Customer Story groups your customers by how they buy, not by tags you have to maintain by hand. This guide explains what each segment means, how Auto and Manual modes work, and how to use the insights to grow repeat revenue.
Why segmentation matters
Most stores know their total sales. Fewer know:
- Who just bought for the first time and needs a nudge to come back
- Who usually reorders on time, and who is late
- Who spends the most and deserves VIP treatment
- Who has quietly stopped buying
Segmentation answers those questions automatically from your Shopify order history. As new orders come in (and as time passes with no order), customers move between stages so your dashboard stays useful without constant manual cleanup.
What you get:
- A clear view of customer health on the dashboard
- Prioritized lists for outreach (welcome, win-back, VIP care)
- Thresholds that can follow your store's buying rhythm (Manual mode)
The six customer stages
Every customer lands in one stage based on three simple things:
- How many orders they've placed
- How much they've spent with you overall
- How long it's been since their last order
| Stage | Who they are | What you might do |
|---|---|---|
| Prospect | In your customer list, but hasn't ordered yet | Welcome offer, first-purchase incentive |
| New | Just made their first purchase | Product recommendations, second-order nudge |
| Active | Buying on a healthy schedule | Loyalty invites, cross-sells, reviews |
| VIP | Your best customers: enough orders and high lifetime spend | Exclusive access, early drops, personal thank-yous |
| At risk | Used to buy, but they're overdue compared with your thresholds | Win-back offer, "we miss you" message |
| Churned | Gone quiet for a long time | Stronger re-engagement campaign or quieter nurture |
Important: VIP is special
If someone qualifies as VIP, they stay VIP even if they haven't ordered recently. High-value customers aren't marked Churned just because they're between big purchases. Treat them with care. Don't blast them with the same win-back as a one-time buyer.
Auto mode vs Manual mode
You choose this on Segmentation in the app.
Auto mode (default, good for most stores)
Customer Story uses proven default rules that work well for many Shopify stores:
| Rule | Default |
|---|---|
| New | First order within the last 30 days |
| Active | Last order within the last 90 days |
| At risk | Last order within the last 180 days |
| Churned | Last order older than 180 days |
| VIP | 5+ orders and $500+ lifetime spend |
Choose Auto if: you're just getting started, your customers reorder roughly monthly to quarterly, or you want something that works out of the box.
Manual mode (Growth & Scale)
Manual mode tunes the timing to your store's actual repurchase rhythm, not a one-size-fits-all calendar.
Instead of fixed 90 / 180 day windows, Manual uses your store's median order cycle and multipliers you control:
| Setting | What it means | Default |
|---|---|---|
| At risk after | How many order cycles of silence before someone leaves Active and becomes At risk | 2× your cycle |
| Churned after | How many order cycles of silence before they become Churned | 3× your cycle |
| VIP spend level | Who counts as top spenders (for example "top 10%") | Top 10% of lifetime spend |
Choose Manual if: you sell items people buy rarely (furniture, mattresses, seasonal gear), or people buy very often (consumables). Auto's 90 / 180 day windows can feel too tight or too loose for your customers.
Example: consumables store
Your typical customer reorders about every 22 days. With defaults (2× and 3×): Active until about 44 days, At risk until about 66 days, then Churned. That's much tighter than Auto, which is correct if buyers should come back every few weeks.
Example: furniture or big-ticket store
Your typical customer reorders about every 140 days. With the same 2× and 3×: Active until about 280 days, At risk until about 420 days. Auto would have marked many healthy buyers "At risk" or "Churned" too early. Manual fixes that.
What is the "baseline"?
Your baseline is Customer Story's snapshot of how your customers buy. It includes:
- Median order cycle: the typical gap (in days) between one purchase and the next for your repeat buyers
- Top spend threshold (VIP spend level). the lifetime spend that puts someone in your top spenders
- Based on: how many orders went into that calculation
Think of baseline as: "Here's the heartbeat of my store."
Manual unlocks once you have about 30 customers with multi-day repurchase gaps and an eligible plan (Growth or Scale). Until then, Auto defaults still work.
How stages stay up to date
| When | What updates |
|---|---|
| A customer places an order (or an order is updated / refunded) | That customer's stage is refreshed right away |
| You open the Segmentation page | If your baseline is older than about a day, we refresh it from latest orders |
| You click Recalculate baseline | We force a fresh look at your order cycle and VIP spend cut |
| You save Auto or Manual settings | We apply the new rules and update customer stages in the background |
| Overnight / daily maintenance | Quiet customers move Active → At risk → Churned as time passes |
How to use this day to day
- New → second-order campaigns
- At risk → win-back this week
- VIP → gratitude / exclusives
- Churned → deeper re-activation or suppression from "active buyer" flows
- Prospect → welcome offer, first-purchase incentive
Plans and permissions
| Plan | What you can do |
|---|---|
| Starter | Use Auto segmentation, view your baseline, recalculate baseline |
| Growth & Scale | Everything above, plus switch to Manual and customize multipliers / VIP spend cutoff |
Every plan includes a 30-day free trial. Upgrading alone doesn't unlock Manual if your store doesn't have enough repeat-order history yet.
Recommended setup
- Install and let orders sync so stages populate under Auto.
- Watch the dashboard for a week or two. Do Active / At risk feel right?
- When you have about 30 customers with multi-day repurchase gaps, open Segmentation and review your median order cycle.
- If Auto feels off, switch to Manual (Growth/Scale), adjust the multipliers, and Save.
- Recalculate baseline occasionally after big seasons or product launches.
Quick FAQ
Do I have to choose Manual?
No. Auto works well for many stores. Manual is for when your buying cycle is clearly shorter or longer than the defaults.
Will changing settings mess up my Shopify customers?
No. Segmentation lives inside Customer Story. It doesn't rewrite Shopify customer tags.
Why is someone still VIP if they haven't ordered in months?
Because VIP is based on lifetime value and order count, not only recency.
Why can't I turn on Manual yet?
We need about 30 customers with multi-day repurchase gaps. Keep selling and syncing.
Does refunds affect stages?
Yes. When spend or order totals change, that customer's stage can change.
One-sentence summary
Auto gives you clear customer groups with sensible defaults; Manual (when your store has enough history) makes those groups follow your customers' real repurchase rhythm so At risk and Churned mean something useful for your business.