E-commerce Digital Marketing Agency: 7 Top Things to Check
An ecommerce digital marketing agency helps online stores attract the right buyers, convert them into customers, and keep them coming back — through a connected system of SEO, paid ads, email, and conversion work on the store itself.
Hiring an ecommerce digital marketing agency is the thing every online store owner knows they need and very few feel confident they’re actually getting right. So they hire someone. Sometimes that agency is great. Sometimes it sends a monthly PDF with a lot of arrows going up and a conversion rate that isn’t.
Most ecommerce businesses don’t fail because of bad products. They fail because the traffic they’re paying for never had a chance of converting. And nobody told them.
We had a client spending $3,000 a month on Google Ads. Plenty of clicks, almost no enquiries. They came asking about a new website. We audited first. Their landing page had no headline above the fold — just a full-width photo of their office. The CTA was a phone number buried in the footer. The form had nine fields. We changed three things. Conversions went up before the redesign was even started.
TL;DR: Not all ecommerce digital marketing agencies are equal. Some build systems that generate revenue. Others generate reports. Here are 7 things to check before you sign anything.
What does an e-commerce digital marketing agency actually do?
It should do three things: get the right people to your store, convert them into buyers, and keep them coming back. In practice, that means a mix of SEO, paid ads, email, content, and conversion work on the store itself.
A good agency touches all of these with a clear plan for each. A less good one picks the two or three they’re comfortable billing for and hopes you’re tracking something different.
| What a good agency focuses on | What a poor agency focuses on |
|---|---|
| Revenue, ROAS, cost per acquisition | Traffic, impressions, reach |
| Conversion rate on key pages | Click-through rate on ads |
| Customer retention and email ROI | Follower count |
| Funnel audit before ad spend | Starting ads on day one |
Why do ecommerce brands struggle to pick the right agency?
Because the pitch all looks the same. Every agency has case studies, a deck, and testimonials. “Proven ROI” is on every one of them.
Consider what it took to build SKIMS and Fenty Beauty into billion-dollar ecommerce brands. Fenty Beauty launched in 2017 with 40 foundation shades and digital marketing that spoke directly to an audience bigger brands had ignored for years. The content wasn’t generic. It was specific, inclusive, and it converted. SKIMS grew from a DTC ecommerce startup to a $5 billion valuation by nailing the fundamentals: clear product, targeted audience, frictionless checkout.
Neither won because they had the agency with the best deck. They won because the strategy matched the audience and the website made buying easy. That’s what you’re looking for, whether your store does $50,000 or $5 million a year.
What are the 7 top things to check before signing with an ecommerce digital marketing agency?
1. Do they audit your funnel before proposing a budget?
This is the single biggest tell. A good agency wants to know where you’re leaking before suggesting where to pour more in. Running paid traffic into a page that doesn’t convert is pouring water into a bucket with a hole in it. Audit the bucket first.
2. Do they show conversion rate data, not just traffic data?
Traffic is easy to buy. Conversions are harder to fake. Ask for before-and-after conversion rates from their previous ecommerce clients. If they only show traffic growth, that’s your answer.
3. Do they have ecommerce-specific experience?
An agency excellent at B2B lead generation is not automatically excellent at product ecommerce. The psychology is different. The funnel is different. Ask for relevant client work, not just general marketing wins.
4. What is their approach to email and customer retention?
Acquiring a new customer costs roughly five times more than keeping an existing one. A serious ecommerce agency has a clear view on email sequences, post-purchase flows, and customer lifetime value. If retention isn’t in the proposal, something is missing.
5. Can they help you automate lead generation and follow-up?
A well-structured ecommerce funnel doesn’t depend on someone checking an inbox. Automate lead generation, abandoned cart sequences, and post-purchase emails. These alone can recover 10–15% of otherwise lost revenue. Ask how the agency handles this specifically.
6. How do they report on results?
Monthly reports full of impressions and reach are a distraction. Ask what single metric they are accountable to: revenue, ROAS, cost per acquisition. If they can’t name one number they own, that’s your answer.
7. Do they offer a paid audit before a long-term retainer?
The agencies confident in their work will show you something useful before asking for six months of commitment. The ones who aren’t will push straight to a contract.
What do realistic ecommerce marketing results look like?
A properly managed ecommerce account with SEO, paid ads, and email should see 3–5x return on ad spend in mature campaigns. New accounts take 60–90 days to optimize. Email alone, done properly, typically generates 20–30% of total store revenue.
These are benchmarks. Your numbers will vary. But if an agency can’t point to results in that range for similar clients, ask why.
What kills ecommerce digital marketing before it starts?
- Running ads to a store that isn’t mobile optimized. Over half of ecommerce traffic is mobile.
- No abandoned cart sequence. This is among the most recoverable revenue most stores leave behind.
- Relying on a single channel. If your revenue depends entirely on paid ads, one algorithm change ruins a quarter.
- Poor product photography. No ad budget fixes a bad product image.
FAQ
How much should I spend on an ecommerce digital marketing agency?
For a small-to-mid ecommerce store, $1,500–$5,000 per month is a reasonable range for managed services. The return depends more on whether the agency knows your product category than on the size of the budget.
How long before an ecommerce marketing agency shows results?
Paid ads: 30–60 days to optimize. SEO: 3–6 months to gain traction. Email: often immediate, depending on list size. Expect the first 60 days to be a setup and learning phase, not a peak revenue phase.
Should I automate lead generation before hiring an agency?
Yes, where possible. An automated lead capture and follow-up sequence means you’re not relying entirely on the agency to fill the funnel. The more infrastructure you have in place, the more efficiently an agency can work against it.
If you’re not sure whether your current setup is building something or just billing, give us a shout. We’ll run a free 30-minute funnel audit and tell you exactly what we’d fix first.
Not sure if your agency is actually moving the needle?
We’ll audit your ecommerce funnel in 30 minutes and show you what’s worth fixing first — at no cost.