A Microsoft designer’s leap into jewellery with a past, and how she keeps it personal

Priya Singh is Founder & CEO of Riwaiyat, a jewellery brand based in Bengaluru. Before going full-time on the brand, she was a UX designer at Microsoft, on the Microsoft Planner team.

Riwaiyat launched in January 2025. The name comes from riwayat: tradition, customs and stories passed down through generations. That is close to what the brand represents: statement jewellery inspired by tribal and traditional cultures, with a strong focus on Afghan and Central Asian pieces. Many are vintage, refurbished or sourced in very limited quantities, so they carry imperfections, patina and details that make them unique.

The brand is for people who don’t want jewellery that looks like everyone else’s. Customers are in India and internationally. For Priya, the story of a piece (the tribe, motif, material and technique) is as important as the piece itself.

Riwaiyat sells through Shopify. Before CampaignHQ, a lot of customer communication needed manual attention: keep track of conversations, follow up one by one, and make sure potential orders weren’t getting lost between browsing, checkout and payment.

COD added another layer. An order being placed does not necessarily mean the order is confirmed. Abandoned checkouts were a missed opportunity too: customers interested enough to reach checkout, but not practical to chase by hand as volumes grew.

A growing brand is managing products, inventory, content, marketing, fulfilment and support at the same time. Sometimes the customer doesn’t need convincing. They got distracted or had a question. Reach them at the right time, and that conversation can turn into an order.

Priya connected CampaignHQ to the Shopify store in late 2025, to make communication and follow-ups more systematic. WhatsApp matters because it is a natural channel for Indian customers. The team uses WhatsApp and email for abandoned-checkout, COD-confirmation and order journeys, plus campaigns. They also use CampaignHQ to see whether those interactions contribute to sales, not only whether messages were delivered.