5 Tips for dropshipping success that no agents will ever share
Dropshipping agents have seen so many stores in the past years. But merely no agent summarize a lesson. That’s why Goshippro is here. You can always believe in Goshippro to provide the information a successful dropshipper needs.
Note: This passage is originally from Reddit user JustSomeBusinessGuy and edited by Dolores in Goshippro. Each piece of his advice is indeed useful.
Just sharing my experience for what I believe to be true in all cases in business. Not just for dropshipping, but ANY business you start.
Your customers don't care about your financial ambition
This is a harsh truth, but you need to accept it. Your hopes, your dreams, and your struggles, your customers don't care about any of it. Not unless you are an influencer, but then you wouldn't be here reading this anyways. This sort of thing probably seems obvious, but it's important for you to frame things appropriately when starting a business.
Your potential customers won't go to your store, and won't buy your product just because they saw that you're selling it. And they are sure that they don't owe you their hard-earned money to buy it. Your potential future customers care about THEMSELVES. They care about their own lives, their own problems, and HOW YOU CAN SOLVE THEM. If you can make them believe you will solve their pain they will buy from you.
It's really that simple. All of your ads, and all of your copywriting, need to come from this state of mind. If your content does not help convey how your brand/product can help them then those efforts of yours are wasted.
Dropshipping is just a means to an end
Dropshipping is not some mythical thing, and it's not even a business by itself. Dropshipping is just a means to an end to conducting your business. What this also means is do NOT think about your business as defined by how you deliver your product to your consumers. You must think about your business as a whole.
This is to say you must also consider branding, standard operating procedure, your marketing strategy, and your exit event. Every business owner must think about what their end game is with their business. Whether it's to hold onto it indefinitely/ keep it in the family, or sell it someday for a big payday. Failure to consider the ends you seeking dooms you to failure.
It's all about the data
Your marketing campaign results, your business financials, your store metrics, your customer demographics, EVERYTHING is data for your business. You will have many subjective thoughts, but you must always be guided by data. Your mind will play plenty of tricks on you to try to justify your thoughts and actions, but numbers don't lie. They can be inaccurate due to imprecise tools, but they will not ever lie to you.
Yes, this also includes product selection. Don't choose a product, or accept how an ad looks for a product because you THINK or BELIEVE it will do well. Do they meet some kind of measurable criteria you set out? If you do not have these systems in place or ways by which to measure something that on its face seems subjective, you WILL fail because you'll just constantly flail around wondering why things aren't working. You MUST measure everything and constantly compare to what you've done before.
Learn about finances and accounting
There is a shocking amount of entrepreneurs out there who are financially illiterate. I mean for heaven's sake, at least learn the basics! Here, I'll get you started with an example:
Let us presume, in this example, you made 10 sales, each sale earning you $100. This would mean the cost of your product is $30. Let us also presume you earned these sales exclusively through your marketing. That means you made a sale for every $20 you spent on marketing.
These are important numbers to have not only to measure actual profit margin per sale but also to calculate your cash balance when determining your cash flow. If you use Shopify there is a delay in between when you make a sale and when that money gets deposited into your account. This means you could end up in a situation where despite making sales your cash balance is NOT high enough to maintain the level of sales you got.
Lastly, if you have ANY plans to take your business seriously and grow it into something valuable PLEASE learn what a balance sheet is so you can maintain all three financial statements.
Keep improving
This should also go without saying, but many times people will only try something once, fail, conclude it's not for them, and never try again. You have to keep improving in some areas. This goes without exception. Whether it's your ability to advertise, your copywriting, your ability to pick products, your ability to make an appealing website, or whatever you are capable of. This also applies to what's already working as well. Always keep pushing the envelope, and always keep trying to improve what's already there. You might be afraid because you don't want to break it, but you can always go back to what worked before if your test doesn't pan out. This is the most basic but the most IMPORTANT tip on this list. Without improving you're doomed to mediocrity.
