Ecommerce Empire Builders

How to Protect Yourself With an LLC for Your Ecommerce Business

by Peter PruOctober 21, 2020October 16, 2020Systems & ProcessesLeave a Comment

Empire builders, you already know that there is a lot to learn when starting your own ecommerce business. While there are many important details you need to learn to create a successful dropshipping business, the most essential element to understand is the importance of an LLC for your ecommerce business.

A properly set up LLC will save your business so much money — money that can be reinvested into the business. I have an LLC set up for my business and have already been able to save millions of dollars through the taxation benefits it provides. Read on to learn more about LLCs and how you can utilize one to save money in your own ecommerce dropshipping business today.

What Is an LLC?

An LLC, or limited liability company, is a form of a private limited company in the United States. It is essentially a business structure that enables the owner of a business to not be personally liable for the company’s debts or liabilities. This is a wonderful thing. An LLC doesn’t just allow business access to a number of money-saving tax codes. It also creates a protective barrier between you and the customers of your ecommerce business.

There are also a number of different types of LLCs. They range from S Corp to C Corp to Partnership to Sole Proprietorship. There are a ton of free resources available on the internet for you to learn more about these different types of LLCs. You can also talk to qualified professionals like Prime Corporate Services to learn more about LLCs and business tax planning. These are the guys that helped me set up my LLC. They also helped teach me about the best tax planning options for my business.

You will definitely want to reach out to them when you are starting the process of creating your own LLC. Their guidance helped me understand how I can use the tax codes to benefit my ecommerce endeavors.

An LLC for Your Ecommerce Business Will Create New Opportunities

dropshipper discussing taxes and business finance with a professional

Now you know what an LLC is, but you’re still wondering if you really need one for your ecommerce business. Let me tell you — an LLC has the power to completely transform all of your ecommerce endeavors for the better. An LLC for your ecommerce business will give it a multitude of benefits and opportunities that you simply won’t be able to access without the creation of an LLC. Before I filed for my own LLC, I was wasting so much money in taxes each year. This was money that I could have been using to invest more in my business. If you’re making this same mistake right now, you have to take the actions necessary to create your own LLC today.

Once you have your own LLC for your ecommerce business, your company will be given an EIN. This number is similar to a social security number given to individuals. With your business’s assigned EIN, you can set up separate bank accounts and credit cards that don’t link to your personal accounts.

This is a huge protection that you need to take advantage of.

If you were to sell a product from your business without having an LLC in place and a customer got sick or hurt from it, the customer can come after you directly. With an LLC, they sue your business instead of you on an individual level. This ensures that your personal assets and livelihood will remain protected throughout all of your business endeavors. I’m not telling you any of this to scare you, but rather to help you transform your business, protect your livelihood, and help you see the multitude of opportunities that an LLC can provide to your ecommerce business.

Everyone Should Have a Business

screenshot about business expenses and using business credit cards to organize write-offs

My final push to get you the benefits of an LLC for your ecommerce business is to highlight the many tax benefits you will access. The United States tax codes were essentially created for business owners. The idea is that business owners help to create jobs and employ citizens. This process stimulates the U.S. economy.

Therefore, to help business owners boost the economy, the government has created a number of tax codes to benefit business owners. For this reason alone, I believe everyone should have some type of business. Even if you are happily employed, I encourage you to start some type of side business. Business owners have over 250 kinds of expenses that they can write-off. Employees simply do not get these benefits because they have no expenses for their job. The only way to tap into these benefits is by creating your own business.

Some of the top write-offs I utilize in my ecommerce business are business meals, travel expenses, computers, phone, internet, consultants, courses, and training. I even rent out a room in my house to my business as I use it for my office space. Essentially, nearly anything that is bought for the business can be written off as an expense. To get a clearer picture of what you can write-off for your business, check out the IRS’s resources for small businesses. Also, talk to tax professionals like Prime Corporate Services. At the end of the day, these tax codes are here to help business owners. You can either use them to your advantage or let them work against you. The choice will always be yours.

Consult With the Pros

man running his own side business at home

I hope you will be able to take the information presented 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. To get the ball rolling, sign up for access to our exclusive free webinar today. Be sure to check our YouTube channel for even more free resources and insights into dropshipping. Remember, your empire starts now!

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

by Peter PruOctober 14, 2020October 10, 2020Systems & ProcessesLeave a Comment

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.

Tagged : dropshipping / dropshipping tools / how to find products / how to start dropshipping / scaling your dropshipping business

How to Become a Full-Time Dropshipper and Quit Your Job

by Peter PruSeptember 9, 2020September 9, 2020One Product DropshippingLeave a Comment

If you develop a successful dropshipping business, it’s possible to quit your job and become a full-time dropshipper. Here, we’ll tell you some of the steps you’ll need to take if you want to make dropshipping a rewarding career. Dropshipping can entail a lot of effort. But it will be well worth it as you watch your salary grow and start experiencing the success you’ve worked so hard to achieve.

What Salary Level Should You Hit to Become a Full-Time Dropshipper?

According to some numbers from MSNBC, the average salary for various age groups from around 2018 to 2019, regardless of occupation, were as follows:

16-19 years: $422/week, $21,944/year
20-24 years: $525/week, $27,300/year
25-34 years: $776/week, $40,352/year
35-44 years: $976/week, $50,752/year
45-54 years: $975/week, $50,700/year
55-64 years: $966/week, $50,232/year
65 years and older: $904/week, $47,008/year

Based on these numbers, we’re going to use a baseline of $50,000 annually. If you can make that much every year, you’ll do well for yourself without the need for a full-time job, especially if you’re just getting started on growing your own business instead of slaving for another company’s success.

Sure, your first instinct might be to aim higher than $50,000 per year, with six or seven figures in your mind as the ideal achievement. However, it’s important to be practical and start small. We suggest you focus first on making dropshipping a full-time job, which $50,000 per year will enable you to do.

How to Achieve That $50,000 Goal and Become a Full-Time Dropshipper

With that end goal in mind, assume that you’ll need 20 percent margins and $250,000 in revenue. 20 percent might seem a little low, but this is in line with the more realistic end goal and can keep you from aiming too high from the start. With these goals, you’ll also allow yourself more room for error. You’ll need that space to correct for missteps as you learn what works and what doesn’t.

Target $250,000 in Annual Revenue

screen grab of good revenue and income goals for a starting dropshipping business

To start off, if you want to get to the point where you’re making $50,000 every year through dropshipping, you will need to aim for a revenue of around $250,000 per year. That goal might seem a bit overwhelming at first, but as you break it down like with every other goal, you’ll see how achievable it actually is.

Based on the target revenue of $250,000 annually, we can calculate the total amount we’ll need to earn every day, which comes to $684.93. Even that smaller number may intimidate you if that seems like a lot to work for on a daily basis. But this is entirely doable if you have the right systems in place.

The key here will be to develop an efficacious sales funnel that helps you:

Attract customers
Upsell orders
Obtain subscriptions for recurring sale
Maximize your customers’ lifetime value

screen grab of daily sales goals to achieve $50,000 in income a year

Ultimately, your average cart value should be around $20. Based on our daily goal, you’ll need to try to make around 34 sales per day. Again, that might seem like a lot of sales you need to make. There are also product costs and other expenses associated with those sales. But you can achieve that goal if you focus on increasing the average cart value as opposed to the number of overall sales.

Focus on Increasing the Value of Each Sale with Upsells

To begin moving toward that goal of 34 sales and $684.93 per day, let’s consider how that might be far more achievable if we increase the average cart value from $20 to $30. You might be wondering how that’s even possible beyond simply raising the price of your products. But the key is to increase the number of upsells.

For instance, a customer might be interested in buying a product such as a high-quality pen for $20. You could sell a complementary product like a premium notebook at a discounted price of, say, $15. This is perfect because this encourages the use of the first product and reinforces the customer’s decision to buy the pen. Together, both that pen and notebook would make up a cart value of $35.

Now, not every cart will be worth $30 or more through upselling. Not everyone will take you up on the upsell offers. At the same time, enough people could purchase those products and upsells to help raise the average cart value to $30 or more. In turn, you will need to make fewer sales per day, which puts less pressure on you.

Find Out What Your Niche Wants and Create Enticing Upsells

desk full of stylized items that can be upsell or repeat purchase ideas for dropshipping customers

You can make the most of each sale with ample upsells. These offers encourage the customer to spend more money on each purchase. If you’re worried about running out of ideas for upsells that might be exciting for your customers, then you may need to spend some more time learning your niche before you decide to become a full-time dropshipper. Try to figure out what your customers want and need.

Consider ways to address certain pain points that your customers might have, which your products can relieve. Certain accessories that complement your main products can save customers time and money. For example, for optimal convenience, you may want to include a protective case or a sleeve for that $20 pen, which helps customers complete a package that also includes that $15 notebook. Including these high-quality upsells can help you maximize that cart value so you can boost the average and, subsequently, reduce the amount of average daily sales you need to make.

By implementing a good sales funnel with plenty of upsells that your customers will want, you’ll be well on your way to hitting that $50,000-per-year goal. Then you can quit your job and comfortably become a full-time dropshipper. As your income begins to exceed that goal, you’ll see why dropshipping is worth the time and effort.

Consult With the Pros

To start working toward that $50,000 goal and become a full-time dropshipper, reserve your seat at the Ecommerce Master Class today. You’ll learn everything you need to know to jumpstart your business and sell winning products.

Tagged : dropshipping / dropshipping business growth / ecommerce dropshipping / how to start dropshipping / scaling your dropshipping business

Dropshipper’s Guide to Hiring a Virtual Assistant

by Peter PruSeptember 7, 2020September 7, 2020Systems & ProcessesLeave a Comment

One of the key elements of a successful dropshipping business is a stellar customer service team. Hiring a virtual assistant to handle customer questions and concerns can give you more time to spend on less routine matters. You can run your business more efficiently while keeping customers satisfied. To help facilitate this, it’s important to find the right virtual assistants to add to your team.

The Key Components of Good Customer Service

If you want to provide the best possible customer service and win consumers over, you need to have certain standards in place. If you don’t set the standards for good customer service, it doesn’t matter how you go about hiring a virtual assistant to help your business—nobody will be able to wave that magic wand and save your business.

There are several elements behind reliable, helpful customer service that can help you establish these standards. They include:

Quick Response Time

Consider the kind of response time that’s acceptable for your business to get back to customer requests. Your response time could be one or two days, or it could be as fast as hours or even minutes.

Efficient Ticketing Systems

You can also use a ticketing system to keep track of support tickets and use a monitoring system to see what kinds of questions customers are asking.

Quality Assurance

A lot of businesses fail to offer any quality assurance after they begin outsourcing customer service. This is a bad practice that can lead to unhappy customers who eventually drop off. Make sure the people you outsource your customer service to adhere to the standards and guidelines you have in place, or this could lead to a decrease in quality that keeps customers from coming back to you. We definitely recommend performing quality assurance checks once every two weeks or at least once a month.

Listening to Customer Feedback

It’s not enough to simply allow customers to provide feedback—you need to actually listen to it to optimize the customer experience. You could be implementing strategies based on customer feedback, which can help continue to improve products, services, and processes.

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)

Before putting your team together, it’s essential to have standard operating procedures in place. You won’t get very far if you don’t have some proven processes that can keep customer service consistently efficient and effective.

Why You Need Solid Standard Operating Procedures

screen grabbed list of benefits of having standard operating procedure documentation

It may sound daunting, but it’s worth the effort to create and implement SOPs for your business before hiring a customer service team. There are several key benefits to developing SOPs, including how they:

Hold Everyone Accountable

Having SOPs will help ensure that everyone is held accountable and provides consistently top-tier customer service. They also give clear guidelines for how things are properly done. If your VAs are uncertain of what to do at any point, they can consult that SOP repository to find out what the procedure would be.

Maintain Standards at Scale

Everyone in the company will be able to consult the SOPs to stay on the same page at all times when it comes to operations. Even business owners may forget the procedures they implemented. But with sufficient documentation, they can always go back to these resources to refresh their memory.

Quickly Bring New Team Members Up to Speed

Using SOPs, you can make sure your new team members have all the resources they need to keep up with the latest processes. Also, these new hires will be able to look at the SOPs and learn what they need to know without the need for manual training, which will streamline the onboarding process.

Provide Reference Points

Again, even business owners might need to refresh their memory when it comes to certain procedures and methods of operation in their own company. SOPs can provide a good reference point so anyone can easily go back and review the details.

Have Efficient Systems in Place

Having proven systems and processes in place can help your business in any number of ways. Apart from the key benefit of keeping things simple from start to finish, they can:

Ensure that all tasks are performed the same way for optimum consistency, efficiency, and quality
Replicate throughout the business in different areas, enabling businesses to recycle innovative process
Improve scalability by allowing you to make necessary changes to them as your business grows
Provide documentation that people can review

How to Start With Documentation Before Hiring a Virtual Assistant

When it comes to getting started with documentation, we recommend you stick to the KISS tradition, which we’ve slightly modified to “keep it stupid simple.” This entails simply keeping documentation so simple that just about anyone can understand it without any difficulty.

In addition to simple, your documentation needs to be consistently actionable and measurable. Every step should include something actionable that people can apply.

If you want to take full advantage of documentation to help improve simplicity and efficiency, try to create documentation for any recurring or repeatable task.

What Should You Outsource and Delegate?

list of routine business tasks that can be streamlined by hiring a virtual assistant

To begin determining what you should delegate and outsource, organize your day. Start by creating a list of all of the tasks that you complete on a daily basis.

What exactly needs to get done? Also, what can outsourcing help simplify?

Some of the tasks you might complete from the start of each day could be making phone calls, answering comments on social media, fulfilling orders, or posting updates on Instagram and other platforms. If you can compile an exhaustive list of all these tasks you complete every day, then you can then use this to create the foundation for your documentation.

Some processes you might create guidelines for, based on the daily tasks you complete every day, may include:

How to fulfill orders
How to look up and send tracking numbers
Order information email templates
Service information email templates
Refund email templates
How to upload and optimize social media photos

You can use a combination of text and video tutorials to help teach these processes to new employees.

The Best Place for Hiring a Virtual Assistant Online

virtual assistant handling client calls and order fulfillment

One great resource we recommend for finding your VAs and outsourcing your customer service is FreeUp. Visit our FreeUp page here to create an account and get a $50 coupon code that you can use toward jumpstarting your customer service team. What’s particularly nice about FreeUp compared to platforms like Fiverr or Upwork is that you can be sure you’ll find people who actually know what they’re doing. Every professional is screened to make sure they have the expertise they advertise.

You can hire just about everyone you’re through FreeUp for customer service and beyond, whether you need:

Phone support
Live chat support
Marketing
Proofreading
Content writing

The fact is that you can outsource just about every mundane task so you can focus on more important aspects of running your business.

Hiring a Virtual Assistant Is Part of a Business Growth Mindset

In short, we adhere to the philosophy of “do what you do best, and outsource the rest.” If you find that you can better spend your time on other things and someone else can get a lot of the routine work done, don’t be afraid of hiring a virtual assistant to do that work for you.

It may take a long time to grow your business to the point where you can easily outsource customer service. But it helps to treat your business like a seven-figure company from the very start. When launching your dropshipping business, get to work on listing those everyday tasks and developing SOPs. Then you won’t have to slow down when you start hiring and outsourcing. In the process, you’ll be geared for success every step of the way as you begin to grow.

If you want to learn more about getting started with dropshipping and launching your business, then attend the free Ecommerce Empire Builders Master Class. We’ll show you how easy it can be to set up a successful dropshipping business and excel in ecommerce.

Tagged : dropshipping business growth / how to start dropshipping / scaling your dropshipping business / virtual assistants / workflow

How to Assess and Build Great Subscription Box Offers

by Peter PruAugust 24, 2020August 5, 2020Niche Research / Product ResearchLeave a Comment

Empire builders, are you looking for ways to increase your ecommerce business revenue? Adding subscription boxes to your dropshipping business can earn you extra revenue. Read on to learn more about how you can build great subscription box offers that you can easily add to your dropshipping business.

How to Grow Your Dropshipping Business With Subscription Boxes

I have realized that many people who are starting out on ecommerce and dropshipping miss out on the opportunity to make extra money. However, having some kind of monthly program like a subscription box can help you get some free money.

Here is my advice on how to find and add these subscription boxes:

1. See How Other Businesses Build Great Subscription Box Offers

The first step is to do some research to see what kind of subscriptions are out there. Make sure you do not go too niche-specific — you want to get a lot of search results.

Research will give you great ideas and help you know what the actual offer is. The information you gather will come in handy when deciding what you need to offer to charge the kind of prices that others charge. In my view, you should not provide customers with too many options in terms of subscription. In fact, I would recommend a maximum of two options.

2. Focus on Value

Generally, people find value in the things that they enjoy doing. To get people to sign up for your subscription program, you have to make sure that you provide value. Tell your customers exactly what they will be getting for their money. Because people will always want more value in a box, you want to make sure that the value you offer outweighs what they spend.

We all have so many subscriptions to a variety of things and will remain on the subscription plan as long as we keep getting value. For instance, I am subscribed to a toothbrush company that sends me a new toothbrush with a battery every two to three months for about five to ten dollars. This saves me a lot of time and the trouble of having to think about it. When it comes to value, be sure to offer at least the average of what others in your niche are delivering to customers.

3. Focus on Simplicity and Functionality

As you work on adding subscription boxes, keep your offer easy and simple. A simple subscription plan will be less confusing to your customers and save you a lot of headaches down the line. Remember: confused customers never buy.

In the end, a clear message will also help you attract higher numbers. When looking at the different subscriptions that are available, you should compare them to find out who is giving the most value. When you’re working with an online retail service like AliExpress, make sure you find a supplier who will pack and ship it for you.

Pro Tip: Always Use High-Quality Images and Video

I always like it when businesses make proper use of images in their subscriptions. Images will play a big part in helping you show your customers what they will get when they sign up for your subscription plan. Try to use high-quality images to show them what is inside the box to raise your perceived value and come across as a valid business.

Another way to make the most of subscription boxes is to show people the experience of how it feels like to buy from you and open the box. You can do this by using images creatively and including an unboxing video that reviews the different products people will get. To create a high perceived value, I would suggest you get an influencer to create the videos for you rather than doing it yourself. Simply send the box to your influencer and describe the kind of unboxing video you would like for your advertisement.

When it comes to the subscription box game, you do not want to simply own a subscription box. These tips are actually designed for those who want to upsell subscriptions for growth. As an ecommerce empire builder, you should avoid selling subscriptions on the front end OR competing on price. Instead, focus on providing the value that your customers desire.

What to Know If You Are New to Ecommerce Empire Builders

man starting to research and build great subscription box offers

If you are new to Ecommerce Empire Builders, I would like to repeat that selling your subscription on the front end can make it difficult for you to be profitable. Because you will be competing with many people, you may want to focus on getting that first “yes.” My advice would be to build out a funnel and have a great front-end product to get your first purchase before upselling the subscription. This way, you will make money from the first sale and also get monthly subscribers in a cost-effective way.

In summary, the first thing you need to understand is that people are looking for more value in a box. My advice to you would be to take time and look at different subscription boxes in your specific niche to get an idea of the value they are offering in the boxes. This information will help you determine how much value you need to build great subscription box offers.

A useful rule of thumb is to double the value or make it between $10 and $15 more than what they are paying to ensure that subscription boxes work for your business. Consider having your supplier send the packed products in a box so you can see the finished product for yourself.

Consult With the Pros

When you are ready to add extra revenue to your business through subscription boxes, you should consider joining the Ecommerce Empire Academy. Our platform is designed to equip you with the tools and skills you need to become a successful ecommerce entrepreneur. Sign up to access our exclusive free webinar. You can also check out our YouTube channel to learn more about subscription boxes in the dropshipping industry.

Tagged : how to find products / how to start dropshipping / product research / subscription boxes / upselling tips

The Ultimate Dropshipping Case Study: Launching a $100/Day Business Within 5 Days

by Peter PruAugust 17, 2020August 5, 2020Dropshipping Case Studies6 Comments

One common issue among dropshippers is the tendency to overanalyze and overthink the startup process. Oftentimes, people want to get everything perfect before launching their dropshipping business. But it’s important to get something out there as soon as possible to help you grow. In this ultimate dropshipping case study, we’ll look at one business we helped go from nothing to earning around $135 per day within five days.

We’ll also discuss how that success came from launching early, measuring the data, and optimizing accordingly to improve performance. In this article, you’ll learn what takeaways from this ultimate dropshipping case study you can apply to your business to help you flourish.

Day 1

screen grab of the purchasing data from day one in the ultimate dropshipping case study

For one of our clients, we started off on day one of their business with $32.94 worth of sales, which we were able to analyze through the client’s Clickfunnels sales funnel. You can learn more about how to use a five-page sales funnel template, too.

This is the sales funnel process we began with:

1. Squeeze Pages

At the beginning of each sales funnel, the customer is taken to a squeeze page, which is primarily intended to grab the person’s email address. This email address can later be used as an asset to help follow up with promotional emails and remarketing campaigns. Long email lists can help you earn a lot more money in the long run, and your sales funnels will be the key to building them.

2. Order Bumps

It’s also important to give the customer an order bump. This is essentially a small add-on item to the customer’s shopping list that the customer will be willing to add to their order. Having an order bump can further boost the value of each customer order.

3. Upsell Pages

In addition to the squeeze page and the order bump, you can also use upsell pages, or one-time offers (OTOs), to further increase the value of each purchase. Encouraging customers to buy additional items for less is a good way to increase customer satisfaction. For the first OTO, we offered more of the same product. For the second OTO, we offered less of the same product, and the third was a monthly subscription.

A monthly subscription is one of the most powerful assets for your business. If you can get people to commit to a regular subscription, this means regular recurring revenue for you. Whether it’s for a service or a subscription box with different product variations, you can establish consistent income with a good subscription program.

4. Quantity Breaks

Through our client’s Facebook ads, we were able to draw in some cold traffic to our sales funnel. On day one, we attracted two visitors, and the average cart value for the day was $16.47. While one customer chose to buy two of the promoted product, the other customer chose to purchase four. This example alone shows how powerful quantity breaks can be when selling a product. If you clearly show how much customers can save by purchasing two, four, six, eight, or even bigger quantities of a product, they’ll be far more likely to make bigger purchases.

5. What to Keep in Mind About Facebook Ads

screen grab of Facebook ad analytics to show the impact of consistent campaigns

When it came to the ad campaigns, we spent around $29.57. So, given the total revenue, we basically broke even for the day. Keep in mind that breaking even on cold traffic is a good thing, as it means that you can essentially get customers for free and, if they’re satisfied, they’re likely to spend more and become repeat customers. Just starting out with Facebook ads, your campaigns won’t be profitable right away. But with enough time, ads can be well worth the investment.

If you can make your average cart value equal to or higher than your cost per purchase, you’re on your way to success.

Day 2

On day two, we made the same as day one at $32.94, with an average cart value of $16.47. In fact, the data in our sales funnel was the same: there were two customers, one buying two of the product and the other buying four.

The ad data revealed that our Facebook ads led to one of the customer acquisitions, and again, we broke even. For just two days, this didn’t look bad to us, so we saw no need to change anything yet. We recommend that you also avoid taking any action with your ads and experimenting until a few days have passed. By waiting, you can get a better idea of how well your efforts are performing and determine where to go from there.

Day 3

On day three, things didn’t go quite as well, with only one customer coming in who made a single purchase of two of the promoted item. The total revenue was $12.97.

At this point, we decided to shut off one ad that wasn’t performing well and launch another. After three days of running our campaigns, we felt this was an appropriate change to make.

Day 4

man looking at his watch as he waits to change his ad campaign strategies

Day four saw some improvement with a total of $72.88 worth of sales, and an average cart value of $18.22. We drew in four customers. One bought a single unit, while two bought four items, and the fourth bought a quantity of six. None of our upsells had seen any action yet, but it was still a good day.

Again, we spent around $30 on ads, and our new campaign worked well along with the others. And because of the minimal amount of change to our campaign, we were able to see some profits. We can’t stress enough that it’s best to wait until your campaigns have had a chance to work before making changes. If we had made too many changes too soon, we may not have seen these profits.

Day 5

By day five, we had broken $130 dollars. Our total revenue was $135.79, with an average cart value of $27.16. We brought in five customers, one of whom purchased one item. The same day, two customers purchased four items, another two purchased eight, and, perhaps most excitingly, we successfully upsold one!

Compare this to when we were somewhat worried about our upsell page performance on days two through four. If we had made any changes then, we may not have seen this success by day five.

Another positive on day five was that we attracted 21 opt-ins who submitted their email addresses. While only five actually made a purchase, our email campaigns were ready to go and help bring those people back to buy at a later date.

Don’t Underestimate the Power of Quantity Breaks

One of the biggest takeaways in this ultimate dropshipping case study is the importance of quantity breaks. Considering many of our profits came from customers buying two or more of the promoted item, you can see how profitable quantity breaks can be. People want to save as much as possible, so if you can provide quantity break discounts, you’ll ultimately drive more sales.

We would also like to further emphasize the importance of upsells. We may have only seen one on day five, but that means more profit and could lead to future upsells. Don’t be discouraged if your upsells aren’t performing well within the first couple of days. Give them some time like the rest of your campaign.

With these practices, we were able to help our client earn over $135 within a week. Just imagine how your business can perform in the long term if you practice the same strategies from this ultimate dropshipping case study.

Consult With the Pros

Do you want to learn more about how to build a reliable and efficient sales funnel for your dropshipping business? Reserve your seat at the Ecommerce Empire Builders free ecommerce masterclass today.

Tagged : case studies / Clickfunnels / dropshipping business growth / dropshipping tools / how to start dropshipping / Sales Funnel

How to Use a One Product Sales Funnel to Build a Profitable Dropshipping Store

by Peter PruAugust 10, 2020August 3, 2020ClickFunnels Training / One Product Dropshipping2 Comments

If you want to create a profitable dropshipping store that sells a single product, you can do so by using Clickfunnels sales funnels. At Ecommerce Empire Builders, we typically use sales funnels to attract and acquire customers in the front end, while Shopify is used in the back end to sell premium-priced products and make additional sales. Regardless of your specific strategy, it’s the one-product sales funnel that will serve as your primary moneymaker and generate profits for your dropshipping business.

How a One Product Sales Funnel Works

One of the first things you’re likely to notice upon encountering a one product sales funnel is that it’s quite different from a Shopify store. On Shopify, people land on a page full of products and various elements, to the point where it can be a bit overwhelming for users. A sales funnel, on the other hand, will direct users to a much simpler page known as a squeeze page. Oftentimes, the squeeze page will request visitors to leave their email in exchange for a free product or discount offer.

After a user leaves their email address on the squeeze page, the user will then be directed to an order form where they will enter their shipping and billing information. This order form shows up in far fewer clicks than users would typically experience when shopping on Shopify, which is why a sales funnel is so effective.

Once the user completes the order form, they will encounter an upsell page that encourages the customer to buy more of a product at a lower unit rate. You can create as many upsell pages as you want as long as customers can clearly see the value of the upsell.

Through the entire sales funnel, the entire process can be completed within just a few clicks. That’s much more appealing than the potentially daunting task of going through the Shopify platform. Experiment with the process with this free funnel template on Clickfunnels.

The Benefit of Bypassing the Shopping Cart

One of the key reasons you’re more likely to experience success with a one product sales funnel through Clickfunnels is that you can avoid the pains of a shopping cart. Normally, Shopify customers would need to add products to their cart — which is often where customers abandon the customer journey.

Customers ordinarily browse an online store and add items to their cart. But once they get to the checkout page and they see the total (including tax and shipping and handling costs), they’re far more likely to turn away from the store entirely. The sales funnel, on the other hand, omits the shopping cart process, leading customers to a quick and easy one-time purchase.

Why Getting Email Addresses Through the Sales Funnel Is Crucial

screen grab of how to set of targeted, delayed emails in Clickfunnels

Before the customer makes a purchase through your sales funnel, they’ll first submit an email address that goes into your database. That email is an invaluable asset for your business because you can follow up with them via email and other marketing channels.

You can use an email address to launch retargeting ad campaigns that help bring customers back to you, or you can launch email campaigns that notify prospects of offers and promotional sales that they’re likely to care about. In the process, you can build trust among those users. As they become more familiar with and trusting of your brand, you’ll have a greater chance of getting them to make a purchase. In this article, I talk more about how to convert non-buyers and get the most value out of every lead.

Remember: while many people may go through the sales funnel and make a purchase right away, most people won’t. In fact, the average conversion rate for a sales funnel is around 10 percent. (But compare this to the under two-percent conversion rate that you would otherwise experience with a Shopify store alone.)

Focus on a Single Valuable Product

screen grab of how to add upsell options to a one product sales funnel

One key mistake that many businesses make with a sales funnel is using it to push too many products, which can overwhelm the user much in the same way a Shopify store might. Instead, focus on a specific product that makes it clear to customers what they should buy.

Ultimately, people prefer to be plainly told what the best value is. They also want businesses to direct them to the ideal product. The last thing they want is to be faced with too many options, particularly if they’re encountering a new, unfamiliar product for the first time.

The best strategy to approach a sales funnel is to focus on a best-selling product that people are more likely to buy. Build your campaign around it. You can then push that product and over-deliver on it with a discount or free shipping, which further drives sales.

Once the customer is ready for an upsell, you can offer another variation of that product, including a higher volume with a discount. You don’t even need to bring the customer to an upsell page. Simply add a bumper to the order form that makes it even easier to add more to their purchase.

In short, spend your energy pushing one high-value product on the front end, and sell more through your Shopify store on the back end.

Keep Prospective and Past Customers Engaged

couple making an online purchase after receiving engaging reminders

Keeping in mind that around 90 percent of people won’t actually make a purchase when going through the one product sales funnel, it’s important to do what you can to follow up with as many users as possible to maximize sales.

Using Clickfunnels Automation tools, you can follow up more easily with people based on certain events. For instance, you can create and send out emails for different groups, including:

Emails geared toward everyone who’s submitted their email address.
Users who saw the page but never made a purchase.
Users who made a purchase and are more likely to buy from you again.

We recommend that you create at least three emails for these three groups, which will help you get the most from your sales funnels.

Make sure to set a delay for each email, starting with a delay of around one hour, one day, and then two days later for people who’ve visited the squeeze page but never made a purchase. This will help remind people to come back without being too pushy. For people who’ve actually purchased, it’s often best to set a delay of around two days before sending an enticing upsell offer.

Clickfunnels makes it incredibly easy to format and customize each email, so you should have these campaigns up and running in no time.

Other Ways to Optimize Your One Product Sales Funnel

In addition to automated email campaigns, you can also automate upsells. You can set up reminders for visitors who never purchased those upsells. If they decide to buy, they’ll be automatically billed, which means you earn a quick sale and the customer makes a hassle-free purchase.

However, it’s important to let people know that they will be billed automatically in these cases. One way to turn away a customer is to leave them with unpleasant surprises. You also have the option of sending order confirmation emails to customers after they make a purchase, which people always appreciate.

Consult With the Pros

Taking the time to create and optimize your Clickfunnels sales funnels will help you increase sales while making things easier for yourself as a Shopify store owner. If you want to learn more about how to run a successful dropshipping business using sales funnels, reserve your seat at the Ecommerce Empire Builders free ecommerce masterclass today. You’ll find out how to create a full-time income online.

Tagged : Clickfunnels / email strategies / how to start dropshipping / one product dropshipping / Sales Funnel

How to Start a Subscription Box Business and Triple Your Profits in 2020

by Peter PruAugust 5, 2020August 2, 2020Product ResearchLeave a Comment

One of the easiest ways to increase your profits via ecommerce is to create recurring revenue. You can do that through the sales of subscription boxes. Many people who get into dropshipping miss out on the chance to maximize income because they don’t take advantage of opportunities to generate recurring revenue. Get started by reading (and watching) the Ecommerce Empire Builders guide on how to start a subscription box business.

How to Find Subscription Boxes That Help Dramatically Boost Profits

Subscription plans can essentially help you earn free money by encouraging people to make repeat purchases on a regular basis. The key is knowing where to look for those lucrative subscription boxes that are likely to be worth the investment.

Start With a General Search

One of the best places to start your search for the ideal subscription box is Google. Simply conduct a Google search around “subscription boxes” and your specific niche. For instance, you might search “hiking subscription boxes,” which may yield many results to review. If you don’t see a lot of results in your search, this could indicate that you’re narrowing down your search too much. It’s best to keep things relevant but relatively broad.

Remember: just like with products, it’s important to choose competitive subscription box niches. Don’t complicate the process of how to start a subscription box business by trying to break new ground.

Look Through Affiliate Posts

You may come across a result that features an affiliate blog listing the “top subscription boxes” in your specific niche. You can look through the list for ideas for which subscription boxes are the best models of what to sell to your customers. While you might believe that people aren’t likely to spend upwards of hundreds of dollars on a monthly basis for a subscription box, you’d be mistaken. In fact, particularly in hobby niches, people love to spend money on what they love doing, be it hiking or another activity that they’ll always enjoy. This holds true regardless of the state of the economy.

Examine the Actual Boxes

Take a look at an individual subscription box and determine what they offer in each box, along with the pricing structure. A good subscription box will offer around two to three plans at most. This keeps things simple, and that’s more likely to encourage prospective customers to make a commitment.

One big selling point is the retail value included in the subscription box. This should be clearly displayed on the merchant’s page. The value should always outweigh what the customer pays, which truly shows that the box is worth the investment. However, this is very different from competing on price. Watch this breakdown of the secret to subscription box profitability.

Why It’s Often Best to Sell Physical Products

Many people prefer to subscribe to subscription boxes that make it easier to get what they want or need without putting much thought into it. For instance, you might be subscribed to a shaving kit subscription box, which keeps you stocked with high-quality shaving supplies. Now, you don’t have to think about going to the store or manually choosing your shaving products. At the same time, the retail value in each box outweighs what you actually end up paying per month.

This is why it’s often easiest to sell physical products over services through subscription plans. The key to how to start a subscription box business and be successful is to always think about what the customer needs.

Regardless of which plan you consider, look at multiple options and determine which subscription offers the best value and can attract the most customers.

Take a Look at Examples to Better Gauge the Value

When looking at the various subscription boxes out there, examine your potential competitors in depth. Do what you can to find examples of boxes that show precisely how much each box contains and display what customers can expect. Many subscription boxes websites allow you to view boxes that reveal what was included in previous shipments.

If you can’t determine if the value is higher than the price of the subscription box, or if a poor-quality website may reflect the quality of the products, move on. It’s best to look elsewhere for a more trustworthy subscription model.

Also, Take a Look at Your Suppliers

Once you’ve found the right subscription box for inspiration, keep in mind that you won’t necessarily need to be the one fulfilling the orders for each subscription. Before you get too deep in your journey of how to start a subscription box business, you need the right suppliers. Your supplier should have fulfillment centers that help simplify this process. You can also work with manufacturers who will customize designs, put each subscription box together, and ship them to your customers.

Create a Landing Page That Fully Illustrates the Value of the Subscription Box

When you’ve created the right box, it’s time to begin selling it. One of the first steps to take is to develop a strong landing page. Make sure it highlights the features and value of the box. In most cases, you should try to find a box with a retail value of at least $50 per box.

One small tip to help you sell your subscription box to customers is to use an unboxing video that clearly shows what’s included in each box. You don’t have to make one yourself. You can work with an influencer. They’ll produce an unboxing video for you. Then you can use it on a landing page that customers will be able to see. A brief unboxing video can go a long way in helping sell those boxes.

Avoid Selling the Subscription on the Front End

Before you try to sell your subscription, it’s important to entice customers with a specific product. Don’t try to sell a subscription right from the start of the sales funnel. Instead, create a funnel that begins with selling a single product that will encourage people to buy more from you.

From there, they may be more likely to subscribe to your box. Upsell with a simple offer such as, “Do you like our product? Give our subscription box a try.” If the customer liked that first product, they’ll probably consider your subscription plan. Subsequently, you’ll save more money as you essentially earn those customers for free.

By looking at the many subscription boxes out there in your niche and pinpointing the value they offer vs. the price they charge, you can craft the right subscription box for your ecommerce business. Remember, you need to show the value of what your customers are getting. Then, you’ll be a lot more likely to increase sales and maximize profitability with recurring revenue.

Consult With the Pros

Would you like to learn more about how to grow your ecommerce business and find out how to make money easily? Reserve your seat at the Ecommerce Empire Builders free sales funnel masterclass. You’ll find out how you can generate a full-time income online without any need for a full business website, touching the products you sell, or expensive ads.

Tagged : dropshipping business growth / how to start dropshipping / recurring revenue / subscription boxes / upselling tips

Top 4 Dropshipping Payment Processors for US and Non-US Residents in 2020

by Peter PruAugust 3, 2020September 7, 2020Systems & ProcessesLeave a Comment

One of the most important aspects of a dropshipping business is payment processing. However, it can be difficult to choose the right payment processor for your business — whether you’re a US or non-US resident. You may also experience problems with processors such as PayPal and Stripe, which may lead you to turn away from those and seek alternatives. Check out these four dropshipping payment processors and find the right one for your business.

How Stripe Changed eCommerce

Before the introduction of Stripe, which made it easy for ecommerce business owners to set up payment and get approval, there were many steps involved in setting up payment processing. Some of these steps included:

Setting up merchant accounts
Handling payment gateways
Organizing and maintaining sufficient documentation

All of these steps made it a daunting task to set up payment processing. With the advent of Stripe, business owners (including dropshippers) could easily accept online payments via credit card and other methods.

However, with more simplicity comes more responsibility: Stripe can easily shut users down for violations or customer mistrust. Stripe, like other payment processing platforms, has the best interest of the customer in mind, which can lead to shutting you down if your dispute rate or chargeback rate is too high.

If you’re just starting out in dropshipping and need a reliable dropshipping payment processor that can give you the best results, you may want to use Stripe. But there are also other options, depending on your needs and preferences. The following are our picks for the top four dropshipping payment processors available for both national and international users.

1. Stripe

screen grab discussing Stripe and its benefits as a payment processing platform

Although certain caveats come with using Stripe, we still recommend this for both new and veteran users. The main reason we recommend Stripe is because it takes no time to get approved, and you can begin taking payments immediately after setup.

As your business begins to grow, managing Stripe could become more complicated. For instance, Stripe may begin holding your funds if your dispute rate exceeds one percent. Eventually, this could lead to shutting you down.

While you may risk having funds withheld and your account closed if you experience too many issues, Stripe is still one of the most reliable payment processors out there. You just need a solid plan so you can manage disputes and chargebacks.

Even if you are in another country where Stripe isn’t supported, you may still be able to set up an account.

2. PayPal

We also still suggest you use PayPal, simply because of the boost in conversions that it can give you. This is because while you can still get conversions if you set up Stripe and a sales funnel, you can gain more credibility if you take the time to set up a PayPal account and include that badge in your sales funnel.

A lot of people also prefer to pay with PayPal because of its dependability and security. It also tends to make it easy for customers to make a purchase. You can even integrate Clickfunnels and Paypal, which I go over in this step-by-step video.

On the other hand, many people are hesitant to use PayPal because of certain issues that can happen. After all, PayPal has been known to withhold funds in many cases, slowly paying users in small increments. Regardless, it’s still worth having PayPal for the sake of boosting credibility and conversions.

However, we do recommend that before opening up a PayPal account, it’s best to set up your sales funnel and Stripe account first. Ensure it’s all working the way it should. Then you can add PayPal to the mix.

If you’re a non-US resident and can’t get approved for Stripe or PayPal, there are a couple of alternatives that we recommend.

3. Payoneer

In some cases, you may not be able to set up Stripe. If you can set up a PayPal account, it’s perfectly possible to use this platform without Stripe and build your business that way. But it’s best to have both, particularly if you’re just getting started in the dropshipping business.

Keep in mind that, like with other dropshipping payment processors, you will have to deal with certain processes on Payoneer that can make setting up a little tricky.

A few of the steps involved in setting up Payoneer and connecting it with Stripe will include:

Signing up for a Payoneer account and linking it to your bank account
Setting up a business LLC
Using your LLC to create a Stripe account

We understand that the very thought of going through the process of setting up a business LLC may induce some eye-rolling. But there are certain steps that business owners need to take, and doing so will be worth it in the long run.

What happens when you create an LLC for both Payoneer and Stripe?

You can then connect that Stripe account with your Payoneer account. This step will enable you to receive payments in your local bank account. The entire process can take a few weeks to complete, but it will be more than worth the effort in the long run.

Once you have all of this set up and you’re ready to go, we can’t emphasize enough the importance of having backups in the event that something goes wrong and puts your business at risk. This leads us to our next recommendation.

4. Easy Pay Direct

screen grab of Easy Pay Direct, one of the four dropshipping payment processors that acts as a backup system

If you don’t have sufficient backups in place for your payment processing accounts on PayPal, Stripe, or Payoneer, this can leave your business vulnerable. If Stripe or another processor shuts you down for any reason and you have no backup solution, then you won’t receive payments. Subsequently, neither will your employees, leading you to essentially shut down your business.

Easy Pay Direct is a great way to make sure you have backups in place. It’s basically a payment gateway, which is a kind of portal that can give you insights into multiple merchant accounts. Using Easy Pay Direct, you can be comfortable in knowing that you’ll always be in business even if something happens to your Stripe account or another account. Accidents can always happen in business, which is why it’s best to be prepared, and Easy Pay Direct is crucial to keep you protected.

You may need to build up some sales volume before you can get approved for Easy Pay Direct. Because of this, we recommend you set up your Stripe, PayPal, and Payoneer accounts first. Then scale your business before turning to Easy Pay Direct as a backup. You may also wind up paying fees upwards of a couple hundred dollars per month for Easy Pay Direct, but think of it as insurance that’s worth the investment.

Each of these dropshipping payment processors and gateways can help you only receive payments quickly and easily. They can also make sure that your business is consistently protected in the event of any issues with your accounts. Another great way to make sure your business is as consistently profitable as possible is to automate your order fulfillment process.

Consult With the Pros

dropshipper considering the four dropshipping payment processors

Setting up dropshipping payment processors is just the start of your ecommerce journey. Learn more about how to build and grow your dropshipping business — reserve your seat at the free Ecommerce Empire Builders masterclass. We’ll teach you everything you need to know about starting a successful dropshipping business.

Tagged : dropshipping business growth / dropshipping tools / how to start dropshipping / online payments / payment processors

Generate $300 a Day With a Five-Page Dropshipping Funnel

by Peter PruJuly 29, 2020July 16, 2020ClickFunnels Training / Dropshipping Case StudiesLeave a Comment

Empire builders, are you ready to take your ecommerce business to the next level? Today, I’m going to let you on all the best-kept secrets of building profitable dropshipping funnels. Through our Business in a Box program, I recently created a five-page dropshipping funnel that went from $0 to $100 in sales on its very first day. Within five days, this same funnel was generating over $300 in sales each day. Read on to learn how you can create your own profitable dropshipping funnel in 2020.

5 Steps to Creating a Profitable Dropshipping Store

You’ve seen others find success in the ecommerce industry, and you want to experience that same type of success for yourself. By following the five steps below, you will be well on your way to generating over $300 a day with your own dropshipping funnel in 2020.

1. Find a Passion Niche

The first step in creating a profitable dropshipping store in 2020 is to select a passion niche. People put money into their passions, so you need to find a niche that many people have already been doing and will continue to do. If you’re having trouble coming up with an idea, head on over to Wikipedia and search hobbies. This search will generate a list of thousands of hobbies that people have historically enjoyed.

I recommend choosing a hobby that you enjoy, as well. By no means do you have to choose a hobby that you are passionate about yourself. However, building and growing your business will be a lot more enjoyable if you enjoy the niche you’re going into.

2. Create an Irresistible Offer

After choosing a niche for your dropshipping store, it’s time to come up with an irresistible offer. Your offer is actually the most important part of your entire business. Your offer has to be compelling and enticing. Customers need a reason to buy from you instead of from Amazon or Walmart. The offer will always be the most crucial piece of the pie when it comes to creating a profitable dropshipping store.

To make an enticing offer, I like to pair one physical product with two digital products. This strategy is a way to set yourself apart from the competition. Without implementing this strategy, you’re just competing on price. Competing on price is simply just a race to the bottom. You have to give your customer something enticing other than just a product available at the lowest price possible.

3. Build Out Your Five-Page Dropshipping Funnel

After coming up with an irresistible offer, it’s time to build out your funnel. At Ecommerce Empire Builders, we build all of our dropshipping funnels through the ClickFunnels software. We have found great success for ourselves and our clients with this platform and recommend that you use it, as well.

On ClickFunnels, there are a ton of different funnel option templates to choose from or build from scratch. On the funnel that generated over $300 a day in just five days, we used a simple five-page dropshipping funnel.

First Page — Front End Offer

screen grab of explaining why collecting emails is an essential part of the five-page dropshipping funnel

The first page of your funnel is where your front end offer is displayed. Your front end offer is what you focus your ads on. This is also the page where you collect emails of the customers to build your email list. This step is crucial for capitalizing on your leads.

Second Page — Order Bump

The second page of the funnel is an order bump option. This is where you present the customer with the opportunity to buy more of the front end offer.

Third Page — Upsell Offer #1

The third page of the funnel is where you present your first upsell offer. This is where you offer customers the opportunity to buy a premium product related to your front end offer.

Fourth Page -Upsell Offer #2

The fourth page of the funnel is exactly the same as the third page of the funnel. You are simply offering another product as an upsell offer that is somehow related to the front end offer.

Fifth Page — Subscription Offer

The fifth page of the funnel is where you try to entice customers to opt-in to a subscription service that relates to the front end offer.

Everyone in the ecommerce industry needs to be offering these order bumps and upsell offers on their funnels. They are easy ways to increase the average cart values of your customers. You are doing yourself and your business a disservice when you neglect this aspect of your funnel.

4. Drive Traffic to the Funnel

baking hobbyist looking at ads on her phone

After your funnel is built out, you need to start driving traffic to your funnel. Everything up until now has been the “easy” part of creating a profitable dropshipping store. Driving traffic to your funnel will be where the real challenges come into play.

Running Facebook ads is the simplest way to go when trying to drive traffic to your store, but you can use Instagram influencers, too (and I show you how to do it here). You will need to do tons of market research to get this element of the funnel just right. We typically like to spend between $20 to $30 a day on our initial Facebook ads. With these initial ads, we try to run three different ad sets for seven days. It would be best if you had a variation in your ads — variety will ultimately attract customers. Success won’t happen overnight, so be patient with running your ads.

5. Interpret Funnel Data

As you’re running your first ad set for those initial seven days, collect as much data as possible. Take note of your average cart value and opt-in rates. You can then use this data to make micro tweaks in your funnel to optimize it to its full potential. Continually collecting and interpreting your funnel data will enable you to make the right tweaks to make your five-page dropshipping funnel as profitable as possible.

Consult With the Pros

screen grab of a case study's revenue over time

I’ve dropped a lot of knowledge on you today, and I hope you can use some of it as you strive to build your own profitable dropshipping funnel in 2020. If you want some more guidance in your funnel building process, feel free to reach out to our team. At Ecommerce Empire Builders, we can help you build, launch, and scale your own profitable dropshipping business. To get the ball rolling, sign up for access to our exclusive free webinar today. Be sure to check our YouTube channel for even more free resources and insights into the dropshipping industry. Remember, your empire starts now.

Tagged : case studies / Clickfunnels / how to start dropshipping / offer strategies / Sales Funnel