What is RFM analysis, and how do I use it to segment customers for retention marketing?
The short answer
RFM scores every customer on Recency (how long since last order), Frequency (how often they buy) and Monetary value (how much they spend), letting you split your base into segments like 'champions,' 'at risk' and 'lost' instead of treating every customer the same. Use it to target: win-back campaigns for the at-risk segment, VIP perks for champions, and don't waste ad budget re-targeting customers who've already churned for good. It's the single most actionable output of a cohort/retention tool for a lean marketing team.
A quick summary to orient you. The real value is below: the resources worth your time, from people who've actually done it, not us.
Here are the resources
Hand-picked from around the web, each with a note on why it earns your time. India-specific ones carry a badge.
Why we picked it
The clean definitional explainer for Recency-Frequency-Monetary segmentation from the team that built cohort tooling specifically for ecommerce - a good five-minute primer before segmenting your own base.
Why we picked it
The clearest plain-English walkthrough of what a cohort table actually is and how to read one - rows, columns, cells - before you touch a tool or a spreadsheet formula.
Why we picked it
A cohort-and-retention analytics platform purpose-built for Shopify/Amazon DTC brands - RFM, cohort revenue and cohort retention in one click, reviewed by a trusted operator resource hub rather than the vendor itself.
