RFM is an acronym that stands for the three primary factors of predictive customer analysis: Recency, Frequency, and Monetary Value. However, it is an inexact term that can mean the factors themselves, the analysis of the factors, or even the result of the analysis. Recency, Frequency, and Monetary Value are the foundation of all predictive customer analysis, including high-end statistics-based predictive models, such as regression analysis, neural networks, genetic algorithms, Chi-Squared Automated Interaction Detectors (CHAID), or Classification and Regression Trees (CART). Because of the expense associated with these high-end models, RFM Analysis is usually a more cost effective option for small- and medium-sized companies.