How Grind doubled its new customer base

As a distinctive brand with a great story to tell, creating awareness was never a huge challenge for us. The bigger hurdle was finding a way to turn all those brand-curious consumers into loyal new customers – ready to enjoy a different way to drink coffee at home.

Capturing demand: From awareness to intent

As more people began hearing about Grind on social media, we needed a way to capture that growing demand the second it emerged.

The answer? Start showing up at the exact moment customers stopped scrolling, and turned to search.

Converting at scale: Right time, right place, right people

Using Search helped us reach people actively looking for coffee pods, subscriptions and coffee machines online – while Shopping allowed us to showcase products directly in their search results.

Combining that approach with Smart Bidding and our own first-party customer data meant we could also identify high-value audiences, reach more of the right shoppers – and scale customer acquisition efficiently.

Performance benchmarks: Turning searches into sips

By reaching customers at the moment they’re ready to buy, Google Ads has become one of our most effective acquisition channels.

• Customer acquisition: New customers grew by 101% in 12 months
• Online sales: 21% of all sales now directly attributable to Google Ads
• Conversion impact: Black Friday conversions in 2025 grew by 109% from a 27% rise in spend
• Cost per click: Now 18% lower year on year
  

Together, these results show the value of reaching the right customers at the right moment – when coffee calls.

What we learned: Building beyond awareness

When it comes to growing a new or challenger brand, you absolutely have to be there when customers start searching. Otherwise, you’re losing sales to competitors – and leaving revenue on the table.

Also, never underestimate the value of using your own data. That’s how we found more customers with similar interests and behaviours to the ones already buying from us.

One more thing: Gemini has definitely become part of our process now. We use it to sense-check ideas, optimise keywords and explore new approaches before campaigns go live.