Marc Firth

Marc Firth

CEO, Co-Founder

15 years of experience

Marc Firth is CEO & Co-founder of Firney, where he helps executive marketing leaders move beyond 'AI experiments' to prove definitive ROI. With over 15 years of experience, Marc specialises in building profitable 'Frictionless Commerce Engines' that directly combat rising CAC and turn complex MarTech stacks into measurable, revenue-driving assets.

Areas of Expertise

Marketing ROIMarketing ProfitabilityCustomer Acquisition Cost (CAC)MarTech StrategyAI in MarketingFrictionless CommercePerformance EngineeringC-Level Marketing Leadership

Specialties

Marc's expertise is focused on building the strategic frameworks that solve marketing's core profitability and scaling challenges:

  • Profit-Driven MarTech Strategy: Moving beyond 'stack architecture' to design accountable, ROI-focused marketing systems that eliminate data silos and prove their value to the board.
  • AI for Profitability, Not 'Experiments': Implementing AI and machine learning playbooks focused on measurable outcomes: reducing CAC, optimising LTV, and eliminating content bottlenecks.
  • Solving Revenue Friction: Identifying and engineering solutions for the core blockers to profit, such as high cart abandonment, slow conversion paths, and poor personalisation that kill revenue.
  • Building Scalable Revenue Engines: Engineering the systems and frameworks (the 'Frictionless Commerce Engine') that allow for sustainable, predictable growth, moving organisations beyond tactical campaigns.

About Marc Firth

Marc Firth is the CEO & Co-founder of Firney, a firm dedicated to solving marketing's C-level profitability problem. Marc's work is built on one core belief: In the age of AI, marketing performance is an engineering problem. For over 15 years, he has focused on dismantling the disconnect between marketing ambition and the inability to prove its financial impact.

Before founding Firney, Marc saw brilliant, multi-million pound marketing strategies fail to deliver ROI; not because of bad creative, but because of content bottlenecks, data friction, and broken tech stacks. This inspired him to create Firney, a company that re-imagines marketing as an engineering discipline obsessed with business outcomes, not just campaign outputs.

Marc’s approach moves beyond typical MarTech consulting. He doesn't build 'stacks'; he builds strategic 'Frictionless Commerce Engines.' This C-level framework is designed to solve for profitability, slash cart abandonment, and create sustainable systems for lowering CAC. Under his leadership, Firney has become known for building the unshakeable foundation that turns marketing from a cost centre into a verifiable profit driver.

Today, Marc leads Firney's vision and guides C-level clients in developing their strategic frameworks. He is a frequent speaker on moving from 'AI hype' to 'AI profitability,' the new economics of customer acquisition, and the future of accountable marketing technology.

Education

  • BSc (Hons) Software Engineering

    University of Lincoln • 2006

Featured Media

Photo of Marc Firth. CEO, Firney

Photo of Marc Firth. CEO, Firney

Professional Photo

The Future of Gen AI

Speaking Engagement

Articles by Marc Firth

shopping cart symbol on keyword
Your Highest-Intent Customers Are Being Let Down by Search
How D2C brands can turn search abandonment and “no results” pages into conversion opportunities with AI-powered website search.
Read more
shopping cart
The Best Way to Recover an Abandoned Cart? Prevent It.
Cart abandonment is primarily an information gap. Placing a real-time conversational AI agent at the point of intent resolves this gap and secures the sale.
Read more
AI conversation
The New D2C Growth Channel: Why Conversational Commerce Matters in 2026
A data-backed overview of conversational commerce statistics, covering AI shopping behaviour, customer expectations, e-commerce conversion, and the future of D2C buying journeys.
Read more
two people shaking hands
The 5-Minute Leak: How Delayed Sales Follow-Ups Cost Brands Their Revenue
Tired of leaky pipelines? Discover the math behind AI sales qualification and how implementing an always-on AI agent cuts your B2B CAC by 30%.
Read more
website metrics
Fixing Website Speed to Secure AI Search Visibility
Website speed is no longer a necessity only for human users, but is now crucial if you want to stay visible to AI. We explain the importance of understanding and tracking Core Web Vitals.
Read more
Google Search
How to Capture Sales from AI Overviews in 2026
Learn how Google AI Overviews are transforming e-commerce in 2026. Discover why 14% of shopping queries now trigger AI summaries and how to optimise your Merchant Centre and Schema markup to protect your search traffic and conversion rates.
Read more
Case Study: How Conversational AI Improves UX and Lightens the Load on Customer Service
Case Study: How Conversational AI Improves UX and Lightens the Load on Customer Service
Discover how Direct Ferries used conversational AI and AI-powered search after its support teams handled over 7,000 FAQ-style inquiries in July 2024 alone. This 15-week case study reveals how to reduce support load and simplify travel discovery for a frictionless user experience.
Read more
Online shopping screen
Website Personalisation: What It Is and How to Implement It
Learn how AI-powered personalisation drives a 10-15% revenue lift. Move beyond static segments to real-time intent and boost conversions by meeting modern user needs.
Read more
Agentic Commerce in 2026: Why 70% of Shoppers Want it, but Only 12% Trust it
Agentic Commerce in 2026: Why 70% of Shoppers Want it, but Only 12% Trust it
While 70% of shoppers are interested in agentic commerce, only 12% trust AI to handle the final checkout. Discover the latest 2026 data on consumer trust barriers and how DTC brands can bridge the gap from product discovery to autonomous spending.
Read more
How to Win Customers Back from AI & LLMs
How to Win Customers Back from AI & LLMs
Learn how to turn LLMs into discovery filters while building a "High-Fidelity" website that converts. We detail the 15 technical and strategic reasons why your owned channel wins at retention, configuration, and trust.
Read more
Agentic Commerce in 2026: Growth Driver or Margin Tax?
Agentic Commerce in 2026: Growth Driver or Margin Tax?
The agentic commerce shift means AI agents now influence purchases. See what the 4% "agentic tax" means for D2C margins and how brands should respond.
Read more
Visual and Voice Search for E-Commerce in 2026
Visual and Voice Search for E-Commerce in 2026
Image search and voice shopping are reshaping e-commerce UX. See how D2C brands use visual and voice search to lift conversion rates and reduce bounce.
Read more
Compare AI agents and chatbots side by side - capabilities, costs, and real D2C use cases. Find which one fits your customer experience strategy.
Chatbots vs. AI Agents: What's the Difference?
Why AI chatbots are no longer enough in 2026 - and how AI agents are transforming e-commerce into agentic commerce.
Read more
2026 Forecast – The Year UK E-commerce Moves from 'AI Hype' to 'AI Utility
2026 Forecast – The Year UK E-commerce Moves from 'AI Hype' to 'AI Utility
2026 is the year of AI utility in e-commerce. Learn how semantic search, session-based personalisation, and conversational commerce fix mobile conversion gaps and discovery friction.
Read more
2026 Strategic Benchmarks for the CMO
The Agentic Shift: 2026 Strategic Benchmarks for the CMO
For the past decade, the e-commerce playbook has been static: acquire traffic, optimise the funnel, and marginally improve conversion through A/B testing. In 2026, this playbook is obsolete. We have hit the "optimisation ceiling" - a point where incremental UX tweaks yield diminishing returns.
Read more
Peak traffic periods expose hidden conversion killers. Learn why site speed, mobile UX, and checkout friction cost D2C brands up to 30% of seasonal revenue.
Why High-Traffic E-Commerce Periods Kill Your Conversion
Peak traffic strains engineering teams and quietly kills conversion. See why sites slow under holiday load, and how we keep spikes converting, not bouncing.
Read more
Curing Gift Anxiety with AI
Curing Gift Anxiety with AI
Holiday gift guides are driving bounce rates up. Discover how AI search and conversational commerce reduce choice overload, guide panic buyers, and convert holiday traffic into sales.
Read more
Buy Now, Buy More, Buy Again: A Guide to the Intelligent Ecosystem
Buy Now, Buy More, Buy Again: A Guide to the Intelligent Ecosystem
The traditional marketing funnel is dead. Discover how AI-driven personalisation, intelligent entry points, and dynamic CRO strategies transform your website into an adaptive ecosystem that boosts conversions, AOV, and retention.
Read more
The Age of Digital Shopping: AI-Powered Virtual Shopping Assistants in UK E-Commerce
The Age of Digital Shopping: AI-Powered Virtual Shopping Assistants in UK E-Commerce
See real examples of UK retailers leveraging AI to improve shopping journeys, reduce returns, and deliver human-like online experiences.
Read more
AI LLM Page Speed
Web Performance and AI Search Visibility 2025: Why Site Speed Determines Whether LLMs Find Your Content
AI search engines filter content by speed; optimise your site performance to ensure Gemini and ChatGPT cite your work and boost human conversion rates.
Read more
Stop losing sales to friction. Our 2026 Conversational Commerce Guide provides the 5-step framework to boost conversions, cut costs & build a winning strategy.
Conversational Commerce Implementation Guide 2026: From Strategy to Execution
Stop losing sales to friction. Our 2026 Conversational Commerce Guide provides the 5-step framework to boost conversions, cut costs & build a winning strategy.
Read more
Beyond ROAS: Calculating the True Profitability of Your Ad Spend with Conversational AI Insights
Beyond ROAS: Calculating the True Profitability of Your Ad Spend with Conversational AI Insights
Is your ROAS lying to you? Many "successful" campaigns actually lose money. Explore why marketers must shift from ROAS to POAS (Profit on Ad Spend) to measure true profitability. Learn how conversational AI analyses customer intent to find hidden profit leaks.
Read more
Optimise, Test, Repeat: What CRO Is and How It Maximises ROI
Optimise, Test, Repeat: What CRO Is and How It Maximises ROI
A website is never finished. For marketers, the launch begins the hunt for better ROI. Explore the data-driven process of Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO), from analysing heatmaps to running A/B tests, and turn insights into compounding growth.
Read more
Design with a Purpose: High-Converting Websites | Firney
Design with a Purpose: High-Converting Websites | Firney
Stop guessing with web design. Explore Conversion-Centred Design (CCD), a framework that unites aesthetics with marketing ROI. Learn the 7 principles that use psychology and data to guide user behaviour and drive measurable conversions.
Read more
Why Your Website's Technical Foundation is the Hidden Driver of Conversions
Why Your Website's Technical Foundation is the Hidden Driver of Conversions
Why should marketers care about technical details? A poor technical foundation kills conversions. Explore how website speed, a mobile-first approach, and secure hosting are not just IT issues but core drivers of your marketing ROI.
Read more
How a Strong Website Strategy Turns Clicks into Revenue
How a Strong Website Strategy Turns Clicks into Revenue
Before you build, you need a blueprint. This article details the crucial Website Discovery Phase for marketers. Learn how stakeholder alignment, user research, and competitor analysis prevent wasted ad spend and ensure your web project is built for measurable ROI.
Read more
Conversion-Focused Web Development: A Marketer's Guide to Turning Websites into Revenue Engines
Conversion-Focused Web Development: A Marketer's Guide to Turning Websites into Revenue Engines
Learn how conversion-focused web development turns your website into a growth engine. This guide for marketers details our 4-stage process, from strategy and conversion-centred design to technical build and CRO, all built to deliver measurable ROI.
Read more
How 35% of Amazon's sales come from AI recommendations and how e-commerce brands are replicating the model. Original sources, data, and implementation.
Amazon's 35% Revenue From Recommendations: The Full Data
How 35% of Amazon's sales come from AI recommendations and how e-commerce brands are replicating the model. Original sources, data, and implementation.
Read more
The AI-First D2C Blueprint - A 90-Day Plan for Profitable Growth
The AI-First D2C Blueprint: A 90-Day Plan for Profitable Growth
Rising ad costs? The old D2C playbook is broken. Discover the 90-day AI-first blueprint to move from reactive marketing to a predictive engine. Learn to lower CAC, boost LTV, and drive real profit.
Read more
Real world AI use cases for SaaS Cloud journeys
Real world AI use cases for SaaS Cloud journeys
In this video, Marc and Ash explore practical applications of AI in Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms. They highlight how AI can streamline workflows, enhance customer experiences, and improve business efficiency by automating tasks, analysing data, and supporting decision-making.
Read more
The future of ML and Cloud Engineering
The future of ML and Cloud Engineering
In this video, Marc explores the latest innovations in machine learning and cloud engineering. He explores how AI is transforming software development through automated documentation, user story creation, UI design, and large-scale code generation. Marc introduces Google’s Vertex AI and its model garden, offering insights for teams aiming to harness AI technologies for more efficient and scalable cloud solutions.
Read more
5 ways to supercharge your marketing campaigns
5 ways to supercharge your marketing campaigns
Learn 5 proven tactics to boost marketing ROI, from page speed to cloud stability and data-driven strategies.
Read more
Generative AI: the 12-step blueprint for efficiency and innovation
Generative AI: the 12-step blueprint for efficiency
Learn how to avoid AI project failure with Firney’s 12-step launch plan, based on expert guidance from Google.
Read more
How the cloud can optimise your PPC returns
How the cloud can optimise your PPC returns
Discover how cloud technology powers smarter PPC campaigns with real-time bidding, AI insights, and scalable optimisation.
Read more
Is your SEO underperforming?
Is your SEO underperforming?
Learn the key signs of SEO underperformance and how optimising speed, reliability, and UX can boost your search rankings.
Read more
Choosing the right Managed Cloud Services partner
Choosing the right Managed Cloud Services partner
Learn about how choosing the right Managed Cloud Services partner drives reliability, cuts costs, and future-proofs your business.
Read more
Strategies to guarantee revenue protection
Strategies to guarantee revenue protection
Learn how Firney proactively prevents website downtime with scalable cloud, load balancing, and expert support to protect your marketing investment.
Read more
Maximising SEO in 2025: the role of Cloud Technology
Maximising SEO in 2025: the role of Cloud Technology
Discover how cloud solutions boost your SEO with faster speed, global reach, scalability, security, and AI-driven insights.
Read more
5 ways to reduce customer churn with Cloud
5 ways to reduce customer churn with Cloud
Discover how cloud technology, Managed Cloud Services, and AI solutions reduce customer churn.
Read more
Why page speed is your most critical conversion factor
Why page speed is a critical conversion factor
Learn about Firney’s proven strategies to boost website performance using Google’s Core Web Vitals for faster, more reliable user experiences.
Read more
Your website is up, but is it converting?
Your website is up, but is it converting?
Creating a strong online presence isn’t enough; your website must function perfectly to generate revenue. Being “live” isn’t sufficient. You need to ensure the critical user path operates flawlessly. In this article, we explain how to guarantee a seamless critical user path for maximum impact.
Read more
Maximise ROI with a bootstrapped Google Cloud Landing Zone
Maximise ROI with a bootstrapped Google Cloud Landing Zone
Secure and streamline your cloud launch with Firney’s Bootstrapped Google Cloud Landing Zone, ensuring cost control, robust security, and efficient operations.
Read more
Is your engineering process slowing you down?
Is your engineering process slowing you down?
Unreliable deployments and unpredictable site stability can derail your marketing efforts. In this article, we explore how Version Control serves as the essential foundation for your application.
Read more
Why fast JavaScript improves conversion rates
Why fast JavaScript improves conversion rates
Discover how Firney’s expert JavaScript optimisation techniques boost site speed, improve user experience, and enhance SEO rankings.
Read more
How we find the root cause of your conversion-killing issues (and protect your budget)
How we find the root cause of your conversion-killing issues
Discover how Firney’s use of the “Five Whys” root-cause analysis prevents recurring bugs, protects your marketing ROI, and ensures lasting stability.
Read more
Why Site Reliability should be a priority
Why Site Reliability should be a priority
Learn why Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) is crucial for fast, stable user experiences, improved SEO, and automating tasks.
Read more
Why Managed Cloud Services are essential for marketing growth
Why Managed Cloud Services are essential
Struggling with cloud issues? Firney’s Managed Cloud Services deliver reliable, scalable platforms so marketing teams can focus on growth, not tech fires.
Read more