It’s probably one of the most asked questions out there by beginners and the answer is always different… Some will say you need at least a $2,000 budget for ads to start you dropshipping journey, and some will say $500 is enough.
My answer is a bit different and it is “Money in, Money out” – This means that as long as you’re able to make sales, even if it isn’t much, nothing stops you from having a successful dropshipping store.
I had niches where after spending $100, I was already getting consistent sales and I was slowly scaling and building my money flow. And I had niches where it took me $700 to hit some sales and I had to spend even more to get consistent sales. The one thing in common to all these attempts is that I had a clear plan, and I knew exactly what I was doing.
In this week’s article, I’m going to answer this question once and for all! I’ll show you different scenarios and provide detailed explanations so you don’t have to look for answers from different sources that will only confuse you.
Plan, Research, Build, And Only Then Launch Your Ads
This is the #1 mistake new dropshippers do and it’s what makes the difference between having success after only $300 spend or after $2,000 spend.
Dropshipping is a really exciting business… You hear about all these dropshippers out there making millions from home and if you read more about it, you realize that nothing stops you from doing the same.
There’s no need in stock so you don’t need a big capital to start dropshipping. There’s no need in a physical place and pay rent + other taxes – An online store is all you need so you can have it done in a single day.
The investment is so low compared to a physical business that it makes people think this is going to be a walk in the park. And this thought exactly is what leads people to spend so much money for absolutely ZERO results!
People are so excited to begin their dropshipping journey that they launch ads with no planning – Their store looks like a screenshot from the nineties, their ads are terrible, and the product they think is a winner won’t sell even for free…
And then you see posts on groups like these: “I have spent $1,000 on ads and I didn’t get even 1 sale. please help!”. And when you check their store or ads, you don’t have to be a professional to see it’s a half-a** job(excuse my french).
So to avoid that, I have prepared a few steps for you to have a successful dropshipping business with the minimum investment possible.
1. Plan
Like all businesses out there, you need to have a plan in order to succeed, and this brings me back to one of my first niche stores I created where I had success only with $250 in my PayPal. This was back in December 2017 and I really wanted to have a cool niche store with a passionate audience.
So I was thinking about what store to open and about my chances of getting sales with only $250 for testing and after about a week, I remembered that the next big holiday after Christmas is Valentine’s Day. Like Christmas, a gift is an absolute must and it’s basically a death sentence if the man forgets to buy something for his wife.
So right then I understood that the Family niche has the highest success rate because of Valentine’s Day and it’s my safest bet. I quickly created a beautiful Family niche Shopify store by using a free theme and with minimum investment and I still have it to this day 🙂
As you see, I didn’t need $2,000 to achieve success and I was able to slowly sell my Valentine’s Day products to build my capital. After that, I was already looking towards Mother’s/Father’s Day which also were part of my plan and by then, I already had much more money to spend.
This is an example on the importance of a plan and how I didn’t let other people’s opinions stop me from launching my dropshipping business!
Important:
How much does it cost to open a Shopify store? You will be surprised but it’s nowhere near the numbers other sources suggest. I even wrote an article about it a few months ago so make sure to check it out here.
2. Research
I already had a niche and for targeting I knew to target married men or men in a relationship. What I really needed is a product and one that’s going to sell for sure… So instead of randomly looking for products on Aliexpress, I searched for products on Facebook in the Family niche that exploded in the past.
I found ads for necklaces with touching quotes on them, beautiful accessories for women, and other stuff. My strategy was to find a product that sold well in the past and to try and upgrade it so I can sell it again.
I was lucky to find a really cool keychain with a custom engraved design in it and after a quick search on Aliexpress, I found a similar keychain with a custom photo option. So right away I knew this product has potential and this was the product I chose.
The setup on Shopify was pretty easy and I used a simple app to allow my customers to upload a photo. I had a good supplier that was sending these keychains in less than 24 hours and with quick shipping so my customers had to wait 15 days max for their order.
As you see, my way to sell was by finding a product that already sells(similar to what Ecomhunt does) and upgrading it. I could possibly sell the same product that sold in the past BUT it would require a better ad and this means more investment I couldn’t afford. Or I could target a different country but my main focus for Valentine’s Day was US audience so this option was out too.
3. Build
Once you have your plan and done your research, it’s time to build it into a single money making unit – Everything needs to be perfect before you can launch your ads and let Facebook do its magic…
I always recommend checking out what other successful dropshippers are doing to take some inspiration:
I have enough experience creating video/photo ads but if there’s a product I want to sell, I always make sure to check out the previous ads to see how they did it. I hate wasting time so it really helps checking out how other successful ads look and do the same.
Next is spying on their store and checking out the product page:
I can build a perfectly optimized Shopify store in about 2-3 hours but it doesn’t hurt to check out other successful stores out there and maybe learn something new. Just last week I found a store where they put a “60-day refund guarantee” trust badge on every picture, and I thought it was really cool and really adds to your store’s trust. So my plan is to do the same and start adding this badge on the next products I test.
It also helps figuring out the right price for the product you’re about to sell and the selling strategy.
Preparing your ads:
Once everything is ready to go, all we have to do is to prepare our ads to be launched. Optimizations, targeting, multiple ads to see which one works better, and all the usual stuff. If you have no idea how to do that, make sure to check out our free Facebook CBO ads e-book:
Everything you need to know about Facebook ads is there – It’s the ultimate A to Z guide on how to create Facebook ads from scratch.
The last step is to launch your ads and when everything is done correctly, your chances of getting sales drastically increase!
To Sum It Up:
If you just launch your ads hoping to get sales when everything else isn’t 100% prepared, then even a $100,000 testing budget won’t help… I’ve seen dropshippers that get their first sale after the first $5 spent and I’ve seen dropshippers with ZERO sales after spending $1,000.
The difference between them is how they approached this whole business – If you want fast sales and don’t like waiting, then be prepared to waste a lot of money. But if you’re serious and understand that first you need everything else to be in perfect condition, then you could possibly make sales after spending your first $50.
So my answer to this question: It all depends on how serious you are!
Good luck 🙂
Struggling to find good products to sell? Not sure who’s your target audience? Tired of losing money on products you were sure were “winners”?
Then Ecomhunt is what you need! Find hot winning products that are added daily, spy on their ads & stores and import them into your store in 1 click and Start Selling Today!
Must Read Articles:
- Ecomhunt Dropshipping Tips – Start Selling Summer Products Right Now!
- Use These 2 Methods To Get Traffic And Sales For Free – Zero Investment Dropshipping
- Free Store Review – Learn How To Review Your Online Store Like A Pro
Daniel Aloni is one of the leading mentors in the Ecomhunt family. Daniel is a highly experienced Print On Demand seller with multiple 6 figures successful launches.
