighting system, toggle frequency to be Percentiles. This will score your audience relative to the entire group, meaning you do not need to settle on a fixed number.
Monetary value: How much have your best customers spent over all time?
Do you know how much money your best customer has spent with you over their lifetime? Similar to the frequency calculation, you have the option to specify a hard number, or use a percentile calculation to score customers in relation to other customers.