A cosmetics e-tailer's best customers were buried in a spreadsheet nobody opened. We built nightly RFM scoring that tags every shopper by recency, frequency and spend — and greets each new VIP with a personal WhatsApp from the founder. Repeat purchases among VIPs rose 44%.
Typical results
62%
Reply rate to founder messages
34%
Revenue from VIPs
18K
Customers scored nightly
Figures reflect typical results for this kind of automation.
The challenge
The store had 18,000 customers and no idea which ones mattered most. Marketing blasted the same email to everyone, top spenders got zero special treatment, and by the time anyone noticed a great customer, she had often already drifted to a competitor. Manual segmentation was attempted quarterly in Excel — six hours of work, outdated within a week.
Before and after
VIP repeat purchase rate
+44%Revenue share from VIPs
+62%Days to spot a new VIP
−99%The automation
We built a nightly Make scenario that pulls every order into a scoring engine, computes recency, frequency and monetary value per customer, and re-assigns segments automatically. Anyone crossing the VIP threshold is tagged in the CRM and triggers two actions: a personal WhatsApp from the founder — drafted by AI in their voice, approved in one tap — and an invite to early access on new product drops. Fading VIPs trigger a save flow before they lapse.
How it works
- 01
Nightly sync
Every order and customer record flows from the store into the scoring engine after close.
- 02
RFM scoring
Each customer gets fresh recency, frequency and monetary scores — 18,000 profiles in minutes.
- 03
Segment moves
Customers crossing the VIP threshold are tagged in the CRM; fading VIPs are flagged too.
- 04
The founder's touch
New VIPs get a personal WhatsApp in the founder's voice, approved with one tap.
- 05
Early access
VIPs enter the early-access list for product drops, and results feed back into the dashboard.
Starts from
- Store orders
- Customer history
Delivers
- Founder's WhatsApp
- VIP tag in CRM
- Early-access invites
The impact
New VIPs are now spotted within a day instead of a quarter. 62% reply to the founder's message, and the segment's repeat-purchase rate climbed from 27% to 39% — up 44%. VIPs now drive 34% of revenue, up from 21%, and the quarterly Excel exercise is gone entirely.
Questions about this automation
How is a customer scored and marked as a VIP?
Every night, each customer gets a recency, frequency and monetary score from their order history. The scores combine into segments, and anyone who crosses the VIP threshold, for example a set spend within the last six months, is tagged in the CRM. The thresholds are agreed with the store and can be tuned over time.
Who approves the personal WhatsApp messages?
AI drafts each message in the founder's tone using the customer's purchase history, and the draft arrives for approval. The founder or a team member approves it with one tap, edits it or skips it. Nothing reaches a customer without that approval, so the personal note always sounds like the brand.
What happens when a VIP starts to fade?
When a VIP's recency score drops below a set level, such as a much longer gap since the last order than usual for that customer, they are flagged as fading. That starts a save flow, like a personal check-in or an early look at a new drop, before they lapse. This is a multi-step build, usually rolled out in stages.