- Digital Chapter
- Posts
- HexClad: How They Scaled to $350 Million Through Growth Marketing
HexClad: How They Scaled to $350 Million Through Growth Marketing
Paid Media Approach, Amazon Ads & Post-purchase Survey

Hey everyone! Last week was awesome - we saw some big growth in subscribers and got some great feedback. Big thanks to all of you for tuning in! 🙏 I'm really curious about what kind of stuff you want to see more of in this newsletter. So, I've put together a quick poll below. Let me know your thoughts! 🙂
Thanks in advance
- Dev
🔍 Which topics are you interested in exploring further? |
In today’s edition, this is what I’m covering:
How do they get critical feedback with post-purchase surveys
Performance marketing approach to scale top of funnel
Paid social funnel breakdown
How they scaled quickly on Amazon
HexClad’s tech stack
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH:
Looking for an answer to your social media presence? Here's the solution. The only thing missing in this equation is your brand - even if its current value is zero. STORI will ensure you get the maximum results. Add potential and subtract the time and cost of additional marketing resources. The math checks out!
FEATURE CASE STUDY
HexClad’s Origin Story

HexClad is a premium, innovative cookware brand used and praised by veteran chefs like Gordon Ramsay. It was founded in 2013 by Danny Winer and Cole Mecray while still working full-time jobs and building the brand on the side.
Initially, they struggled to convince customers to buy cookware online, something that’s typically bought in person. But after 2016, HexClad perfected their product and added attractive benefits like the lifetime warranty to make it more appealing for customers.
These days, HexClad is still mostly sold online, with Costco being the only retail account. According to CEO Daniel Winer, their strategy is focused on growing their audience and then expanding globally. Their unconventional approach in the pots and pans market seems to have paid off, with the brand generating over $350 million in revenue in 2023.
POST-PURCHASE SURVEY
Influencing growth based on feedback
Customer feedback helps them make smarter decisions and personalise their marketing messages, ads, and landing pages to better connect with their audience.

You can analyse their post-purchase survey in three parts:
1. Customer discovery
Why: Gain a nuanced understanding of their customer's preferences and behaviours, which is crucial for tailoring content and product recommendations to meet individual needs.
How: They collect data related to customers’ diets, family sizes, entertainment habits and cooking preferences.
Implementation: Build customer profiles and tailor their product offerings and content.
2. Identifying new customer channels
Why: Identifying where customers first heard about HexClad and understanding their discovery channels.
What: They ask questions about how they discovered HexClad’s brand and product, and online shopping experience.
Implementation: Validate the effectiveness of various marketing channels. For example, they used post-purchase surveys to measure the impact of podcast advertising. This led to a more efficient podcast strategy. Plus, they can optimise their media mix by adjusting goals and budget allocations based on customer responses.
3. Product development
Why: Helps them understand customer preferences and challenges related to their products.
How: They ask questions about their purchase decision factors and product satisfaction.
Usage: These insights from the surveys guide HexClad's product development roadmap. For example, discovering that a significant portion of customers bake frequently led to the exploration of new product offerings catering to this segment.
Other use-cases:
Marketing automation → They integrate post-purchase data with Klaviyo and Shopify to segment customers by preferences and behaviours, simplifying personalized email marketing and content recommendations.
Split up customers & potential customers → By dividing customers and potential customers, they can understand individuals better. This helps address non-buyers concerns by tailoring marketing to overcome specific barriers.
Community building → After completing the survey, customers are encouraged to join HexClad’s referral program and Facebook group, fostering community and leveraging word-of-mouth marketing.
PERFORMANCE MARKETING
Increasing revenue & lowering CAC
Hexclad boasts one of the most impactful paid media programs in the DTC space. In 2023, they were able to grow their revenue through paid channels and reduce their customer acquisition costs (CAC) by 34%. Having the right tools in place for specific parts of their funnel gave them actionable data, allowing them to make better decisions and re-adjust ad spend.
Data-driven decision making
They use platforms like Prescient AI and Northbeam to make better decisions about their paid campaigns. Looking at the case studies, they use these tools for two reasons:
Use AI for daily campaign recommendations, including pivoting into new campaign opportunities, identifying areas to increase ad spend across specific creatives and keywords, and improving general campaign efficiency. Plus, seems like tools like Prescient AI also provide real-time forecasting of ad spend and ROI, which is super useful for planning.
Get a full view of their marketing funnel using tools like Northbeam. They show how each campaign affects their revenue. It also helps them invest more in what converts best and make smarter investments to attract new customers.
Creative optimisation and testing
This framework helps identify the most effective messages and angles, improve their marketing strategies, and ensure their content resonates with their target audience. Currently, they have about 200 active ads on Meta - indicating how strongly they value creative testing.
Their approach can be distilled in two simple steps:
Conducting regular tests: Looking at various elements like value propositions, influencer collaborations, and static imagery versus videos to determine what resonates most with their target customers.
Indentifying winners: Insights gained from these tests are led by a few key metrics - engagement, value generated and conversion rates.
Programmatic direct mail campaign
Use PostPilot's MailMatch to turn email subscribers into buyers. This nifty feature sends direct mail to leads' homes using just their email addresses. It’s a clever way to reach potential customers who’ve ghosted your online efforts. Plus, running these direct mail campaigns alongside your digital ads adds extra touchpoints to Hexclad's customer journey.
Key takeaways:
→ Segment data to separate buyers from subcribed but non-buyers
→ Create mailers that have a strong direct response offer. Without fluff.
→ Gather feedback via unique codes and post-purchase surveys
PAID SOCIAL ADVERTISING
Funnel structure that increased sales by 85%
HexClad’s paid social funnel focuses on showing content that aligns with the customer’s journey. The cornerstone of their strategy is testing to find messages and angles that resonate most with each audience group. Here’s a deeper look at what happens at each stage:

Top of funnel (TOF): On platforms like Meta, TikTok, and Instagram, they use product videos and influencer collaborations. They continually update their TOF activities based on feedback from post-purchase surveys.
Middle of funnel (MOF): Use remarketing to re-engage people who have shown interest but haven’t converted. Content includes educational materials, customer testimonials, and highlights of unique value propositions.
Bottom of funnel (BOF): Run targeted promotions, limited-time offers, and direct response campaigns to drive purchases. They segment their audience based on post-purchase surveys, personalizing messages and offers based on customer preferences and behaviour. They also promote community loyalty and advocacy through referral programs and user-generated content.
AMAZON ADVERTISING
Scaling to $85m in two years
In 2021, they decided to try Amazon to leverage their huge customer base and sophisticated first-party data tools. Unlike other channels, Amazon's audience is ready to buy and actively looking to make a purchase. In 2022, their first full year as a registered brand on Amazon, HexClad sold $36 million worth of products. By the end of 2023, they projected $85 million in sales from Amazon 🤯
These are the three tactics they focused on to ramp up activity on Amazon:
Optimising product listings: UGC doesn’t work well on Amazon, instead they focus on getting these fundamentals right:
Use high-quality images, with products shown from multiple angles
Detailed and engaging product descriptions leading with benefits and features
Cherry picks keywords that rank to improve search visibility. They place these in titles and descriptions.
Bundles and promos: Created virtual bundles that were tailored to their customer’s preferences. They offered coupons and promos on these bundles, which accounted for up to 30% of their sales!
Paid ads format they use:
Sponsored product ads → target specific high-converting keywords
Sponsored brand ads → create banner ads that feature multiple products
Sponsored display ads → retarget customers who view specific products or similar items. They use audience insights based on shopping behaviour.
Posts ads → HexClad were an early adopter of this format. Use this format to showcase features and benefits, promoting via social channels like Facebook and Instagram.
DIGITAL TOOLS
HexClad’s Tech-Stack
E-commerce: Shopify
Analytics: Google Analytics, North Beam, Elevar, Prescient AI
Creative optimisation: Motion
Personalisation: Rebuy
A/B Testing: Convert
Email Marketing: Mail Chimp
Post-purchase survey: Knocommerce
RESOURCES
Interesting podcasts you can check out
Poll: What did you think of today's edition?Polls are anonymous so let me know :) |
That’s all for today’s issue! Catch you on the next one ✌️
-Dev
New Here? Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.
Reply