20 Proven Ways To Make The First Sales In Dropshipping

Cracking your first sales in dropshipping can feel like solving a complex puzzle – overwhelming and somewhat daunting. But let’s dust off the anxiety and delve into the treasure trove of tactics we have gathered for you to break the sales barrier.

So, you’ve decked out your virtual dropshipping storefront with an array of enticing products. Now, do you just sit around, twiddling your thumbs, hoping that riches will spontaneously rain from the digital skies?

If you’re extremely fortunate, this might just work. But let’s be real, it typically doesn’t play out that way. Given the raging popularity of dropshipping, the competition is fierce. And relying on luck alone may eventually lead to a dried-up stream of orders.

The cold, hard truth is that success requires action. You must take the reins to attract customers and drive sales. Yes, the first leap can be the trickiest. Knowing what moves to make is the key to starting your commerce engine.

Let’s dive right in and explore how to rev up sales in your dropshipping business!

1. Target the right audience

Imagine having a sparkling online store, brimming with innovative ad ideas. But there’s a snag: you have no idea who you’re targeting. No marketing strategy, no matter how brilliant, can succeed if you’re not appealing to the right crowd.

Picture this: You’re selling dog collars, but all your ads reach cat owners. No matter how many times you push your products, it’s a lost cause. In fact, it might just irk them.

Instead, imagine the reception from dog owners. They’re likely to be far more interested in your products.

Knowing your audience is crucial. It enables you to aim your marketing efforts precisely on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Check out these insights on how to gather the necessary information about your potential customers.

2. Add customer reviews to make your first dropshipping sales

You’ve probably heard of the power of the AliDropship plugin as a fantastic dropshipping tool. But don’t just take our word for it. Head on over to our Success Stories section. There, you’ll find an army of dropshipping entrepreneurs vouching for its value.

In a world where trust is rare, customers often need reassurance of a business’s credibility. As a dropshipping newcomer, this can be a significant hurdle.

Enter AliDropship plugin! It empowers you to import customer reviews directly from AliExpress, together with your products. If you’re yet to garner reviews of your own, this feature is a game changer. Plus, consider installing our Review Page add-on to create a captivating review page.

Remember, positive feedback boosts your credibility, fostering customer confidence, which subsequently fuels sales!

3. Make your product pages appealing and informative

When shopping online, how do customers ensure that a product fits their needs? They scour product pages!

Unfortunately, entrepreneurs sometimes overlook the importance of robust product pages, leaving customers with vague information that doesn’t compel a purchase.

Your product descriptions and images should be detailed, enticing, and informative enough to clinch the sale. Provide a comprehensive picture of each product to ensure your customers hit that “BUY NOW” button!

4. Start your blog to bring your first clients in

For the gears of your dropshipping sales to start turning, you need traffic – visitors must flock to your online store. How do you achieve this?

Start a blog! Stellar, valuable content is the bait that lures in your audience from the vast ocean of the Internet. Besides increasing traffic, blogging builds trust with your customers, making them more likely to make a purchase.

With AliDropship and WordPress, launching a blog is as simple as a few clicks!

5. Use coupons to push customers to buy

Who doesn’t relish the prospect of scoring a deal? The allure of getting more for less can often tip the scales towards making a purchase.

Offering coupons that provide your customers with discounts can be a potent tool in your arsenal to spur your first ecommerce sales.

Luckily, the AliDropship plugin comes with an easy-to-use option for creating these enticing coupons. Harness its power and watch your sales surge!

6. Run a contest or giveaway

To generate interest and spur action, consider hosting a contest or giveaway. For instance, each tenth buyer could receive a free item or a hefty discount.

This strategy can be as effective as coupons, creating excitement and urgency that can drive your first sales.

7. Launch Google Ads

The world’s most popular website, Google, offers a perfect avenue for advertising your online store.

By placing your ads at the top of Google search results, you boost your visibility.

While it’s essential to glean insights from others’ experiences, if you set things up correctly, your advertising expenditure could quickly reap dividends.

8. Use the Google Shopping platform

To maximize the impact of your Google Ads, leverage the Google Shopping platform. This tool enables you to display each product on Google individually, providing a more enticing visual cue than a traditional search ad.

To simplify the process of promoting your products on Google Shopping, consider using tools like the Google Merchant add-on, which helps you swiftly create your product catalog for the platform.

9. Team up with influencers

Earning customer trust is crucial. By teaming up with influencers who have already gained their followers’ trust, you can tap into their audience.

Instagram and YouTube are teeming with influencers boasting thousands, if not millions, of followers.

Consider strategies such as Instagram shoutouts or YouTube collaborations to promote your products.

10. Launch Facebook and Instagram Ads

These two social media giants offer robust tools to help you target your ads based on customer interests, age, and location.

If you know what country they live in, how old they are and what they’re interested in, then you can target them with minimum effort. The two most popular social networks provide you with such an opportunity.

From launch and design to stunning content and advertizing! Get professional social media business accounts created and promoted!

This precise targeting means your potential customers are less likely to miss your ads.

11. Send out follow-ups

Follow-up marketing could be a breakthrough tool to make your first sales in dropshipping.

Yet, it requires taking the right approach. You should know what and when to send to your customers so that this won’t put them off.

So, you need to work out the best strategies and send your follow-ups leading your clients gradually towards making a purchase.

12. Shoot video reviews of your products

We’ve already mentioned that the most valuable thing for customers is information.

They need to be sure that the things they’re about to buy are worthwhile.

So, what could give them the most comprehensive picture of an item?

Right, your product images and descriptions matter a lot. But, video content makes a difference. Besides, it’s more engaging and easier to perceive, it looks more convincing.

If you shoot detailed reviews of your products and put them on YouTube, Facebook, your website, etc., you’ll see your first ecommerce sales really soon.

13. Speed up your website

Lack of sales can sometimes be due to technical issues like slow-loading pages.

Compressing heavy files such as images and videos can dramatically improve loading times and keep potential customers from leaving out of frustration.

14. Focus on one product

Often, when they start a dropshipping business, beginners try advertising several products at once – as many as the budget allows. But this strategy isn’t the best choice for a new business.

Instead, try focusing on just one product. In any dropshipping niche, there’s an item which is more popular than others. You could call it the flagship product. Concentrating your efforts on advertising this particular item should be enough to result in your first dropshipping sales.

15. Test different ads and pages

In most cases, you can’t be sure if your audience will pay attention to the ads you’ve made. Sometimes what seemed like a brilliant idea simply doesn’t work. And you don’t know why! That’s why experienced marketers recommend creating several ad variations and running them at the same time. After a while, you will be able to pick the best-performing one.

Same goes for product pages in your store. Use split testing to find the best-converting variation.

16. Optimize your store for search engines

Your first dropshipping sales can come not from advertising but from search engines. That is if your site is properly optimized.

SEO can become a source of free traffic. Although it’s not easy to compete with other brands (especially in certain niches), it’s still possible to drive traffic with long-tail keywords.

17. Use urgency

One of the ways to make your first sale is to properly motivate your audience. Fear of missing out (FOMO) works perfectly here.

Marketers mostly use two techniques – limited time and limited supply. Simply put, either claim that the offer is temporary or that you’re running low on stock.

Moreover, you can use these urgency tricks not only on product pages but on ads as well.

18. Promote on Pinterest

Unlike other social networks, Pinterest is more of a search engine. 48% of respondents say they use Pinterest to find or buy products.

In other words, these people actually want to see ads coming from all kinds of brands. They look for inspirations and new product ideas, and they buy stuff based on what they saw there.

19. Make an FAQ page

Building trust is crucial in ecommerce. Having a comprehensive FAQ page that answers common questions about shipping time, costs, refund policies, payment options, etc., can help put potential customers’ minds at ease.

20. Improve your website design

Finally, to make your first dropshipping sales, you may need to change the design of your site. Often, beginner entrepreneurs make their stores too bright or create too many details. Today, simplicity is the key to success. When a person visits your store, nothing should distract him or her from the shopping process.

So, take a critical look at your site design. Perhaps, this is what stops you from making your first sale online.

If you want to make your first dropshipping sales as soon as possible, consider ordering an AliDropship Custom Store. You will get a professionally made website along with the original product database and even marketing materials, which will let you start making money much faster.