7 Reasons why people fail with dropshipping

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Business involves making mistakes. That's part and parcel of the game. While nobody ever sets up a new business without bumps along the way, you can take control by being prepared, researching, and finding out from other entrepreneurs in your market. Dropshipping can bring great success and it will probably entail some error-making. Read this article to steer clear of these common pitfalls.

1. Throwing money at paid ads

This is a big mistake that can quickly suck your marketing budget dry and lead your dropshipping business to shipwreck. What are paid ads? Those sponsored search results at the top of Google, and the promotional adverts on Facebook and Instagram, are paid to pop up on your feed. Businesses can benefit from these to quickly drive traffic to their online stores and encourage sales.

In fact, according to SERP Watch 2021, almost 65% of people click on Google Ads. So, when done correctly, and with an advertising plan in place, paid adverts are a good method of boosting your brand and gaining popularity. The mistake comes when business owners dive in headfirst without a second thought about the details.

Throwing money at paid adverts, wherever they are on the internet, is the same as burning your business savings if you haven't preplanned your advertising campaign. There is a reason why advertising agencies make a lot of money! These campaigns need thought, reason, great graphics, clever copywriting, and good timing.

There are so many failure stories of dropshippers that set up expensive adverts off the cuff. Their idea is usually the same: spend money to make money. But without thinking carefully about what you want the advert to achieve, without checking the links, and without reviewing your ad copy, you are setting yourself up for a big bank-breaking failure.

2. Buying sketchy eCommerce courses

This is another common problem that pops up frequently on the internet. Taking the bait of dropshipping "gurus" with get-rich-quick courses. Not just seen in dropshipping, con-artists try to take advantage of those with entrepreneurial dreams in various industries. Digital marketing and eCommerce are big targets for them as they know how accessible it is for those that are new to the industry and with less business knowledge. They draw on their hope, excitement, and sometimes an idealistic view of starting and running a business.

It can be an easy trap as there are many of these dropshipping gurus with impressive blogs and websites that are everywhere when you start your dropshipping research. So, what's wrong with their content? They sell dropshipping courses that they "guarantee" will make you a millionaire in less than a year, or some similar promise. Their courses can be expensive and they offer content that you can find in cheaper or free eCommerce courses from reputable institutes.

We recommend avoiding these self-proclaimed experts in the field and signing up to a trusted course provider. Always take caution when parting with your hard-earned cash and research who you trust to help you learn about eCommerce.

3. Not writing a business plan

Again, this is part of jumping in blind and not doing research. A business plan is sometimes seen as a formal and traditional document that is only needed for people that want to apply for a business loan. This isn't true. A business plan is an extremely useful tool for all new business ventures, whether funding is needed or not.

There are many benefits of writing a business plan for dropshipping. It provides you with the blueprint and foundation of your business, guiding you through the process of getting set up and ready for your first sale. By putting it together, you are forced to prepare market research, project planning, and establish your business objectives. These are the nitty-gritty details that are too often overlooked by over-excited new dropshippers that just want to get started with selling products.

Take your time and put in the effort with research and planning. Your business plan will lower the chances of making mistakes that could easily be avoided and give you a step-by-step guide for each area of your business operations.

4. Giving up at the first hurdle

Rolling the shutters down and calling it quits is not something to be embarrassed about. Creating a new business is hard and establishing one online also has its challenges. Sometimes things happen that are out of your control, or maybe there were some bad choices with your market niche. Unexpected or expensive problems can give you little option but to stop where you are and close the shop.

However, you will never see business success if you wave the white flag after just one or two bumps in the road. This is why the theme in this article is planning, planning, planning. Not only should you pre plan who your target customer is, how you will advertise to them, and how you will design your eCommerce store with an amazing user experience, but you should anticipate problems you may encounter and think of how you will address these.

For example, how will you solve the problem of late delivery to your customers? What will you do if your website crashes? How will you help customers that want a refund? Try to think of as many issues that you could face when your dropshipping store is up and running, and the solutions to help things go smoothly if they occur in real life.

Endurance, patience, and perseverance as an entrepreneur are qualities you must have if you want to be successful in business.

5. Building an unprofessional website

Amazon, eBay, ASOS, hypermarkets such as Walmart, Sainsbury's, and Tesco, and high street brands having an online store, has increased the expectation of online consumers. People are used to purchasing from websites with professional and high-quality designs.

When entering the online retail space, it's important to offer the best website you can to your customers. Statistics from WebFX show that 94% of first impressions relate to your website design. Online shoppers need a reason to choose you and not your competitors.

This can be as simple as being careful when deciding which template to use on website builders, or which photography and visuals you feature on your homepage. Learn as much as you can by using free resources and information on the internet, or take an affordable course about design and marketing. Think about how you will structure your website and make sure the main menu and subcategories make sense.

These small details make a huge impact on the impression consumers have when visiting your website.

6. Bad copywriting

This one is an instant turn off for online shoppers. Bad copywriting is a massive giveaway that you are not experienced or running a profitable business if you use poor grammar and spelling mistakes. It screams "don't trust me as a seller and don't buy my products."

If writing is a weakness of yours, it's advisable to hire a freelance writer to produce quality content for your adverts, website copy, blog, and social media. There are free tools to use such as Grammarly, Language Tool, and Writer. Make use of these to entice potential buyers with impressive and engaging copy.

In the same way that consumers are used to great website design for online shopping, they are also used to great writing. It is easy to spot the difference and consumers will think you are unprofessional if your copy is bad. After all, the biggest way to win business online is to gain trust from consumers. You need to show that you are reputable, professional, and legitimate and that buying from you isn't a scam.

7. Not doing your homework

To round up all the mistakes that dropshippers make, the overarching theme is lack of homework. Failing to prepare, you prepare to fail. We're not saying that you need to study eCommerce for five years before you are ready to create your dropshipping store. But, you need to dedicate quality time to research, learning, and planning to make sure your dropshipping business will be a success.