How to sell to IT Directors at E-commerce companies
IT Directors in e-commerce are primarily measured on system uptime and security. They respond to outreach that demonstrates a clear understanding of their daily challenges, such as maintaining seamless online operations and safeguarding customer data. Addressing specific pain points like system outages or compliance issues can make your outreach more compelling.
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
- system downtime
- data security breaches
- integration issues
- compliance headaches
The playbook
- 01
Identify recent security breach reports
Search for news articles or reports about recent data breaches in e-commerce. This can help you understand the urgency IT Directors feel about security. Use Google News or industry-specific sites to filter for incidents within the last 30 days.
- 02
Analyze website performance metrics
Utilize tools like GTmetrix or Google PageSpeed Insights to assess the website performance of your target companies. Focus on sites with slow load times or frequent downtime, as these are common pain points that IT Directors are eager to resolve.
- 03
Reach out after major platform updates
Monitor announcements from e-commerce platforms like Shopify. When a significant update is released, follow up with IT Directors who might be concerned about integration issues or system compatibility. Timing your outreach shortly after the announcement increases relevance.
- 04
Connect on LinkedIn about compliance challenges
Engage with IT Directors on LinkedIn by commenting on their posts about compliance or security. This establishes rapport and shows you understand their concerns. Mention specific compliance regulations like GDPR or PCI-DSS that are critical for e-commerce.
- 05
Follow up on unresolved tech support tickets
Use LinkedIn or email to inquire about any unresolved tech support issues that the IT Directors might have. This direct approach can prompt them to discuss their challenges, leading to a productive conversation about potential solutions.
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
- Is your site prepared for the latest compliance changes?
- Concerns about recent data breaches?
- Struggling with system performance?
Questions
- Why do IT Directors in e-commerce avoid cold outreach?
- IT Directors often receive numerous unsolicited emails daily, making them skeptical of generic pitches. They prioritize messages that demonstrate a deep understanding of their unique challenges, particularly around system security and operational efficiency.
- What common objections do IT Directors have?
- IT Directors frequently express concerns about the time and resources required for new solutions. They may also worry about potential disruptions to current operations or the learning curve associated with new technologies.
- How can I demonstrate value to an IT Director?
- To capture the attention of an IT Director, provide specific examples of how your solution has helped similar e-commerce businesses reduce downtime or enhance security. Use metrics or case studies that highlight tangible benefits.
- What topics resonate with IT Directors in e-commerce?
- IT Directors are particularly interested in topics related to cybersecurity, system integration, and compliance with industry regulations. They appreciate insights that can help them streamline operations while ensuring customer data protection.
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