We delivered a revenue uplift of
We grew subscriptions by
Grind is a London-born coffee brand with a mission to make better, more sustainable coffee at home. Originally known for its cult cafes and espresso bars across the city, the brand has evolved into a household name thanks to its distinctive pink compostable pods and stylish home brewing kits.
With a strong direct to consumer presence and clear voice in the market, Grind is on a mission to grow its community of subscribers and reach even more coffee lovers across the UK and beyond.
Grind’s affiliate programme is well-established, with strong foundations and a mature set of publisher relationships. However, the brand’s ambition to scale meant that the status quo wasn’t enough. With no additional budget available for tenancy or increased CPA, the team faced a multi-layered challenge: drive substantial YoY growth while also shifting the focus toward more valuable customer behaviour, all without leaning on traditional volume-driving partners.
Despite these constraints, the business maintained ambitious growth targets, exceeding a 30% uplift in affiliate performance. This meant the team had to find innovative ways to increase revenue, traffic and new customer sign-ups while protecting brand positioning and prioritising subscription-based acquisition.
The key challenges included:
In short, the team needed to do more with less and it all came down to creative thinking, strong relationships and precise execution.
With budget constraints and a clear need to scale new customer acquisition, the team took a tactical, performance-first approach. Instead of relying on high-cost placements, they focused on building strong partner relationships, identifying smart opportunities for exposure and optimising spend to drive maximum value. Through careful planning, creative problem solving and a focus on measurable impact, the team delivered impressive results, without the need for additional investment. Here is how the team did it:
Quarterly code increases
To consistently drive traffic and improve conversion rates without needing additional budget, the team implemented quarterly code increases with high performing partners. These carefully timed increases aligned with seasonal peaks and high intent shopping periods, enabling Grind to maximise their reach and influence purchasing decisions when customers were most active. By doing this on a quarterly basis, the team ensured that the affiliate programme remained agile and responsive to commercial priorities throughout the year.
Focused acquisition
With customer acquisition being a key objective, the team identified a rewards based publisher as a strategic partner for reaching new audiences. This partner’s unique model allowed Grind to reward customers for purchases in a way that felt native and non-intrusive, resulting in a notable uplift in new subscribers acquisition. The activity also provided free brand exposure, thanks to their promotional support through in-app placements and push notifications, which significantly boosted visibility with no extra cost to the brand.
Smart campaign planning
Grind’s calendar is peppered with major PR-driven collaborations – think limited edition drops and high profile partnerships that generate a lot of media attention. To avoid clashing with these key moments, the team strategically scheduled affiliate promotions during quieter periods in the calendar. This approach ensured affiliate activity didn’t compete with or dilute the impact of PR campaigns, while still keeping momentum going throughout the year. After identifying the periods in between these collaborations the team capitalised on these windows and ran exclusive promotional and limited time codes. This ensured Grind maintained a steady stream of traffic and sales year round, even outside of peak periods.
Key partner optimisation
To further amplify performance from one key partnership, the team extended campaigns, often without any additional spend, to include Grind in high profile marketing activity such as their Mother’s Day campaign. These extensions provided significant free exposure to a large and engaged audience of eligible customers, many of whom fit Grind’s target demographic. This approach ensured the brand stayed visible during key gifting moments, helping to capture demand from customers looking for affordable, quality options.
Performance optimisation through low cost placements
With a focus on maintaining strong performance on a tight budget, the team utilised low cost code placements with a high trust, consumer focused site known for value seeking audiences. These placements we strategically selected and timed to align with periods of strong consumer interest. Despite the minimal cost, the codes consistently delivered results, making them one of the most cost effective tools in the affiliate toolkit. This proved that with the right partners and tactical execution, strong affiliate results were achievable even with limited investment.
Thanks to strategic planning, data-led decision making and effective collaboration with key partners, Grind saw significant year-on-year growth across all key performance metrics. Every solution implemented by the team – from smart promotional timing to strong partner relationships and low cost ROAS driving activity – contributed to meaningful uplifts in revenue, traffic and subscriptions
YoY Revenue Uplift
Grind’s affiliate programme saw an impressive +69.3% increase in total revenue in 2024 compared to the previous year. This strong growth reflects the combined impact of high performing partnerships, timely campaigns and improved traffic quality throughout the year.
New subscriber acquisition and revenue growth
One of the key objectives for the year was to grow Grind’s subscription base and the results speak for themselves. Subscriptions increased by +29.2%, with subscription revenue up +33.9%. This growth was largely fuelled by targeted acquisition strategies and standout performance from the rewards based publisher.
Traffic uplift
Site traffic across the programme rose by +42.6% YoY, jumping from 112,200 sessions to 160,043. This uplift reflects the continued focus on increasing visibility through cost-effective and high-converting partnerships, as well as a proactive approach to partner communications and exposure opportunities.
Performance from key partners
The leading consumer advice site’s traffic was up +28.9% and orders up +9.4%.
One closed user group delivered particularly impressive YOY results:
These increases demonstrate the value of ongoing relationship nurturing, carefully timed code increases and securing extended campaign visibility – often at no additional cost.
This case study shows how a mature affiliate programme can be reinvigorated through consistent publisher activation and well-times promotional tactics – all with minimal budget.
Small spend, big impact:
A single £500 tenancy and increased code promotions led to a 33% uplift in subscription revenue and a 69% uplift in one-time purchases YoY.
Performance without extra cost:
Regular activations with all key partners drove results with no increase in CPA or tenancy spend.
Tactical campaign timing:
Promotions were times to support quieter trading periods, increasing visibility and engagement when it was needed most.
Sustainable growth tactics:
These strategies have been embedded into BAU activity, delivering long-term gains without additional spend.
Stronger internal perceptions:
The affiliate channel is now seen as a more valuable acquisition tool, opening up opportunities for further investment.
