Have you just created your online store but struggled to get your first dropshipping sale? Don’t worry; you’re not the only one with this problem.
Unless you get lucky or you’re naturally talented, getting your first few drop shipping sales can require a lot of effort.
Arguably, it’s more challenging to go from 0 to 10 sales than going from 10 to 100 sales.
Why?
Because for your first dropshipping sales, you will have to find out what resonates with your audience. You will have to find a combination of ads, descriptions, images, colors, price, and much more that will make your visitors think, “I want to get that product!”.
Once you’ve found that combination, getting more sales is easier since it’s more a matter of rinse and repeat.
How long does it take to get your first?
You may wonder, “How long does it actually take to get your first dropshipping sale?”.
Unfortunately, I can’t give you a clear answer to that.
If you’re lucky, have lots of experience, or are a natural talent for marketing dropshipping products, you may start seeing your first dropshipping sales a few days after finishing creating your online store.
However, don’t get bogged down if you still haven’t received any sales after a few weeks.
And remember not to give up; maybe you are just a day away from your first dropshipping sale? No one knows.
Let’s start!
- Have the right mindset
I know that you may have heard from “dropshipping gurus” that it’s easy to make $10k+ a month with dropshipping.
Sadly, that’s not true. There are some things that dropshipping gurus don’t tell you as a beginner.
One of them is that dropshipping is a real business. To succeed, you will have to put in hard work and be prepared to work on your business consistently.
Please don’t go into dropshipping thinking it’s a way to get rich quickly.
Be prepared that getting your first dropshipping sale may be more challenging than you thought.
Expect that all your work will seem to do for nothing at times, but keep on going, and you will see that your first dropshipping sale will come!
- Try using different marketing channels
If you’re having trouble getting your first dropshipping sale, trying out, different marketing channels may be worth trying!
Drop shippers’ common marketing channels are Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Instagram influencers, and Pinterest.
Each marketing channel has its pros and cons, and some products can be more suited to market with a specific marketing channel, like Instagram influencers.
- Analyze your ecommerce purchase funnel
When you aren’t getting any sales on your dropshipping store, it’s a good practice to take a closer look at your ecommerce purchase funnel.
Examining your conversion rates will give you insight into improving funnel steps.
Maybe you will notice that many people are adding your product to their cart, but only a few of those continue to the checkout.
Knowing this will help you a lot since you can now try implementing solutions that are specifically designed to fix this problem.
For example, you could:
Stop forcing your customers into creating an account on your online store
Try to show the shipping fee in the cart
Target a different audience that is more likely to purchase
Let your friends and family order something on your online store and get feedback
You should try to analyze your purchase funnel to help you get your first dropshipping sale!
- Start a blog
Have you already thought about starting a blog on your dropshipping store? Probably not.
Starting a blog can cause you to get your first dropshipping sale. It adds another way for potential customers to find your online store.
When looking for specific information, people may land on your blog, after which they will check out your store and may even purchase a product!
Furthermore, having a blog on your online store will improve your store’s SEO, which means people can find your products on Google more easily.
- Offer a discount code
Offering a discount code can occasionally give your visitors that last needed push to order a product and get you your first drop shipping sale.
People love discounts!
There are many ways of offering discount codes. For example, you can submit a discount code in your header while a visitor is viewing the product.
Or, you can offer visitors a discount code when they subscribe to your email newsletter. Perhaps, one of the most effective ways of using discount codes is SMS marketing. You will be able to send conversational SMS messages to your customers. Often, reminding your customer about their shopping cart and including a discount will give them the last push to place an order!
- Post your product in online communities
If you have a strict budget, posting your product in online communities can be a great way to get your first drop shipping sale.
For example, if you’re selling a woodworking tool, you could post and talk about your product on Facebook. That way, you can provide value to the group by offering them a problem-solving product and inspiring them by showing what kind of wood pieces they can create using your tool.
Hopefully, some group members will like it too and pay a visit to your online store!
Be creative. Besides Facebook groups, you could also post your product on your company’s Facebook page or Facebook’s marketplace. Or, you could post it on different platforms like Reddit, Pinterest, TikTok, Instagram, and more!
Just remember not to spam every page you can find with your product. Try to provide real value in your posts and read the concerned policies about promoting products before making a post.
- Rethink your pricing strategy
When you haven’t gotten your first dropshipping sale after targeting different audiences and trying everything to improve your store’s look, your product price may be too high.
When pricing your product, you can’t just trust your gut feelings. You will have to consider things like costs, taxes, and psychology.
With a pricing strategy, you will set your price at an appealing rate to visitors and won’t cause you to generate losses.
Take a deep dive and learn some new things about pricing strategies, and I’m sure you will improve your profit margin!
- Make sure that your store loads fast
Who has the patience to wait 5+ seconds for a website’s page to load in this day and age?
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that a slowly loading online store can increase the chances of people closing their tab.
Here’s the effect that page load time can have on your store:
Fast load times have a positive impact on the bounce rate and SEO. Your page’s load time is a ranking factor on Google!
All of this means that your store’s load times can make the difference between a sale and an abandoned cart. Strange Loop even discovered that a one-second delay in page load time could cause a 7% loss in conversions!
Luckily, your store’s load time is something that you can work on to improve.
- Tell friends and family about your dropshipping store
Telling your friends and family about your new dropshipping store is never a bad idea.
Besides getting some honest feedback, some friends or family members might like your products so much that they will place an order themselves!
That would be an awesome first dropshipping sale, wouldn’t it?
Assuming your friends and family didn’t place orders only to support you, at least you will know that there is interest in the product. Even when they don’t order anything, you can ask them to share the store with their friends. Who knows, you might get a couple of extra sales!
It’s also an excellent opportunity to test out your logistical process like your email sequence, order fulfilling, and order tracking.
- If nothing works, try selling a different product
When you’ve tried all of the above tips and still didn’t manage to get your first dropshipping sale, it may be that you just aren’t selling a winning product.
People don’t have enough interest in the product to place an order in your store.
If that is the case, don’t worry, it’s okay to step away from a product and move on to a different one. (Don’t get “married” to your product!)
You will have more chance of succeeding by testing new products than marrying one product and trying to make it work for too long.
With the knowledge you’ve built and learned from your previous mistakes, you will be able to set up a new online store with your new product in a much more efficient way.
So, don’t give up and try to sell a different product to get your first dropshipping sale!
Conclusion
Great job on reading the whole article!
It shows that you’re dedicated to getting your first dropshipping sale, and I genuinely believe that if you can apply the tips I’ve given in this article, you will achieve your goal.
Look, the first drop shipping sale can be a magical moment. You have worked hard for it, and once it happens, it will boost your motivation to continue working on your business.
It’s addicting but positive. Hearing that cat-ching sound will leave you wanting only want more and more.
I hope that this article helped you to get your first dropshipping sale. Good luck with everything!
Private Agent for Dropshipping Success