When it comes to DropShipping, especially via platforms such as Shopify, many new entrepreneurs seem to forget some of the basics on how to set up a store to increase conversion, or even get that first sale.
This post will go through some of the basic that you need to ensure you have, as well as a few tips on how you nab that first sale
Product Headings
First off, is one of the biggest mistakes that people make when they first set up a store.
The heading is the first line of text that any new customer will see.
It's your best chance of letting a potential customer know without them clicking on the store and many store builders will just take the generic or awful AliExpress 'keystuffed' headers.
The above image is of a store that was recently sent through for us to review.
The header could be cleaned up quite quickly to show 'Unisex Fashion Wristwatch' or similar, which would instantly increase trust.
Remove pointless keywords, Remove any duplicate words (such as watch / wristwatch), Make it clean and easy to read, make it eye catching, without being spammy.
The Product Description
Next up is the second, or arguably the most important important aspect of your store is the description.
This is the place that explains to your customer;
You should be using the production description to enhance upon the Heading & Product Images, allowing you to sell a story to the person who is looking at buying from you.
It should also clear up any confusion they may have.
For example if you are selling clothing, they need to know the different sizes, as a 'Large' on your store, may be a 'XXX Large' in a different country.
Both of the above descriptions have been pulled straight from the original sellers listing. Neither provide much information to the potential buyer.
The right hand side has tried to neaten it up, but they haven't tried to sell the product, they have just made it look a bit nicer.
Use neat, clean descriptions that explain exactly what the product is, what it does and why your customer needs it right this second. Split them into easy to read headings, with more information below
The above description is perfect for the item it is selling.
The seller has set out small headings, with extra information added under each heading.
If you are stuck for ideas, check out Fiverr or Upwork and find people to do the descriptions for you.
Crowded listings
Nothing puts off a potential buyer than an over crowded webstore.
Have you ever spent 10 minutes trying to find the buy button?
We have.
You want to make it as easy as pie for your customer to purchase their product, so you don't want to crowd their screen with popups, banners, countdown timers and a whole host of other apps!
Check out the above store, there is so much going on!
You have;
Another store that is trying to shove the fact that there is a short amount of time and only a few items left down your throat.
This doesn't work!
Adding a level of 'fear of missing out' does work, if you really do only have 50 items left (and you have sold 5,000) or if you are really running a sale (this site again was not).
Telling someone that you only have 500 left of an item, does not help at all.
The worst one we saw said there where only 29,450 items left.
Oh no, let us go grab our credit card and throw our details in straight away!
Make your sales pages neat, easy to read and uncluttered. Don't make it difficult for someone to purchase from you .
Check out the above listing.
It has everything laid out exactly as it should be, with an easy to see add to cart button, no distractions and enough information for the potential customer to make their decision.
Stock Images or images with watermarks
Nothing screams 'amateur' more than a store that has just jacked the images of products straight from someone elses listing.
A lot of images on AliExpress will have a faint watermark on them, usually with the stores name on it.
This can be a huge alarm bell for potential buyers, who don't want to see where you got your products from, they want to feel like they are buying from you, not 'AliStore490100'.
Try to get images created for you, either by a professional photographer, or even talk to the sellers. If the store is trying to sell more of their product, then they are usually really good at fulfilling requests.
If you are having a hard time trying to find decent DropShippers, use a service such as Salehoo to help find trustworthy or different suppliers.
Collections that make sense
Shopify allows you to group together different items based on a number of different criteria, to help make your store nicer to look through.
For example you could group together 'Hats' or 'Male Clothing', but you could also create collections such as 'Under $5' or 'iPhone Accessories'.
You should be creating different categories to help customers navigate around your store easily, as well as giving them the ability to potentially find other products they may not have thought about or even realised they need!
Many new store owners either do not set up categories, or set very broad rules such as 'tech items' or 'iphone' which can mean that categories get crowded. Try to narrow them down a little using terms like 'iPhone cases' and 'iPhone Cables'.
How to fix some of the issues
Not is all lost, don't despair!
Images, headings and descriptions can easily be fixed by spending a little bit of time on them.
Be sure to update the listings, especially when you are importing via tools such as Oberlo.
By default they will scrape everything on a particular sellers listing, not caring for layout, images or even the descriptions, so always be sure to check and update as you do it.
If you are having issues with crowded pages, especially those who have multiple popups, countdown timers etc look at using simple themes such as 'Simple' or even the Premium Theme eCom Turbo. The theme is a simple layout style theme with payment buttons and images all placed in high traffic areas on pages.
It also reduces your monthly bill, allowing you to stop paying for countdown timers or social proof apps!
Get a ready made store, already set up perfectly
Your other option, is to get someone to create a store for you.
Using AlidropShip for WordPress allows you to have greater control over your own store. The best part is, AliDropShip actually offer custom made stores.
They will research a niche, find you suitable domain names, find products that fit well into your chosen niche, set up the categories, descriptions, images and more.
The best part is, you don't have to pay a monthly fee to run the store, other than hosting, which works out $$$'s cheaper per year than even the cheapest Shopify plan.
I started this blog around 2017, after realising that I wanted to let people know about all the different ways someone could make money online. From DropShipping, Affiliate Marketing, Network Marketing and more.
This blog has now grown to review and explain a variety of different tools and platforms, in the bid to help you.
This blog contains affiliate links, and I will get a commission for purchases made through these links. It doesn’t change anything for you and will on occasion save you money! Enjoy, James.