Decoding the Digital Duo: Hiring for Ecommerce vs Digital Marketing
Online shopping has fundamentally changed how businesses approach both ecommerce and digital marketing. While they are distinct disciplines, their roles are increasingly intertwined. A successful online business needs to leverage both to drive sales, build brand loyalty, and create a seamless customer experience. Navigating the hiring landscape for these positions can be tricky, but understanding the nuances of the positions, their overlapping functions, and what NOT to expect from one or the other can make the process easier.
Ecommerce: The Engine Behind the Transaction
Ecommerce focuses on the mechanics of online sales. It encompasses everything from the digital storefront to the shopping cart, payment processing, and order fulfillment and can also intersect with retention and other marketing initiatives; however, the key goal of ecommerce is to optimize the customer journey and make the process of buying goods or services as smooth and efficient as possible. In other words get the right people to the right products at the right time – with as little drama and digging as possible.
Key Roles & Skills:
Ecommerce Manager
An Ecommerce Manager oversees the entire online sales operation. They’re responsible for managing product catalogs, analyzing sales data, optimizing the customer journey, and improving conversion rates. They need a blend of strong analytical skills, platform expertise (Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce), and business acumen to ensure the ecommerce site is profitable and user-friendly. Now an Ecommerce manager might also have SOME digital marketing and SEO experience. In fact its good if they are familiar with digital marketing strategies, UX/UI design, & Customer Experience, because the decisions they make on-site can impact performance in advertising campaigns, customer retention, and satisfaction. I say some because there are a few random unicorns out there who can do EVERYTHING with Ecommerce. Those unicorns; however, often find themselves as consultants because they have outgrown the specialized roles and prefer to use their entire skillset in a meaningful way.
UX/UI Designer
UX/UI Designers play a pivotal role in enhancing the online shopping experience. They create user-friendly interfaces that make it easy for customers to navigate the site, find products, and make purchases. Their focus is on design and usability, ensuring that the site is visually appealing and easy to use, which directly influences conversion rates.
Sometimes your Ecommerce Manager can also assume this role, but ultimately – if you have the budget for it – you should consider hiring a UX/UI Designer with a strong understanding of Ecommerce and converstion rate optimization.
An anomaly:
It’s also a rare but beautiful thing to have a UX/UI designer who can handle both the creative and the development side. If you can lasso this unicorn, do it and treat it well. You’ll save yourself hundreds of thousands of dollars in the long run.
Customer Experience Team
Customer Experience (CX) is essential in ecommerce, especially when it comes to handling inquiries, managing returns, and resolving issues quickly. A customer service team must be proactive, empathetic, and solution-oriented to ensure customer satisfaction, which in turn drives repeat purchases.
Its important to also understand that people who shop online and buy through a cart are much different than people who prefer to call and order in person. Hiring a Customer Experience Team that understands Ecommerce, lead nurturing, and is able to close the deal is also a much desired unicorn.
Digital Marketing: Building Brand Awareness and Driving Traffic
While ecommerce focuses on the transactional aspect of the business, digital marketing drives the traffic to those online stores. Digital marketing works across various channels—search engines, social media, email, and more—to attract potential customers, build brand awareness, and convert visitors into buyers.
Key Roles & Skills:
Digital Marketing Manager
The Digital Marketing Manager oversees all digital marketing efforts, creating integrated campaigns across SEO, SEM, paid media, email marketing, and social media. They work to generate leads and drive qualified traffic to the ecommerce site and ensure that marketing efforts are aligned with business goals. They rely heavily on data to optimize campaigns and improve conversion rates.
Ladies, Gentlemen, and Everyone else, stop expecting your Ecommerce manager to assume this role. Its not their forte’.
SEO Specialist
SEO Specialists work to ensure the site ranks well in search engine results, making it more discoverable to potential customers. They optimize content, metadata, and site structure to increase organic traffic, which plays a key role in generating leads for ecommerce businesses. Getting a good SEO Specialist or Manager on staff will save you thousands of dollars from your advertising budget. If your organic revenue isn’t at least 25% of your total revenue, you are leaving money on the table. Get an SEO unicorn that not only understands the technical and basic elements of optimizing for the search engines, but also understands the value of content strategy and how it intersects with building relevance for the search engines.
Its also worth mentioning that AEO is a trending role which follows some of the concepts of SEO in terms of content, but is a nuanced approach to optimizing for AI Engines. This is so new, that you shouldn’t expect for someone to have years and years of experience with it. Hire someone with the ability to grasp it, who loves to dig in and learn. Because this field is changing rapidly – and today’s tactics will be tomorrows failures if your hire is not a dedicated learner.
Social Media Manager
Social Media Managers handle the brand’s presence on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter. They create content that engages followers, builds community, and drives traffic to the ecommerce site. Social media is also crucial for customer service, brand awareness, and influencer partnerships.
Content Marketing Manager
Content Marketing Manager (or specialist) focuses on creating valuable, shareable content that attracts and engages the target audience. This includes blogs, product videos, tutorials, or infographics. The goal is to build a connection with potential customers and drive traffic through organic search, social shares, and other channels. Both Content Marketing Mangers and Social Media Managers should be able to hold influencer marketing – depending upon which role is assigned the task.
Brand Strategy can also be handled by a Content Marketing Manager, or a completely separate role
Email & SMS Marketing Specialist
We can’t forget the value of a skilled Email Marketing Specialist who can build a subscribed audience, and develop targeted and segmented direct campaigns for awareness, engagement, and conversion. The email marketer can set up automation for lead nurturing, transactional emails, and various email flows to keep customers engaged, drive conversion, and strengthen retention of your existing (and potential) customers.
And don’t forget that Email and SMS Marketing has the lowest CAC of all acquisition tools.
The Overlap: Where Ecommerce and Digital Marketing Converge
In today’s business environment, ecommerce and digital marketing are not separate entities—they are intricately connected and work together to drive the success of an online business. Here are the key areas where these two fields overlap and complement one another:
1. Customer Journey Optimization
The customer journey spans both ecommerce and digital marketing. Digital marketing efforts—such as paid ads, email campaigns, and social media engagement—bring customers to the site, while ecommerce operations ensure that the site itself is optimized to convert visitors into paying customers. Together, they need to ensure a smooth, engaging experience at every touchpoint—from the first impression to the post-purchase experience.
- Ecommerce Role: Ensure a frictionless checkout process, personalized product recommendations, and responsive customer service.
- Digital Marketing Role: Attract customers through compelling content, paid ads, SEO, and social media strategies.
2. Data-Driven Decision Making
Both ecommerce and digital marketing rely heavily on data to measure success and optimize performance. Analytics play a central role in both fields, from understanding which products are selling the best to which marketing channels are driving the highest conversion rates. The interplay between customer behavior data and marketing performance data is crucial for refining strategies and ensuring that resources are allocated efficiently.
- Ecommerce Role: Use data to track product performance, cart abandonment rates, and customer behavior on the site.
- Digital Marketing Role: Use data from campaigns (PPC, email, social) to adjust strategies, identify top-performing channels, and improve lead generation efforts.
3. Personalization and Targeting
Personalized experiences are a key factor in increasing conversions, and both ecommerce and digital marketing play a role in delivering these personalized experiences. While ecommerce managers ensure the site is customized to a customer’s preferences (through personalized product recommendations, for example), digital marketers use data to target customers with relevant ads and content.
- Ecommerce Role: Personalize the shopping experience, offering product recommendations and creating targeted offers based on past customer behavior.
- Digital Marketing Role: Deliver personalized ads and content through paid media, email marketing, and social media based on user data.
4. Brand Messaging and Storytelling
Digital marketing is responsible for creating a consistent brand narrative, but ecommerce plays a crucial role in translating that messaging into a seamless and immersive shopping experience. The way products are described, the visuals used, and the overall design of the ecommerce platform should align with the brand’s messaging and story.
- Ecommerce Role: Ensure product descriptions, images, and the website design reflect the brand’s tone and messaging.
- Digital Marketing Role: Develop content, ads, and campaigns that communicate the brand’s story and values to attract and engage customers.
5. Customer Retention and Loyalty Programs
Both ecommerce and digital marketing work together to build lasting relationships with customers. After the sale, digital marketing efforts like email campaigns, loyalty programs, and retargeting ads keep customers engaged, while ecommerce ensures that the post-purchase experience (e.g., delivery tracking, return policies) supports customer satisfaction and retention.
- Ecommerce Role: Manage loyalty programs, product reviews, and customer feedback to foster long-term relationships.
- Digital Marketing Role: Drive retention through targeted email campaigns, personalized offers, and retargeting ads.
The Ecommerce Director: Bridging the Gap
An Ecommerce Director plays a critical role in bridging the gap between ecommerce and digital marketing. While they are not typically the ones running PPC campaigns or creating social media content, they must have a deep understanding of how both disciplines work together to drive business growth.
Key Responsibilities:
- Strategic Leadership: The Ecommerce Director is responsible for aligning ecommerce and digital marketing strategies to meet overall business goals. They develop the high-level strategy for both channels and ensure that they are complementary, often collaborating with digital marketing managers to define target audiences, key performance indicators (KPIs), and revenue goals.
- Cross-Functional Coordination: They lead teams from both ecommerce and digital marketing to ensure that campaigns are designed with the end-to-end customer journey in mind, and that product offerings are effectively promoted and sold.
- Data-Driven Decisions: Ecommerce Directors rely on data analytics to inform decisions about product assortment, pricing, promotions, and digital marketing strategies. They are responsible for tracking performance metrics across both ecommerce operations and marketing campaigns to optimize the customer experience and ROI.
- Digital Marketing Oversight: While not digital marketing experts in the execution sense, Ecommerce Directors need to have a solid understanding of key digital marketing tactics, such as PPC, SEO, and social media. This allows them to provide strategic direction and ensure alignment with ecommerce goals, ensuring marketing efforts drive qualified traffic that converts.
Tips for Hiring in Ecommerce and Digital Marketing
When hiring for ecommerce and digital marketing roles, it’s important to recognize the overlap and understand how these teams need to work together. Here are some tips to help you navigate the recruitment process:
- Define the Hybrid Skills You Need
In many cases, you’ll need candidates with skills that span both ecommerce and digital marketing. Look for candidates who can bridge the gap, such as a Digital Marketing Manager with ecommerce experience or an Ecommerce Manager who understands the fundamentals of SEO and paid media. - Look for a Collaborative Mindset
Since these teams must work closely together, it’s crucial to find candidates who can collaborate effectively, understand the bigger picture, and communicate across departments. - Emphasize Data Literacy
Candidates should be data-driven, as both ecommerce and digital marketing rely on data to optimize performance. Whether it’s tracking product sales, customer behavior, or campaign results, understanding how to interpret data and make informed decisions is a must. - Adaptability is Key
The digital landscape evolves quickly, so it’s important to find candidates who are adaptable and open to learning. Look for individuals who are proactive about keeping up with trends and have the ability to pivot strategies when necessary.
Conclusion
Ecommerce and digital marketing are deeply interconnected in today’s digital landscape. Both functions work hand in hand to drive traffic, convert visitors into customers, and build a strong online presence. However, it’s essential to recognize that an Ecommerce Manager is not inherently a Digital Marketing expert, nor should a Digital Marketing Manager be expected to take on the responsibilities of an Ecommerce Manager. While there are rare individuals who excel at both, they are the exception, not the rule. Success comes from building a team where each role complements the other, allowing specialists to thrive in their expertise.