On an episode of Shopify Masters, Neil Hoyne, chief strategist for data and measurement at Google, described the importance of customer segmentation in simple terms: “If my wife ever asked me, ’Well, how much do you love me?’ The worst answer I can give her is that I love her as much as everyone else.”
Customers of all kinds visit your website. But some of them—the ones who make frequent purchases, post on social media, bring in new business, and spend more than the average customer—are, according to Neil, “like friends, family members, people you couldn’t imagine living your life without.”
These are your high-value customers. They’re crucial to profitability, and identifying them (and collecting customer data about what keeps them coming back) can directly impact your revenue growth. Here’s how to identify who your most valuable customers are, what makes them different from other shoppers, and which strategies actually work to attract and retain them.
What is a high-value customer?
High-value customers are the most important segment of your customer base. They’re the shoppers with the highest customer lifetime value (CLV) because they spend more than other members of your target audience. Some high-value customers may make large purchases, while others might stick with your brand longer than other customers, making small, regular purchases that add up over time.
But spend alone doesn’t tell the whole story. These loyal customers also stay engaged with your brand and promote it via user-generated content (UGC) and word of mouth among their social networks.
How to identify high-value customers
Knowing who your most valuable customers are allows you to tailor your marketing efforts to them, but it can also help you understand what keeps them coming back. This is valuable information when it comes to customer acquisition and retention. Here are a few ways to define and identify top customers:
Assess customer lifetime value
CLV is an estimate of how much a person will spend with you over the course of their customer lifetime, or “how much that relationship is worth to your business going forward,” as Neil explains.
You can calculate this in many different ways, but a recency, frequency, monetary (RFM) analysis is one of the most common approaches. In an RFM analysis, you score the customer in each of the three categories based on the date of their last purchase, how often they make purchases, and the total value of those purchases.
One common way to calculate is to divide the range for each metric into quintiles, assigning customers a score of 1 to 5 in each category. For example, if a customer is in the top 20% for recency (5 points) but in the bottom 20% for monetary value and frequency (1 point each), their aggregate score would be 7 with an average of 2⅓. The higher the customer value, the closer they will be to the highest possible score. Weight each category differently based on your particular goals and business needs.
Analyze other customer data points
Depending on how you’ve decided to measure “value” for your specific business needs, identify leading customers based on other benchmarks—many of which you’re probably already looking at in your quarterly business reviews. This might include:
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Average order value. How much money the person spends, on average, when they make a purchase.
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Size of average order. How many products or services, on average, the person purchases in a single order.
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Length of relationship. The total time the person has spent as an active customer.
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Referrals generated. The number of new customers the person has brought in through your referral program.
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Engagement metrics. The duration of the customer’s average web session, number of comments on social media, etc.
Recognize advocates
Even if a customer looks relatively low value based on their personal spending patterns, they may be contributing value in more indirect ways. A lower-spending shopper can still be a top-tier brand advocate, promoting your product or service through word of mouth, online reviews, user-generated content, or customer referrals. Leverage these customer advocates to grow your business by creating incentive programs or engaging with their content via your own official accounts.
How to attract and retain high-value customers
- Create a loyalty program
- Personalize your marketing
- Provide excellent customer service
- Survey existing high-value customers
- Learn from your entire target audience
Strategies for getting the most value out of every customer—and keeping your top-spending customers happy—can have a real impact on revenue. Here are some best practices:
Create a loyalty program
According to the 2025 Bond Loyalty Report, 85% of survey respondents say a good loyalty program makes them more likely to stay on as a customer. For instance, you can increase customer lifetime value by rewarding higher spending through points or exclusive perks and discounts. In the Bond survey, 74% of respondents said that they modify their spending to get maximum benefit from the program.
A loyalty framework might also include a referral program, which enables customers to bring in more revenue for your business—in the form of new customers—even when they’re not spending money themselves.
Personalize your marketing
In another survey, 91% of consumers said relevant offers and recommendations would make them more likely to shop with a brand. Personalized experiences can include product recommendations based on recent purchases or even campaigns designed around a certain customer profile. Personalized marketing can help drive revenue. According to Neil, “If I find out that new customers love one particular product category, I may feature that more in my emails.”
Provide excellent customer service
A strong support team can make for happy shoppers. On the flipside, poor customer service can be what prevents a customer from returning. A customer-centric approach helps you turn newly acquired customers into repeat customers and even advocates, all while bringing in more money. According to a 2024 report from NICE, nine out of 10 respondents surveyed said they were willing to spend more for good customer service.
Survey existing high-value customers
Hearing directly from your high-value customers can help you understand them better and get constructive customer feedback about pain points, enabling you to take a more proactive role in anticipating their needs. “You start getting this picture of what makes these great customers so special,” Neil says, adding that a post-purchase confirmation page is a great place to include a quick survey. “After they give you the money, that’s at the height of trust where you can ask them those additional questions.”
Learn from your entire target audience
A well-rounded approach to customer retention means cultivating future top spenders at the same time you’re engaging with the high-value ones you already have. Focusing only on the top existing customers at the expense of potential new customers can mean losing money. “You don’t need to find that perfect person every day,” Neil says. “You just need to be mindful as to what’s leading to slightly better people, and put a little bit more emphasis there.”
High-value customer FAQ
How do you prevent high-value customers from churning?
Retain valuable customers by using data to offer personalized service and experiences, incentivizing purchases and advocacy through loyalty and referral programs, surveying them to anticipate their needs, and creating a strong overall customer experience.
Who is the most valued customer?
Multilingual marketing is the process of promoting a business in multiple languages. It can refer to multilingual content marketing, which involves using educational, informative, or entertaining translated content to build relationships with target audiences in their own language. Or it could involve narrower projects like translating landing pages for local markets.
How do you deal with high-value customers?
Dealing with high-value customers effectively means taking action to keep them satisfied with your product or service and the overall customer experience. But it can also mean recognizing and rewarding them through personalized communication, incentives like discounts, and engaging with them on social media..
What is the 80/20 rule in customer retention?
The so-called 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto principle, is an assertion put forth by the 19th-century economist Vilfredo Pareto that you can attribute 80% of results to just 20% of causes. In the case of business, the principle would suggest that 80% of profit comes from 20% of people (i.e., your high-value customers). This is not a hard-and-fast mathematical truth, but rather an invitation to focus on the metaphorical 20%, even if the actual figure is a little different.
