Purpose
Performs full RFM (Recency, Frequency, Monetary) analysis across the entire customer base. Each customer is scored 1-5 on three dimensions — how recently they purchased, how often they purchase, and how much they spend — then classified into actionable segments: Champions, Loyal Customers, Potential Loyalists, At-Risk, Hibernating, and Lost. Read-only — no mutations.
Prerequisites
- Authenticated Shopify CLI session:
shopify store auth --store <domain> --scopes read_orders,read_customers - API scopes:
read_orders,read_customers
Parameters
| Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| store | string | yes | — | Store domain (e.g., mystore.myshopify.com) |
| days_back | integer | no | 365 | Lookback window for order history |
| segments | integer | no | 5 | Number of quintile buckets per dimension (3 or 5) |
| min_orders | integer | no | 1 | Minimum orders for a customer to be scored |
| tag_customers | boolean | no | false | If true, add RFM segment tag to customer (requires write_customers scope) |
| format | string | no | human | Output format: human or json |
Safety
ℹ️ Read-only by default. If
tag_customers: true, will add tags via customerUpdate mutation — usedry_run: truefirst.
RFM Segment Definitions
| Segment | R Score | F Score | M Score | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Champions | 5 | 5 | 5 | Best customers — recent, frequent, high spend |
| Loyal Customers | 3-5 | 4-5 | 4-5 | Consistent buyers with strong spend |
| Potential Loyalists | 4-5 | 2-3 | 2-3 | Recent buyers who could become loyal |
| New Customers | 5 | 1 | 1-2 | Just made first purchase |
| Promising | 4 | 1-2 | 1-2 | Recent but low frequency — nurture them |
| Need Attention | 3 | 3 | 3 | Average across all dimensions — slipping |
| About to Sleep | 2-3 | 2 | 2 | Below average recency and frequency |
| At Risk | 1-2 | 4-5 | 4-5 | Were great customers, haven't bought recently |
| Hibernating | 1-2 | 1-2 | 1-3 | Low on all dimensions — nearly lost |
| Lost | 1 | 1-2 | 1-5 | Haven't bought in a very long time |
Workflow Steps
-
OPERATION:
orders— query Inputs:query: "created_at:>='<NOW - days_back days>'",first: 250, selectcreatedAt,totalPriceSet,customer { id, email, firstName, lastName, numberOfOrders }, pagination cursor Expected output: All orders in window with customer linkage; paginate until complete -
Aggregate per customer:
- Recency = days since last order
- Frequency = total number of orders in window
- Monetary = total spend in window
-
Score each dimension 1-5 using quintile bucketing:
- Sort all customers by each metric
- Divide into N equal-sized groups (quintiles)
- Assign scores (5 = best for recency [most recent], frequency [most frequent], monetary [highest spend])
-
Map (R, F, M) score combination to named segment using the definitions above
-
OPERATION:
customers— query (enrichment) Inputs: Customer IDs from each segment for contact details Expected output: Email, name, tags for top customers in each segment
GraphQL Operations
graphql# orders:query — validated against api_version 2025-01 query OrdersForRFM($query: String!, $after: String) { orders(first: 250, after: $after, query: $query) { edges { node { id createdAt totalPriceSet { shopMoney { amount currencyCode } } customer { id email firstName lastName numberOfOrders } } } pageInfo { hasNextPage endCursor } } }
graphql# customers:query — validated against api_version 2025-01 query CustomerDetails($query: String, $after: String) { customers(first: 250, after: $after, query: $query) { edges { node { id email firstName lastName numberOfOrders totalSpentV2 { amount currencyCode } tags createdAt } } pageInfo { hasNextPage endCursor } } }
Session Tracking
Claude MUST emit the following output at each stage. This is mandatory.
On start, emit:
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ SKILL: RFM Customer Segmentation ║ ║ Store: <store domain> ║ ║ Started: <YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM UTC> ║ ╚══════════════════════════════════════════════╝
After each step, emit:
[N/TOTAL] <QUERY|MUTATION> <OperationName> → Params: <brief summary of key inputs> → Result: <count or outcome>
On completion, emit:
For format: human (default):
══════════════════════════════════════════════ RFM SEGMENTATION REPORT (<days_back> days) Customers scored: <n> ───────────────────────────── Champions: <n> (<pct>%) Avg spend: $<n> Loyal Customers: <n> (<pct>%) Avg spend: $<n> Potential Loyalists: <n> (<pct>%) Avg spend: $<n> At Risk: <n> (<pct>%) Avg spend: $<n> Hibernating: <n> (<pct>%) Avg spend: $<n> Lost: <n> (<pct>%) Avg spend: $<n> Top Champions: <name> (<email>) R:<n> F:<n> M:<n> Spend: $<n> Top At-Risk (win-back candidates): <name> (<email>) Last order: <date> Lifetime: $<n> Output: rfm_segments_<date>.csv ══════════════════════════════════════════════
For format: json, emit:
json{ "skill": "rfm-customer-segmentation", "store": "<domain>", "period_days": 365, "customers_scored": 0, "segments": { "champions": { "count": 0, "pct": 0, "avg_spend": 0 }, "loyal": { "count": 0, "pct": 0, "avg_spend": 0 }, "at_risk": { "count": 0, "pct": 0, "avg_spend": 0 }, "lost": { "count": 0, "pct": 0, "avg_spend": 0 } }, "output_file": "rfm_segments_<date>.csv" }
Output Format
CSV file rfm_segments_<YYYY-MM-DD>.csv with columns:
customer_id, email, first_name, last_name, recency_days, frequency, monetary, r_score, f_score, m_score, rfm_segment
Error Handling
| Error | Cause | Recovery |
|---|---|---|
THROTTLED | API rate limit exceeded | Wait 2 seconds, retry up to 3 times |
| Guest orders | Orders without customer | Skip — cannot attribute to RFM profile |
| Single-order customers | New or one-time buyers | Include with F=1; they'll naturally score low on frequency |
Best Practices
- Use
days_back: 365for most stores to capture seasonal buying patterns. Usedays_back: 180for fast-fashion or consumables. - Champions and Loyal segments are ideal targets for exclusive offers and early access campaigns.
- At-Risk customers should receive win-back campaigns immediately — use with
customer-win-backskill. - Export Lost segment to an exclusion list to stop wasting ad spend on them.
- Cross-reference with
customer-cohort-analysisfor cohort-level RFM trends over time. - Use with
customer-spend-tier-taggerto auto-tag customers based on RFM segment.


