Currently worth billions of dollars, the dropshipping industry is projected to more than double that by 2027.
Dropshipping is the most exciting new business model since affiliate marketing, and it’s perfect for anyone from natural businesspeople to stay-at-home moms looking to supplement their income.
But that doesn’t mean you’ll automatically find success with dropshipping. Here, I’ll share 30 of my favorite dropshipping strategies for rocketing your business to the next level.
Offer 30-Day Returns
Did you know that before making a purchase, more than 60% of customers research the store’s return policy? While many countries, including the United Kingdom, require sellers to provide a 14-day return window, research shows that providing a window of 30 or 45 days increases sales and decreases return rates.
Having this feature will set you apart from the competition and give customers a reason to buy from you instead of another vendor.
Create a Warranty
Including a discussion of warranties in a dropshipping guide is essential. Customers are more likely to make a purchase when they know they are protected by some sort of guarantee or warranty. Providing a warranty also demonstrates confidence in the durability of your goods.
Making a standard warranty that takes care of problems caused by the manufacturer is a great way to boost business. Customers will be more likely to buy from you again if you offer any sort of credit, even if it’s not a full refund.
Write Unique Descriptions
One of the best ways to differentiate yourself from the competition when dropshipping is to write your own original product descriptions. Moreover, products with unique descriptions have a greater opportunity to rise in the search engine rankings and attract a larger share of targeted, organic, and unpaid visitors.
You don’t have to be a professional writer to come up with descriptions; a brief introductory paragraph followed by a few bullet points or specifications highlighting the most important features will do.
Optimise Listings
One of the best ways to get an endless supply of free traffic to your website or marketplace listings is to optimize them for search engines. The title and description of your product should contain relevant keywords.
If you’re selling a wireless speaker, for instance, you should use the phrase “wireless Bluetooth speaker” in your listing, but you shouldn’t overuse the phrase. Images of products should be saved and given descriptive names.
Keep Prices Low
There is a widespread problem of overpricing in the dropshipping market. It’s crucial to maintain a healthy profit margin while charging reasonable prices. Is it more desirable to sell the same item one hundred times and make a profit of ten percent, or to sell the same item ten times and make a profit of thirty percent?
In general, lowering prices will increase sales and profits. Prior to generating some initial sales, it is crucial to start a new listing at a low price.
Use Clear Images
Consumers’ interest and attention is piqued almost immediately by product pictures. Therefore, it is crucial to use a high-quality, professionally-shot banner image. As a dropshipper, you may not have much say over the actual product photos, but you still need to use the best one possible for your main banner.
More on the topic of purchasing product samples for the purpose of taking your own photos is included later in this guide.
Add Item Specifics
In order to be successful on online marketplaces like eBay and Amazon, you must use detailed product descriptions. Product identifiers like color and size help shoppers zero in on the precise merchandise they’re looking for.
That’s why it’s crucial to include as many relevant details as possible when listing an item for sale on sites like eBay and Amazon. Color, size, brand, compatibility, features, and the exact make and model should all be listed.
Provide Free Shipping
Offering free shipping, as reported by Stitch Labs, can boost income by 10% or more. In fact, offering free shipping has many advantages, such as increasing conversion rates, increasing average order value, and attracting new customers.
The dropshipping model allows for the shipping costs to be included in the final selling price. You could also follow Amazon’s lead and make shipping free after a certain threshold is reached.
Enable More Payment Options
You can pay for something online using a variety of different methods, such as a credit card, a bank transfer, PayPal, or Google Wallet. Modern services like PayPal are convenient for some customers, but credit and debit cards remain the preferred method of payment for others.
Customers are more likely to buy from your store if you offer a variety of payment options. When dropshipping via a website, it’s crucial to allow customers to pay in a variety of ways so that they can find the most convenient one for themselves.
List More Products
Adding more products to your catalog is the most obvious way to speedily increase sales. Although it should go without saying, many novice dropshippers list a small number of products and then give up when sales don’t explode immediately.
Granted, a handful of listings can generate a lot of sales, but not every product will be an overnight success. Keeping up your drive to post new listings is crucial. You can expect to zero in on the best-sellers that yield reliable monthly profits.
Revise Old Listings
When selling on marketplaces like eBay or Amazon, updating old or stagnant listings is a tried-and-true strategy for attracting more buyers and closing more deals. A change in the wording of your title, price, or description can have a dramatic impact.
Make it a monthly habit to assess the performance of your listings and update any that are falling short. If you’ve tried to revise the listing and it still isn’t selling, you might want to consider taking it down permanently.
Sell on Multiple Channels
Most people who shop online use the same store, whether it’s Amazon or eBay. As a result, one of the best dropshipping tips is to sell through as many different channels as possible. One should aim to sell on multiple platforms, including their own website and marketplaces like eBay and Amazon.
With today’s streamlined multi-channel selling solutions, any business can list their wares for sale on multiple channels simultaneously while keeping track of inventory, customers, and orders in a single location.
Run Promotions
Promoting your business is a great way to bring in new clients and increase revenue. Customers are always eager to take advantage of a promotion, whether it’s a price cut in the form of a coupon, a free shipping offer, or a buy-one-get-one deal.
For new products without reviews or sales history, Amazon promotions have been shown to be one of the most effective ways to increase sales and interest. Creating well-thought-out sales and discounts can also boost your average order value.
Try Flash Sales
Flash sales, which first became popular in the early 2000s, are an excellent strategy for doing both of these things quickly and efficiently.
Flash sales, which are limited-time promotions offering deep discounts to consumers, have a number of advantages over traditional sales methods, including the potential to increase revenue and bring in new customers. New dropshipping shops with little to no brand recognition can benefit greatly from flash sales.
List Bundle Offers
Offering discounted packages is another ingenious way to stand out from the crowd. Bundle deals, which essentially involve grouping together two items, are an effective sales strategy for dropshippers.
A coffee maker and a kettle are a simple illustration of a bundle offer. Creating a bundle offer for dropshipping is as simple as finding two items that go together and listing them as a set, with due attention paid to the correct calculation of fees and profit margins.
Use Automation Software
In order to establish a sustainable business, whether you’re dropshipping on eBay or through a website, it’s crucial to put money into automation software. Most dropshipping software packages present a unified answer, from listing creation to stock management automation.
Manually keeping tabs on stock can be a huge time drain unless you only have a handful of items for sale. Check out our recommended dropshipping software for more details.
Research Products
The key to having success with dropshipping is to find products that sell well. Indeed, many dropshippers make thousands of dollars from selling only a handful of products.
Therefore, it’s crucial to investigate the market, the competition, the costs, and the potential profits of your product, as well as its popularity, trends, sales history, and consumer interest. Dropshipping businesses would do well to make use of one of the many available research tools or curated databases of top-selling products.
Product research is rarely discussed in dropshipping guides. However, the importance of offering appealing products cannot be overstated.
Order Product Samples
Sample orders have been shown to reduce returns and keep negative reviews at bay, especially when dropshipping. Before beginning sales, you should make sure the products are up to par and your supplier can be relied upon.
The effects of even a small number of negative feedbacks on a site like eBay can be devastating. Because of this, ordering product samples is a good use of time and money.
Take Unique Images
Taking your own photos of products is another foolproof method of setting yourself apart from the competition. Creating your own images means you will own the copyrights and prevent other sellers from using them, though this strategy is only recommended for products which bring in consistent sales.
If you’re not great with the camera, don’t worry; a quick Google search will turn up plenty of affordable product photography services.
Use Multiple Suppliers
You can find the best prices and the widest variety of products to sell by working with multiple dropshipping suppliers.
Furthermore, you won’t have to rely on just one vendor or business. That’s why it’s imperative that you diversify your supplier base as soon as possible. It’s helpful to have a backup source for products in case one of your usual suppliers goes out of business or runs out of stock.
Provide Good Service
Maintaining a steady stream of regulars requires nothing less than stellar customer service. If you give good service to your clients, they will keep coming back to you. It’s literally that easy.
Maintain the mindset that the customer is always right and do whatever it takes to fix any problems that may arise with an order. You’d be surprised at how even the most irate customer can be converted into a loyal patron by providing them with excellent service.
Make Product Videos
Did you know that videos are the most common format used by online retailers? An additional 71% of customers say they would rather watch a video than read text-based marketing materials like product descriptions.
Creating product videos is a great way to boost sales, but it takes time and effort. Also, don’t forget how powerful strategically placed video ads can be on websites like Facebook. It’s important to remember that there are many inexpensive video production services that specialize in dropshipping.
Use a Brand Name
Adding your own brand name to unbranded products, particularly those sourced from China dropshipping suppliers, is a simple but effective way to set yourself apart from competitors.
No one needs to tell you that a product’s brand name makes a difference in its ability to sell. As a result, including a brand name in your listing will increase consumer trust in your business. Including a guarantee or warranty in your branding strategy is a smart move.
Claim Cashback
A great way to bring in some extra cash is to submit a cashback claim for purchases made with your suppliers. There are many trustworthy and free cashback websites, such as Quidco, TopCashback, and Sawgbucks.
However, before making any business purchases, check that they adhere to the cashback website’s policies. If cash-back websites could generate more money, it could be used for things like paid advertising.
Create Loss Leaders
Loss leaders are products that are priced below their production costs in an effort to bring in new customers, raise average order values, and boost product sales. This is an effective strategy for drop shipping that has been overlooked by other guides.
Many large retailers and companies around the world, such as supermarkets and chain stores, have used the loss leader concept for decades. The point is to entice potential customers, ideally those of rival businesses, with limited-time offers of irresistible value.
Monitor Competitors
If you want to be a long-term success in dropshipping, it is crucial that you keep a close eye on the competition. Competing dropshippers on online marketplaces like eBay will frequently try to undercut your selling prices.
You need to monitor your competitors’ selling prices, new listings, and sales history, as well as their Feedback score and marketing strategies, in order to stay ahead of the curve.
Try Paid Advertising
There are a number of efficient methods for marketing an online store or dropshipping operation, such as video ads, pay-per-click, and promoted listings on eBay. The video-sharing website YouTube is a gold mine for those interested in learning about tried-and-true advertising strategies for dropshipping.
It includes numerous video lessons on topics like Amazon PPC, Google Ads, and Facebook Ads. Spending some money on advertising, especially for your own store, is a good idea, regardless of how much money you have available.
Learn Email Marketing
Email is one of the most widely used means of electronic communication, with over 3 billion users on a daily basis. It’s estimated that 73% of millennials prefer to receive communications from businesses via email, leading to over $350 million being spent on email marketing by US businesses in 2019.
One of the most effective ways to increase sales and establish a loyal customer base in the world of online commerce is through email marketing. Even those with no experience in marketing can launch a successful email campaign with the help of popular email marketing tools like Mailchimp and MailerLite.
In fact, MailChimp predates many other email marketing tools currently available. It has a ton of awesome features and is incredibly user-friendly. If you’d rather go with a more cost-effective service, you can select from a number of low-priced alternatives to MailChimp.
Sell on Facebook
Facebook is one of the most visited websites due to its staggering 2 billion monthly visitors. Facebook’s popularity has expanded beyond its initial niche of personal use to become an essential tool for businesses, including dropshippers, to promote their products and services.
There has never been a better time to begin dropshipping on Facebook than now, with the introduction of Facebook Shops and the Facebook Marketplace. Shops on Facebook are expected to compete with and eventually surpass established online marketplaces like eBay and Amazon.
If you want to expand your clientele base and attract more buyers, one of the best dropshipping recommendations I can give is to set up a shop or marketplace on Facebook.
Start an Affiliate Program
One of the cheapest ways to expand your online shop’s customer base and revenue is to launch an affiliate program. Affiliate marketing is widely used in the ecommerce and dropshipping industries as a means of encouraging customer referrals.
It is now easier than ever for the average person to launch an affiliate program for an online shop or dropshipping business thanks to the proliferation of software platforms like GoAffPro and Refersion.
Final Word
Since dropshipping requires few overhead expenses, it has the potential to be a highly lucrative business model. Its sudden popularity, however, has made it harder for newcomers to enter the market and compete with established businesses.
With any luck, you’ve gotten some good ideas from this dropshipping tips list on how to differentiate your business from the rest, get more attention, and ultimately make more sales.
Please see our other guides and blog posts for more helpful information on dropshipping.
