Author: Peter Pru

How My Online Ecommerce Course Student Hit $50K per Month

by Peter PruDropshipping Case StudiesLeave a Comment on How My Online Ecommerce Course Student Hit $50K per Month

Seeing our students prosper in the ecommerce industry never gets old. Steve Swiat is the latest example of a student who achieved financial success by continually improving his income-producing skills and learning from our online ecommerce course. Over five years, Steve went from dabbling in ecommerce to earning an Empire Builder Award. From his early days of selling magnetic knife holders to his adoption of sales funnels, Steve saw his dropshipping revenue grow from zero to $50,000 per month.

A Taste of the Wild West

Steve began dabbling in ecommerce in 2014 when he got his start as a Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) seller. The early days of FBA were much like the Wild West of ecommerce. Like many new FBA sellers, Steve faced a vicious cycle of selling products at a reduced rate to earn reviews and trying to boost his status with Amazon. Taking a loss was not uncommon, as he ended up giving away a sizable amount of product in the process.

A New Direction With the Online Ecommerce Course from Ecommerce Empire Builders

screenshot of Pete and Steve talking about ecommerce

Undaunted by his minor losses with FBA, Steve was ready to leave lackluster results behind and improve his income-generating skills. He switched gears and got serious about boosting his revenue in 2018. His first step on his new journey was listening to our podcasts. Then, he enrolled in our online ecommerce course to learn exactly what steps he needed to take to jumpstart his earnings. As Steve put his newly developed skills to work, his income began to rise.

A Pivotal Moment

Hitting the $10,000 per month mark was a pivotal moment for Steve. But along with that milestone came another critical realization: Steve had gained the ability to recognize problems quickly, diagnose them, and resolve them before they took hold and hurt his business.

For Steve, the process of resolving issues typically begins with a look at the lowest hanging fruit. He notes that sometimes addressing the smallest things can have a huge impact on results. Little tweaks, such as inserting the words “Free Shipping,” can make a huge difference in your conversions. Making sure your funnels are succinct is also important, as many of the highest converting funnels say a lot with only a few words.

If minor adjustments don’t alleviate the problem, then Steve suggests reviewing your funnel. See if there’s something in your copy that is confusing to the prospect. Funnels give you a powerful opportunity to use a lot of text. But it’s up to you to make sure they aren’t too wordy or confusing. More importantly, you have to create your copy with care to ensure that your ad, the copy, and your order form are all congruent, which are skills we emphasize in our online ecommerce course. 

The Importance of a Changed Mindset

dropshipper working on her business early in the morning after exercising

Steve attributes his jump in income and his troubleshooting abilities to his commitment to changing his mindset and routine. Among other changes in his life, he also began making use of the extra time he had on the weekends. By devoting five or six hours on Saturday and Sunday to improving his funnels, Steve’s business really began to take off. Here are some other specific steps he takes to keep himself focused each day:

  • Start early by getting up at 5:30 every day.
  • Kick off the day with a healthy activity such as exercise.
  • After launching your day with two “wins” (waking up early and exercising), start with a manageable task.

Steve shares another confidence-inspiring tip: try putting yourself in an uncomfortable spot each day. For example, Steve would periodically go for a walk in the hot Arizona sun at 4:00 in the afternoon. When you survive this type of activity, your confidence builds, and you can face work-related challenges better.

Never Lose Focus

Just because you hit 50K per month doesn’t mean you are destined to enjoy that same level of success every month moving forward. Success is not automatic, and there are no shortcuts. Steve notes that if you want to continue to attain a large income and make dropshipping your full-time job, you must be willing to invest the time. 

Taking care of your body and personal life are also critical for maintaining your focus in the ecommerce industry. Steve notes that if you let one area of your life slip a lot, it’s going to impact your work and the other areas of your life. While a “slip” every now and then is not necessarily bad, you must be careful not to let the “slip” become a pattern. 

Data: The Key to Continued Success

While building a funnel and positioning products might be enjoyable, the actual launch can be a bit more intimidating. A quest for perfection can sometimes cloud efficiency and progress. In many cases, your initial creation may already be good enough. But you will never know unless you have data. With data, Steve notes, you can easily view your progress and make adjustments and improvements to your funnel. 

A Final Piece of Advice

screenshot of Steve giving advice to other dropshippers

Jumping into an industry full of established competitors can be intimidating. But you will make progress as long as you are committed to continued learning. Remembering that you CAN enter this industry and succeed is vital to making progress!

If you aren’t seeing success today and feel like there is no hope, Steve offers a simple recommendation: make sure you keep showing up every day. Also, remember that everyone has their own journey, and it takes time to get better. As you move forward on your journey, be sure to work on your income-producing skills. If you keep working hard every single day, you will look back in a year and see that you have made progress.

Looking Back on the Journey

Looking back on his journey, Steve said that his early failures were a big part of his learning experience and success today. He learned how to analyze problems and diagnose them so he could develop good long-term solutions and maximize his productivity. 

To discover how you can achieve financial success in the dropshipping industry, we invite you to reserve your seat at our free ecommerce masterclass today. We look forward to helping you make it to the $50,000 level through the Ecommerce Empire Academy online ecommerce course!

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Free Step-by-Step Dropshipping Business Course: How to Build a $10K/Month Business

by Peter PruSystems & ProcessesLeave a Comment on Free Step-by-Step Dropshipping Business Course: How to Build a $10K/Month Business

Welcome back, empire builders! Today I’ll be giving you a FREE step-by-step dropshipping business course. It’s the perfect guide for going from beginner to $10K/month dropshipping business owner. Let’s get started.

Finding a Niche

The first step in this step-by-step dropshipping business course is zeroing in on a niche. You can’t go wrong picking a hobby niche because they’re full of passionate people who put a lot into their hobbies. Also, they’ve been around for a while and have proven to be stable. 

Start by searching “list of hobbies.” Spend some time looking into different ones. Don’t spend too much time on it, though. You can’t pick a bad one, so whichever one interests you will work. If you go with something you don’t like, then your business will feel like a chore, so choose something that you at least somewhat enjoy.

Validate Your Niche

screenshot of analyzing a trend on Google Trends

As an example, I’ll use scrapbooking. Familiarize yourself with your niche a bit. Learn the mechanics of it and the mindset of participants. Some great ways to do that include:

  • Checking Wikipedia
  • Joining Facebook groups
  • Watching YouTube videos
  • Finding relevant influencers

Next, I’ll type “scrapbooking” into Google Trends to find the search volume. You want something with a steady line rather than a large dip in interest. That’s the difference between a trendy fad and an evergreen hobby. If the graph is over the 50 mark and more or less straight over the past year, it’ll work. Then, do some Amazon research to make sure there’s not heavy brand loyalty. Also, make sure there’s a variety of products – both physical and informational – along with many buyers, sellers, and advertising opportunities.

Finding Products

Next, I find potential products. I look for:

  • Frontend Products
  • Two Free Bonus Information Products
  • Two Upsell Products
  • Subscriptions

The Frontend Product

I use Amazon and other tools to see what people are selling. Ecomhunt is a great way to search for products for free. I type in scrapbooking and see what comes up. Immediately I see some metallic markers that came up on Amazon. That probably means they sell well.

Next, I go to AliExpress and search for scrapbooking to see if those same markers come up. They do, so I check the price and compare that to the Amazon price. The profit margin doesn’t need to be huge. I’m not going to overthink it — I’m just going to pick the markers as my frontend product.

Choosing the Right Supplier

Next, I’ll search “metallic markers” on AliExpress to find the best price. I found a supplier that has a better price, good sales, and product variation. I want to validate that they specialize in a similar arts and crafts niche, so I’ll start by checking their feedback ratings. Above four and a half is ideal. Next, I’ll see if they have more products in the niche, so I can use the same supplier. It might take time to find one, but it’s worth it. If you have to use more than one supplier, that’s fine, though.  

Upsell Products

screenshot of completing a product offer outline

The marker supplier has two kinds of markers: thin- and thick-tipped. I like to use that kind of variation to upsell since customers are likely to want the second type, too. The next thing I look for is a similar product or an accessory. The supplier has a canvas marker case. It’s perfect for upsell number two.

Free Bonus Information Product

This is a unique step in my step-by-step dropshipping business course, but informational products matter. This will come free with the purchase to sweeten the deal. Google “scrapbooking PLR” (private label rights) to buy the rights to existing information products. I usually use the PLR Store. All you have to do is add better font and some nice images to make it look presentable. I found one right away with 62 pages for only $6. I’ll just use two basic chapters, not the whole PLR. I try to pick sections about the biggest pain points.   

Subscription

Subscription offers are great sources of recurring revenue. Look for something that people in your niche will need a steady supply of. In this case, stickers, washi tape, and other supplies are good options. I like to add in some information products, too, so I’ll include page layouts. I aim for at least $24.97 a month, but base your prices on what makes sense for your niche. The goal is a 50% profit margin while doubling the customer’s value. So, if you charge $20 a month, spend $10 or less while providing $40 of value to make the subscription worth it.

Business Essentials in This Step-by-Step Dropshipping Business Course

Now we’ll get into business essentials: your website, funnels, etc. Let’s start at the beginning.

Picking a Domain Name

Using relevant niche terms makes me seem like part of the community and helps people find the site since they’ll likely use similar search terms. I’ll Google “scrapbooking terms” and look for a list or blog post to reference. I like to use fun, hipster names since they seem to perform well. Quickly glancing at the list of scrapbooking terms, I see cropping and cutting, so I’ll use CropAndCut.com. It doesn’t need to take hours. Don’t overthink it.

Google is the best place to buy domains and emails because it’s cheaper and gives you Gmail access. When buying domain emails, Support@YourDomain keeps it simple.

Payment Processor

Once you have your domain and email all set up, you can sign up for Stripe for free. The application process is simple, and it’s the best way for beginners to get started.

Building Your Website

ClickFunnels has templates to build your site quickly and easily. Don’t change the page layouts; just edit the pages with relevant images and text. Use similar Amazon product pages for inspiration. Don’t plagiarize; just take ideas from a few and combine them into original copy. If you want to create a logo, you can do that quickly in Canva, but you don’t need one. For testimonials, use the AliExpress reviews.

The great thing about ClickFunnels is how much you can do. For example, you can send automated emails. If someone opted in but didn’t buy, you can follow up with an email automatically. Also, when someone makes a purchase, they’ll be prompted to add the upsells.

The Bottom Line of This Step-by-Step Dropshipping Business Course

man working from home on his dropshipping business

That’s it, guys. It’s that simple. Just don’t overthink it. If you want to learn more in-depth tactics than I go over in this step-by-step dropshipping business course, then sign up for my masterclass, where I’ll walk you through the process in even more detail.

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24 Winning Q4 Dropshipping Products That Are Great to Sell on Facebook

by Peter PruProduct ResearchLeave a Comment on 24 Winning Q4 Dropshipping Products That Are Great to Sell on Facebook

Selling winning niche products is the key to success as a dropshipper. Whether you’re new to dropshipping or a veteran looking for new ideas for products to sell, there are plenty of ideas out there. The following are 24 of the top Q4 dropshipping products we’ve found to be very profitable. They can enable you to earn up to $50k per month with them. They sell especially well on Facebook.

1. Sushi Making Kits

As people are still forced to spend a lot of time at home due to the pandemic, they’re looking for fun things to do with the family. One of the Q4 dropshipping products that can help with this is sushi making supplies. Sushi making kits are some of the more popular products out there that people are buying. They allow people to turn their home into a sushi restaurant by including everything that’s needed to make maki or sashimi. 

Like with other kits, try to include lifestyle photos that highlight different scenarios in which customers might use the kit. For example, if you’re selling to families, show a photo of a family putting the kit together.

2. Silicone Pastry Mat

Silicone pastry mats are also great in this stay-at-home environment, as many people are looking for ways to make cooking easier. Like many of the Q4 dropshipping products on this list, silicone pastry mats are great to sell because they save time, save money, and have that “just gotta have it” appeal. It’s a great choice for a one-product store. But they also come with many opportunities to upsell with cooking accessories and other products that help customers get the most from their purchase.

3. Vacuum Sealer

While this product is a bit more on the expensive side, costing around $30 to $50, vacuum sealers are great because they save money and time by helping people preserve fruits, vegetables, and other items. It may not be ideal as a core front-end product to sell, but it may make a great upsell opportunity.

4. Cross-Stitch Kits

Similar to sushi kits, cross-stitching kits are great to sell while people are stuck at home. Many people are getting into various hobbies, including cross-stitching. These kits fall under the embroidery niche, which we’ve found to be one of the best since it ticks every box in our criteria for dropshipping products.

5. Easels

screenshot of finding suppliers for easels

Easels are another great product to consider. They are often inexpensive on many sites, but they can sell for a lot on Amazon, which means they provide good markup value. As many people continually get into art, you’re likely to find a good market for easels.

Easels aren’t limited to the art niche, either. For example, people could use easels to prop up whiteboards, which they might use for business.

6. Cat Candy Snacks

There are plenty of opportunities in the pet niche, especially when it comes to holiday and Q4 dropshipping products. Pet owners are willing to buy just about anything for their pets, be it a dog, a cat, or any other companion. People spend a lot of time with their pets, so they’re often going to spend a lot of money on them.

One of the best things about the pet space is that innovations are always taking place. One example of a fun new product that doesn’t necessarily save a lot of time or money is cat candy snacks, which is essentially a little catnip tree that keeps cats occupied while providing them a nutritious snack. 

7. Electric Ball Cat Toy

This toy is a great example of a product worth upselling after pushing the cat candy snacks on the front end. It has tech appeal to it, and it’s relatively inexpensive. You can clamp it to a desk, table, or even a scratching post, and it’s very entertaining for cats, making it a likely popular upsell for a lot of pet owners.

8. IP Security Camera

New parents are always looking for products to keep their children safe, healthy, and happy. One of the more expensive products out there in this niche is a good baby-monitoring security camera. 

As a side note here, always order electronic products for yourself first to perform a quality check before selling.

9. Mini LED Headlamp

There are many niches for mini LED headlamps. You can sell this product to just about anyone in need of a convenient LED light source, such as fishermen who fish at night, hikers and campers, homeowners who need a hands-free flashlight while working on the house, and many others.

With Q4 dropshipping products like these, try to keep in mind that it’s best to sell to a specific niche rather than selling it to just anyone.

10. Fishing Reels

Fishing reels are another great upsell opportunity for other fishing gear. Sell a fishing reel with lures, fishing hats, and other products that aren’t as expensive. It’s a great moneymaker, as fishing reels cost around $100 in some places.

11. Fingerprint Padlocks

This is a clear example of a “just gotta have it” product that a lot of people are likely to want. It can save money and time, giving people a convenient and secure method for locking their valuables. It makes for a great stocking stuffer, which is an important consideration for Q4 dropshipping products. 

Also, it’s ideal for anybody interested in home security. It may not sell very well outside of Q4. But if you’re in this niche right now, then take the opportunity to add this product to your dropshipping queue or sell it to existing customers.

12. Folding Chair

Folding chairs are another product that people are more likely to buy on impulse. They can find a use for one for many occasions. There are also many niches you can sell it to. Everyone from soccer moms sitting at the sidelines of their kids’ games to campers in need of cheap and convenient seats to place around the campfire can use these chairs.

13. Hair Trimmers

Throughout the year, many people have been uncomfortable with going to salons and barbershops to get their hair cut. As such, hair trimmers and other grooming products are popular among people stuck at home who still want a haircut.

14. Mini Drones

A man wrapping holiday presents at home

Mini drones are also great stocking stuffers to consider for Q4. They are cheaper than many other larger drones that you’d find in stores. Also, many different people may want them, including parents looking for fun gifts for their kids. Just remember to try them out before you begin selling them.

15. Thumb Piano

The thumb piano is a product that’s ideal for a very specific niche. Even if you can’t find a use for it yourself, some people out there might use something like this on a daily basis in a particular sub-niche that’s worth targeting.

16. Makeup Brushes

Makeup brushes and other makeup items are also popular among many audiences. One of the nice things about makeup brushes and other similar beauty products is that they wear out over time, which means you have the opportunity to earn repeat business.

17. Nail Art Tool

Another product in the beauty niche worth selling is a nail art tool. Similar to the hair trimmers we mentioned, this product is great for people who want to do their nails at home while unable to visit a salon.

18. Rolling Ball Cat Toy

Unlike the other cat toys discussed, this one is free-standing and curiously over-engineered. Products like this tend to sell a lot among pet owners because they look cool, feature remote control operation, and are generally good at keeping pets occupied for long periods of time.

19 and 20. Pet Carrier Backpacks

Because of the versatility of this product, we’ve decided to use it for two slots. Pet carrier backpacks are similar to baby carriers, allowing pet owners to strap their pets to their chest with a harness. This product is available for both dogs and cats, which means it’s great for two different niches: small dogs and cats. If you’re looking for a great gag gift to sell, this is it.

21. Pet Bandana or Scarf

Another fun product to get in the pet niche is a pet bandana or scarf for dogs, which comes with many variations. While you may think that these variations are a bit daunting to sell, there are plenty of opportunities to sell each variation in its own campaign.

22. Watercolor Pencils

Like other art supplies, watercolor pencils are great to offer. Not only can you pair them with paper, easels, paintbrushes, and other accessories that customers are likely to want, but customers who like them enough are likely to buy them again once they’ve depleted their supply. 

23. Storage Vacuum Bag

This product is a good complement to the food vacuum sealer. Whereas the vacuum sealer is good for keeping food fresh, storage vacuum bags can help with organization at home by sealing and storing clothes or other items. They’re also great for moving if people need to make more space in moving boxes.

24. Dog Muzzle

screenshot of shopping for dog muzzle suppliers

Not all dogs are the most well-behaved, and while they may not love these muzzles, their owners might. Unlike plain muzzle designs, you may find a market for muzzles that feature colorful and unique designs in addition to other dog accessories.

Choosing the Right Q4 Dropshipping Products Is Just the Start

All of these winning Q4 dropshipping products are some key examples of items that are suitable for many niches and sub-niches. If you can pinpoint which niche you want to target, there’s a market for just about any product imaginable. If you would like to learn more about how to start your career in dropshipping and maximize profits with winning products, reserve your seat at the exclusive, free Ecommerce Empire Builders webinar.

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Top 3 Online Businesses for Beginners to Start in 2020

by Peter PruSystems & ProcessesLeave a Comment on Top 3 Online Businesses for Beginners to Start in 2020

Hey, Empire Builders! In this article, we’re going to talk about the three best online businesses for beginners to start in 2020. I wanted to go over the top online businesses that anyone can start without a huge investment or any experience. While some online businesses for beginners require a massive budget with substantial overhead costs, some need a much smaller investment. Those are the ones we’ll be talking about today.  

1. Ecommerce and Dropshipping

This is my favorite option. It’s the best business for beginners because of the low risk involved. If you don’t know, ecommerce and dropshipping are terms for selling products online that your supplier sends to the customer, in exchange for a cut of the profits. It’s that simple. Dropshipping allows you to cut the usual costs for inventory and shipping.

For example, with my dropshipping business, when someone buys something from my website, the supplier is notified and they ship it out. I never even see the product in person. It’s just my job to sell it, the supplier does the rest, and I make a cut of every sale. 

It costs as little as $250-$500 for ads to get started. That may seem like a lot, but it really isn’t considering that it’s your cost for starting your own business and gaining financial freedom. This is pretty much the lowest start-up cost you’ll find. It’s going to take an hour or two a day to learn enough to be successful. But the more you invest, the more you get out.

How to Start an Ecommerce or Dropshipping Business

Beginner dropshipper starting his business at home

You need to pick a product and make sure it’s something people want. Google “list of hobbies,” and nearly everything on that list is a good choice. The best advice I can give you is to choose something you genuinely enjoy and find interesting. That’s the difference between waking up every day excited to get to work and being stuck in a daily grind.

Once you pick a hobby — gardening, for example — go to Amazon and search it. You want to sell what people are already buying. Remember KISS: Keep It Stupid Simple. When you look through the results, there are a number of physical and digital products. That’s how you know it’s a good niche with multiple options.

Pay attention to the “frequently bought together” section, which tells you what else you can sell and each product’s rank. If the ranking is under 20,000, then that tells you there’s a demand for it. Going to AliExpress will then show you how many units are sold, and you can find a supplier with a cheap enough per-unit cost to make you a good profit. While dropshipping is one of the best online businesses for beginners, it’s not just for beginners. As you learn, you can scale up your business and create multiple businesses.

2. Selling Digital Products

screen grab about how to create and market digital products

This includes courses, PDFs, and other digital media. The profit margins are high because it doesn’t cost money to make, so it’s pretty much 100% profit. While it doesn’t take a large monetary investment, you have to invest a lot of time into it. You must position yourself as an expert that people trust so they’ll want to learn from you, and that can be tricky if you’re just starting out on online businesses for beginners.

If you want to sell high-ticket digital products ($1,000+), you’ll need to create free content every day to show your expertise, entice them to learn more, and build that trust. If you’re selling cheaper digital products ($5-$50), then all you need to do is add value by solving a problem.

As far as the budget for this, if you’re working on the lower end of the price range, you can advertise for free. If you’re going to use ads, though, I always recommend a $250-$500 minimum.

How to Start a Business Selling Digital Products

Again, take advantage of Amazon. When you type in the example niche — gardening — you’ll see many books available. You can also sort by category for books if you don’t see any pop up immediately. You can do the same for video content.

This provides a clear picture of what information products are being purchased and what problems they try to solve. First, decide on your price point, which should generally be $5-$50 or $1k. This will help you determine what kind of informational products to look into creating. This can range between a short how-to guide and an in-depth video course.

Udemy will give you a better idea of in-demand courses. Type in gardening again; there’s a lot to choose from. The course description will tell you what people are learning. You can sell courses here without spending ad money, too.

If you want to sell text-based information products, you can write your own or go to The PLR Store to buy one. You can buy the rights to content and sell it, make improvements, whatever you want. If you type in gardening, you’ll find a pack of articles on low maintenance gardening, something you can sell for $10+ while only paying $5.99. Dress it up with images and fonts to make it look worth the money. Then you can sell it on ClickBank without paying to advertise.  

3. Affiliate Marketing

Shopper reading content from an affiliate marketer

One of the most popular online businesses for beginners is selling products for someone else and making a commission for every sale — that’s affiliate marketing. This is especially easy if you already have an audience from another business or website where you can promote products. Then this is a no-cost way of making money/ If you only promote products with a good reputation that work well and add value, then it’s also risk-free. If, however, you use your business platform to promote a product to your audience that’s of poor quality or doesn’t work, then you’ll lose trust and business. So, make sure you’ve tried it and really want to recommend it.

How to Start an Affiliate Marketing Business

ClickBank can help with this too. Use their navigation bar to find products you’d want to sell. Let’s use gardening again. Once you find one you want to sell, click promote and you’ll get a custom affiliate link. It’s that simple. Don’t forget to buy and test the product first before endorsing it. Then all you have to do is drive traffic to their site, and when someone buys something, you earn a commission.

Remember…

The great thing about these online businesses for beginners is that they work well together, too. Maximize your profits by integrating them into one business model. If you want to learn more and make more, sign up for my masterclass, where I’ll teach you how I made a full-time income online with a 5-page funnel — all without touching a product, building a site, or investing in ads. I’ll even throw in the $100k funnel template FREE just for showing up. Get ready to build your empire!

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5 Best-Selling Digital Products to Sell Online

by Peter PruDigital & Information ProductsLeave a Comment on 5 Best-Selling Digital Products to Sell Online

Creating digital products to sell online is one of the best ecommerce strategies for new businesses because of the profitability. Unlike physical products, you only need to create them once, and then you can make repeat sales with them. Unfortunately, a lot of people neglect to create and sell these products properly. They may overcomplicate things and neglect to take full advantage of these opportunities, only to drop them out of frustration. However, there are plenty of great products out there that are worth the investment.

The following are five of the best-selling digital products to sell online, whether your business is just starting out or you’re looking for new worthwhile digital products to add to your growing inventory. You can sell them repeatedly, or you can even offer them as free giveaways to gain more subscriptions and email leads.

1. Video Courses

close-up of a professional camera as a man starts creating video course content

While video courses can be extremely lucrative, it’s important to keep in mind that they require you to be engaged and truly invested in them. Other digital products to sell online may not demand too much interest or expertise on the seller’s part. But video courses are the exception. If you’re going to teach people about a certain topic, you need to have some knowledge and experience in that niche.

Use YouTube to Begin Your Research

The first step you can take when getting started with video courses is to look on YouTube. Here, you can determine if a niche is actually consuming free video content. The big indicator here is that if people aren’t consuming free content, they’re not likely to spend much money on more premium content down the road. Try to look for videos that get up to a million or more views, which is a good sign that free content is popular in that niche and that many of those viewers will probably buy content from you.

For instance, if you look up poker video courses on YouTube, you’ll find plenty of content that a lot of people consume. Many of those videos easily get up to over a million views. While many videos in the poker niche might not get more than a few hundred, the fact that many other videos approach or reach that million-viewer threshold is indicative of a viable market.

Check Clickbank to See Where People Are Buying Content

There are a couple of places to see where people are buying video content, the first of which is Clickbank. Simply create a free account and search for the topic you want to cover. The nice thing about Clickbank is that they make it obvious which products are selling the best on a daily basis. However, not every niche appears on Clickbank.

Look at Udemy

If you’re not finding your niche on Clickbank, you can also check Udemy. The courses on Udemy may not be the most in-depth, but they can give you some insight as to which niches are the most profitable for selling video content.

You may also find that your niche is popular on one platform but not the other. For instance, when you search for poker videos on Udemy, you’ll get a lot of results, but there are curiously very few results on Clickbank. If anything, identifying these differences can help you identify opportunities to sell that others in that niche aren’t seeing.

2. Templates

Templates are also very profitable digital products to sell online. Many people want something that makes it easy for them to follow and semi-automate certain processes. For example, there is a big market for email templates because businesses and professionals don’t want to have to manually create every email from scratch.

Look for Templates on Google Images

When looking for examples of templates, one of the easiest methods is to simply do a Google Image search. Look for templates in your niche. Some niches will be harder than others, of course. Take our poker niche for example. It’s not the best if you want to sell templates instead of or in addition to video content. Meanwhile, the home and fitness niche has plenty of templates out there for home workouts.

Templates make both profitable products and excellent giveaways to generate more leads and subscribers.

3. E-books

screen grab of researching potential ebook niches on Amazon

E-books and templates are somewhat similar. But, while templates are good for a quick win for customers, e-books require more active investment. People actually have to read them. 

Many people who think of e-books think of them as massive feature-length books of 100 pages or more. But you don’t need to make them anywhere near this length. In fact, a good length for an e-book is around ten pages — or even fewer, if possible. It all depends on your niche; some niches may require longer e-books to cover everything that customers want to know. 

Check Out E-book Examples on Amazon

When looking for examples of e-books in your niche, the best place to go is Amazon. Specifically, look for your topic in the books section.

Selling e-books is likely profitable if you find that a lot of people are buying books in that specific niche. You can look at the most popular topics to cover. Reconceptualize some of the ideas discussed in those books to help you find the most lucrative e-book opportunities.

Use The PLR Store to Find Your E-books

One of the easiest ways to put your e-books together is to visit theplrstore.com. Private label rights (PLR) will give you the right to sell an e-book repeatedly for profit as your own product. You may need to create your own e-books if you aren’t able to find your niche on The PLR Store, but this site can save you a lot of time, money, and effort.

When selling your e-books, remember that it’s best to avoid overwhelming the customer with information. Give them valuable content that they’ll find useful one product at a time.

4. Membership Sites

There are two different types of membership sites that you can run, both of which are ideal digital products to sell online for many niches.

Charge One-Time Fees

You can offer a one-time fee for membership on some sites. For example, you may include a selection of video content on your membership site, for which you would charge a one-time fee to give members access to all video content at once.

Giving Access on a Monthly Basis

It’s also possible to give people monthly access to your website with a subscription. Unlike a membership site with a one-time fee, you can earn more money from long-term subscriptions in turn for providing information to customers on a regular basis. In the process, you’ll be able to gain their trust over time, and they’re likely going to spend more money on your products.

With subscriptions, you can release regular updates featuring video courses, templates, e-books, and more that keep people coming back to you.

5. Coaching and Consulting

woman practicing yoga with a virtual yoga group and instructor

If you’re an expert in something or really enjoy a certain activity and have something to offer to others, you can make that a profitable skill through coaching and consulting. People are always looking for mentors to help them learn more and remain accountable. 

Consider what you can offer to your customers on a weekly basis if you want to focus on these digital products to sell online. You may need to charge anywhere from $100 to thousands of dollars on a monthly basis for this kind of content—it will ultimately depend on the kind of advice or guidance you’re offering.

One great example is the fitness niche. If you’re somebody who stays active and healthy and can spread your knowledge to people trying to get to your level, people are always looking for someone like you to hold them accountable. Spend a few hours with a group of students or mentees, and help them grow and improve. While you may be tempted to give away free consulting, it’s typically best to charge for every course or session, as people spending money on your services are more driven to succeed.

Consult With the Pros at Ecommerce Empire Builders

All of these digital products are great dropshipping opportunities to consider for your business. But just creating these offers and waiting for the digital products to sell online isn’t enough. If you would like to learn more about how to excel as a dropshipper, reserve your seat at the free ecommerce masterclass. You’ll learn how to start selling these and other best-selling products today. You can also find fresh insights and dropshipping strategies on the Ecommerce Empire Builders YouTube channel.

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How to Generate Over $50,000 as an Ecommerce Empire Academy Student

by Peter PruDropshipping Case StudiesLeave a Comment on How to Generate Over $50,000 as an Ecommerce Empire Academy Student

Empire builders, sit back and get ready to learn some awesome insider secrets of the ecommerce industry. I recently sat down with Michael Koss, an Ecommerce Empire Academy student. Mike is a great guy that has an inspirational story that everyone can learn something from. Over the last few years, Mike went from being a high school dropout to generating over $50,000 a month in his ecommerce business. I asked him what his secret to success has been and what his advice would be to other aspiring entrepreneurs. Read on to learn more about Mike’s success in the industry. Also, discover how you can create this reality for yourself by becoming an Ecommerce Empire Academy student. 

The Road to Ecommerce Empire Builders 

Mike’s road to becoming an Ecommerce Empire Academy student was one of many ups and downs. Mike began with affiliate marketing three to four years ago. He got his start with the Motor Club of America. Through the MCA, Mike was earning $80 per referral. However, any traction he had gained was soon lost when the company sold. Referrals went from $80 down to $10. At this point, Mike knew he needed to break into an industry where he had more control over his earnings and career. 

The Switch to Clickfunnels

After his initial setback, Mike learned about affiliate marketing for Clickfunnels. He started promoting Russell Brunson’s books and was sucked even deeper into the world of ecommerce. He began to dedicate all of his energy to learning from the multitude of big names that were already thriving in the ecommerce world. Mike was talking to his dad one night about all he was learning about ecommerce and how he wanted to get into sales funnels. The next morning Mike’s dad actually stumbled upon one of our Ecommerce Empire Builders webinars and sent Mike the link.    

The stars seemed to align for Mike at this point. After watching our Ecommerce Empire Builders webinar, Mike was hooked on sales funnels. He took the plunge after watching the webinar and became an official commerce Empire Builders Academy student. Mike has been in our community for over a year now, and I met Mike in person for the first time in February 2020 when he came to one of our Build Your Empire Live conferences.

 Mike already had a great business idea but was not getting the results he wanted. Our team was able to set Mike up on the right path as he became an Ecommerce Empire Academy student. His business, as well as his mindset, has grown leaps and bounds over the last six months. 

The Importance of Understanding Your Niche 

Man doing niche research for his ecommerce business

Mike’s business has grown significantly over the last six months. One element that has helped Mike find success is his thorough understanding of his niche and the customers he is trying to sell to. Understanding your niche will always be important in this industry. Without understanding your customer base and what they are looking for, your odds of creating a profitable ecommerce business are very low. You have to understand the ends and outs of your niche. 

One thing that has helped Mike better understand his niche is his willingness to test and test often. In a month, Mike created over 100 different Facebook ads. His goal was to understand what types of ads and what targeting keywords resulted in the best results within his niche. Mike’s willingness to test paid off. He went from making $10,000 a month in sales to $50,000 a month in sales through this research alone. 

Another element that Mike has learned very well through growing his business is what offers and upsells are most enticing to the customers within his niche. Mike sells unique American flag stickers. He is selling a passion product. The offers and upsells Mike offers or presents to the customers in his niche prey on their passion. Mike’s ability to understand the customers within his niche is what has allowed him to grow his business and stand out from his competitors. 

Mindset Will Always Be the Key to Finding Success 

Screen Grab of Peter Pru and Michael Koss

As our interview came to an end, I asked Mike what his biggest piece of advice would be to those entering the ecommerce industry. Mike has put a lot of work, time, and effort into understanding both his niche and the ecommerce industry. These elements are definitely important to finding success within the industry. However, Mike believes that most of his success came from his mindset. 

Mike’s advice to all aspiring entrepreneurs is to keep a positive mindset throughout their journey. There will always be ups and downs in whatever you choose to do in life. However, the key to overcoming the hurdles you face is keeping a positive and can-do mindset.

There are huge opportunities awaiting you in the ecommerce industry. You just have to be willing to learn and keep pushing forward even if things don’t go exactly how you envisioned. Mike’s final piece of advice is to simply try to be amazing at whatever you choose to do. 

I couldn’t agree more. Having passion in your work will always take you further, and in the end, your business success will always be dependent on one thing: you.

Consult With the Pros as an Ecommerce Empire Academy Student

Ecommerce student watching webinars on his tablet at home

Mike took himself from being a high school dropout to a successful ecommerce entrepreneur. He accomplished this journey through hard work and adopting the right mindset. It’s my hope that you will be able to take the information and advice Mike has provided and implement it into your own ecommerce business. If you feel like you need a little more guidance in setting up your own profitable ecommerce business, then feel free to reach out to us today. 

At Ecommerce Empire Builders, we can help you build, launch, and scale your own profitable dropshipping business. If you’re ready to get the ball rolling, then sign up for access to our exclusive free webinar today and become an Ecommerce Empire Academy student. Also, be sure to check our YouTube channel for even more insights into the dropshipping and sales funnel industries. Remember, your empire starts now!

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How My Ecommerce Empire Academy Student Made $90,000 With Facebook Ads

by Peter PruDropshipping Case StudiesLeave a Comment on How My Ecommerce Empire Academy Student Made $90,000 With Facebook Ads

We’re always happy to see our students succeed with dropshipping. This is exactly what we saw with Evan Hennessy, an Ecommerce Empire Academy student, as he grew his business from zero to nearly six figures with the help of sales funnels. Evan began with a simple struggling Shopify store and Facebook ad campaign. But after making the switch to sales funnels, he reached that $90,000-per-month mark.

Beginning with Simpler Facebook Ads

Evan got into ecommerce back in 2016 when things were a lot simpler, including Facebook Ads. All those campaigns entailed was placing an image on the right side of people’s feeds to start making money. With some early success, Evan sold his ecommerce business a few months later. Then, he got involved in digital advertising. 

Working for a digital ad agency, Evan started with a Shopify store and relearned Facebook Ads. Around March 2018, he found himself struggling more, as he lost a considerable amount of money through Facebook ads. A year later, he began incorporating some of the practices he learned as an Ecommerce Empire Academy student. He was soon able to increase profitability and work in dropshipping full-time.

Experiencing Gradual Success with Sales Funnels

Evan’s first sales funnel wasn’t a huge success, so he began to tweak it by adding more upsells. What would really help boost his success would be the addition of a continuity piece. This strategy enabled him to reach that $90,000 point as he also tested new products. 

Evan’s revenue comes from two primary sales funnels: one offering “free plush shipping” and another with a discount offer. Both sales funnels are in the same niche and under the same brand. While he’s found it harder to make money with the “free plus shipping” offer and intends to find ways to improve upon this funnel, he has found that continuity has gone a long way in helping him grow. 

With the help of his continuity piece, Evan has been able to bring in about 240 customers who provide regular recurring revenue.

How Continuity Has Worked for Evan

screen grab of Peter Pru and Evan Hennessy talking about continuity and scaling a business

When hooking those subscribers, Evan offers a two-week trial along with a bonus product upfront. This is followed by a $34.95/month subscription, with a conversion rate of around 10 percent. (A 10-percent conversion rate isn’t terrible. But some tweaks could be made here, including upselling the full-price subscription first. This is crucial because some people want to jump right into that subscription from the start. If they say no to that, then we’d recommend a downsell followed by a free trial offer. We rarely use downsells and try to avoid them as much as possible. But in cases like this, they may be appropriate.)

The key element here is the continuity piece, which will help Evan in the long term. He might lose some of those 240 subscribers at some point. But some will still stay with the subscription and provide that regular revenue stream. As he goes on to attract thousands of subscribers, that revenue will only increase as more people commit to the subscription.

How His Deep Discount vs. Free + Shipping Offers Work

Customer excited about shipping options and packages

In his “free plus shipping” offer, Evan typically charges around $10 for one unit with quantity breaks. This translates from around $10 per customer acquisition to $12-15 with upsells, with the understanding that the continuity will help compensate for it. As he scales, his cost-per-acquisition increases. This is what we’d expect to see as dropshipping businesses expand to broader markets or exhaust the ones they’ve been targeting.

At the same time, Evan offers a discount for a product that typically goes for around $40 to $50. He’s also been testing a product that costs around $130. He started his campaigns with cold traffic as he also tests retargeting, but he had yet to scale when we’d talked with him. 

In an effort to grow his business even further, Evan has outsourced some work to an email marketing team and a virtual assistant who works for him 20 hours per week. His email marketing consultancy agency has managed to help bring in almost $5,000. His email list consisted of around 30,000 people when we spoke. He hoped to continue to increase his email marketing campaigns’ profitability.

When it comes to email campaigns, we recommend that every Ecommerce Empire Academy student try to build those email lists through affiliate campaigns. Alternatively, you can rent out the email list or work with joint venture (JV) brokers in the same niche. You can easily build your email lists in these ways without the need to spend a lot more money. Just send more weekly emails in a cross-promotion. However, it’s best to avoid working with a JV broker unless you have an email list of at least 20,000. JV brokers want a massive list that makes it worthwhile for them to promote their products.

Which Funnel Attracts Better Continuity?

What was kind of surprising to us was that Evan saw a 10-percent rate consistently across his sales funnels when it came to continuity. Regardless of what he was doing with his sales funnels, 10 percent was the static number he seemed to be seeing.

Historically, we’ve seen a higher rate with “free plus shipping” offers, with the caveat of a higher turn rate. This is because while you draw in more people with these offers, more people are likely to turn away as a result. These offers are especially popular because they evoke some excitement. Many people who come across that “free plus shipping” deal make more impulse purchases.

One final piece of advice that Evan shared based on his success was that it’s best to look at your business in the long term and focus on building your brand gradually, which is precisely what we encourage. It’s best to avoid trying to make quick, easy wins. Instead, try to build on opportunities that will garner long-lasting success.

Learn From the Pros as an Ecommerce Empire Academy Student

Ecommerce Empire Academy student working on his dropshipping business

We’re excited to see Evan make it past the $100,000 threshold. We’re also happy to see others like him experience that kind of success through the use of sales funnels. Do you want to learn more about how to use sales funnels to build a successful 6- or even 7-figure dropshipping business? Then reserve your seat at our free Ecommerce Empire Builders master class today or become an Ecommerce Empire Academy student.

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How My Ecommerce Empire Builders Student Earned $100,000 and Sold His Business

by Peter PruDropshipping Case StudiesLeave a Comment on How My Ecommerce Empire Builders Student Earned $100,000 and Sold His Business

Do you want to see just how successful you can be as a dropshipper with well-utilized sales funnels? Here is another success story from an Ecommerce Empire Builders student to help showcase the effectiveness of these strategies. Meet Mike Filev, who began with a simple Shopify store and a viral ad video. He learned how to use sales funnels to his advantage, leading him to make $100,000 on a single product before successfully selling his dropshipping business.

Beginning With a Single Product and a Simple Store

Mike didn’t have a long, storied background in ecommerce. In fact, he planned on going into electrical engineering after college. However, his plans would soon change as he sought to earn more money and find his true passion. He didn’t care much for engineering, and the cost of living in downtown Toronto with his family was placing even more pressure on him to earn a better living.

Looking for a new outlet to channel his creativity, Mike eventually turned to ecommerce and quickly found some success selling one product early on: a seat belt for dogs. At the time, Mike merely had a Shopify store to help him sell his products, but he was able to bring a lot of attention to this one via an effective video ad. That ad was effective because it showed (using fake dogs, of course) what would happen if a pet owner neglected to use the seat belt in the event of an accident, and it helped increase sales. It also made Mike realize the potential that he could achieve with a more profitable strategy.

The Problem With Relying on Shopify Alone

screen grab of conversation about Shopify between Peter Pru and Mike Filev

Despite the popularity of his dog seat belt product and his ad, Mike found that he simply wasn’t able to make any one-click upsells on his product. It didn’t help that Shopify was compatible with a solitary app that took forever to install and setup. Upon discovering the power of sales funnels through a brief course in Shopify, Mike began to research their effectiveness. This led him to me, Peter Pru, and becoming an Ecommerce Empire Builders student.

Learning About the Value of Upsells and Sales Funnels as an Ecommerce Empire Builders Student

As he began to learn more about providing value to customers and inspiring more upsells, he decided to offer a harness that offered more neck support for dogs using his seat belts. Focusing on these harnesses, he started seeing an increase in sales and went from around zero percent net profit to around 20-30 percent consistently. Around that time, Mike saw his first thousand-dollar day of net profits. 

Mike saw the possibilities of using sales funnels and upsells to help boost sales significantly. But he was still somewhat disappointed with the overall performance of that single store. By the time he had made around $20,000 with the store, the cost of living was catching up to him, and he needed to find a more lucrative opportunity. Luckily, his first store had become a considerable success, and he had a valuable Instagram page for it that performed impressively — both of which could serve as assets for others.

From Selling Products to Selling Dropshipping Businesses

Mike wasn’t happy enough with how his first store was performing to keep it going. But he found that others were interested in acquiring these types of businesses. Understanding that the Shopify store he had been running had potential for someone else, he was able to sell it for $10,000, which got the ball rolling for him. From there, he sold his dog seat belt business as he looked for his next dropshipping opportunity.

What the Process Entailed

In the event someone came along who was interested in purchasing Mike’s dog seat belt store and sales funnels, Mike had recognized several assets going for him that would appeal to the investor.

First, Mike had set up an efficient landing page modeled after our own. It consisted of a header, image, and button that offered a free seat belt. This landing page had managed to achieve an opt-in rate of around 50-70 percent, depending on the traffic source. This translated to a total of around 47,000 email leads. All of the leads fell into the target market for that product. Also, some of the top brands out there like Petco are willing to buy a single lead for $1.60 or more. So Mike realized he was sitting on an ecommerce goldmine.

To help sell his business, Mike approached the effort in much the same way he would with selling products. He offered a bundle in an appealing package that would entice the buyer. He listed all the assets that his business had accumulated, including:

  • $100,000 in sales within a period of five or six months
  • 20 percent net profits plus expenses
  • A massive email list worth approximately $70,000 on its own

With this offer, Mike put the store up for sale on Flippa for $50,000. The sales price was based on a calculation of twice the net profits his business earned annually. Based on what he learned, he could have actually sold this business for much more. But that’s just part of the learning process when it comes to ecommerce experience.

Focusing on a Different Niche for Better Opportunities

business owner replicating her store to scale profits

While Mike experienced some success with the dog seat belt store, he recognized that this opportunity was too limited. He was selling to a highly specific niche of people, and the product would attract mostly impulse buys. After selling this business, he turned to a much more promising opportunity of selling weight loss products.

The demographic he was selling to at this point included women who were interested in losing weight. This was a much wider demographic than his previous niche. Another advantage of selling to this audience was the number of offers that you can utilize when selling weight loss products, especially through affiliate marketing.

To attract more leads, Mike also created a landing page in his sales funnels that asked for opt-ins via Facebook Messenger. He found that people were much more likely to choose this method over email because they didn’t worry about spam. 

(As a side note here, we definitely recommend that you try multiple lead generation outlets; test with channels like Facebook Messenger, and request an email in your offer. Then see which campaign performs better while doubling your assets in the process. Also, an email list is uniquely yours. Channels like Facebook Messenger still fall under the property of other companies, which can complicate the process of selling.)

Mike hasn’t decided to sell this store quite yet. But he is keeping the idea in mind as the business continues to grow. At the same time, Mike is experiencing more success and happiness as a result of his efforts. He’s living it up in Miami as he keeps his eye out for the next big opportunity.

Become an Ecommerce Empire Builders Student to Streamline Your Own Success

man selling his ecommerce business

We love success stories like Mike’s that remind us precisely of why we’re doing what we’re doing. Do you want to experience the kind of success that Mike has? Then sign up for the free Ecommerce Empire Builders Master Class. You can become an Ecommerce Empire Builders student and learn all about how to begin your dropshipping business. You can also pick up key tips and insights on my YouTube channel.

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What One Billion-Dollar Business Did to Maximize LTV

by Peter PruDropshipping Case StudiesLeave a Comment on What One Billion-Dollar Business Did to Maximize LTV

If you’re looking for a winning strategy to implement in your dropshipping business, there are certain lessons to be learned from some of the giants in the ecommerce industry. Here we’re going to look at what a billion-dollar business did to excel and how you can some of these strategies to maximize LTV. Specifically, the business we’ll be examining is GoDaddy.

Some might question how a prominent brand in an unrelated business can help their dropshipping store excel. But the fact is that the principles behind these businesses are essentially the same as any company that sells online, whether a small single-product Shopify store or a corporate giant.

What GoDaddy Does Right

One of the reasons GoDaddy is a favorite example of an online business is the fact that they hit on every single note perfectly. Their process is exceptional when covering everything that they need to maximize LTV, including:

  • Reoccurring purchases
  • Order bumps
  • Upsells

There isn’t a clearly identifiable weakness in GoDaddy’s strategy, and automatically upselling customers is how they stay profitable.

The biggest takeaway that we want for you to gain from GoDaddy is that they are willing to lose money to sell domains. The fact is that GoDaddy actually loses money with every domain sale they make. However, they make all of that money back in many ways, which we’ll cover here.

GoDaddy’s Winning Approach to Product Pages

Let’s use an example to illustrate what all GoDaddy does well. Searching for a domain like “empirestartsnow.com,” which is available, leads us to a product page telling us that this domain will cost us $11.99 for the first year. 

From here, we can see their understanding of the sales process at work.

The Inclusion of a Smart Order Bump

Screen grab of GoDaddy upsell analysis

Below the price on the page, GoDaddy includes an order bump. It offers a discount on the domain “empirestartsnow.us” for one dollar. GoDaddy knows that not a lot of people will be likely to follow through on that order bump. But they still have a chance of making a profit on at least one in every ten orders. The order bump further clarifies that the customer gets the domain for $1 for the first year if they sign on for a two-year subscription, and for the second year, they’ll pay $20.

This illustrates how GoDaddy has probably learned that the average customer stays with them for at least two years after buying a domain. If they can encourage the customer to stay with them, GoDaddy will profit in the long run and maximize the lifetime value (LTV) of that customer.

Pushing Additional Offers

In addition to the subtle order bump, GoDaddy’s page features another offer just below it. This second point encourages customers to purchase three additional domains (e.g., .NET, .ORG) for $19.99, saving them 69%. 

Again, this may look like they’re basically throwing money away, and a majority of customers may not make these purchases. But GoDaddy is more likely to profit over a longer stretch than they would without these offers.

Giving Customers Even More Choices to Look Through

Below those offers, GoDaddy further encourages more purchases, and this is a great strategy for increasing the value of every sale. They do so by listing a bunch of other domains for sale. Some are as cheap as a few dollars, and others are as expensive as $21,000. These may not attract many additional sales, but all of these offers maximize LTV.

A Shopping Cart That Adds More Offers

Once we hit that “add to cart” button for “empirestartsnow.com,” we’re taken to a cart page that’s another example of top-notch design.

Utilizing Post-Purchase Upsells

Screen grab of GoDaddy automatic upsell analysis with pre-checked options

The page is rich with post-purchase upsells that perfectly complement those pre-purchase upsells on the product page. Those post-purchase upsells reward customers after they make a purchase, which further inspires them to buy the product.

These post-purchase upsells include privacy protection for $9.99 and a package that includes both privacy and security for $14.99. The first offer is automatically checked to highlight it. Below these offers, they have “Start your website for FREE” automatically checked, too. It offers the chance for customers to host their website for free right from GoDaddy. This latter offer can help keep customers loyal to GoDaddy and subsequently increase their chances of making repeat purchases.

Customers can also choose to create a support email that’s connected to the domain.

A Highly Profitable Checkout Page

After selecting the various offers on that shopping cart page, customers are then taken to the shopping cart page to finalize their purchase.

Here, customers may be thrown off by the final price at the top. Instead of the $11.99 price advertised for “empirestartsnow.com,” the price now says $21.99. But the page is quick to clarify that this is the price for two years. Customers must choose “1 year” from the dropdown below if they want that initial price. 

They also offer a quantity break with a small discount if customers choose to buy the domain for three years or longer. This illustrates how important it is to offer quantity break discounts at the point of sale (POS) to maximize LTV and profits. This is a practice we always encourage if you want to boost sales significantly. 

At the same time, the rest of the page is very simple and neat. It encourages the customer to follow through on their purchase without simply abandoning the cart. 

We’d like to take note of how GoDaddy makes use of that auto-select of the two-year option. This is something we practice at Ecommerce Empire Builders. We also encourage the use of best-seller highlights and quantity break discounts on our order forms. Implementing this strategy here alone can make a customer worth more than a day’s worth of ad spend.

Below these quantity break discounts, GoDaddy also includes an order bump to easily add domain privacy for $5.99 per year with one click. 

Use GoDaddy’s Strategies to Your Advantage to Maximize LTV

happy customer purchasing add-ons and upsells

As you can see, GoDaddy certainly seems to know what it’s doing to attract customers and maximize profits. While GoDaddy might lose money with domain sales, all of these pre- and post-purchase upsells, along with other order bumps and quantity break discounts, go a long way in helping GoDaddy remain on top of its game. Applying these strategies to your dropshipping business can be invaluable in helping you grow and maximize LTV.

To find out more about how to build a leading dropshipping business, check out our free Ecommerce Empire Builders Master Class. This webinar will show you how to create a dropshipping business with ease and maximize profits like GoDaddy and other billion-dollar companies.

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How to Handle Dropshipping Refunds and Chargebacks

by Peter PruSystems & ProcessesLeave a Comment on How to Handle Dropshipping Refunds and Chargebacks

It can be a pain to deal with dropshipping refunds, chargebacks, and exchanges. But it doesn’t have to be as painful if you have a process in place. Build out standard operating procedures so your team knows how to handle dropshipping refunds and chargebacks. Follow these steps, and you’ll be able to simplify the process:

  1. Assess the situation.
  2. Address the situation.
  3. Document the situation.

Here we’ll go over each of these steps and show you how you can incorporate them into a consistent, reliable process for dealing with product refunds, exchanges, and chargebacks, which can give you more time to spend on building your dropshipping business. We’ll also provide you with some free template examples for your business that can help you get started.

Assess and Address the Situation

Both assessing and addressing the situation can be lumped together in the same step, as you kind of need to do both at once. While there are multiple issues that can arise, the most common problem you’re likely to come across in ecommerce is how to handle dropshipping refunds.

Does the Customer Want a Refund?

Screengrab of a refund decision tree

If a customer is looking for a refund for a product, make sure you have a return policy that details how refunds work. You should have both a customer-facing policy and an internal policy for how to handle dropshipping refunds step by step. You have some freedom when it comes to how your refund policy works.

When to Give a Full Refund

You could simply give the customer a full refund without question and let them keep the product, which is often the best solution if you want to avoid the potential headache of dealing with angry customers who aren’t worth the effort. Sometimes you may encounter customers who are simply impossible to please, in which case giving them a full refund can help you redirect your time and energy to more important matters.

Give a Refund with a Product Return

While giving a full refund might be easier to do with less expensive products, you could suffer more losses if you give a full refund for a premium-priced product. The best way to keep the customer happy with the refund without hurting your business in the process is to offer a refund in exchange for returning the product to a P.O. box or warehouse.

Incentivize Customers to Avoid the Refund

Giving a full refund might be ideal if a customer is angry and you’re unlikely to change their mind. But there are some instances when you may find that a customer can be persuaded to take back their refund and keep the product. The fact is that oftentimes it isn’t the product that customers are unhappy with when seeking a refund — they’re unhappy with a lack of effective communication. 

Here is where it’s best to empathize with the customer and understand their situation. If you can make the customer feel understood and provide an offer such as a free information product or discount, then the customer will be more forgiving and be more willing to hang on to their purchase.

Offer a Partial Refund With Incentives

You also have the option of offering a partial refund, along with incentives such as free information products for which you would normally charge, which can help you save more money while working to keep the customer happy with the outcome. For instance, you might offer something like a 35% refund for the inconvenience along with a free resource that would you wouldn’t typically give away. This is likely to leave the customer even more satisfied, considering they get a partial refund, they can keep the product, and they get bonuses on top of that original purchase.

Is the Customer Submitting a Chargeback?

Screen Grab of How to Deal with Chargebacks

Customers may inadvertently charge their credit cards as they forget what they’ve purchased and subscribed to over time. It can be easy to lose track of what you’re buying online. So keep in mind that the occasional customer may submit chargebacks if they forget that they made a purchase and no longer want it. 

Unfortunately, many people also take advantage of chargebacks in an attempt to get products for free. So you’ll need to be aware of this potential issue as you develop and implement chargeback processes.

If a chargeback is submitted, you’ll want to assess and address the situation accordingly. Follow these steps:

  • Check to see if the product shipped.
  • Make sure you have the tracking information for the order.
  • Gather all evidence, including tracking, billing, shipping, and email communication that a platform like Stripe or PayPal may request.

If you can submit all the necessary information to support you in the event of a chargeback dispute, the simple truth is that you will win. If you can prove that the product shipped and you can submit all the tracking details, billing information, and email correspondence in an organized PDF or another document that supports your argument, you will likely win a majority of these disputes. You can then recycle that template and use it for future chargebacks.

Document the Situation

You should always maintain proper recordkeeping in any situation, whether it’s for a refund, chargeback, or exchange. Even if you have a good understanding of how to handle dropshipping refunds and chargebacks, people who work with you may not; different customer service teams do things differently. You need to maintain cohesion across your entire company with processes and systems, which good documentation can help achieve.

Use Email Templates

One way to keep customer service consistent, regardless of the situation, is to create email communication templates that employees can use. Send these to your teams, and you’ll be able to provide the same response to customers in similar situations. This will prevent the customer from encountering inconsistencies when communicating with your business. 

Create Chargeback Templates

Knowing how to handle dropshipping refunds isn’t enough. You also need to have a plan for chargebacks. To efficiently handle chargeback disputes and make evidence-gathering easier for your team, create chargeback templates as PDFs or other formats that make it easy to organize and present proof of shipping, tracking and billing information, and email communications when attempting to win a dispute.

Record Loom Videos

Business owning creating standard process documentation for refunds and chargebacks

Another way to show your customer support teams precisely what to do in any given situation is to create Loom video recordings. Loom makes it easy to record your screen and voice. You can use them to create helpful in-depth training videos that illustrate various procedures. Your employees can then watch these videos whenever they need to and learn about your processes. Then, you won’t need to walk each new employee through the process.

Template Examples You Can Use

If you want to get some ideas for what to include in the templates to share with customer service teams, then you can implement some of the following.

Here’s an example template that you can use as an initial reply to a customer inquiry:

Hey! So because our [X] ship directly from our overseas factory, shipping can sometimes take a little bit longer! You should have your [X] within the week. Please let me know if you have any other issues!

Thanks!

For a second reply after the customer responds, you can send the following:

Hey, we do apologize greatly for the delay. We had such a large influx of orders that it backed up our factory. If you do not have your [X] in the next 4-5 business days, please let me know. We will issue you a full refund along with getting you your [X] for free.

Thanks!

If the customer is still not satisfied, then you may need to reach out once more. You can send them this third reply:

We just refunded you your full purchase price. Again, we are really sorry about all this confusion. You will still be receiving your [X] — it just may take a few more days. Again, we are hugely sorry about this.

Thanks!

These three simple templates can help you figure out how to handle dropshipping refunds. Even better, the templates help your team consistently communicate with customers to ensure satisfaction.

Want to learn more about processes and systems about how to handle dropshipping refunds and chargebacks? What about every other aspect of your dropshipping business? If so, then check out our free Ecommerce master class, where you’ll learn everything you need to know to become a successful dropshipper and provide exceptional customer service.

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