How to make ecommerce marketing pay for itself: an interview with ecommerce marketing expert Kiril Ivanov
JA
Ecommerce marketing has never been easier to run or harder to read honestly. Performance Max and broad match will spend a budget without being asked twice, consent banners have removed a large share of visitors from browser analytics, and a reassuring ROAS figure can turn out to be built almost entirely on demand the brand already had. Meanwhile the profit that matters sits after fulfilment, discounts and returns, where the ad platforms never look. So what separates an ecommerce brand that scales paid activity profitably from one that is simply buying traffic?
If you run an ecommerce brand — or you own the marketing budget for one — the numbers you choose to trust matter as much as the campaigns you run. At Cllimber, we curate the software companies and service providers worth knowing about, organised into industry hubs, so you can find credible options the same AI engines — Perplexity, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude — would point you to. To understand what genuinely works in ecommerce marketing in 2026, and where the budget quietly leaks, we put a series of questions to someone who runs paid, SEO and measurement for online retailers every day.
Kiril Ivanov is the founder of TwoSquares, an Edinburgh-based digital marketing agency specialising in paid advertising, SEO, AI search visibility and high-performance websites. In this interview he covers why an integrated multichannel approach beats single-platform dependence, where Performance Max and broad match burn budget, what product pages and site speed actually decide, why contribution margin is a better guide than reported ROAS, how consent and server-side measurement change what you can see, and what to fix now as buying shifts towards machine-readable product data.
What are the most effective ecommerce marketing strategies in 2026, and what has stopped working?
The most effective strategy in 2026 is an integrated, multichannel approach in which paid search, SEO, social media and creative all reinforce the same message rather than operating in silos. No individual channel has completely stopped working, but relying on a single platform or blindly adopting automation is becoming less effective. Across the visually led brands we work with, Meta has recently been one of the strongest channels for generating demand and sales.
What makes an ecommerce product stand out and win the click when it is sitting next to competitors online?
On social platforms, packaging, product presentation and the opening creative usually win attention before the customer fully processes the message. In search, visibility and trust are crucial: occupying prominent paid and organic positions, supported by strong reviews, clear product information and useful demonstration videos, can make a greater difference than an overly elaborate website design.
Where do ecommerce brands waste the most ad budget, and what is the most common mistake you see?
One of the biggest sources of wasted budget is giving Performance Max, broad matching or AI-led campaigns too much freedom without comprehensive negative keywords, brand controls and regular search-term analysis. Across several TwoSquares accounts, controlling unnecessarily expensive clicks while retaining valuable traffic has reduced average CPC without materially reducing traffic, helping campaigns operate at a more efficient return.
How much do the product page and site speed decide whether paid campaigns actually convert?
Site speed is fundamental because customers cannot appreciate the design or product if the page takes too long to become usable. Ecommerce product pages generally perform best when they are fast and simple, with a clear offer, strong imagery, social proof, delivery information, product demonstrations and an obvious route to purchase rather than unnecessary visual complexity.
“Most ecommerce brands initially have to buy traffic, but the ones that scale profitably use the resulting data to improve their audience targeting, messaging, pricing, promotions and customer experience. Sustainable scaling is not about maximising reported ROAS alone; it is about increasing contribution margin and total profit after advertising, fulfilment, discounts, returns and other variable costs.”
What separates ecommerce brands that scale paid activity profitably from those that simply buy traffic?
Most ecommerce brands initially have to buy traffic, but the ones that scale profitably use the resulting data to improve their audience targeting, messaging, pricing, promotions and customer experience. Sustainable scaling is not about maximising reported ROAS alone; it is about increasing contribution margin and total profit after advertising, fulfilment, discounts, returns and other variable costs.
Which tools give an ecommerce team a real edge across advertising and tracking, and what should people look for?
A robust consent platform, server-side tracking and reliable first-party measurement can give ecommerce teams a much clearer view of performance than relying on browser-based analytics alone. In some TwoSquares client datasets, around 60% of visitors have declined optional tracking, but server-side measurement must still be configured in accordance with PECR and UK GDPR rather than being treated as a way to bypass consent.
Beyond clicks and cost per click, what should an ecommerce brand measure to know paid activity is actually driving profit?
Brands should measure the entire journey from engaged product-page views through add-to-cart, checkout and purchase, including the percentage of customers lost at each stage. A high checkout abandonment rate, for example, may point to unexpected delivery costs or checkout friction; commercial measures such as conversion rate, customer acquisition cost, contribution margin, profit on ad spend and repeat purchase rate then show whether those sales are genuinely profitable.
As people research through AI tools and paid platforms become more automated, where is ecommerce marketing heading, and what should brands do now?
Ecommerce marketing is moving towards machine-readable product data, stronger first-party signals and greater automation, so brands should improve their feeds, structured content, product descriptions and measurement infrastructure now. Automation still requires oversight: we regularly see Performance Max campaigns report strong returns largely from existing brand demand, which can inflate apparent performance if branded searches and genuinely incremental sales are not assessed separately.
Quick answers from the interview.
What are the most effective ecommerce marketing strategies in 2026?
An integrated, multichannel approach in which paid search, SEO, social and creative all reinforce the same message rather than working in silos. No single channel has stopped working, but depending on one platform or adopting automation blindly is becoming less effective — and among visually led brands, Meta has recently been one of the strongest channels for demand and sales.
How does an ecommerce product win the click against competitors?
On social platforms, packaging, product presentation and the opening creative win attention before the customer has fully processed the message. In search it comes down to visibility and trust: holding prominent paid and organic positions, backed by strong reviews, clear product information and demonstration videos, matters more than an elaborate website design.
Where do ecommerce brands waste the most ad budget?
Giving Performance Max, broad match or AI-led campaigns too much freedom without comprehensive negative keywords, brand controls and regular search-term analysis. Across several TwoSquares accounts, cutting unnecessarily expensive clicks while keeping valuable traffic reduced average CPC without materially reducing traffic, so campaigns ran at a more efficient return.
How much do site speed and the product page affect ecommerce conversion?
Site speed is fundamental — customers can’t appreciate the design or the product if the page takes too long to become usable. Product pages perform best when they are fast and simple: a clear offer, strong imagery, social proof, delivery information, demonstrations and an obvious route to purchase, rather than unnecessary visual complexity.
What separates ecommerce brands that scale paid profitably from those just buying traffic?
Most brands have to buy traffic at first; the ones that scale use that data to sharpen targeting, messaging, pricing, promotions and customer experience. Sustainable scaling isn’t about maximising reported ROAS — it’s about increasing contribution margin and total profit after advertising, fulfilment, discounts, returns and other variable costs.
What should an ecommerce team look for in advertising and tracking tools?
A robust consent platform, server-side tracking and reliable first-party measurement give a far clearer picture than browser-based analytics alone. In some TwoSquares client datasets around 60% of visitors have declined optional tracking — though server-side measurement still has to be configured in line with PECR and UK GDPR, not used as a way around consent.
What should ecommerce brands measure beyond clicks and cost per click?
The whole journey from engaged product-page views through add-to-cart, checkout and purchase, including the share of customers lost at each stage. High checkout abandonment can signal unexpected delivery costs or checkout friction, while commercial measures — conversion rate, customer acquisition cost, contribution margin, profit on ad spend and repeat purchase rate — show whether those sales are actually profitable.
Where is ecommerce marketing heading as buyers research through AI tools?
Towards machine-readable product data, stronger first-party signals and more automation, so the work now is improving feeds, structured content, product descriptions and measurement infrastructure. Automation still needs oversight: Performance Max campaigns regularly report strong returns that come largely from existing brand demand, inflating apparent performance unless branded search and genuinely incremental sales are assessed separately.
KI
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