The e-commerce director said: "Your platform costs $5K/month. I can hire a developer for that. Why should I buy software instead of just building what I need?"
I'd prepared for competitive objections. I hadn't prepared for "why buy software at all?"
I tried explaining efficiency, time-to-market, and total cost of ownership. She wasn't convinced.
"Look," she said, "we're an e-commerce company. We have developers. They build custom solutions all the time. Your platform looks nice, but I can't justify the cost when we can build it ourselves."
I'd come from selling to companies that wanted to buy software to avoid building. E-commerce companies had in-house technical teams and "build vs. buy" conversations were real evaluation criteria, not just objections.
The deal didn't close.
Three months later, she called back: "Our team tried to build what your platform does. Four months in, we're nowhere close to done. Engineering is frustrated. Marketing is blocked. Let's talk again."
I learned that e-commerce PMM isn't about having the best features. It's about proving ROI against both competitors and internal build.
Why E-commerce Platform Marketing Is Uniquely Difficult
After three years selling e-commerce software, I learned this category has specific challenges:
Every E-commerce Company Has Development Resources
Unlike traditional businesses buying software, e-commerce companies have technical teams.
They're already building:
- Custom checkout flows
- Unique product browsing experiences
- Integration with inventory systems
- Custom analytics dashboards
So when you pitch software, they immediately think: "Could our team build this?"
This creates a three-way competitive dynamic:
- Your platform vs. competitors
- Your platform vs. internal build
- Your platform vs. "keep doing it manually"
I've lost more deals to internal build than to direct competitors.
The challenge: Proving that buying your platform is better than building, even though they have developers who could build it.
This requires different positioning:
What doesn't work: "Our platform does X, Y, and Z." (They know their developers could build X, Y, and Z)
What works: "Our platform delivers X, Y, and Z in 2 weeks vs. 6 months of engineering time. Here's the opportunity cost of building vs. buying."
The message isn't "we have better features." It's "we're faster and let your engineers focus on differentiated work."
ROI Must Be Measured in Revenue, Not Efficiency
Traditional SaaS ROI: "Save 10 hours per week" or "Reduce costs by 20%."
E-commerce ROI: "Increase conversion by 0.5%" or "Increase average order value by $8."
E-commerce buyers think in revenue metrics:
- Conversion rate
- Average order value
- Customer lifetime value
- Cart abandonment rate
- Revenue per visitor
Every feature pitch needs to connect to one of these metrics.
I made this mistake in early demos, talking about "streamlined workflows" and "better customer experience."
The e-commerce director interrupted: "Does this increase conversion? By how much?"
I said: "Customers report better experiences."
She said: "That's nice. Does it increase revenue? Show me data."
I didn't have it. Demo ended.
Now every feature connects directly to revenue:
Old messaging: "Our personalization engine improves customer experience."
New messaging: "Our personalization engine increased average order value by $12 across 40 customers by showing relevant product recommendations at checkout."
Specific metric. Direct revenue impact. That's what e-commerce buyers need.
The Market Is Insanely Crowded
E-commerce has platforms for everything:
- General platforms (Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce)
- Headless commerce (Commercetools, Fabric)
- Personalization (Dynamic Yield, Monetate)
- Search (Algolia, Elasticsearch)
- Recommendations (Nosto, Bloomreach)
- A/B testing (Optimizely, VWO)
- Email (Klaviyo, Omnisend)
- Reviews (Yotpo, Bazaarvoice)
Every category has 20+ competitors. Every tool claims to increase conversion and revenue.
Buyers are overwhelmed: "We already use six tools for our e-commerce stack. Why do we need a seventh?"
Differentiation is brutal:
Bad positioning: "We help you increase conversion with AI-powered personalization." (Every competitor says exactly this)
Better positioning: "We increase mobile conversion specifically by fixing the three points where users abandon: product page load time, checkout friction, and payment options. Our customers see mobile conversion improve 15-20%."
Narrow focus. Specific problem. Measurable outcome. That's how you cut through noise.
Integration Complexity Makes Switching Painful
E-commerce companies have complex tech stacks:
- E-commerce platform (Shopify, Magento, custom)
- Payment processors (Stripe, PayPal, Adyen)
- Inventory management systems
- Warehouse management systems
- CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot)
- Analytics (Google Analytics, Segment)
- Marketing automation (Klaviyo, Mailchimp)
- Customer service (Zendesk, Intercom)
Your platform needs to integrate with all of them.
And integration isn't just "API connection exists." It's:
- Real-time data sync
- Handling edge cases
- Maintaining data consistency
- Managing failures gracefully
I've lost deals not because our platform was worse, but because we didn't have a specific integration a customer needed.
One deal died because we integrated with Shopify but not their custom ERP system. They weren't switching ERPs, so they couldn't use our platform.
In e-commerce, integrations are make-or-break requirements, not nice-to-haves.
We now lead qualification with integration requirements:
"What's your tech stack? What systems does this need to integrate with? What data needs to sync?"
If we don't have the integrations, we don't pursue the deal. Saves everyone time.
Seasonal Revenue Creates Budget Pressure
E-commerce is seasonal. Q4 (holiday shopping) is often 40-50% of annual revenue.
This creates weird buying patterns:
Q1-Q3: "We're interested but want to wait until after holiday season to implement."
Q4: "We can't change anything during our peak revenue season. Talk to us in January."
January: "We need to see Q4 results before we can allocate budget for new tools."
There's always a reason to delay.
And when budgets are allocated, they're tied directly to Q4 performance:
"We had a great Q4, so we have budget for growth initiatives." vs. "Q4 was disappointing, so we're cutting costs and can't buy new software."
This creates feast-or-famine sales cycles. Strong Q4 results mean January-March buying surge. Weak Q4 means budget freeze.
We adjusted sales planning around this seasonality:
- Don't push for Q4 implementations (they won't do it)
- Focus Q4 conversations on post-holiday planning
- Expect January-March buying decisions based on Q4 results
Fighting e-commerce seasonality is pointless. Align to it.
What Actually Works in E-commerce Platform Marketing
After three years and dozens of failed deals, here's what works:
Build Revenue-Impact Case Studies
E-commerce buyers need proof that your platform drives revenue.
Not: "Customer X uses our platform and loves it."
Instead: "Customer X implemented our platform and saw:
- Conversion increase: 2.3% → 3.1% (35% improvement)
- Average order value increase: $68 → $79 (16% improvement)
- Revenue impact: $2.4M additional annual revenue
- Payback period: 2.1 months"
Specific metrics. Direct revenue attribution. Clear ROI.
We built case studies as ROI stories:
- What was the baseline performance?
- What specific changes did they make with our platform?
- What were the results after 90 days?
- What was the revenue impact?
These case studies became our most effective sales tools because they answered the only question that mattered: "Will this make me money?"
Create ROI Calculators That Feel Credible
Every e-commerce platform has an ROI calculator. Most are useless because they're obviously inflated.
Bad ROI calculator:
- Input: Current revenue
- Output: "You could increase revenue by 40% using our platform!"
- Credibility: Zero
Better ROI calculator:
- Input: Current metrics (traffic, conversion rate, AOV)
- Methodology: Based on average improvements across similar companies
- Conservative estimates: "Typical increase: 0.3-0.8%"
- Output: Range of outcomes, not single number
- Credibility: Higher
We built industry-specific calculators:
- Fashion e-commerce calculator
- B2B e-commerce calculator
- Subscription e-commerce calculator
Different industries have different baseline metrics and different improvement potential. Generic calculators don't work.
Position Against Internal Build with Opportunity Cost
When buyers consider building instead of buying, position based on opportunity cost:
"Your team could build this. Here's what that means:
Build option:
- Engineering time: 800 hours (5 months for 2 developers)
- Opportunity cost: Features those developers won't build for your core product
- Ongoing maintenance: 10 hours/week to maintain and update
- Total first-year cost: $200K in engineering time
Buy option:
- Implementation time: 2 weeks
- First-year cost: $60K
- Ongoing maintenance: Handled by us
- Your engineers focus on: Unique features that differentiate your store"
This isn't about whether they could build it. It's about whether building it is the best use of engineering resources.
Offer Quick-Win Implementations
E-commerce buyers are impatient. They want to see results fast.
We changed our implementation approach:
Old approach: "Full implementation takes 6-8 weeks. Then you'll see results." (Too slow, buyers lose patience)
New approach: "Week 1: Implement one high-impact feature. You'll see results immediately. Weeks 2-6: Expand to full platform." (Quick win builds confidence, justifies continued investment)
Our "Week 1 quick win" strategy:
- Implement the single highest-ROI feature first
- Usually something that impacts conversion immediately
- Measure results after 7 days
- Use those results to justify expanding implementation
This turned skeptical buyers into advocates within a week.
Build Integration Partnerships Proactively
Don't wait for customers to ask for integrations. Build partnerships with common platforms in the e-commerce ecosystem:
- Official integration partnerships with Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce
- Verified integrations with Klaviyo, Salesforce, major analytics tools
- Joint marketing with complementary platforms
These partnerships:
- Make buyers confident we integrate with their stack
- Provide co-marketing opportunities
- Give us credibility through association
When we became a Shopify Plus certified app, deal velocity with Shopify customers increased 2x because they trusted that the integration would work.
Create Vertical-Specific Messaging
E-commerce spans wildly different verticals:
- Fashion/apparel
- Consumer electronics
- B2B e-commerce
- Subscription boxes
- Digital goods
- Food/beverage
- Furniture/home goods
Generic e-commerce messaging doesn't resonate.
We created vertical-specific landing pages and case studies:
For fashion: "How fashion brands use our platform to reduce returns by showing accurate size recommendations"
For B2B: "How B2B sellers use our platform to support complex pricing and bulk ordering"
For subscription: "How subscription companies use our platform to reduce churn with predictive retention campaigns"
Same core platform. Different value propositions for different verticals.
Managing vertical-specific messaging frameworks, ROI calculators, and competitive positioning across fashion, B2B, subscription, and other segments created content sprawl. I used platforms like Segment8 to organize industry-specific battle cards and messaging in one system—made it much easier to equip sales with the right materials for each vertical.
The Unexpected Advantages of E-commerce Marketing
Despite the challenges, e-commerce has unique advantages:
Revenue metrics are clear. There's no ambiguity about success. Did conversion increase? Did AOV increase? Did revenue grow? Success is measurable.
Buyers move fast when they see ROI. If you prove revenue impact quickly, expansion happens fast. Our average time from initial purchase to upgrade: 3 months.
Word-of-mouth is powerful. E-commerce professionals talk to each other constantly. One happy customer refers 3-4 others on average.
Expansion revenue is strong. E-commerce companies that grow need more platform capacity. Our net revenue retention: 130%.
Six months after the e-commerce director called back saying their build attempt had failed, she was our biggest advocate.
They'd spent four months and $150K trying to build what our platform did. They gave up and bought our platform. Implementation took three weeks.
First month results:
- Conversion increased from 2.1% to 2.7%
- Average order value increased from $65 to $71
- Revenue impact: $180K additional monthly revenue
The platform paid for itself in two weeks.
She introduced us to three other e-commerce companies. All became customers.
E-commerce marketing isn't about having the most features or the best technology. It's about proving revenue impact faster than competitors and faster than internal build.
The playbook:
- Measure everything in revenue metrics (conversion, AOV, LTV)
- Build case studies with specific revenue impact
- Position against internal build using opportunity cost
- Deliver quick wins in Week 1
- Create vertical-specific messaging
- Build integration partnerships proactively
E-commerce buyers are sophisticated and data-driven. They won't buy based on marketing claims.
Show them revenue impact with their own data in their first week. That's how you win in e-commerce.