It’s true that being ready for anything is the key to running a successful business, and that includes online retailers.
There is no assurance that you will achieve your goals even if you spend a great deal of time looking for the “ideal product.”
As an alternative to risking your time, money, and resources on a failed product launch, why not put it through some kind of testing phase first?
Perhaps you’re wondering where to start when it comes to dropshipping product testing. Here’s where we come in to help, so relax.
In this primer, we’ll explain the significance of product testing and how to conduct it effectively.
Okay, let’s jump right in!
Why Is Product Testing Important in Dropshipping?
Dropshipping is attractive to many since it requires little initial investment. Since the supplier ships straight to the customer, there is no need to have any stock on hand.
On the other hand, this is where the danger is greatest. There is the possibility of low quality, in addition to the difficulty of predicting how well a product would do in the market. That’s all part of the product testing process.
While the initial financial outlay may be lower for a dropshipping store, your time and energy are still being invested.
Therefore, putting the product through its paces might help you see the prospective outcome more clearly and point you in the proper way.
The Benefits of Testing Dropshipping Products
The time spent on product testing prior to dropshipping is more than justified by the many advantages it provides. A few examples are as follows.
Saves Your Time and Effort
Trying to find something new can be a tedious process, and we get that. You shouldn’t rush its release, though.
Web development, advertising, and connecting with vendors all take time and effort. A wasted effort is the last thing you want.
Here is where testing a product comes in handy. If you have a product in mind but aren’t sure if it’s a good fit for the market, this data can help you decide.
Protects Your Investment
A dropshipping store can be opened with far less capital than other types of shops. However, marketing expenditures may still be considerable.
Advertising efforts are used by nearly all dropshipping companies to attract customers. And if you aren’t careful, those campaigns can swiftly deplete your resources.
No one wants to spend their time and money on a product that doesn’t deliver the promised return on investment.
Determines Product Quality
If the product isn’t good, it won’t matter how effectively the business is executed or how well it is marketed.
The proprietors of drop-shipping shops sometimes fail to properly evaluate the quality of the products provided by the supplier.
This is a huge mistake since no amount of testimonials about your provider can replace a personal visit.
It’s important to check products for quality and consistency before sending them out to customers.
Avoids Negative Feedback
Any business owner, but especially one just starting out in the world of eCommerce, will tell you that receiving negative comments is their worst fear. You definitely don’t want your first few customer reviews to be from people who are angry and want a refund.
Stores that skip out on the testing phase of new products are more likely to have this problem.
The proprietors of these stores are not well-versed in either the finer points of the goods they are selling nor the quality of the goods provided by their suppliers.
Therefore, their company is in jeopardy because its clients are not receiving the services they were promised.
Best Practices to Test Dropshipping Products
Collect Real-Time Insights and Analytics
It’s important to put in the time and effort to test products carefully before offering them to customers. Seriously, how are you able to achieve that? Here are 5 tried-and-true methods for evaluating dropshipping products:
Google Trends is just one of many resources available to help you learn more about customer interest in a potential product.
That said, it’s not your only choice. There are further options, including:
Making Use of Social Media
Do some research on Facebook or Instagram on the goods you want to sell. Inputting the keyword into the search engine will show you how often the product is mentioned and how many people are looking for it.
Inviting Customers to Check Your Product for Free
You can inquire about the product’s viability, the price at which people would be willing to buy it, and other relevant details.
More capital outlay could be necessary, but you’d be in control of how much of a profit to keep. There is also the option of working closely with the provider.
Considering to Take Pre-orders
Try this out if you’re confident that you’ve found something truly original. The number of people interested in purchasing your product will be shown on the pre-order waiting list. Please don’t get down on yourself if the quantity of orders isn’t astronomical.
This could indicate a need for expanded marketing efforts.
It’s true that it might be expensive and time-consuming to collect feedback in real time. However, it has the ability to save you a great deal of time and effort, as well as put you on the correct track.
Study Your Competition
Researching your rivals entails more than just tallying up the number of shopkeepers who offer a given product and their asking prices.
Keep your options open and check out how similar shops are doing with your concept.
Assuming they are all selling the same thing, how do they differentiate themselves?
How are they advertising it, and where do they stand, relative to potential buyers?
You should reevaluate the product’s potential for success if you have any inkling that the competition is having trouble moving units.
Do a Soft Launch of Your Product
A “soft launch” is the practice of releasing a product before its official release date but without extensive promotion.
A good technique to gauge user interest in a product and gather timely feedback.
Nowadays, most online businesses conduct a soft launch before a full debut, as this helps them avoid pouring resources into an unsuccessful offering.
If you’re opening a private-label store, this is the approach we’d recommend most.
Test Your Suppliers
The biggest perk of opening a dropshipping shop is that you will never have to handle or inventory any of the goods yourself.
However, in actuality, this is a bad plan. You should not rely on anyone else to inspect the product’s quality on your behalf; instead, you should do it yourself.
It’s not worth the potential failure of your dropshipping business to miss this step.
Even if your dropshipping provider doesn’t provide free product samples, you shouldn’t move forward without first testing them.
You can see the supplier’s responsiveness and shipping time, as well as the product quality, by placing a small test order.
Put Effort into Marketing
Last but not least, you need a thorough marketing plan before you start throwing money at ad campaigns.
There are numerous of marketing tactics that you can utilize that we’ll cover in the upcoming ps.
If you want to know who will be most interested in your product, you need to conduct some market research.
Testing Dropshipping Products on Facebook
Facebook’s Page Post Engagement (PPE) ads are the quickest approach to get feedback on a potential product. This strategy targets your ads more effectively to those most inclined to click on them.
A thousand impressions on PPE only cost about $5, making it a much more cost-effective option than other paid marketing efforts.
You may learn how people are using your product and identify your ideal customers for about $15-$20.
However, you should know that engagement and conversion are not the same thing. Not all people who interact with your ad will end up making a purchase from your company.
Even so, PPE campaigns are still a great way to get closer to the perfect product.
Testing Dropshipping Products on Instagram
Instagram is a great place to test out new products, but before you do, you need to figure out what market segment you serve.
After that, look for relevant pages and influencers to test your product with. To reach your target demographic with your product marketing and strengthen your ties to the local community, you need only do that.
It can be difficult to identify the key opinion leaders. The more fans they have, the more money they’ll want to try your product. Consequently, the cost is highly dependent on your financial situation.
But remember, you should only work with Instagram accounts that get a lot of likes and comments. Even if a page has thousands of followers, it doesn’t matter if that audience engages with the postings or not.
What to Avoid While You’re Using Instagram for Product Testing
Having numerous influencers test your product at once is not a good idea, even if you locate several. Because then it would be hard to tell where the traffic is coming from.
We’d also like to stress the importance of keeping your shop unchanged while you switch influencers.
Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that a shoutout from a person who has 300,000 followers brought you some good traffic and a few transactions.
Now, if you’re thinking of switching to an influencer with 500,000 followers, don’t change a thing about your shop. If you don’t receive any customers this time around, you won’t know if it’s because of the modifications you made to the store or if the influencer is awful.
Since this would be a waste of the exam fee, it would also be a waste of your time.
The overall takeaway is that Instagram shoutouts are a powerful tool for expanding your dropshipping business.
How to Test Shopify Products for Dropshipping?
As with testing for any other platform, evaluating products for Shopify dropshipping is straightforward. Instagram influencer shoutouts or a Facebook PPE ad campaign are both viable options.
How to Decide If You Should Continue Testing a Product?
How do you know if you should keep testing a product after you’ve conducted Facebook ad campaigns and enlisted the aid of influencer shoutouts?
Now is the time to check out the store’s visitor count and revenue. Keep in mind that even if many people visit your store, you may not be able to sell anything to any of them.
This is not to say that the product or influencer was awful, though. It’s worth investigating, as there could be other causes, such as customers disliking your website.
Likewise, you should examine the interaction with the posts. Check out the number of reactions, responses, and shares. Consider both the positive and negative feedback you receive while doing so.
If the feedback you receive is mostly good and you’ve made a few sales, you may consider the test a success and move forward with the product’s official release.
Final Thoughts
Most dropshipping businesses fail because their owners have the incorrect mentality.
They view it as a quick way to make money and pay little attention to the value of beta testing.
However, one of the most crucial parts of launching a dropshipping business is doing product tests.
It can help you save a lot of cash in addition to time and energy.
What’s more, if you stick to the methods outlined in this article, you should see results pretty soon and with quite little effort.
