Glossary /
RFM analysis
Written by PEKO Team.Last updated: 2026/05/21.
RFM analysis is a customer segmentation method that scores each customer on Recency (how recently they visited), Frequency (how often), and Monetary value (how much they spend).
Published: 2026/05/01
RFM gives every customer three scores, usually 1–5, then combines them into a segment label like 'Champions' (high R, F, M), 'At Risk' (low R, high F, high M), or 'Hibernating' (low across the board).
For restaurants, RFM is a much sharper tool than blanket promotions. Sending a 20% discount to a Champion is wasted margin — they'd come back anyway. Sending the same discount to an At Risk regular might be the only thing that pulls them back from churn.
Modern AI tools like PEKO automate RFM scoring daily and trigger different campaigns per segment, so your win-back budget goes only where it actually moves the needle.
Worked example
A guest who visited yesterday (R=5), comes 8× per month (F=5), and spends $45 per visit (M=5) is a 555 'Champion'. A guest who hasn't been in for 60 days (R=2) but used to come weekly with high tickets (F=5, M=5) is a 255 'At Risk' — your highest-priority win-back target.
FAQ
How is RFM analysis different from customer segmentation?
RFM is one specific type of segmentation. General segmentation can use anything (demographics, dish preference, channel). RFM is purely behavioural and works without any personal data — making it both privacy-friendly and reliably predictive.
Do I need a data scientist to run RFM analysis?
No. Modern loyalty platforms run RFM scoring automatically on your POS data and update segments daily. PEKO does this out of the box.
Sources
The definitions and figures on this page reference the sources below:
Related terms
People also read
Term
Loyalty program
A loyalty program is a structured incentive system that rewards customers for repeat purchases, with the goal of increasing visit frequency and customer lifetime value.
Term
Repeat customer rate
Repeat customer rate is the percentage of unique customers in a period who came back at least once more in a defined follow-up window.
Term
Customer retention rate
Customer retention rate is the percentage of customers you keep over a defined period — the inverse of churn — measuring how well your venue holds onto guests.