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Aliexpress Dropshipping Sucks!

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

eTox

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Hello everyone!

This progress thread is not particularly about Aliexpress dropshipping, it's more about Facebook Ads.

Backstory:
I have attempted multiple times to launch a shop using this model, but have failed all of them. The problem is not that the dropshipping model doesn't work. The problem is that I do not particularly understand Facebook ads. (By no means do I want to start a business using this model, only for educational purposes)

What I've done wrong in the past:
  • Obsessed over the name, logo, and design of the ecommerce store.
  • "Perfected" product and website copy
  • Got emotionally attached with the products I "tried" to sell and made it too personal

Launch and Learn.

My main goal out of this progress thread is to learn how to correctly target the right people with the right ads on Facebook.

What I want from you guys is to help me do it the right way.

I will share all of the details of what I am doing / have done.

I am not interested in product selection, nor conversion rate optimization. I want to learn how to get the right people on Facebook and send them to my website for a reasonable price.

Given

November 1st - 30th
$500


I am going to figure out how to target and send the right people on Facebook to an ecommerce website.
 
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eTox

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This is where I am right now:

I chose a product: charm bracelet.
I created a website: https://charming-ly.myshopify.com/
I created a Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/Charmingly-183617178709940/?

My thinking process (please correct me):

Because this bracelet looks like a Pandora bracelet, I think that teens 13-16(18) will be interested in it because they do not yet have enough money to buy a real Pandora, nor will their parents most likely buy it for them, once they are old enough (18+) they will be able to afford it, or will get it as a present.

Also parents of teens will be interested perhaps (35-45) to make a gift to their (8-16) year old daughter a christmass or other gift.

Perhaps those (female) teens (13-18) in USA on Facebook who like Justin Bieber and Aeropostale will be interested in the product.

Results after running for 2 days with $5/day budget:
clicks: 2
reach: 429
cost: $4.86/link click

ad attached below.

Conclusions:

Cost is too high per click. Perhaps because I am targeting those teens who are really pricy. If instead I try to target people who like smaller less popular groups would be cheaper?

Please share your thoughts :tiphat:
 

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I've been following your threads for a while and admire your persistence. I've been trying the AliExpress dropshipping method too but without success yet. Have you checked out john mac videos? He suggests to start with a generic store and try different products and niches until you find yours. People say he's real but I haven't yet dedicated sufficient time to his method. He also suggests to look for popular ads and copy the same


Verzonden vanaf mijn iPhone met Tapatalk
 

eTox

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I've been following your threads for a while and admire your persistence. I've been trying the AliExpress dropshipping method too but without success yet. Have you checked out john mac videos? He suggests to start with a generic store and try different products and niches until you find yours. People say he's real but I haven't yet dedicated sufficient time to his method. He also suggests to look for popular ads and copy the same


Verzonden vanaf mijn iPhone met Tapatalk

Thank you for the compliment :embarrased:

I haven't checked him out, but I will. I'll keep on posting what happenes regularly for this month as I have come up with the budget to launch and learn and have build up enough hate for being lazy and unproductive.

Let's see what happens. I hope many will learn from my failures and success.
 
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townhaus

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I am not interested in product selection
Maybe this is the key.

You have a $25 product.

Lets assume the charm costs $5 on aliexpress, so you have $20 margin.

At paying $5/click then you need to convert 1 in 4 visitors to break even. Good luck with that.

Lets say you convert 1 in 20, then your'e spending $100 per sale.

Slashing click cost by 50%, or doubling your conversion rate still wont get you close to profitability.

Try selling a $400 product instead.

The clicks might be the same cost, the conversion rate might be the same, but your margins could be much higher.
 

InformationH

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Not experienced with FB ads but I found 10-15 business days being referred to as "fast shipping" slightly humorous.
 

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IGP

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This is where I am right now:

I chose a product: charm bracelet.
I created a website: https://charming-ly.myshopify.com/
I created a Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/Charmingly-183617178709940/?

My thinking process (please correct me):

Because this bracelet looks like a Pandora bracelet, I think that teens 13-16(18) will be interested in it because they do not yet have enough money to buy a real Pandora, nor will their parents most likely buy it for them, once they are old enough (18+) they will be able to afford it, or will get it as a present.

Also parents of teens will be interested perhaps (35-45) to make a gift to their (8-16) year old daughter a christmass or other gift.

Perhaps those (female) teens (13-18) in USA on Facebook who like Justin Bieber and Aeropostale will be interested in the product.

Results after running for 2 days with $5/day budget:
clicks: 2
reach: 429
cost: $4.86/link click

ad attached below.

Conclusions:

Cost is too high per click. Perhaps because I am targeting those teens who are really pricy. If instead I try to target people who like smaller less popular groups would be cheaper?

Please share your thoughts :tiphat:

You offer nothing of value nor any story to connect to people... You're marketing efforts consist of this:

Find shitty product
Make site
Throw up ad
Fail

And you wonder why you fail?

If you're going to be successful, you can't half-a$$ your way through it. It's not easy work and you WILL fail, but that's okay. Once you find a winner, everything will change.

You need to find a product(s) with a hook, then find a market that can relate to that hook. Once you have those things, you need to do market research, develop a good ad and start testing your multiple products to the multiple audiences you found.

Don't signup for any guru shit, but watch this video to get an idea of how you want to test:
 
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AllenCrawley

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Why target people that have no money to spend?

How many commandments does this model violate?

Reeks of money chasing.
 

eTox

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You offer nothing of value nor any story to connect to people... You're marketing efforts consist of this:

Find shitty product
Make site
Throw up ad
Fail

And you wonder why you fail?

If you're going to be successful, you can't half-a$$ your way through it. It's not easy work and you WILL fail, but that's okay. Once you find a winner, everything will change.

You need to find a product(s) with a hook, then find a market that can relate to that hook. Once you have those things, you need to do market research, develop a good ad and start testing your multiple products to the multiple audiences you found.

Don't signup for any guru shit, but watch this video to get an idea of how you want to test:

@IGP thank you for putting me on the right track. I've just finished watching it and have learned a lot. Deffinitely helpful. If you have some more helpful material please refer me to it.
 

Evil_Jester

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$25 is still too much for a bracelet. There's a lot of dropshipping stores that sell bracelets to "save xyz... endangered species." So the customers buy a $15 bracelet to "save the lions."
 
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IGP

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@IGP thank you for putting me on the right track. I've just finished watching it and have learned a lot. Deffinitely helpful. If you have some more helpful material please refer me to it.

This was just an example. Keep in mind that this "method" is on YouTube for millions of people to see. So, I wouldn't recommend following this exactly and then trying the same thing for "grandpas", "horses" or whatever... It's already been saturated I'm sure.

The point I am trying to make is that you need to have a process for what you're trying to do and put in real work just to test!

And then keep testing, testing and testing... Then just when your about to give up, you will figure out something that will make it all worth while!
 

eTox

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This was just an example. Keep in mind that this "method" is on YouTube for millions of people to see. So, I wouldn't recommend following this exactly and then trying the same thing for "grandpas", "horses" or whatever... It's already been saturated I'm sure.

The point I am trying to make is that you need to have a process for what you're trying to do and put in real work just to test!

And then keep testing, testing and testing... Then just when your about to give up, you will figure out something that will make it all worth while!

You are absolutely right :) because I am just starting I want to try as much as possible rather to drool over youtube videos and other guru b.s. I am glad I made the first mistake and I am happy to see that others have criticized me for it and guided me towards the right direction.

I will post back with more insights and information.
 

eliquid

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1. You're trying to get to second base with the customer without "kissing" them first.

2. Also, paying $4-$5 a click on FB means you are also doing something horribly wrong in your ad and targeting.

Neither of the 2 points above are more important than the other. Think about both
 
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hughjasle

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Why would anyone buy that? And why would they buy from you? Gotta figure those out.

I think this would all flip for you if instead of just selling something un-extraordinary, what about becoming a powerhouse for charm bracelets? Have a site full of TONS of quality charm stuff. Take a page from Gary V and build content of you looking at charms and going over both their pro's and con's. Be hones about it. It builds trust, and trust is what makes people buy from you.

Once you have an authority site built out that exudes confidence for the buyers, you can offer 'deals' for random products. You can even do the "free + $9.99 shipping" all the aliexpress guys love.

If you aren't into charms, find something you are into.

Otherwise IMO, to make the model you like work, you are going to have to find unique products that no one else really has or that people just haven't seen before so you become (in their eyes) the only place to get that product.
 

eTox

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You offer nothing of value nor any story to connect to people... You're marketing efforts consist of this:

Find shitty product
Make site
Throw up ad
Fail

And you wonder why you fail?

If you're going to be successful, you can't half-a$$ your way through it. It's not easy work and you WILL fail, but that's okay. Once you find a winner, everything will change.

You need to find a product(s) with a hook, then find a market that can relate to that hook. Once you have those things, you need to do market research, develop a good ad and start testing your multiple products to the multiple audiences you found.

Don't signup for any guru shit, but watch this video to get an idea of how you want to test:

I just wanted to thank @IGP once again for pointing out this video that in turn allowed me to find out more content from that person. I have watched almost 90% of the videos on his channel and they are no b.s. golden nuggets for a noob like me.

PS.

I did not disappear. Will update soon.
 

eTox

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@Andy Black thank you for reality check. It is much easier to grab a low hanging apple rather than reach for the top one.

Instead of creating a facebook page revolving around your website's brand and force people to like it, go ahead and grab an already popular and existing interest and wrap your brand around it thereby asking people to like what they already like, instead of creating a whole new interest.

Example would be if I want to sell custom t-shirts to cow farmers I would create a "Farmer's Cows" page and spam it with my products that are advertised all over facebook.

No. Instead, I would create a page that adhears to people's existing interests such as to those people who like cows instead and I would create a fan page and call it "Cows Are Awesome" and post 3-4 images per day of awesome and cute cows and 1 image of a cool t-shirt design related to cows. Then I would promote the t-shirt posts with PPE and CTW ads and grow the facebook page with people's natural interest. When they visit the page, they see cows, they know they like cows, like the images and see a community, they like the page.

Give, give, give, and then only ask. Build not for yourself, but for others and wrap yourself around it. It's going from take to give mindset, its really hard, but I hope I am on the right track.
 
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eTox

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And it seems so much more easier, as @Sanj Modha pointed out to find groups of passionate people and only then determine what to sell to them. Because you are finding an interest, creating a fan page for that interest. You know you will have an audience, and then you determine what best they would like!

Brilliant!

Can't wait to share my progress!
 

eTox

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Mindset...

1) You find a group of people who are interested in something and you do your best to determine what that audience needs or really wants.

2) You find those people through Facebook and let them know through your ads that you have a product that they might be interested in.

3) After proposing your product to the selected group of people you get to know in few days whether they need or want your product.

4) If you see that people have purchased the product then you have correctly identified a solution to their problem or their desire.

5) If they have not responed to your message than that may mean that your educated guess regarding to their interest is wrong and that you should try again to find a product that they may really need or like assuming that you have found exactly the right people.

Facebook ads are like your sales people on the phone. They reach customers and ask them whether they are interested in a solution or not. The customers are not required to buy from you, that is why not everyone will convert. Perhaps they don't really need it, or want it, and that is absolutely fine. But once you reach thousands of people you will get a good idea whether that audience really likes your product or whether you have the wrong people's numbers.

I feel a little less afraid now. I haven't made a sale yet, and I am still learning. I am fightning. Fear is normal, fear is great. So long you respect it and refrain from indulging in it.

Hope this helps people.
 

eTox

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Little update:

I have acquired enough information to start everything going. Now is the time to create a plan and execute it.

I also realized that I am not the brightest kid, therefore just KISS (Keep It Stupid Simple) is my go to plan.

My strategy is: so-so idea + massive execution = decent results and improvise and improve from there on.

Stay tuned for action!

Special thanks to @IGP for putting me on the right track and @Andy Black for keeping me grounded and not dreaming. :tiphat:
 
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Sanj Modha

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Dropshipping off Aliexpress is easy money but it's a headache and the likelihood of you losing your payment gateways is pretty high (they hate dropshipping from China).

I do all my sourcing and fulfilment from the US. Life is so much easier now and I can get most items shipped to the customer in 3-5 days. That alone will reduce customer emails by about 80%.
 

eTox

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Dropshipping off Aliexpress is easy money but it's a headache and the likelihood of you losing your payment gateways is pretty high (they hate dropshipping from China).

I do all my sourcing and fulfilment from the US. Life is so much easier now and I can get most items shipped to the customer in 3-5 days. That alone will reduce customer emails by about 80%.

I've basically came to that realization as well. Gotta change the thread's title to "Marketing with Facebook..."
 

Sanj Modha

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I've basically came to that realization as well. Gotta change the thread's title to "Marketing with Facebook..."

"Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful" - this is so true for IM/online businesses. As soon as it's opened up to everyone - it's exploited.
 
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eTox

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Little Update:

I have been working my a$$ off the past 2 weeks and here what I was doing:
  • Learning and PRACTICING facebook audience research: there seems to be many techniques to do this, but it all comes down to three.
  • Learning facebook marketing strategies and practicing
  • Dedicated my efforts to only one store
Unfortunately, I still don't have even one sale. But that's not a problem because I was learning more than doing. Now I am acting and until I spend a hefty chunk of change on marketing selected products, until then I won't have the final say. Because facebook needs time. It acts on past data. It takes persistence to get results and it's nothing different with facebook.

My main take aways are:
  • Results come within few days of action
  • Taking action should never stop
I will post back with the results of my efforts as I just started campaigns.
 

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hey etox,
nice progress! as a side note . what i want to suggest is you start with a direct response ecom sales funnel, and get it to breakeven as fast as possible, so you can build a massive buyer list and proof of concept... then launch a shopify store to offer other products, upsells, retargeting etc ..

an ecom sales funnel looks like this : optin leads to "F+S" leads to " 1ST UPSELL" leads to " 2ND UPSELL " ..
p.s : dont worry about branding or story before you launch a store, your only task should be to generate a buyer list and market validation for your products..

best of luck and keep us updated..
 

eTox

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After spending $150 on ads and getting my FIRST SALE this is what I've learned:
  • I was able to VALIDATE my LEARNINGS.
This is really crucial because I've spent the week learning and digesting as much content on facebook marketing as possible. I've got a bit more understanding of what kind of creature facebook is and how to play with it.
  • I've previously assumed learned how to do proper facebook audience research
  • I've previously assumed I learned facebook marketing strategies.
I ended up with this:
  • My audience research was proper and so I was able to learn more about it through other blogs/videos to refine my process.
  • I realized I don't know one iota of how to do a proper niche validation strategy and so I was able to see and realize that
Because I was able to VALIDATE my learnings and not MASTURBATE OVER THEM I was able to test my assumptions and it was really fruitful. I saw what was working in researching the audience, I went and practiced audience research for a little than a dozen times. I saw what was working and what wasn't so I was able to critically assess my skills. I was able to go back to studying and stitch up the holes. Now I believe I have a decent enough understanding to scratch the surface of good audience research strategies. As time goes by, I will be able to further refine my skill and will be light years better than I am now.

I was able to test my different approaches to niche validation. And I've failed half a dozen of them, but I was able to see which worked and which didn't! I then went back to analyzing why they didn't work and critically thinking about it. I then rewatched and reread the materials I've found really usefull online, researched more about facebook niche validation strategies and refined further my process. Now I've realized that there is a much more appropriate way of doing it than what I've done.

Main take aways:
  • Always validate your learnings, test assumptions, analyze data
  • Never stop learning. You may never be the best right away although it seems like because you've filled up your mind with different techniques, strategies and informations. BS... you are lightyears from success until you put these assumptions to test. Always refine and improve ESPECIALLY WHEN STARTING OUT!!!!
  • Do not be afraid of spending money to test your learnings. Otherwise you will never start.
  • To make money, you have to spend money. This is especially with facebook!

Plan for the next 5-10 days:
  • Put my niche validation strategies to test. Do not be afraid to burn that $1k on ads. Don't. I know I will succeed.
I'll share results and findings soon! Stay tuned!

PS:

Special thanks to @IGP for pointing out the right direction initially! I can never be more thankful to you!
 
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Follow this post, i'm happy for your progress, keep writing your progress! ;)
 

eTox

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Why the ad won't make you money, eTox:

Let's say that you have X product that has a $10 margin. The assumption is that the cherry picked passionate audience will love the product thus you are assuming that a) the product is right b) the audience is right.

Plan of attack: Launch a PPE ad @ $10/day for 3-4 days. During this time frame, you are going to reach approximately 4K people and spend $40 on ads. Assuming that your super targetted passionate audience size is 300K then you've reached 1.3% of the audience where the total ad spend would be $3K to burn through that audience size.

Now the outcomes:

1) 0 Sales. Swallow the cost and move on!

If the ad did not make you any money after 4 days of spending $40 on ad spend, then it won't make you profit going forward because you have sampled a decent sized audience of 4K people. Assuming that you will get 1 sale the next day, that would be $50 per 1 sale. That would assume that the audience will bring back 60 more sales giving you $600 on a $3,000 ad spend. The likelihood of it giving you money later on assuming you product is right and your audience is right is good, but not good enough to make any profit.

Why could that happen?
  • It could be because the product that you've selected was simply sold to that audience before so many times that people just don't want it or don't care about it.
  • It could be that the product is awesome, it's cool, but that's basically it. People like it, but it's not a life changer. Maybe they think it's a cool idea, but that only it.
  • The assumption is that the targeting and product selection was right.

2) 1-3 Sales. Move on...

Even if it made you 1-3 sales, say 3 then you've made back $30/$40 ad spend. This is still not good enough. Even if you spend more money over the course of next 5 days and figure out that it's selling, you most likely will see that it's breaking you even or at best giving you a few dollars in profit. Now think of the headache you will get for yourself for $1-$3 dollars per sale. You will have to handle hundreds of customers to get only few hundred dollars. Swallow the cost and move on!

3) 4 Sales. Think about.

When your ad has brought you back as much as it has taken, then it's time to wait for a few more days and see how it's going. If you believe in the product and know that the engagement is high, people clearly love it and visit the landing page, it's just you need the conversion to be higher then it's time to scale.

4) 5+ Sales. Scale!

There is no need to explain this.

Therefore, don't be a pussy and spend money to make money. You have to lose in order to gain. You can never absolutely know whether one product will sell or not that's why WE TEST! Spend money to get data and if it's telling you to ignore the product and move on, then listen to data!

@IGP @Sanj Modha What are your thought's on this? Am I right, wrong?
 

IGP

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Why the ad won't make you money, eTox:

Let's say that you have X product that has a $10 margin. The assumption is that the cherry picked passionate audience will love the product thus you are assuming that a) the product is right b) the audience is right.

Plan of attack: Launch a PPE ad @ $10/day for 3-4 days. During this time frame, you are going to reach approximately 4K people and spend $40 on ads. Assuming that your super targetted passionate audience size is 300K then you've reached 1.3% of the audience where the total ad spend would be $3K to burn through that audience size.

Now the outcomes:

1) 0 Sales. Swallow the cost and move on!

If the ad did not make you any money after 4 days of spending $40 on ad spend, then it won't make you profit going forward because you have sampled a decent sized audience of 4K people. Assuming that you will get 1 sale the next day, that would be $50 per 1 sale. That would assume that the audience will bring back 60 more sales giving you $600 on a $3,000 ad spend. The likelihood of it giving you money later on assuming you product is right and your audience is right is good, but not good enough to make any profit.

Why could that happen?
  • It could be because the product that you've selected was simply sold to that audience before so many times that people just don't want it or don't care about it.
  • It could be that the product is awesome, it's cool, but that's basically it. People like it, but it's not a life changer. Maybe they think it's a cool idea, but that only it.
  • The assumption is that the targeting and product selection was right.

2) 1-3 Sales. Move on...

Even if it made you 1-3 sales, say 3 then you've made back $30/$40 ad spend. This is still not good enough. Even if you spend more money over the course of next 5 days and figure out that it's selling, you most likely will see that it's breaking you even or at best giving you a few dollars in profit. Now think of the headache you will get for yourself for $1-$3 dollars per sale. You will have to handle hundreds of customers to get only few hundred dollars. Swallow the cost and move on!

3) 4 Sales. Think about.

When your ad has brought you back as much as it has taken, then it's time to wait for a few more days and see how it's going. If you believe in the product and know that the engagement is high, people clearly love it and visit the landing page, it's just you need the conversion to be higher then it's time to scale.

4) 5+ Sales. Scale!

There is no need to explain this.

Therefore, don't be a pussy and spend money to make money. You have to lose in order to gain. You can never absolutely know whether one product will sell or not that's why WE TEST! Spend money to get data and if it's telling you to ignore the product and move on, then listen to data!

@IGP @Sanj Modha What are your thought's on this? Am I right, wrong?

Correct... You will know when you have a winner...

A. Lots of sales (Easy)
B. Lots of engagement with a few sales (Maybe you need to tweak your offer, copy, ad image, landing page, price, etc.)
 
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eTox

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Correct... You will know when you have a winner...

A. Lots of sales (Easy)
B. Lots of engagement with a few sales (Maybe you need to tweak your offer, copy, ad image, landing page, price, etc.)

What's your take on copy?

I have not concluded yet, but from my understanding its this: people don't like to be sold where they hang out. So getting people excited and engaged about a product they like on facebook and then driving them to your website where you do the actual selling?
 

Fran_Montoya

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I'm pretty sure I know who you are, and exactly where you got the idea for your store in the first place. Ben leaked way too much information about his Facebook secrets online, resulting in dozens of competitors doing exactly what he did, which I'm sure you are one of. If none of that makes sense to you I guess I'm wrong, but congrats on cashing out, I believe you absolutely did the right thing by selling, I see new competitors popping up all the time. Awesome job and good luck with the apps!
 

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