Episode recorded in Polish (English subtitles available on YouTube); this is our edited English translation. Recorded in spring 2026 (released 22 April 2026), so Shopify and Klaviyo features reflect that time; we've left out a short chat about Formula 1 at the start of the recording.
Where did the idea for this episode come from?
Tomek: Hi, this is Tomek Runowicz.
Maciek: And Maciek Czerniak.
Tomek: We run wecanfly, an agency that helps established brands with complex migrations to Shopify Plus.
Maciek: And this is Flying with Shopify, the channel where we talk to e-commerce experts and founders. Welcome to another episode.
Tomek: Let's get going with the episode.
Maciek: This episode came out of the regular conversations we have with our clients, where we go through their business results. One of them struck me recently: I was showing a client a report that made it clear that just 13% of their customers were bringing in more than half of their revenue. But that wasn't what shocked me most, because the fact that it works like that is…
Tomek: The Pareto principle. We know that one.
Maciek: Yes. The famous 13/50 Pareto principle.
Tomek: 13/50, exactly.
Maciek: What surprised me was that the client had no idea the report was there at all. So I started checking in the Shopify admin, clicking through other clients' accounts, and it turns out practically nobody uses this report. And this report, as you're about to see, dear YouTube viewer and listener, is a goldmine. So without further ado, we'll do a quick, dynamic episode in a how-to format. The report we're talking about is RF…
Tomek: RFM FM.
What is RFM analysis?
Maciek: RFM analysis, exactly. Recency, frequency and monetary.
Tomek: Let's decode that.
Maciek: So what's it about? Recency: how long ago, how many days have passed since the last purchase. Frequency: how often this customer buys from us. And monetary: the value they generate for us. This episode is best watched, because we'll be showing the screen a bit. But if you're listening…
Tomek: …I'll try to explain what you want to show.
Maciek: We'll try to put it into words.
Tomek: That's right. Recently, in one podcast that I know is also streamed as video, there was always this kind of helper information: "at this point the guest is pointing with his hand".
Maciek: Audio description.
Tomek: Audio description. I'll try to do that too. OK, so let's get to what you're about to show us, Maciek: where do we find this report?
Where to find the RFM report in Shopify and how to read it
Maciek: The easiest way is to go to Analytics, Reports and type "RFM" in the search box. Two reports come up. The one we want is called RFM Customer Analysis. You can also find it through Sidekick or the search bar at the top of Shopify. What do we get when we click on the report? A forest of tiles. It's a grid that looks a bit like the Windows interface, I don't remember which version.
Tomek: 3.11.
Maciek: Maybe. The tiles are laid out on a grid. The vertical axis is purchase frequency and value. The horizontal axis is recency.
Tomek: Freshness.
Maciek: Freshness is probably a good word for it. The rule is: the closer to the top-right corner, the more valuable the segment is to us, because it has generated more revenue. The closer to the bottom left, the worse.
Tomek: On top of that, the colours make it clear at first glance that the darker, more intense area is where we want to focus most. That's where the customers who generate the most are, our champions, as you'll probably explain in a moment.
Maciek: That's right.
Tomek: OK, so let's go into the segments in detail: how is the grid divided?
What metrics does the report show?
Maciek: Before we do that, let's look at one more thing: the metrics. We can see how many customers we have in each segment. And one important point: the report always shows the store's entire history, meaning all the customers we have in the database. As far as I remember, we can't narrow that down.
Tomek: That's what I'm wondering about, it needs checking: in the panel on the right, where we have the metrics like in every report, can we narrow down the time period?
Maciek: You know, maybe it could be done here, in the code, but I haven't tested it.
Tomek: That's one thing. But on the other hand, I think an analysis across the whole history has a lot of extra value. Thanks to that, and we'll get to this when we talk about actions, we can go back to customers who are in segments that are very distant in time, because you can have an idea for them too: how to turn them into active customers again.
Maciek: Absolutely.
Tomek: So the fact that the report covers the whole period isn't bad news at all, is it?
Maciek: Exactly. So we have the number of customers in each segment, which we can also show as a percentage. We have the average number of days since the last purchase per segment. Here you can see, for example, that for Champions it's 130 days, and for Dormant it's 2,200 days.
Tomek: OK, so you could say that's expired.
Maciek: Exactly. At the very least. We also have the number of orders per segment and their total value. That's it for the metrics. Now, what do we actually do with this? As you click through the segments, maybe let's quickly say which segments we have.
Which customer groups does Shopify use?
Tomek: That's just what I wanted to ask, so we can give a quick definition. You mentioned 10 customer segments: could you describe each of them in literally one sentence, who's in it?
Maciek: OK. Starting from the bottom left: in the left column we have Dormant. These are people who haven't bought for a long time, ordered irregularly and spent relatively little. Then we have the ones at risk of leaving us, At risk: they bought recently, but historically they've spent a fair amount with us. It would be a shame to lose them, and they can probably still be saved. The next group is Previously loyal: they bought often and a lot, but lately it's gone quiet. Maybe they've moved to a competitor, who knows.
In the second column we have Almost lost and Needs attention. These are moderate order values; these customers are starting to cool off. Then we move to the nicer groups. We have Promising, people who started buying recently and already have a few orders. Then New: brand-new orders, customers who've only just arrived. We have Active: people who buy regularly, have been active recently and spend moderate amounts. And finally the two best groups. Loyal: a strong purchase history and high total spend, although they haven't placed an order recently. And finally Champions, our champions, the cherry on top: they buy a lot, often and relatively recently. And those were the 13%…
Tomek: …you started with.
Maciek: From the Pareto principle in your version. OK. When you click around the grid and select one of the tiles, you'll see that each has a little arrow showing the direction in which we should move that customer. We'll talk about how to move them in a moment. But first, a quick tutorial: what has to happen before you can work with these segments at all.
Tomek: Exactly.
How to create a segment and connect it to Klaviyo
Maciek: You select a segment and get two buttons: Preview segment and View report. You click Preview, go to the preview and click Save. That creates the segment, which you can then work with. A segment is a collection of customers that is updated continuously: a customer can enter a segment and leave it. That's the first thing.
Once you've created a segment, you can go to the list of segments. When you click the three dots on the right, there's an option called Use segment. You can use it, for example, to send a message, to create a discount specifically for that segment, or for the Klaviyo integration.
So how can we use these segments? We can use them in Shopify Messaging to send messages, whether SMS or email. We can create a discount that automatically has that group assigned. And we can integrate the segment with Klaviyo. The catch is that the default Shopify–Klaviyo integration creates a list in Klaviyo, and we don't want that. A list in Klaviyo is a static thing: we can add customers to it, but it won't stay in sync.
Tomek: Right, and in the model we're talking about, we want customers to move from one group to another.
Maciek: Exactly.
Tomek: Not just new people being added, but a dormant customer moving to active. And once they've moved, we don't want to treat them as dormant again.
Maciek: Exactly. So we go to Flow and create two automations for each segment. The first: the trigger is a customer being added to the segment, and the action is adding a tag. The second: if a customer leaves the segment, we remove that tag. Then in Klaviyo we create a segment, ideally with the same name as in Shopify, and use that Shopify tag as the membership condition. Then everything stays in sync. Are we with it?
Tomek: I'm with you so far.
Champions: how to recognise your best customers
Maciek: OK. Once that's connected to Klaviyo, what can we do with it? What are the practical uses?
Tomek: Exactly, because saving the segment is, I assume, an intermediate step, and the real fun, the crux of everything we're talking about, only starts at that point: working with specific groups, specific segments. It would be good to give some very concrete examples of how to work with individual groups. Let's take a few of the most interesting groups and the actions we can run with them.
Maciek: Exactly. For each of these segments we can propose specific actions, but I think it's worth simplifying at the start: do something for the best, something for the worst and something for the ones in the middle.
Starting with the best, the Champions: this is our best group of customers, so we have to take special care of them. They'll buy from us anyway, so maybe we don't need to flood them with discounts and coupons. But it's worth recognising them now and then with something special that others won't get. Of course that can be a special discount code nobody else gets, but also, for example, early access to a collection, an exclusive drop or a limited edition just for them. It can be an invitation to a loyalty programme or other VIP activities, maybe offline meetups.
Tomek: Plus, for example, getting them involved in co-creating our site, meaning user-generated content. These are people who'll be happy to share their experiences. We can benefit from that, and they get recognition: the content they provide becomes part of our business. I think that's a nice incentive for them too.
Maciek: Absolutely. One more interesting use. We mentioned that you can connect Klaviyo to ad platforms. Here, for example, you can exclude this group from cold-traffic campaigns.
Tomek: Definitely. It's cleaning up your ad accounts and making sure the segments fit the type of ad. Because, as you say, it's hard to imagine that someone we treat as a champion, who's very loyal and spends a lot of money with us, keeps seeing ads along the lines of "come and visit our store" that build awareness. And from the point of view of ad costs, we're burning budget for nothing.
Dormant: how to win back sleeping customers
Maciek: Money down the drain. OK, let's move to the other end of the scale: the dormant customers. If someone falls into this category, we should definitely start an aggressive win-back automation to try to get those customers back. It could be a sequence where you offer 10% off, then 15, 20, or something more dynamic straight away. In a way you can also try to get some information out of them: "Why did you leave us?" You can also send them different advertising. Remarketing may not work here, because they haven't been on the site, but a different, differently phrased message, for example one reminding them about the brand, can. That's how I'd approach it.
Tomek: I think what matters is that in every one of these groups we're dealing with customers we've already acquired once. It might seem that dormant customers are a bit lost and nothing can be done with them. But even a single one or two percent success rate for such a campaign really translates into business. As we say, we've acquired them once, so winning them back this way will certainly cost much less than acquiring someone completely new. Hence the encouragement not to focus only on the best customers, but to have actions ready for those at the other end of the scale too.
Maciek: I think it would also be good to try reaching dormant customers through a different channel. If you collect phone numbers and consent to SMS and WhatsApp communication: maybe some people don't know this yet, but you've been able to do that in Klaviyo and in Shopify for quite a while. It's worth it. As we discussed recently, SMS has an open rate of almost 100%. Which surprises me personally, because I have hundreds of unread ones.
Tomek: You're the exception, to be honest. In general, an unread message frustrates people.
Maciek: The only ones texting me are RTV Euro AGD.
Active: how to increase basket value
Maciek: OK, but back to the point: I think trying to reach them through a different channel can be a nice, interesting test. And finally the active customers, the middle of the scale. Here we have more potential to increase basket value and offer upsells and cross-sells. Someone bought a bike, so maybe they'll buy a pump, that kind of thing.
Tomek: Plus some form of building loyalty, for example a subscription, an incentive to keep coming back regularly and become an even more valuable customer. So that we can eventually move them towards Loyal or Champions, who will then generate quite a lot of sales for us.
Why use RFM segmentation?
Tomek: So, a quick summary: in two or three sentences, why do you think this report matters so much for a business? And after the analysis you did on our accounts, did you find out why clients don't use it?
Maciek: I think it's a lack of awareness that the report exists. Hence this recording. The biggest benefit of using customer segmentation is increasing our efficiency. We can't communicate with every customer in the same way, because then we give away part of our potential profit for free where it isn't needed. And maybe we can also reactivate older, forgotten customers by offering them bigger benefits. I think that's the crux: don't speak to everyone in the same language, try different messages with different customers and different marketing strategies, because different groups of customers respond to different messages.
Tomek: I think that's natural. Even in everyday life: when you walk into a shop, you treat a customer who looks around with real curiosity, picks out products, tries them on and maybe asks you where to find the next product differently from someone who walks in and walks out a moment later, completely uninterested. You approach them with a different message.
Maciek: And if you want a simple way to check this, I'd suggest sending a Klaviyo campaign to all your customers and looking at the open rate, then sending it only to those who engaged in the last 30 days. The difference is…
Tomek: Huge.
Maciek: 70% for the engaged ones versus somewhere in the teens.
Where to start
Tomek: OK then, Maciek: what next steps would you suggest to people you've got interested in the topic, who want to take a look at how this works in their store?
Maciek: Today, it's worth opening the report and going through it. I think many of you will be wide-eyed if you haven't seen it yet. Create segments, it's very simple. If you use Shopify Inbox, there's nothing more to do. If you also use Klaviyo, leave a comment and we'll show you how to set up the flows on the Shopify side and how to define the segment in Klaviyo. I'd pick three groups and prepare three different messages for them, marketing ideas you can test quickly. Eventually I'd build it into a recurring marketing plan, so that when you plan campaigns you take the defined segments into account and tailor your marketing better to each audience.
Tomek: I'd add at the end, as always: after all that, come back to the analysis after a week or two and see how it affects both the distribution of customers and, as you said, campaign performance. I think those will be very interesting observations, showing how content and communication tailored to a specific group convert better and bring results.
OK, that's it from us for today. We're very interested in your opinion of this kind of content on our channel. If you liked the way we talked about RFM analysis today and would like more episodes like this, be sure to like and subscribe to our channel, and tell us in the comments which topic related to running e-commerce, or Shopify specifically, interests you. We'll be happy to prepare material on it.
Thanks a lot.
Maciek: Thanks.
