How to sell to Heads of Sales at E-commerce companies
Heads of Sales in E-commerce are primarily measured on quarterly revenue growth. They respond positively to outreach that demonstrates a clear understanding of their sales funnel challenges, such as high cart abandonment rates or ineffective upselling strategies. Highlighting solutions that can directly impact their bottom line will capture their attention and prompt a response.
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
- ineffective upselling strategies
- inaccurate sales forecasting
- low customer retention
The playbook
- 01
Identify recent funding rounds
Search for E-commerce companies that have recently secured funding, as this often indicates growth and potential for increased sales initiatives. Use platforms like Crunchbase or PitchBook to filter for companies that raised funds in the last 3 months.
- 02
Target companies with declining sales metrics
Look for companies that have reported a dip in sales or customer engagement. Tools like SimilarWeb can help identify traffic trends, allowing you to reach out to businesses that may be seeking new sales strategies to reverse declines.
- 03
Craft messaging around conversion optimization
Create your outreach messaging focusing on how your solution can reduce cart abandonment rates or improve average order value. Use specific metrics from industry reports to show the impact of these improvements on revenue.
- 04
Follow up on responses about sales automation
If a prospect expresses interest but hesitates, follow up by addressing common objections about sales automation, such as fears of losing the personal touch. Share insights on how automation can enhance, not replace, the sales team's effectiveness.
- 05
Schedule calls post-peak sales periods
Timing is crucial. Aim to book calls shortly after major sales events, like Black Friday or holiday seasons, when Heads of Sales are evaluating performance. This allows you to discuss insights and strategies for future sales growth.
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 sales conversions
- Strategies for reducing cart abandonment
- Improve upselling in your store
Questions
- Why do Heads of Sales in E-commerce ignore outreach about analytics tools?
- Heads of Sales may ignore outreach about analytics tools if they perceive them as too technical or not directly relevant to immediate sales goals. They often prioritize solutions that can show quick, tangible results in revenue rather than long-term analytical insights.
- What challenges do Heads of Sales face during peak sales seasons?
- During peak sales seasons, Heads of Sales often struggle with managing increased order volumes and ensuring their sales teams are equipped to handle customer inquiries efficiently. They may also face pressure to maintain customer satisfaction while maximizing revenue.
- How can outreach be tailored for Heads of Sales in E-commerce?
- Outreach should be tailored by focusing on specific sales challenges faced by E-commerce companies, such as optimizing the sales funnel or enhancing customer engagement strategies. Providing case studies or examples relevant to their industry can help establish credibility.
- What are common objections from Heads of Sales regarding new sales solutions?
- Common objections include concerns about integration with existing systems, the perceived complexity of new tools, and uncertainty about ROI. Addressing these concerns with clear examples of successful implementations can help alleviate their hesitation.
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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