RFM Turned Upside Down

A brief review of the age-old formula is in order. First, recency. It’s been the most powerful predictor of the likelihood of a customer placing another order. For example, for one typical mailer with whom we work, mailing customers who’ve placed at least one order over the past 12 months yields a response rate that is two or more times greater than mailing customers who last placed orders between 13 months and 24 months in the past.