How to sell to CTOs at E-commerce companies in Canada
CTOs in e-commerce companies are primarily measured on system uptime and performance. They respond to outreach that demonstrates a clear understanding of their tech stack challenges, such as integration issues with platforms like Shopify or site speed problems that affect conversion rates. Highlighting solutions that enhance operational efficiency is key to capturing their interest.
Written and maintained by the SoloRiff team, who build outbound software and run outbound with it. The figures below are our own: we measured 578 e-commerce company domains over public DNS on 2026-09-03. Last updated 2026-09-03.
What actually hurts
- site reliability issues
- integration headaches
- high cart abandonment
- slow loading times
The playbook
- 01
Identify recent Shopify outages
Search for news articles or forums discussing recent outages or performance issues in Shopify. Use this data to identify e-commerce companies in Canada that may be struggling with site reliability, which is a critical concern for CTOs. This can set the stage for a relevant outreach.
- 02
Look for e-commerce funding announcements
Utilize platforms like Crunchbase to find Canadian e-commerce companies that have recently secured funding. These companies are often looking to scale and improve their technology, making them more receptive to solutions that can enhance their infrastructure.
- 03
Target teams with high cart abandonment rates
Analyze e-commerce websites for common issues leading to cart abandonment, such as slow loading times or poor mobile optimization. Create a list of companies that report these issues in customer feedback, as addressing these pain points can resonate with CTOs.
- 04
Address integration challenges with legacy systems
Research e-commerce brands that mention legacy system integration issues in their tech blogs or forums. CTOs are often frustrated with these challenges, so framing your outreach around how you can simplify integrations will make your message more compelling.
- 05
Follow up on performance metrics discussions
After your initial outreach, monitor any discussions or posts from the CTO about performance metrics or site improvements. If they share insights on their current tech stack or performance goals, use this as a touchpoint for follow-up communication.
Can e-commerce companies even receive your mail?
We measured the DNS of 578 e-commerce companies, sampled evenly across company sizes, to see how many authenticate their own email. It matters in both directions: a domain that does not authenticate is a domain whose team is used to mail going missing — and if your own domain is in the gap, yours is the mail going missing.
Publishes a DMARC policy of quarantine or reject — the domain actually asks receivers to act on failures.
The gap is the finding: 19.6% of 1–10-person companies against 67.5% of the largest — 48 points apart. Small companies are where the unauthenticated domains are, and small companies are who most cold outreach is aimed at.
Where does your domain sit?
Same three lookups, run live against your domain. Nothing is stored and nothing is emailed to you.
How this was measured
Company domains were sampled within employee-count bands, then queried over public DNS for SPF (TXT at the apex), DMARC (TXT at _dmarc.) and MX. One domain per company, deduplicated. Anyone can reproduce any single row of this with dig.
DKIM is deliberately absent. A DKIM key lives under a selector that cannot be enumerated from outside the domain, so a company with flawless DKIM under a name we did not guess would be counted as having none. That would measure our guess list, not the industry.
Domains with no MX record are excluded rather than counted as failures — parked and redirect-only domains would otherwise drag every figure down and make the result an artefact of the sample.
Sampled within bands, so this describes the population of companies, not of employees: a 10-person company counts once, as does a 10,000-person one. Each band is at least 60 domains; bands below that are not published. Figures are percentages of the sample, not of the whole industry, and we publish no company names — only counts.
Measured 2026-09-03. Re-measured monthly.
The full census across every industry — sortable, with sample sizes, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.
Subject lines that fit
- Improving site reliability
- Tackling cart abandonment
- Streamlining legacy integrations
Questions
- Why do CTOs in e-commerce ignore cold outreach?
- CTOs in e-commerce often receive numerous cold emails that lack specific relevance to their immediate challenges. If the outreach does not address their current pain points, such as site performance or integration issues, it is likely to be overlooked in favor of more pertinent communications.
- What common challenges do e-commerce CTOs face?
- E-commerce CTOs frequently deal with issues related to site performance, integration with various platforms, and ensuring a seamless customer experience. Additionally, they must navigate the complexities of scaling technology as their business grows, all while managing operational costs.
- How do CTOs prefer to receive information?
- CTOs typically prefer concise, data-driven insights that directly relate to their operational challenges. They appreciate case studies or examples that demonstrate tangible results, especially those relevant to e-commerce technology, as this helps them visualize potential benefits.
- What triggers a CTO to consider new technology solutions?
- CTOs are often prompted to explore new technology solutions when they encounter significant performance issues, receive negative customer feedback, or when their current systems hinder growth. A demonstrated need for improvement in these areas can make them more open to discussions.
Or have it run itself
SoloRiff does every step above on its own — finds the companies, finds the people, writes each of them individually, and handles the replies. Drop your URL and watch it work before you sign up for anything.
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