Client Success Story

Gesswein Boosted E-Commerce Sales 50% Through a Profitability-First Marketing Strategy

Learn how Zaelab used a Shopify migration to springboard Gesswein's growth strategy across Google, Meta, and Bing. The team scaled media investment while keeping customers and profitability at the center of every decision.

Gesswein Web Page Screenshot Showing a Promotion

Services

Managed Services
Managed Services

Industry

Manufacturing
Manufacturing

Platform

Shopify
Shopify

Managed Services

Paid Search (Google Ads, Microsoft Ads)

Paid Social (Meta Ads)

Creative Strategy

eCommerce Growth Strategy

Company Size

Mid-Market

Company

Founded in 1914, Gesswein has built a reputation as a trusted supplier of precision tools, equipment, and technical expertise for the jewelry and industrial trades. The company is dedicated to equipping makers and manufacturers with the best tools, hands-on support, and education, and to fostering the next generation of skilled professionals.

The Challenge

A growth audit surfaced several untapped opportunities to scale investment and substantially grow revenue. Limited data hygiene made it difficult to see true performance clearly, while spend allocation skewed away from growth-driving activity. Shopping placements, historically a significant revenue driver, were largely untapped due to feed issues, and paid social remained under-leveraged, leaving room for a consistent, always-on presence. Meanwhile, established competitors were bidding for the same audience, and Gesswein needed a stronger position to compete.

The Solution

Zaelab rebuilt Gesswein's paid media program from the ground up, tailored to its distinct customer base and built to protect profit at every step. Zaelab worked closely with the Gesswein team to understand its audiences and effectively communicate the value of working with the brand, while also building a shared understanding of profitability at the item level. As a result, every budget increase and optimization was tied to maintaining or improving margin, not just growing revenue.

The rebuild included:

  • Correcting conversion tracking to isolate purchases and custom quote form submissions as the true primary conversion actions, giving the team a clear, connected view of performance for the first time
  • Re-launching Shopping ads and shifting spend toward non-brand terms to drive real new-customer growth
  • Introducing remarketing to recapture recent visitors, cart abandoners, and past purchasers
  • Segmenting Meta campaigns by audience (jewelry-focused vs. industrial-focused) and deepening creative collaboration with the Gesswein team to scale presence on the platform
  • Expanding into Bing/Microsoft Ads as a net-new channel

Ads launched under the new strategy in August 2025, and monthly spend has grown more than 12x since the start of the engagement, with revenue scaling right alongside it.

Key Integrations

Zaelab has been a valuable partner in helping grow our digital presence and online sales. Their team is responsive, proactive, and highly attentive, providing clear reporting, thoughtful strategy, and a strong focus on improving performance and efficiency. They've become an extension of our team, and we've been very pleased with the results!
Lauren Gesswein, VP of Marketing at Gesswein

The Result

✔ 50% net sales growth in H1 2026 vs. H1 2025, with orders up 46.5%


✔ Average monthly ad investment scaled more than 12x across all channels, with profitability protected at every step


✔ Meta Ads ROAS improved 61% year-over-year even while scaling spend ~7x, with click-through rate up 225% and cost-per-click down 62%


✔ Meta generated 149 quote submissions for a key product launch at a below-benchmark CPA


✔ Site-wide traffic grew 171%, with a healthy double-digit CAC:LTV ratio

Business Impact

By starting with a stable Shopify foundation and pairing it with a profitability-first growth strategy, Zaelab turned an inefficient, brand-term-dependent paid media program into a coordinated growth engine. Fixing the fundamentals created the base for real new-customer growth while a disciplined focus on product-level profitability ensured that a 12x increase in ad investment translated directly into sustainable, healthy revenue growth rather than just top-line revenue. 

The result: Gesswein's strongest H1 net sales performance in recent years, and a scalable framework for continued growth across its Jewelry and Industrial customer base.

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