From Affiliate Marketing To Importing And Ecommerce

[eStan]

That was only for those dates listed. And I have lots of products now, most are far less than that $100 mark now.

Also those numbers mentioned ARE just for the Ecom side of things.

Ecom I only started in around Nov. of last year and didn't really start taking it serious till this year, around Feb/March.

It's all about execution and pushing yourself daily. I have a decent sized team now compared to many other online entrepreneurs. I have 6 people working on just the Ecom biz, not including the fulfillment company(ies), and now just partnered with a sourcing company who has boots on the ground in China. I still have and do lots of internal sourcing, but that's mainly for the initial products and testing now, I will then use the big company to set things up proper and better as purchase orders are MUCH larger. I like having someone there to make sure products are made correctly (including all legal paperwork) before it is sent to me.

It's all just about execution as everyone here says. Just doing it.

You're building a real operation here. Should be great on the long term.

I'm getting into the space myself now and it's funny because I am in a few ecom FB groups and the so called "gurus" over there are probably nowhere near what you make. Yet you shared a ton here. Hats off to you sir. Wish you all the best!

 

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[MakeItHappen]

Do you have a favorite spy tool you use to keep track of competition / find new product ideas?

 

[hughjasle]

How much of your revenue comes from repeat sales/up sells/ cross sells at the moment?

To keep some secrecy/privacy all I can say is there is a decent amount in up sells. But all ads are profitable on the initial sale regardless of anyone purchasing up sells/cross sales/etc. I think that answers the front vs back end question as well.

Is this still just fb ads sales?

Yes, some direct traffic now as well however. But only marketing on FB.

And yes building up a VERY nice and sizable list. Haven't touched it yet however. Need to get a few more pieces in place before I start properly utilizing that asset.

 

[hughjasle]

You're building a real operation here. Should be great on the long term.

I'm getting into the space myself now and it's funny because I am in a few ecom FB groups and the so called "gurus" over there are probably nowhere near what you make. Yet you shared a ton here. Hats off to you sir. Wish you all the best!

I'm sure we are in the same groups. It's all decent info regardless of how much people make. It really just comes down to how you want to live your life and run your business. Many guys I meet are happy just working enough to travel all the time.

 

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[hughjasle]

Do you have a favorite spy tool you use to keep track of competition / find new product ideas?

Facebook

That's about it. I don't worry too much about competition. In reality Amazon and all the Chinese manufacturers selling there now is my largest competitor. Their prices on there are insanely low. I just focus on beating everyone to the customer and providing a super pleasant experience even when things go wrong. Fast shipping and shipping times as well as prompt and personal customer service is my focus.

We do MOST all our customer service over FB Messenger. People are constantly blown away with how we use FB Messenger and respond to people there. It's a very under utilized service that customers absolutely love.

That was a bit of a tangent from the question - my bad lol.

But I'm always looking out for neat products or things I think I can improve upon or things I see out there that would sell well if people just knew about them. I also have family and friends now who bring products or ideas to me. Additionally, relationships with the manufacturers and the like are huge. They have SO MANY products that just aren't listed anywhere it's unbelievable.

 

[MakeItHappen]

But all ads are profitable on the initial sale regardless of anyone purchasing up sells/cross sales/etc.

That's pretty sick. Your marketing skills must be top notch than.

Do you have any tips on how to find customers that don't care about the price that much? (of course only if sharing some insights won't hurt your buttom line)
I just hate the idea of promoting product X for $29 and have people head over to amazon and buy from a competitor a similiar product for $14,90.

Here are a couple of thoughts on the topic:
1. use the targeting options to only target people that like branded premium products (less likely to be penny pinchers).
example: don't target 20-29 year old females but target 20-29 year old females who like Ray-Ban/Apple Watch etc.

2. name your product in a unique way so that if they search for your product name on amazon they can't find your competitors products & instead just find your product at the same price or higher price than on your ecommerce shop (in case you are selling on amazon).

 

[hughjasle]

Do you have any tips on how to find customers that don't care about the price that much? (of course only if sharing some insights won't hurt your buttom line)
I just hate the idea of promoting product X for $29 and have people head over to amazon and buy from a competitor a similar product for $14,90.

It's gonna happen no matter what you do. So don't let it weigh you down too much. SOMEONE will always steal your product/idea and compete purely on price. Screw them. Beat them on everything else.

It's not that my customers don't care about the price, they do. They just find it a good deal knowing they are buying from a good company that treats them well. I refund people all the time for tiny little things. Or if they put up a good post on FB of them showcasing the product and it's super fire I'll private message them and refund them or even send them other products as a thank you. Would you continue to buy from me or go to amazon to get it cheaper and receive questionable products there or stick with the company that you know hooks you up and treats you properly?

As for your numbered list items, I don't like number one nearly as much as number two. I only target based on who is buying, not who I want to buy. Start broad and narrow it down.

 

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[LPPC]

@hughjasle Thanks a lot for the roadmap!

I have a couple of questions.
I can imagine that often multiple advertisers advertise the same product on facebook and they most likely target the same audience. How important is it to choose a product to advertise that is not already being advertised by competitors to the same audience? How do you know which products are already being advertised so that you can avoid those?

Do you use applications (like WhatRunsWhere) to spy on ads of competitors so that you can pick working advertisements and copy them?

If someone who has never done a facebook ad before, like me, wants to create facebook ads, do you advise them to learn copywriting first so that you don't waste precious dollars on creating ads that don't work? Or do you recommend something like WhatRunsWhere?

Do you know any good resources on copywriting?

 

[hughjasle]

How important is it to choose a product to advertise that is not already being advertised by competitors to the same audience?

Not super important. My first product was very similar to other products already out there being marketed. I know they were being marketed because I saw their ads on FB before I got started on my product. I figured I could make that product a bit better and went for it. It does make it easier if you have a great product that shows well and have no other competitors, but even if you start with no competitors, competitors will come after they see you have success.

Bit of a side note: That first product has had LOTS of competitors jump into the market with the knock off brands or variation all on my same product. Killed the market. I was getting $8 CPA and then jumped to $30. I decided to not continue with it and not continue ordering stock. I had other products that were doing great and products I personally liked way more. One of my close friends however was dying to get out of affiliate marketing like I was and wanted to have a go at keeping that product alive and working. He worked HARD to get to work. Made new updated version to the product, made a full funnel with various related upsells for that product. Ordered more inventory in big bulk to get costs slightly lower. His average cart was now higher than where I had it. He is getting around $150 per customer now. He spent over $50k testing and losing money before he started having profitable days. Went through 1000 units before he got it to start working again. Got his CPA to $20. That means after cost of goods and all other expenses, he's profiting over $100 per unit now. Just goes to show you, work hard and even in a super competitive niche you can make it work if you really want it to.

I have some serious respect for him and his determination to make it work. Another affiliate who is completely out of the affiliate game now

How do you know which products are already being advertised so that you can avoid those?

Do you use applications (like WhatRunsWhere) to spy on ads of competitors so that you can pick working advertisements and copy them?

Kinda the same question. I really don't care if someone else is running it. If they are just proves the market for me. I don't use spy tools either. If I find a product that seems new to me and find a way I can make it my own, I'll do it anyways. I figure, if it's new to me, then it's gotta be new/better to a lot of other people too.

If someone who has never done a facebook ad before, like me, wants to create facebook ads, do you advise them to learn copywriting first so that you don't waste precious dollars on creating ads that don't work? Or do you recommend something like WhatRunsWhere?

No and no. Learn FB. Watch some Udemy courses on FB or wherever you can get courses. Join groups of FB advertisers. Be active, learn. Take FB's courses. I haven't ever taken a copy course etc. You will learn by testing what different copy methods work. Doesn't hurt to check out other ads as they pop up on Facebook to see what they did and what kind of results they are getting. I find some advertisers SUCK while others have really cool ideas that I can test out on my ads

 

[LPPC]

Not super important. My first product was very similar to other products already out there being marketed. I know they were being marketed because I saw their ads on FB before I got started on my product. I figured I could make that product a bit better and went for it. It does make it easier if you have a great product that shows well and have no other competitors, but even if you start with no competitors, competitors will come after they see you have success.

Bit of a side note: That first product has had LOTS of competitors jump into the market with the knock off brands or variation all on my same product. Killed the market. I was getting $8 CPA and then jumped to $30. I decided to not continue with it and not continue ordering stock. I had other products that were doing great and products I personally liked way more. One of my close friends however was dying to get out of affiliate marketing like I was and wanted to have a go at keeping that product alive and working. He worked HARD to get to work. Made new updated version to the product, made a full funnel with various related upsells for that product. Ordered more inventory in big bulk to get costs slightly lower. His average cart was now higher than where I had it. He is getting around $150 per customer now. He spent over $50k testing and losing money before he started having profitable days. Went through 1000 units before he got it to start working again. Got his CPA to $20. That means after cost of goods and all other expenses, he's profiting over $100 per unit now. Just goes to show you, work hard and even in a super competitive niche you can make it work if you really want it to.

I have some serious respect for him and his determination to make it work. Another affiliate who is completely out of the affiliate game now



Kinda the same question. I really don't care if someone else is running it. If they are just proves the market for me. I don't use spy tools either. If I find a product that seems new to me and find a way I can make it my own, I'll do it anyways. I figure, if it's new to me, then it's gotta be new/better to a lot of other people too.


No and no. Learn FB. Watch some Udemy courses on FB or wherever you can get courses. Join groups of FB advertisers. Be active, learn. Take FB's courses. I haven't ever taken a copy course etc. You will learn by testing what different copy methods work. Doesn't hurt to check out other ads as they pop up on Facebook to see what they did and what kind of results they are getting. I find some advertisers SUCK while others have really cool ideas that I can test out on my ads

Wonderful reply, thank you!

 

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[bamboo]

Just want to thank @hughjasle for this thread. All that you need is here guys. I started at the beginning of June doing Facebook ads and ecommerce.

Broke $10,000 in first 5 weeks, starting from zero knowledge/experience. Something like 15% roi and 75% roas (both if 0 is breakeven). Did this while working 60-70 hrs per week at a summer internship, taking 2 full university courses, personal health issue, and family health issues. Not boasting or anything, just trying to show the guys who are delaying or have excuses, that there are no real excuses. You will find a way (and time) to get it done if you really want it.

You don’t need a mentor, guru’s course, or whatever, just this thread and anything else can be found on google or facebook groups. Not going to try to give any tips because its all here and don’t want to hijack this thread (plus not knowledgeable enough yet). But the point I can’t stress enough is to just get started, and only look for information when you need it. You can spend forever reading every blog or asking about pointless things like which fulfillment center to use when you have no sales. If you need to ask a question, make sure you cannot find the answer anywhere else (google) and have actually attempted to solve it (ex. try scaling strategies before asking how to scale).

You don’t need a week to make your store. Use shopify and launch in a few hours. Make changes as needed. Just pick a product and start running ads. There is money in every niche and you will get better at identifying potential winning products/niches as you get experience.

Also, I didn’t study copywriting and don’t know design (haven’t even spent time to learn photoshop yet, I make all my ads in Microsoft paint and free video editors)

Just run some ads and learn as you go. I promise you will learn more than any amount of reading. Also once you actually start, you won't want to stop.

Final thing, is be smart (especially with your budget), but have some guts. I think the days of spending $5 per day and expecting results/sales are over. Sure you can do that at the start to get a feel for the ad platform, but it takes money to make money.

Have seen this quote around in variations, but its something like the winner is who can pay the most to acquire the customer. I am in the process of working on increasing my customer value to really be able to scale. 99% of my sales have also only come from one product. I realized I over committed myself (my store, work, school, etc) and need to focus if I really want to get better at marketing and scale. This is something I am working on solving immediately.

Again, thanks @hughjasle for laying it all out in this thread. Also shout out to @G_Alexander (awesome thread today!), @Sanj Modha for his thread, and there are others on here too. It feels like I have a superpower to sell online now (even though just starting) and things are becoming clearer every day.

Might start a progress thread to casually update if people find this helpful in any way. Anyways, back to working!

 

[Hong King Kong]

Amazing thread, great job @hughjasle !

 

[hughjasle]

Broke $10,000 in first 5 weeks, starting from zero knowledge/experience

THIS is awesome and why I post.

For the few out there who are doers. The ones determined to make it. The problem solvers.

This guy didn't know marketing, didn't know copy writing, importing, etc. He has another job that takes 60-70 hours of his week and he STILL made it happen.

THIS is what someone destined for fastlane greatness looks looks like.

Personally, I think this single post is more motivating for everyone than anything I could have written since @bamboo proved anyone can do it.

Incredible

 

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[Sanj Modha]

Life's an interesting journey. Good job man!

 

[johk]

Hi,
Thanks for a great inspiring post.
I have a question on the first facebooks ads you run - to validate the product/service.
When you start out to test the market for a potential product with the facebook ads – can you run ads from your personal account first?

And when you find a product that you reckon will “work” you then create a new facebook account for that product/brand which you will run the ads from?

Thanks
J

 

[LPPC]

Hi,
Thanks for a great inspiring post.
I have a question on the first facebooks ads you run - to validate the product/service.
When you start out to test the market for a potential product with the facebook ads – can you run ads from your personal account first?

And when you find a product that you reckon will “work” you then create a new facebook account for that product/brand which you will run the ads from?

Thanks
J

I don't think it matters, I can't find a reason why it would matter Good luck!

 

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[hughjasle]

Hi,

When you start out to test the market for a potential product with the facebook ads – can you run ads from your personal account first?

And when you find a product that you reckon will “work” you then create a new facebook account for that product/brand which you will run the ads from?
J

LPPC is right.

I don't think it matters, I can't find a reason why it would matter Good luck!

Doesn't really matter.

I do keep everything separate for the sake of keeping me organized is all. So I *mostly* have each product from the very start on it's own account. Sometimes I was lazy and used an account that barely had any ads run. But like I said I was just being lazy and it's a soft rule I made for myself and keeping track of all my accounting numbers and all that.

But note that doing things that way, you will want to do it proper, which means a brand new Credit card for each account. You can use the same CC across multiple accounts sure, but that kinda defeats the purpose.

 

[Insaint]

I have no idea how to make each customer of mine actually show up in the "customers created" section of stripe. They Should equal roughly the same as the "successful charges". Putting this out here to see if anyone else has had this issue but I'm reaching out to stripe as well to see what they have to say about it.

Probably fixed by now, but in most stripe plugins it's simply clicking a 'send customer data' option. If you use your own developer: https://stripe.com/docs/api#customers.

 

[hughjasle]

Probably fixed by now, but in most stripe plugins it's simply clicking a 'send customer data' option. If you use your own developer: https://stripe.com/docs/api#customers.

awesome and thanks for that. Honestly don't even know if it was ever fixed. Haven't checked on that in a while. If not I'll pass that link along to my coders Thanks for the tip

 

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[MitchC]

Good to see you are still replying, this thread has really changed my mindset in the last few days and I've vowed it will be the only one I read until I make a profit.

Anyway, right after reading it, I set up a store, ran some ads and used hotjar to watch visitors. The store has around 3 product all in the same niche, a basic, a good, and an advanced version.

They were all looking and looking, some (a couple) added to cart, I think 4 entered their email for a discount code. None bought.

I figured they wanted to know more but wasn't sure what.

Then I found a feature on Hotjar that asks people if they want to know anything else.

A couple asked for random stuff, I've turned the ads off for now and today I will tweak the copy and make some videos to make things a lot clearer, however one asked where the reviews were, now this was in the back of my head the whole time but I didn't know how to add any on Shopify. Do you have any advice on how to overcome this, or how to build trust in other ways? How do you get reviews, and trustworthy reviews on Shopify?

I've also attached some results from my campaign for you to look at since you have more experience than me, do you think if I make around $10-50, so say an average of $20 per sale, these numbers will work if I can convert anyone? Like what is a usual conversion rate? A lot of my visitors check the prices and bounce, but I'd say 30% spend a decent amount reading and looking around. I just have no idea if these are good numbers or not.

TLDR: Thank you so much, once I get this to work I can claim you changed my life. How do you get reviews, and trustworthy reviews on Shopify?

 

[hughjasle]

@BookwormMitch Stats look good. Except for the one stat that really counts - CPA. I would have expected at least 1 $20 sale on $200 spend. That's a bit rich. Your stats looked fine so there is interest in your product, your site just didn't sell them on it. Or, if you had a high % bounce rate and saw that most people were jumping off the site almost immediately it's because your ad didn't prep them enough.

Do you have any advice on how to overcome this, or how to build trust in other ways?

take note of some of the other threads about amazon. Online buying is a very social thing. People want to know what others think of the products. There are lots of review tools out there, just pick any really. I like having my social proof from my FB page on the chekcout page. I know a LOT of guys use YOTPO for managing reviews and stuff.

To jumpstart the social proof there are lots of things you can do. Start by giving away freebies/deals in exchange for reviews, friends and family, etc. I've found that there are COUNTLESS smaller social media influencer wannabe's who will do anything for free products to review. Hit up a bunch of them.

But going back to your stats, I've had campaigns with over $2 cpc's and campaigns under $.01 cpc's. I've both made and lost money on both. It's all comes down to are you making sales or not.

 

[MitchC]

@BookwormMitch Stats look good. Except for the one stat that really counts - CPA. I would have expected at least 1 $20 sale on $200 spend. That's a bit rich. Your stats looked fine so there is interest in your product, your site just didn't sell them on it. Or, if you had a high % bounce rate and saw that most people were jumping off the site almost immediately it's because your ad didn't prep them enough.



take note of some of the other threads about amazon. Online buying is a very social thing. People want to know what others think of the products. There are lots of review tools out there, just pick any really. I like having my social proof from my FB page on the chekcout page. I know a LOT of guys use YOTPO for managing reviews and stuff.

To jumpstart the social proof there are lots of things you can do. Start by giving away freebies/deals in exchange for reviews, friends and family, etc. I've found that there are COUNTLESS smaller social media influencer wannabe's who will do anything for free products to review. Hit up a bunch of them.

But going back to your stats, I've had campaigns with over $2 cpc's and campaigns under $.01 cpc's. I've both made and lost money on both. It's all comes down to are you making sales or not.

Thanks for the fast reply, I'll look into the review things you recommended. I was planning to do those things anyway, but like you suggested I am just testing without actually having the product (I have a couple for myself to film and take photos of), so it seems hard to get the sales to prove it's worth an order, without actually ordering and getting reviews. If only I got that one sale I would feel so much better about going all in on an order.

The bounce rate didn't seem too bad, the ad has no price so a decent amount check the price and leave, the rest look around for a while, so they are interested, just something was missing that they wanted to know before ordering, I think reviews was a big one, and I'll fix the others up today and let you know how I go.

Thanks again.

 

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[hughjasle]

I am just testing without actually having the product

Ah my mistake, thought this was a fully up and running business. Yea that's a hard spot. It's might be something you can make work by improving those things mentioned earlier, but who knows. I'd personally dump the product unless it's something I know has value and is something I made. Then I'd keep testing my funnel more. It comes down to your pain tolerance. How much hurt (loss) can you take before you need to have money coming in. There are easier things to sell out there, but LOTS of competitors for them and it's a race to the bottom and those products have VERY short life spans.

 

[MitchC]

Thanks, I really don't want to give up on it after 2 days and I'm yet to find something better, but perhaps it will be the best thing. I'll make the changes and give it another couple of days. This is the worst question ever I know, but how would I go about finding a better product?

 

[hughjasle]

Then don't give up on it. Work on your funnel. Listen to your audience. Give them what they want and make it work or at least work at it till you know you have it your best and k ow that it won't go anywhere.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

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[LPPC]

I've noticed that a lot of facebook ads are in video format where they will show the functionalities of the product. @hughjasle You said that you don't even have a sample when you are testing the product, so I assume that for the testing you don't create videos. But isn't the testing then misrepresenting the potential of the product, because a video ad might lead to much better ads and sales while an image ad might lead to poor results?

In other words, how can you have a good representation of the product's potential when you do an image ad, while a video ad might do much better?

sorry if my English is broken.

 

[hughjasle]

In other words, how can you have a good representation of the product's potential when you do an image ad, while a video ad might do much better?

Remember this is just a test. You are just putting out feelers to know whether or not going thru the manufacturing process/sourcing QUALITY product is going to be a worth while venture for you (see all of @Walter Hay 's posts on that side of things. I read his content on this forum and purchased his book. A+).

People import quality products all the time, but have no idea how to sell them. So you don't end up with a ton of inventory and no way of getting rid of it, make sure you test first.

 

[Yussef]

Well two things:
1. I may be changing my own personal methods in regards to picking an audience. I am expanding my products and thus new audiences. I am now selling products for multiple audiences.

2.To arrive at ultimate final audience is simple. Start broad and narrow down based on sales. Like my first product. It was a product for long hair. Obviously a product more suited towards women. I started marketing to all women. After a bunch of sales I was I able to see that most of my sales were coming from women over 45 year old. So I stopped marketing to the 18-39 year olds. Stuff like that.

i am always amazed by anyone that can start super broad and get sales. Usually you spend quite a bit before FB starts to find targets that convert unless a. you are using a lookalike audience or b. your product is just that darn appealing. I will be watching your awesomeness sir.

 

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[Paul Thomas]

This thread is amazing and I think the only resource needed to get started in ecommerce.

Quick question: on your initial tests where you are just running Facebook click ads -> Shopify website in order to figure out what your CPA could be - are you optimizing these test campaigns or just running broad and figuring that as your "floor CPA"?

 

[hughjasle]

are you optimizing these test campaigns or just running broad and figuring that as your "floor CPA"?

Well, really there are two testing periods. First period is just to see if you can get sales or not. Second part is when you know you can sell it, you try and establish a base CPA to know that you can at least break even on the product. You know that if you can get a CPA that is close to workable (since the CPA is the last piece of the expense puzzle as all the other expense already known) you can adjust the funnel/optimize the targeting/etc to really make it profitable after you have the product and can steam roll with the social proof.