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VIP by lifetime spend or last 12 months?

Lifetime spend rewards tenure and never lets a former big spender drop off. A 12-month window tracks current behavior. Many stores use both: current VIPs by recent spend, and former VIPs who have gone quiet by lifetime spend. Pick the window to match the perk you offer.

By MergeGuard team

Last updated

3 min read

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A VIP threshold needs a window: the period spend is added over. The two common choices give different VIP lists from the same orders, and the difference matters most for customers who used to spend a lot and have gone quiet.

Key insight

The window decides whether a former big spender still counts as a VIP.

Two windows

  • Lifetime. All the customer’s spend since their first order.
  • Rolling 12 months. Spend over the last year, which moves forward each day.

What Shopify’s fields measure

Shopify’s Admin API describes amountSpent as “The total amount that the customer has spent on orders in their lifetime.” The segment query reference lists amount_spent as “The total amount spent (all time).” Both are lifetime figures for one customer profile.

A 12-month figure isn’t in the descriptions we read, so for a rolling window you add up the orders in that period yourself.

What each window rewards

This section is our reasoning, not a published finding.

  • Lifetime spend rewards tenure. A customer who spent a lot four years ago and nothing since stays a VIP. That suits a perk meant as thanks for past loyalty. It can also give current perks to someone who has left.
  • A 12-month window rewards current buying. A customer must keep buying to stay a VIP. That suits perks that cost you money now, such as free shipping or early access. A strong customer who pauses for a year can fall out of the group.
Lifetime window: Big spend years ago, All spend since the first order. Rolling year window: Last year.Lifetime windowAll spend since the first orderBig spend years agoRolling year windowLast year
The same customer is a VIP on lifetime spend and drops out on a one-year window.

Using both

Two measures together sort customers into four groups. Give each window its own threshold. A customer’s spend over the last 12 months can never be more than their lifetime spend, so one shared threshold would leave the third group empty. Set the 12-month threshold lower than the lifetime one, and “high” below means over that window’s own threshold.

High lifetime, high 12-month

Current VIPs. They have a long record and are buying now.

High lifetime, low 12-month

Former VIPs who have gone quiet. A reason to find out why, and to check for a second profile first.

Low lifetime, high 12-month

Newer customers who are spending a lot now. They may be on their way to VIP.

Low lifetime, low 12-month

Everyone else. No VIP treatment applies.

The second group is worth watching. A customer who looks like a former VIP may be buying under a new email. Add up their spend across profiles before you decide they have gone (why split profiles hide your VIPs).

Perks per window

Match the perk to the window, using the same reasoning.

  • A one-off thank-you for long-standing customers fits lifetime spend.
  • A running benefit that costs you each month fits the 12-month window.
  • A message to win back a former VIP uses both windows, because it needs high lifetime and low recent spend.

Reset rules

A vendor article from Tenten calls “a monthly or quarterly batch update” the standard practice for recalculating tier status (Tenten). That is practitioner opinion and not research. Whatever you choose, tell customers how and when their status is recalculated, so a drop in status doesn’t come as a surprise.

Choosing a window is one of the decisions in setting a VIP threshold.

Sources

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