How to sell to CTOs at E-commerce companies in United States
CTOs at e-commerce companies are primarily measured on system uptime and performance metrics. They respond positively to outreach that demonstrates a clear understanding of their tech stack challenges, such as integrating new payment solutions or optimizing site speed. Highlighting how your solution can reduce downtime or improve load times will capture their attention.
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 downtime
- integration challenges
- slow load times
- security vulnerabilities
The playbook
- 01
Identify e-commerce platforms in use
Start by filtering your list for companies using platforms like Shopify or Magento. This helps you tailor your message to their specific tech environment. Use tools like BuiltWith or SimilarTech to gather this information.
- 02
Highlight recent security breaches
Research recent security incidents in the e-commerce sector. Mention these in your outreach to demonstrate awareness of their vulnerabilities. This positions your solution as a proactive measure against potential threats.
- 03
Target teams with performance issues
Look for companies that have reported slow site speeds or downtime on industry forums or social media. This indicates a pain point that your solution can address. Use platforms like Twitter or LinkedIn to gather insights.
- 04
Connect through relevant industry events
Identify upcoming e-commerce conferences or webinars where CTOs are likely to attend. Mention these events in your outreach to create a relevant context for your conversation. This shows you are engaged in their industry.
- 05
Follow up with data-driven insights
After your initial outreach, send a follow-up that includes specific data on how your solution can improve site performance or security. Use metrics relevant to their industry to make your case compelling and actionable.
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 your site performance
- Addressing e-commerce security risks
- Optimizing integrations for Shopify
Questions
- Why do CTOs at e-commerce companies ignore cold outreach?
- CTOs often receive numerous unsolicited messages, making them selective about responses. If the outreach doesn't directly address their current challenges or isn't relevant to their tech stack, it’s likely to be overlooked.
- What common objections do CTOs have to new solutions?
- CTOs may object due to concerns about integration with existing systems, potential downtime during implementation, or the ROI of the new solution. Addressing these concerns directly in outreach can help mitigate resistance.
- How can I demonstrate value to a CTO quickly?
- Use specific data points or case studies relevant to e-commerce that showcase how your solution has resolved similar issues for other companies. Quick wins in terms of performance or security improvements can grab their attention.
- What timing is best for reaching out to e-commerce CTOs?
- Reaching out at the beginning of the fiscal quarter can be effective, as many CTOs are planning budgets and projects. Additionally, following up after major e-commerce events can leverage their recent experiences and insights.
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.
Try it on your site