How to sell to Heads of Marketing at E-commerce companies in Canada
Heads of Marketing in the e-commerce sector are primarily measured on customer acquisition costs. They respond positively to outreach that addresses specific challenges like optimizing digital ad spend or improving conversion rates on their online store. Demonstrating an understanding of their unique metrics, such as return on ad spend (ROAS) or customer lifetime value (CLV), will increase your chances of engagement.
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
- declining return on ad spend
- poor conversion rates
- ineffective digital marketing strategies
- high customer acquisition costs
The playbook
- 01
Identify campaigns with declining ROAS
Use analytics tools to filter for e-commerce brands in Canada that have recently reported a drop in return on ad spend. This indicates potential frustration with current marketing strategies, making them more receptive to new solutions that promise improved performance.
- 02
Research current digital marketing strategies
Dive into the marketing tactics of your identified prospects by checking their social media presence and online ads. Note any gaps or areas where they could enhance their customer engagement, such as underutilized platforms or ineffective messaging. Tailor your outreach to highlight these specific areas.
- 03
Craft a message about improving conversion rates
When reaching out, focus on how your insights can help optimize their conversion rates, especially during peak shopping seasons. Mention specific tactics like A/B testing or personalized marketing that resonate with e-commerce goals, ensuring your message aligns with their immediate needs.
- 04
Follow up after major sales events
Schedule follow-ups shortly after significant sales events or product launches, as this is when marketing teams often reassess their strategies. Reference the recent event in your communication to demonstrate awareness of their busy schedule and the relevance of your solution.
- 05
Leverage case studies from similar e-commerce brands
In your outreach, include case studies or success stories from similar e-commerce brands that showcase tangible results. Highlight metrics like improved customer acquisition costs or increased average order value, which will resonate with their performance goals.
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 online store's performance
- Struggling with ad spend?
- Improve your conversion rates
Questions
- Why do heads of marketing in e-commerce ignore cold outreach?
- Heads of Marketing often receive numerous unsolicited messages daily, making it essential for outreach to stand out. If your message doesn't immediately address a pressing issue they face, such as declining sales or ineffective campaigns, it may be overlooked as just another generic pitch.
- What common mistakes do marketers make in e-commerce?
- Common mistakes include failing to segment their audience effectively or not utilizing data analytics to inform their strategies. Many also overlook the importance of mobile optimization, leading to poor user experiences and lost sales opportunities, which can be critical pain points to address in outreach.
- How can I demonstrate value to e-commerce marketing heads?
- To demonstrate value, focus on specific metrics that matter to them, such as customer lifetime value or return on ad spend. Providing insights or solutions that can directly impact these metrics will resonate more than general marketing advice, making your outreach more relevant.
- What factors influence marketing decisions in e-commerce?
- Factors include market trends, consumer behavior analytics, and the performance of current marketing campaigns. Heads of Marketing often rely on data-driven insights to make decisions, so showcasing how your solution can provide actionable data or improve their current strategies can be persuasive.
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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