Digital Marketing in Ecommerce: 2020 salary update

In the ecommerce industry, what are the current developments surrounding digital marketing salaries? We're about to find out!

Following the launch of our 2020 ecommerce salary survey & insights report, it's time to start delving into the deeper details from our questionnaire results. That's right...all of the information presented in this blog post is completely exclusive. For the next four days, we will be presenting salary insights from each of our specialisms - starting us off is Digital Marketing.

We work on fantastic digital marketing jobs across the ecommerce industry, including performance marketing and email & CRM. For this salary review, we will be looking only at broader digital marketing roles, from assistant level to CMO!

Digital Marketing salaries by job title

As always, our salary survey report features salary benchmarks by job title. Below, you'll find the salary brackets for our six core digital marketing roles. Have there been positive changes? 

• Digital Marketing Assistant/Coordinator: £22,000 - £30,000 (last year £22,000 - £35,000)
• Digital Marketing Executive: £28,000 - £35,000 (last year £25,000 - £35,000)
• Senior Digital Marketing Executive: £30,000 - £40,000 (last year £28,000 - £40,000)
• Digital Marketing Manager: £35,000 - £70,000 (last year £35,000 - £80,000)
• Senior Digital Marketing Manager: £50,000 - £75,000 (last year £45,000 - £90,000)
• Head of/Director/CMO: £70,000 - £150,000 (last year £60,000 - £150,000)

There are quite a few changes from the 2019 report. Both digital marketing executives and senior digital marketing executives have seen a slight boost in the starting salary bracket. Head of/Director/CMO's have also seen an increase at this end.

However, there are a few decreases. Most notably, digital marketing managers have seen a drop at the higher end of the salary bracket, as have senior digital marketing managers. Does this mean digital marketing professionals, as a whole, have seen a decrease?

Digital Marketing – has there been an overall salary increase?

One of our main questions featured each year is simple: did your salary increase in the last 12 months? For this blog, we've taken the data for all of our digital marketing respondents only. Will these reflect the statistics from the main report or are digital marketers in a more fruitful position in 2020?

• 59% of digital marketing professionals saw their salary increase - this is lower than 2019, where the total was 65%.
• 38% told us that their salary stayed the same - a 4% increase from 2019. This likely explains the slight decrease seen above.
• Finally, 3% of respondents shared that their salary had decreased*. This is up from 1% in 2019.

* When asked why their salaries decreased, these respondents shared that it was actually their choice. Taking a slight pay-cut to move to a start-up, taking a career sidestep to a new industry and deciding to freelance are among the reasons.

What do the next 12 months look like for digital marketing salaries?

To say 2020 has been a bumpy ride is an understatement. Many professionals have seen their careers change overnight and plans for the year probably haven't gone as expected. While this questionnaire was completed before the Covid-19 crisis escalated, it's still worth thinking about as we approach the final quarter of 2020.

We asked our respondents how they expect their salary to change in the next 12 months...here's what they told us.

• It will increase: 56%
• I’m not sure: 18%
• It will stay the same: 24%
• It will decrease: 2%

Download the 2020 ecommerce salary survey & insights report!

So, the first specialism salary review is over. Don’t worry – there will be plenty more insights to come. While you wait, why not download a free copy of the full report for all of the industry insights?