What Does an eCommerce Marketing Manager Do?

eCommerce marketing managers are the bridge between marketing strategy, execution of deliverables, and analysis. A great eCommerce marketing manager doesn't just oversee a team and delegate tasks to others. Instead, they will embrace a very hands-on role and be comfortable wearing many hats. 

Understanding the Role of an eCommerce Marketing Manager

In their capacity as a leader, an eCommerce marketing manager will look at current data and future trends, help their team apply this information to new projects, guide successful execution, and continually strive for better performance and conversions.

The eCommerce marketing manager is a mid-level role, typically reporting to a director, Vice President, or C-level executive in charge of eCommerce or marketing. An eCommerce marketing manager will often be a cross-functional contact point between different teams, such as product development, sales, and creatives. 

eCommerce Marketing Manager Responsibilities 

An eCommerce marketing manager's day-to-day responsibilities will vary based on project cycles. A typical day as an eCommerce marketing manager may include:

• Content Strategy — Depending on each team's size, an eCommerce marketing manager may pull double duty as the content strategist or oversee a team of strategists and writers.
• Promotions and Paid Advertising — The eCommerce marketing manager may work with sales and search engine marketing (SEM) teams develop plans for promotions, paid media, and digital advertising. 
• Social Media Strategy — A B2B eCommerce marketing manager may focus on trust-building content marketing on LinkedIn, while a growing DTC team may find value in micro-influencer Instagram campaigns.
• Channel Strategy — eCommerce marketing managers will help to identify and market through relevant channels to reach customers. Channels may include other retailers or multiple DTC platforms such as social, web, and app shopping carts.
• Marketing Calendars — An eCommerce marketing manager will bring every marketing strategy piece together into one comprehensive content and campaign calendar.
• Agency and Freelancer Outsourcing — eCommerce marketing managers are often the contact point between their department and any agencies or freelance contractors that support departmental operations. 
• Data Analysis and Reporting — eCommerce marketing managers take the information generated by each campaign and synthesize it into reports to share with the company or important decision-makers. 
• Hiring and Training — eCommerce marketing managers may make decisions about hiring and training for new and established team members.

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Qualifications for eCommerce Marketing Managers

An eCommerce marketing manager may have a degree in marketing, communications, or business. Regardless of whether an eCommerce marketing manager has a degree or not, they will use many soft and hard skills acquired through training and on-the-job experience. 

Interpersonal Skills

eCommerce marketing managers need to lead a team, provide feedback, evaluate performance, and interview new candidates. A successful eCommerce marketing manager will be comfortable communicating with colleagues across the company — laterally and vertically. The eCommerce marketing manager regularly interfaces with other departmental managers, subordinates, business partners, and executives.

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Creative Skills

While eCommerce marketing managers spend time evaluating business and campaign performance data, the job isn't all numbers. An eCommerce marketing manager should be comfortable jumping in on content creation and creative brainstorming. While the manager doesn't need to be a pro in everything, they should have a solid background in, or understanding of, writing and design.

Technical Skills

eCommerce marketing managers need to have a solid understanding of digital marketing's more technical aspects — often learned on the job, not in a classroom. Anyone striving for an eCommerce marketing manager role should make sure they are comfortable with:

• Search Engine Optimization — SEO involves content and user experience improvements to boost organic ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs). 
• Search Engine Marketing and Pay Per Click Advertising — Paid ads appear at the top of specified SERPs and, sometimes, the results that appear in mapping applications.
• Channel marketing — Every eCommerce brand that uses multiple distribution channels needs a comprehensive marketing plan for maximum product exposure.
• Email Marketing — eCommerce email marketing involves a strategic mix of promotion, retargeting, and brand communication emails in addition to the creation of customer segments.
• Influencer Marketing — Many B2C and DTC brands find value in working with social media influencers who have a dedicated audience that trusts their product and service recommendations.
• Affiliate Marketing — A great partner to influencer marketing, affiliate programs provide bloggers and other content creators with a commission every time their mention or promotion of a product leads directly to a sale. 
• Analysis — SEO, SEM, email and social media campaigns all produce data. An eCommerce marketing manager's job includes evaluating this data to identify channels with the highest ROI based on clicks, conversions, engagement or another metric.
• Communication — eCommerce marketing managers will use written and verbal communication to engage with colleagues, other departments, and external partners.
• Multitasking — Due to the job's multi-focused nature, an eCommerce marketing manager should be comfortable switching between projects and tasks many times in every workday. 
• Self-Management — eCommerce marketing managers should be comfortable with self-management and direction, without daily input from directors or executives. 

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What is a Typical eCommerce Marketing Manager Salary? 

Sparkfive analyzed data reported on top career platforms and found that eCommerce marketing managers typically earn a salary of around $65,000. All reported salaries ranged between $40,000 and $96,000. This salary range is affected by several variables, including company size, location, cost of living, and years of experience. 

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Should You Hire an eCommerce Marketing Manager? 

If your eCommerce business is having a hard time managing campaigns and cross-departmental communication or is ready to scale up marketing efforts, an experienced eCommerce marketing manager can help bridge the gap. However, even with an eCommerce marketing manager on staff, it can still be challenging to keep track of different due dates, deliverables, accounts, image libraries and more. 

Sparkfive provides a complete solution for organizing, planning, and improving the efficacy of marketing campaigns. eCommerce marketing managers can plan content, assign projects, coordinate collaboration, and provide access to digital asset libraries all in one team hub. Every affordably priced plan offers unlimited users and ample storage (starting at 100 GB). Explore Sparkfive with your team today by requesting a demo or signing up for a 14-day free trial — no credit card required. 

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