How to sell to Founders at E-commerce companies in United States
Founders of e-commerce companies are primarily measured by their customer acquisition rate. They respond positively to insights that demonstrate a clear understanding of their unique challenges, like scaling rapidly while managing operational costs. Highlighting specific strategies to reduce cart abandonment rates or improve customer retention will catch their attention and prompt a reply.
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
- high cart abandonment rates
- limited customer retention strategies
- inconsistent marketing performance
The playbook
- 01
Identify recent funding rounds
Use Crunchbase or PitchBook to filter for e-commerce companies that have recently secured funding. Look for businesses that raised capital in the last 3-6 months, as they are likely looking to invest in growth strategies.
- 02
Analyze their online presence
Visit the company's website and social media profiles to assess their current marketing strategies and customer engagement. Pay attention to their product offerings and customer feedback, which can provide insight into their pain points.
- 03
Highlight solutions for cart abandonment
Craft your outreach by addressing the common challenge of cart abandonment, which many e-commerce founders face. Present specific solutions or case studies that demonstrate how you can help reduce abandonment rates and increase conversions.
- 04
Timing your outreach post-launch
Reach out shortly after a new product launch or seasonal campaign. Founders are often focused on immediate results during these times, making them more receptive to solutions that promise quick improvements.
- 05
Prepare for objections about cost
Anticipate pushback regarding the cost of your solutions. Prepare to discuss how investing in your service can lead to a higher return on investment, particularly through improved customer retention and increased sales.
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
- Boost your customer retention
- Tackle cart abandonment issues
- Unlock growth post-funding
Questions
- Why do founders in e-commerce ignore cold outreach?
- Founders in e-commerce often receive numerous outreach attempts daily. They may ignore cold emails due to lack of personalization or relevance to their current needs. If the outreach doesn't immediately demonstrate an understanding of their unique challenges, it is likely to be overlooked.
- What kind of solutions do e-commerce founders prioritize?
- E-commerce founders typically prioritize solutions that directly impact customer acquisition and retention. They are especially interested in tools that streamline operations, enhance user experience, and improve marketing effectiveness, as these factors significantly influence their growth potential.
- How can I demonstrate value to an e-commerce founder?
- To demonstrate value, you should present tailored insights that address specific pain points, such as improving conversion rates or reducing operational costs. Founders appreciate data-driven approaches that clearly outline how your solution can lead to tangible business outcomes.
- Why do e-commerce founders focus on customer acquisition?
- Customer acquisition is crucial for e-commerce founders as it directly affects revenue growth. They often operate in competitive markets where attracting new customers is essential for survival and expansion. Effective strategies in this area can significantly enhance their market position.
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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