Everyone who starts a business starts with a head full of big dreams and ideas, I was no different when I started my dropshipping business. However, I soon faced the harsh reality of low-profit margins, inconsistent sales, and dwindling cash flow.
I invested heavily in marketing campaigns to sales, and while this initially drove traffic, it was unsustainable. My ad budget quickly outpaced my revenue generation. After several months of experimentation with different dropshipping strategies, I finally discovered one that works,
In this post, I’m spilling the beans on the biggest rookie mistakes I made as a dropshipper and how you can steer clear of them.
The Mistakes I Made and Lessons Learned
Here are some dropshipping mistakes I made as a beginner and what I’ve learned from them:
Mistake #1: Skipping Market and Product Research
My first dropshipping misstep was following my intuition instead of data. And unlike most detective movies, my gut didn’t have accurate and reliable data about my target market.
Instead of validating product-market fit by carefully researching my target market and competition, I selected products based on my personal preferences. This resulted in poor website traffic and conversions because I was not offering products my target market wants or needs.
Lesson Learned: Before you launch your dropshipping store, do your market research! Pick a niche, understand your target audience’s desires and pain points, and analyze your competition. This will help you to choose products that resonate with your audience.
Mistake #2: Boring Website
I was more concerned about building a functional website than an optimized one. I neglected the power of clear messaging, persuasive copywriting, and a visually appealing design. My landing page and product pages, as well as the descriptions, were not compelling enough to get customers interested in my brand and its products.
I also underestimated how much people valued social proof; I didn’t see the need to go the extra mile to add trust elements like trust badges, warranties, and reviews.
Lesson Learned: You have to build your website with the understanding that you don’t have a second chance to build a first impression. Build every aspect of your website, from the layout to the colors, elements, and copy, to capture your customers’ attention, earn their trust, and ultimately convince them to purchase from you.
Mistake #3: Neglecting Marketing
When I started my dropshipping business I operated under the assumption that a well-curated product range and a user-friendly website would organically generate customer traffic. So, I also didn’t invest in paid ads or quality content for organic traffic.
As a result, my dropshipping store traffic was low and did not generate any significant revenue.
Lesson Learned: Marketing isn’t just a fancy word for spending money on ads, the dropshipping market is fiercely competitive. Marketing is how you build brand awareness, and drive traffic to your dropshipping store.
Mistake #4: Marketing With No Strategy
After realizing I needed to market my product and store to attract customers, I started marketing aggressively on every platform. I was testing every ad type and platform available instead of crafting a strategic marketing plan.
After running multiple ads on different platforms and getting low returns on ad spend, I knew I needed a different approach to reach my target audience. That’s when I discovered trendhijacking, a marketing strategy that saved me thousands on ad spend.
Instead of going in blind, the trend hijacking strategy helped identify viral products and present my dropshipping store as the first option my target market sees when they search for it. Using the trend-hijacking strategy helped me to cut down on marketing costs significantly. It was way more effective than running random ads to promote every product in my dropshipping store.
Lesson Learned: It’s always quality over quantity when running ads for your dropshipping store. Running ads without an effective marketing strategy like the trendhijacking strategy, you’re likely to see low ROI on your ad spend.
Learn More About Trend Hijacking⏬
Mistake #5: Following Every Dropshipping “Hack”
As a rookie drop shipper, I was constantly bombarding myself with YouTube videos and advice from every corner of the internet. I was moving from one guru’s strategy to the next, lured in by promises of guaranteed 7-figure profits and secret dropshipping hacks.
Many of the gurus’ dropshipping strategies were contradictory. For example, some said SEO and content marketing are only sustainable to build brand awareness, while others kicked against it and advocated for paid social.
Constantly watching these contradictory videos made me indecisive about the dropshipping strategy to use. So, instead of picking a strategy tailored to my dropshipping business, I was testing multiple strategies, wasting a lot of revenue and time.
The Lesson Learned: Seek out mentors in your niche with proven results and transparent success stories. I’ve documented my dropshipping journey from 0 sales to $10k+ in a day, and I’d love to share some of the best dropshipping tips I’ve learned along the way. Follow me on Medium or YouTube for tips that fit your journey!
Mistake #6: Neglecting Automation/Outsourcing
Initially, I adopted a ‘solopreneur’ approach to my dropshipping business, wearing multiple hats from product research, website design, and marketing, to customer service. However, the workload quickly became overwhelming and unsustainable.
Inevitably, mistakes crept in: orders got mixed up, poor customer reviews, and eventually a high bounce rate. This prompted me to automate or outsource non-core dropshipping tasks to run my dropshipping business sustainably and seamlessly.
Lesson Learned: You can’t do everything. Outsource dropshipping tasks that are draining your time and energy such as order processing, website design, shipping, customer experience, etc.
Conclusion
Running a dropshipping can be hard especially when you are new. But just like me, there is a way to stop struggling. Discovering the trend hijacking strategy has helped many drop shippers including myself navigate the world of dropshipping without falling for common mistakes.
If you want to learn more about how to use this strategy for your digital dropshipping business, book a free call.
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