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“This year’s Black Friday is going to be a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

Said Kamil Sattar as we sat down to talk about how he generated over 1 million in sales revenue during BFCM last year. 

We all agreed that Black Friday 2020 is going to be an extraordinary opportunity to break into entrepreneurship and build a store and skillset that secures sales year-round. We asked Kamil all the questions a budding entrepreneur, as well as a seasoned dropshipper may have on building a thriving online store. 

We wanted to give you a leg up on your competition, and help you gain the skills and knowledge necessary to make this BFCM an incredible platform to start or grow your dropshipping business. 

We’ll be covering anything from how to get started, the best marketing tactics, and how to find winning products for this year’s BFCM, holiday season, and beyond. By the end of this article, you’ll be fully equipt with the tools and strategies you need to make this BFCM one for the books. 

Are you ready for a life changing Q4?

How can a Novice get started? 

There’s no better time than the present, and with Black Friday approaching, setting up your online store and social networks is critical now. 

Building a trusted brand and testing which ads and segments are successful takes time and effort, so to get the formula right, now’s the time to fail fast and learn the lessons that will lead you to success. 

We want to help you get started right away, so we’ve outlined how you can start a dropshipping business below, and be on the fast lane to a profitable online store. 

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1. Select a Niche

A step that can’t be rushed; selecting a profitable, thriving niche that you genuinely enjoy is critical to starting your online store on the right foot. 

You can set up your base by listing the niches you enjoy, for example: Pets, babies, women’s fashion, etc. From here, you need to do some quantitative research to discover which terms are trending and have the most search volume. 

Use Specific terms like “Dog Collar” or “Leggings with pockets” to get a better understanding of what people are searching for specifically. 

2. Select an eCommerce Platform

eCommerce platforms make getting started easy, and have all of the tools necessary to build an ecommerce website. Each option below features a free trial and amazing templates to get you started on your online store. 

1. Shopify
2. BicCommerce
3. Wix
4. WooCommerce (for Wordpress users)

3. Find Dropshipping Suppliers and products

You have two options for finding dropshipping suppliers and products. 

You can search and reach out to suppliers individually and test their products, quality and shipping times, or you can register for a platform that already does this for you.  

Before choosing suppliers, you need to make sure that they have a large inventory and production capacity as well as the capacity to produce new and trending products. 

You need to go on your customers journey and vet the suppliers based on these three criteria: 

1. Communication: How well and often do suppliers communicate about delivery status or tracking numbers?
   
   
2. Shipping Time: How long does it take for your product to arrive, and is it in accordance with their listed processing and delivery ranges?
   
   
3. Quality of Product: How does the product look when it is delivered? How do you feel when opening and reviewing your product? 

Whether you’re doing this individually or using a dropshipping platform, keep in mind that your products will be a representation of you. So make sure you evaluate suppliers based on these questions and look for fast shipping, unique dropshipping products, and reliable returns and satisfaction guarantees. 

Tips for a high-converting dropshipping store

Now that you’re set up with the basics, It’s time to build a storefront that makes impulse buys irresistible, and recurring customers a norm. 

We asked Kamil what his store looks like, and what dropshippers can focus on to make sure their online store is high converting and engaging enough to turn visitors into customers. He shared the following critical tips:

1. Keep it simple

The first thing Kamil stressed was to keep it super simple. A fast page loading time and a mobile friendly interface is absolutely critical, so keeping a 2 second loading time on even the slowest network is ideal. Anything more than two seconds increases your bounce rate by 40%, a loss you can’t afford after spending time and money getting that visitor on your page.

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2. Mobile Friendly

Having a mobile-friendly eCommerce store is a no-brainer, since more than half of international website traffic is from a mobile device. Make sure you’re accommodating half of your traffic by ensuring your store loads quickly and is easy to navigate on mobile. If you’re curious about how your eCommerce store scores on a mobile friendly test, try out Google’s free mobile-friendly test and make sure you fix any slow loading images and pages. 

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3. More Visuals, Less Text

If there’s one thing we all agreed on, it’s that people are too lazy to read. Us included, we simply don’t have the time or patience to read unnecessary text.  

Put yourself in your customers shoes, they land on your page to look at your branding, products and be inspired enough to make a purchase. They don’t have the time or patience to read a paragraph right at the header, and they’re not interested in wordy propositions. Keep things visually appealing, and use concise sentences that deliver the message in a simple but powerful way. 

But how can you communicate the value proposition? 

Focus on adding imagery and graphics that put your point across in as few words as possible. Use creative imagery to entice your customer to purchase and help build your brand up. Check out an example of beautiful visuals and proposition below: 

If you take your own product photos, Kamil suggested adding in unboxing videos or images to not only build trust, but to let them know that you’re a real small business and take customer trust seriously. 

How do you create ads to capture people’s attention? 

Building a creative marketing strategy that keeps your visitors scrolling is going to be the cornerstone of your success. 

How does a successful dropshipper like Kamil keep his visitors engaged, and leave an impression on them? 

Here are some fun and engaging  sales tactics that Kamil used to generate over a million in revenue last year. These Black Friday marketing tactics are a surefire way to keep users on your page, and entice them to make a purchase. 

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Gamification

People love playing games. What they love more than a fun game, is winning! Give your visitors a reason to convert by offering them a chance at a discount if they play. It doesn't have to be anything complicated, it could even be something as simple as spinning a virtual wheel. 

What matters is that they get a “one-time opportunity” to win a substantial discount on your products. Even if they don’t end up converting, have them enter their email to play, and build your email marketing leads for future conversion. 

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The Final Countdown: Apply Urgency

Give your visitors a reason to act fast and make their purchase “before it’s too late!” by incorporating a one time countdown for a discount. If you had to make a purchase in the next 6 hours to receive 50% off, wouldn’t you act fast and make your purchase?

These scarcity tactics work wonders on Black Friday since the appeal of a good deal for a limited time is heightened. However, make sure it’s a deal that no one would want to pass up. 

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Social Proofing

We can’t overstate the importance of building trust in your eCommerce store. From secure payments to generous guarantees, having these in place makes it easier for people to trust you and purchase from you. 

Using a social proofing mechanism helps build this trust, by showing people - in real time - that someone out there is also shopping on this website and putting things in their cart. You’ve probably noticed it before and never realized that it covertly builds trust.