Rewards and incentives are some of the most powerful marketing strategies businesses can use to keep loyal customers engaged and attract new ones. But not all customers are equal. Some buy more often, spend more, leave reviews, and recommend you everywhere. Those people are your “VIPs”, and you should treat them differently.
Creating a VIP segment of your audience helps you identify your most valuable customers, reward them properly, and build a stronger, more profitable relationship with them over time.
In this guide, you’ll learn exactly how to define VIPs, build the segment in your tools, connect it to your email and ads, and use it to grow your revenue and local visibility.
TL;DR – Quick Summary
A VIP segment is a filtered group of your best customers: the people who buy the most, return most often, engage with your content, and actively support your brand.
You can build this segment using rules like total spend, order frequency, review activity, and recency.
Once created, use VIP segments for exclusive rewards, targeted campaigns, local SEO growth, and lookalike audiences to attract more customers just like them.
What is a VIP segment?
A VIP segment is a specific list of customers who meet certain criteria that you define as “most valuable.” It’s not just about “people we like” it’s a measurable group based on data, such as:
- Total money spent with your business
- Number of orders or bookings
- How often they come back (frequency)
- Whether they leave positive reviews and ratings
- Whether they refer friends or share your brand on social media
By turning this into a segment, you can quickly target your very best customers with special offers, early access, or even ask them to support your Google reviews and local SEO presence. This is especially important if you want to improve your visibility in Google Maps and the Local Pack using a strong, loyal review base and a well-optimized Google Business Profile.
Who is your VIP audience?
The first step in creating a VIP segment of your audience is deciding who qualifies as a VIP. There is no universal rule. What counts as “VIP” for a local coffee shop will be completely different from a SaaS company or an online fashion brand. Your criteria should match your business model, margins, and goals.
However, most businesses define their VIP audience based on a mix of these core factors:
Customers who spend at least a certain amount of money in a specific period of time.Examples:
– Spent more than $300 in the last 6 months
– Spent more than $1,000 lifetime
– Average order value is 50% above your site's average
Customers who place a certain number of orders/bookings within a given timeframe.Examples:
– 3+ orders in the last 90 days
– 6+ visits to your location in the last year
– Monthly recurring subscriptions for at least 6 months
Customers who engage actively with your brand, open your emails, click campaigns, answer surveys, and interact on social media.
Customers who regularly leave positive feedback, testimonials, or online reviews on platforms like Google, Facebook, Yelp, or directly on your website.
These people are incredibly valuable for both reputation and Google ranking signals.
Whatever rules you choose, always include a time reference. If you only look at lifetime value, you might pull in old, inactive customers who haven’t bought anything in two years. Instead, combine lifetime value with recency, such as “spent $300+ in the last 12 months and ordered at least once in the last 90 days.”
Why creating a VIP segment matters
Is it really necessary to separate VIPs from the rest of your audience? In most cases, yes. Losing one VIP customer can hurt much more than losing ten one-time buyers. Your VIP segment is usually:
- Responsible for a high percentage of your total revenue
- More likely to buy new products or upgrades
- More willing to leave high-quality reviews
- More likely to recommend you to friends and family
- More forgiving if you make the occasional mistake
By identifying this group, you can protect them, reward them, and build an even deeper relationship. You can also use their behavior as a template when working on
local SEO strategies, since search engines often respond positively to consistent visits, branded searches, and review activity from satisfied customers.
How to build your VIP segment step by step
You can create a VIP segment inside your e-commerce platform, CRM, email service, or review tool. The exact clicks depend on the platform, but the logic is almost always the same.
Step 1: Choose your main VIP criteria
Decide what matters most for your business:
- Total spend in the last 6–12 months
- Number of orders/visits
- Number of reviews or NPS responses
- Engagement with emails and campaigns
Step 2: Define the thresholds
Keep the bar high enough so the segment remains exclusive, but not so high that only 3 people qualify.
Examples:
– Spent more than $250 in the last 6 months
– At least 3 orders in the last 120 days
– Left at least one 5-star review
Step 3: Add recency filters
Make sure your VIPs are active, not just historically important.
Add rules like “has purchased or visited in the last 90 days” or “opened an email in the last 60 days.”
Step 4: Build the segment in your tools
In most systems, you can create segments using filters like:
- Order total / total spend
- Number of orders
- Last order date
- Has left a review = true
Save this as “VIP Customers” and set it to update automatically as new customers qualify.
Step 5: Connect your VIP segment to other channels
Export or sync your VIP segment to:
- Your email platform for VIP campaigns
- Meta / Facebook Ads as a Custom Audience
- Google Ads or other ad platforms as a lookalike seed
When you sync this group to ad platforms, you can find “lookalike audiences”, new people who behave similarly to your best customers.
Using VIP segments with Google & local SEO
Your VIP customers are perfect allies when improving your visibility on Google. They already trust you, so they’re more likely to respond when you ask for specific actions that help your local SEO.
- Ask them for detailed Google reviews that mention your services and location.
- Invite them to upload photos to your Google Business Photos gallery.
- Encourage them to use messaging and calls via your
Google Business Profile chat. - Promote VIP-only offers using Google Posts with special CTAs.
Each of these actions reinforces your local presence and supports the bigger picture of how local SEO works in Google Maps and the Local Pack. VIPs are also strong candidates when you want to use review management to boost local SEO and build trust with new visitors.
Ideas to reward your VIP segment
Once your VIP segment is ready, the fun part begins: rewarding them. The goal is not to offer random discounts, but to make them feel recognized, appreciated, and part of something special.
Offer VIP-only prices, secret bundles, or early-bird pricing for new products and services.
Let VIPs access new product launches, features, or seasonal offers before the rest of your audience.
Include small surprise items or personal thank-you cards in their orders. This small touch can dramatically increase loyalty and review likelihood.
Encourage VIPs to share their honest opinion on Google or your website. Use a tool like Wiremo to manage feedback and build a powerful review collection strategy that feeds back into your local rankings and conversions.
For local businesses, host small in-person events, preview nights, or workshops. For online businesses, consider webinars, live calls, or private communities.
Common mistakes when creating a VIP segment
VIP segmentation is powerful, but there are some common traps you’ll want to avoid:
- Making the segment too big: If 70% of your customers are “VIPs”, the word loses meaning.
- Relying only on lifetime value: Include recency to avoid inactive customers you haven’t seen in years.
- Ignoring feedback: VIPs often give rich feedback. Use it to improve your offer and fix friction points.
- Not connecting it with SEO: VIPs can be your best partners when improving local backlinks, reviews, and engagement signals.
- Forgetting to communicate the VIP benefits: Tell them they’re part of a special group. People love feeling recognized.
Key metrics to track for your VIP audience
Once your VIP segment is active, track its performance separately from the rest of your audience. At minimum, monitor:
- Average order value (AOV) vs non-VIP customers
- Purchase frequency over 3, 6, and 12 months
- Retention rate and churn
- Review volume and ratings from VIPs
- Local SEO impact (Google Maps rankings, branded searches, calls from your Google Business Profile)
Over time, you should see your VIP group delivering higher conversion rates and stronger engagement across channels. This also supports your broader local strategy alongside tactics like local keyword research, website conversion optimization, and new local SEO trends.
Final thoughts: why VIP segmentation is worth your time
Creating a VIP segment of your audience is one of the simplest ways to unlock more profit from the customers you already have. Instead of chasing cold traffic all the time, you double down on the people who have already proven they love what you do. With a clear VIP definition, smart automation, and well-designed rewards, you can:
- Increase customer lifetime value
- Generate more and better online reviews
- Strengthen your local SEO and Google visibility
- Attract new customers who behave like your best ones
- Build a brand that people are proud to talk about
In short, a VIP segment makes your marketing smarter, your customers happier, and your growth more predictable.
VIP Audience Segmentation FAQ
1. What is a VIP customer segment?
A VIP segment is a filtered group of your highest-value customers. These customers spend more, buy more frequently, engage with your brand, leave reviews, and show loyalty. Segmenting them allows you to reward, retain, and market to them more effectively.
2. How do I identify my VIP audience?
Identify VIPs based on criteria like total spending, purchase frequency, recency of engagement, review behavior, and repeat visits. You can also include advocacy factors such as referrals or Google reviews.
3. How many VIP customers should I have?
Most businesses aim for 5–20% of their customer base. If your VIP segment is too large, it loses exclusivity. If it’s too small, you’re not capturing enough behavioral data for optimization.
4. Should I use lifetime value or recent spending to choose VIPs?
Use both. Lifetime value shows loyal patterns, but recency ensures the customer is still active. A good VIP definition includes “spent X in the last Y months” plus at least one recent interaction.
5. How can VIP segments help my Google reviews and SEO?
VIP customers are your most satisfied audience, making them ideal candidates for detailed Google reviews, photos, and consistent engagement. Their activity supports your overall local ranking signals, review authority, and Google Maps visibility.
6. Can I use VIP segments for Facebook or Google ads?
Yes. Export or sync your VIP list as a Custom Audience. Platforms like Facebook and Google can create “lookalike audiences,” helping you attract new customers who behave like your best ones.
7. What incentives should I offer VIP customers?
Popular incentives include exclusive discounts, early access releases, VIP-only bundles, surprise gifts, experiential rewards, and thank-you messages. Small gestures often create a big emotional impact.
8. How often should I update my VIP segment?
Update your segment continuously. Most tools can refresh automatically as customers qualify or fall out of the criteria. A monthly manual check is also useful for validation and cleanup.
9. Can VIP segmentation improve customer retention?
Absolutely. VIPs feel more valued, are more likely to stay loyal, and typically show a significantly higher lifetime value. Personalized messages and exclusive access strengthen retention even further.
10. What tools can help me manage a VIP audience?
You can build VIP segments using almost any CRM, email platform, or e-commerce tool. For review and loyalty workflows, platforms like Wiremo help automate feedback, segment customers, and improve engagement with high-value users.
