Knowledge Base Article
What Is The RFM Report
What is the RFM Report? Imagine you run a lemonade stand and you want to know which of your customers are the best ones to keep happy. RFM looks at 3 things about each customer:
R = RECENCY (HOW RECENTLY?)
When was the last time they bought lemonade from you?
- Someone who bought yesterday = great!
- Someone who hasn't bought in 6 months = not so great
F = FREQUENCY (HOW OFTEN?)
How many times do they buy from you?
- Someone who buys every week = great!
- Someone who only bought once = not as good
M = MONETARY (HOW MUCH MONEY?)
How much money have they spent total?
- Someone who spent $100 = great!
- Someone who spent $2 = smaller customer
Then we give each person a score from 1-5 for each letter:
- 5 = Amazing
- 1 = Needs work
Each score compares a donor with your other donors who gave in the date range you pick: roughly the top fifth get a 5 and the bottom fifth get a 1.
So someone with R:5 F:5 M:5 (code "555") is your BEST customer - they bought recently, buy often, and spend a lot. We call them Champions.
Someone with R:1 F:5 M:4 bought a lot in the past but hasn't come back lately. That's scary! We call them At Risk - you need to win them back before they forget about you.
Why does this matter? Instead of treating all donors the same, you can:
- Thank your Champions extra
- Send a "we miss you" note to At Risk donors
- Welcome New Donors warmly
It helps you talk to the right people in the right way.
In Argenta this is the RFM Donor Segmentation Report, under Fundraising Reports in the Report Center.
1. The donor's Recency, Frequency and Monetary scores. 2. The same three scores as a code. 3. The segment that code puts the donor in.
