Definition
Recency refers to the length of time since a customer’s last purchase.
Firms in non-contractual situations with identifiable customers will count customers of various recencies. For example, customers of recency one year or less are customers who bought within the last year. A “six-month customer” is someone who purchased from the firm at least once within the last six months.
Purpose
Recency is used to monitor firm performance in attracting and retaining customers—specifically, to track changes in the number of active customers, irrespective of the number of transactions (or the dollar value of those transactions) made by each customer.
See Also
Customer retention
Customer satisfaction
Customer value propositions
References
- ^ Farris, Paul W.; Neil T. Bendle; Phillip E. Pfeifer; and David J. Reibstein (2010). Marketing Metrics: The Definitive Guide to Measuring Marketing Performance (Second Edition). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.