Most merchants install Randio thinking about one thing: sales. Run a campaign, give customers personalized discounts, watch orders come in. That works. But it is not the only way to use campaigns, and merchants who treat campaigns as a single-purpose tool leave value on the table.

There are at least three distinct intents behind running a campaign, and each one calls for different settings, different customer groups, and different success metrics. Knowing which one you are running — before you hit activate — changes how you set it up and how you evaluate the results.

1. The data gathering campaign

Sometimes the goal is not revenue. It is information. You want to learn which products your customers respond to, what discount depths drive action, and which segments behave differently from each other.

A data gathering campaign is designed to produce learnings, not necessarily profit. That does not mean you lose money — you might still generate solid revenue. But the primary metric is insight, not conversion rate.

How to set it up

  • Broader product pool. Include products from across your catalog, not just bestsellers. The point is to discover which products get traction when surfaced to different people.
  • Wider discount range. Set a range like 10-35% instead of a narrow 15-20%. The variance in discounts across customers gives you natural data points about price sensitivity.
  • Multiple customer groups. Run the same strategy against different segments — repeat buyers, one-time purchasers, lapsed customers. Same products, same discount range, different audiences. Compare the results.
  • Full duration. Do not cancel early. Partial data is worse than no data because it looks like data but represents an incomplete window.

A/B testing takes this further

A/B testing lets you split a single customer group into segments that each receive a different strategy variant. Instead of comparing across groups, you compare within one group — which eliminates segment-level differences and isolates the effect of the strategy itself. If data gathering is your primary intent, A/B testing is the sharpest tool for it. Read more about A/B testing

What to look at afterward

Skip the top-line revenue number. Instead, look at:

  • Conversion rate by segment. Which customer group converted best? That tells you where personalized discounts have the most leverage.
  • Product-level redemption. Which products were redeemed most often when they appeared in catalogs? Those are your hidden performers — products customers want but are not discovering through your normal storefront.
  • Discount depth vs. conversion. Did higher discounts actually convert better, or did moderate discounts perform just as well? Many merchants discover that 15% works nearly as well as 30% for certain product categories.

A data campaign that costs you 200 catalogs and teaches you that your VIP segment converts at 3x the rate of lapsed customers is worth more than a revenue campaign that generates $500 but teaches you nothing.

2. The clearance campaign

You have inventory that needs to move. End-of-season items, slow sellers, products being discontinued. The traditional approach is a site-wide clearance sale — slash prices across the board, put a banner on the homepage, and hope people buy.

The problem: clearance sales train customers to wait for sales. They also devalue your brand across the board, even for products that are not on clearance.

A Randio clearance campaign is different. Each customer gets a unique selection of discounted clearance items. There is no public "SALE" banner. No site-wide markdown. Customers experience it as a personalized offer, not a desperate fire sale.

How to set it up

  • Dedicated clearance collection. Create a Shopify collection specifically for items you want to move. Only include products where you are comfortable with deep discounts.
  • Aggressive discount range. This is where you go deeper — 25-50% or even 30-60%. You have already decided this inventory needs to go. The discount is not eating into healthy margins; it is recovering capital from dead stock.
  • Shorter campaigns. 24-48 hours. The urgency is real — these products are leaving your catalog. A tight window reinforces that.
  • Larger customer groups. Cast a wider net than usual. Clearance campaigns benefit from volume because the goal is units moved, not conversion rate optimization.

Guest clearance campaigns

You can also run a Storefront campaign in Guest Mode that shows clearance items to anonymous storefront visitors through the theme block. This is especially effective for clearance because you are reaching people who are already browsing your store — they are in buying mode, and a personalized discount on products you want to move is a strong nudge. Read more about Outreach vs Storefront campaigns

The metric that matters

Revenue per unit is less important than units moved. Track the total inventory reduction, not the margin. If you clear 200 units of dead stock at 40% off, that is freed-up warehouse space, recovered capital, and no need for a public markdown that cheapens your brand.

Compare the cost of the catalogs used against what you would have lost holding the inventory. In most cases, the math is obvious.

3. The limited quantity exclusive drop

This is the opposite of clearance. Instead of moving volume, you are creating scarcity. A small number of products, offered to a select group of customers, with limited availability.

Think of it as a private sale — but genuinely private, because each customer sees a different selection and there are no coupon codes to leak. The randomization makes every catalog unique, so even within the same campaign, two customers cannot compare notes and get the same deal.

How to set it up

  • Small, curated product pool. Fewer products than usual. Hand-pick items that feel premium or exclusive — new arrivals, limited edition, or high-demand products that rarely go on sale.
  • Moderate discounts. 10-20% is enough. The value proposition is access, not depth. These are products customers want — the discount sweetens the deal without devaluing the product.
  • Quantity limit of 1. Use quantity limits to reinforce scarcity. One unit per item, per customer. This is not a bulk buying opportunity — it is an exclusive offer.
  • Small, targeted customer group. VIP repeat buyers, top spenders, or loyal customers who have purchased 3+ times. The exclusivity only works if the audience feels selected, not blasted.
  • Short duration. 24 hours, maybe 48. The tight window combined with genuine product scarcity creates real urgency — no countdown timers needed.

Why this works

Traditional exclusive drops have a problem: codes get shared, early access links spread on social media, and the "exclusive" feeling evaporates. With Randio, there is nothing to share. Each catalog is tied to a specific customer. Even if someone screenshots their deals, nobody else can access those same products at those same prices.

The result is a campaign that genuinely feels like a private invitation. Customers who receive it feel valued. Customers who do not receive it have no idea it happened — there is no public sale devaluing your brand.

The best exclusive drop campaigns have redemption rates 2-3x higher than broad campaigns — not because the discounts are deeper, but because the audience is narrow and the offer feels personal.

Choosing your intent before you activate

The mistake most merchants make is not choosing poorly between these three. It is not choosing at all. They set up every campaign the same way — same discount range, same customer group, same duration — and evaluate every campaign by the same metric (revenue).

Before you activate your next campaign, answer one question: what is this campaign for?

  • Learning? Broader products, wider discounts, compare segments, protect the full duration.
  • Moving inventory? Clearance collection, deep discounts, short window, wide audience.
  • Creating exclusivity? Premium products, moderate discounts, qty limits, small VIP group.

Each intent has different settings, different audiences, and different definitions of success. A clearance campaign with a 15% conversion rate is a win. A data campaign with a 3% conversion rate that teaches you which segment to double down on is also a win. An exclusive drop that moves 50 units at 10% off to your best customers is a huge win.

Same tool, three different jobs. Set it up accordingly.