Exhale Coffee
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25%
lower CAC
14,000
ads conversions in one year
Overview
For Exhale Coffee, the past few years have been defined by momentum.
The UK-based DTC brand has grown rapidly, tripling revenue year over year by carving out a distinct position in a crowded market: coffee marketed as a health product.
But as the business scaled, the team began planning for an even bigger year ahead. Exhale’s goal is to double revenue, and that ambition came with a familiar challenge…
“Meta can be great when it’s stable. Suddenly, they’ll change the playing field, without giving any clear guidance on what to do. And it can take months to relearn how to make it work,” shared Alex Higham, CEO and Co-founder of Exhale Coffee.
Here’s the story of how Exhale Coffee partnered with Rokt to build an incremental acquisition channel beyond social, without abandoning performance discipline.
Challenge
For years, Meta had been Exhale’s primary growth engine. While it delivered scale, it also introduced growing risk. Over time, two issues became increasingly clear:
- Algorithm volatility made performance unpredictable
- Frequency fatigue meant many users had seen Exhale’s ads dozens — if not hundreds — of times
“A lot of people are probably at frequency 100 on Meta by now,” Alex noted. “You start to get ignored.”
The team wasn’t looking to replace Meta outright. But relying so heavily on a single channel felt fragile, especially as acquisition costs continued to rise. That’s when Alex’s new goals became to:
- Double revenue
- Stay DTC-first
- Diversify paid spend beyond Meta
- Find channels that could reach new audiences, not just the same users at higher frequency
The team wasn’t looking for a replacement for Meta, they were looking for incremental growth. Rokt Ads became the perfect channel to test.
Why Rokt Ads stood out
Rokt Ads reaches shoppers outside social feeds, at moments where they’re already transacting.
Using transactional data to connect with new and existing customers through custom and lookalike audiences, your Rokt Ads appear only in premium, brand-safe checkout placements that don’t exist anywhere else.
Basically, you get to place your brand alongside other premium brands during the transaction moment, reaching high LTV customers when they’re ready to buy.
By placing ads across ecommerce, retail, utilities, travel, and everyday transaction moments, Rokt offered exposure far beyond social feeds.
“That’s why Rokt is different,” Alex added. “It literally puts us in front of all online shoppers.”
That broad exposure aligned perfectly with Exhale’s brand strategy: owning the idea of healthy coffee and making the brand visible well beyond social feeds.
But apart from brand alignment, Alex realized the Rokt team was willing to work hand-in-hand to set up, experiment, and optimize Exhale’s ads to find the right offer combination.
Realizing this, Alex reached out to the Rokt team to start working together.
“Instagram only puts you in front of people who are doom-scrolling on Instagram. YouTube only reaches people watching YouTube. But everyone shops online.”
- Alex Higham, CEO and Co-founder of Exhale Coffee
Solution
Alex quickly started collaborating with Rokt’s internal team on strategy and ad placement. Together, they decided to approach Rokt by testing first, then refining.
Offer strategy: free + shipping, intentionally
Rokt and Exhale initially launched ads that promoted a fully free trial, including free shipping. While the offer drove volume, retention wasn’t as high as Alex wanted.
Rather than abandoning the model entirely, the team made a small but intentional change: adding strategic friction by having customers pay for shipping.
“That added just enough friction in the funnel,” Alex said. “It didn’t really increase upfront CAC, and it improved retention by a significant chunk.”
The offer also fits naturally within Rokt’s “Thank You” environment. Because shoppers see the Exhale ad immediately after completing a purchase, they’re already in a receptive mindset. This makes a free product trial feel like a low-risk, high-value addition rather than an interruption.
Incrementality and reach beyond social
One of the biggest advantages of Rokt Ads is reach.
Not everybody is on Instagram, and not everybody engages with ads on social. But Rokt placed Exhale in front of shoppers across:
- Grocery and retail sites
- Parking and utility apps
- Subscription and lifestyle platforms
“That’s where the incrementality comes from,” Alex explained. “You’re reaching people who may never have seen us before.”
The impact was noticeable, even outside dashboards.
“We started having friends message us saying, ‘I just saw you while paying for parking,’ or ‘I saw you on this checkout,’” Alex said. “People were saying, ‘You guys are everywhere.’”
That visibility carried an added benefit for Exhale’s brand: credibility.
“When you show up alongside trusted brands, you borrow a bit of their credibility. People assume big brands only work with other credible brands.”
- Alex Higham, CEO and Co-founder of Exhale Coffee
Experimentation as a growth advantage
Testing didn’t stop once campaigns went live. Rokt’s account management team and Exhale worked closely to:
- Test creative variations
- Experiment with messaging and titles
- Explore different sub-vertical placements
- Compare subscriber quality across environments
“We’re constantly testing platforms, offers, funnels,” Alex said. “And the Rokt team is just as obsessed with testing as I am. They’re keen to humor me with any test I suggest.”
That hands-on collaboration stood out to Alex.
“With other platforms, it feels like they don’t really care whether your account succeeds,” Alex said candidly. “With Rokt, it’s different. The team actually knows their platform. They know what works, and they’re genuinely interested in making Exhale succeed.”
Results
Rokt Ads has already shown strong promise as a scalable acquisition channel for Exhale. According to Alex, he sees:
- ~25% lower upfront CAC compared to Meta
- Clear signs of incrementality, reaching shoppers outside social platforms
- Broad brand exposure across high-credibility partner sites
- Early validation of sub-verticals that drive stronger subscriber quality
With incremental reach confirmed, Alex now plans to continue scaling Rokt Ads as a serious part of his media mix.
“I’ve seen the scalability. Now it’s about refining the offer and funnel before we really hit the accelerator. If Rokt Ads perform best, that’s where the budget will go. Simple as that.”
- Alex Higham, CEO and Co-founder of Exhale Coffee
The takeaway
For emerging DTC brands, growth doesn’t come from betting everything on one channel.
As Alex put it: “There’s always a channel out there that can help you scale beyond your wildest expectations. You won’t find it if you don’t test.”
And for Exhale Coffee, Rokt is proving to be exactly that kind of opportunity.
