The Dropship Unlocked Podcast

How to Make Customers Choose Your Dropshipping Store (Episode 83)

• Lewis Smith & James Eardley • Season 1 • Episode 83

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📞 Ready to Take the Next Step? https://dropshipunlocked.com/training-watch-apply?el=podcast-83-make-customers-choose-you

🗣In this episode of the Dropship Unlocked Podcast, hosts Lewis Smith and James Eardley delve into the crucial topic of "How to Make Customers Choose Your Dropshipping Store." 

They explore the key strategies and insights needed to attract and retain customers in a competitive market.

👉 Prefer to watch this on Youtube? Check it out here  ➡️ https://youtu.be/o8XE3vChgEU

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Topics Discussed:

★ Convenience and Curation: Offering a variety of products in one place saves customers time and effort. Providing competitive pricing and exclusive deals enhances customer satisfaction.

★ Reliability and Trust: Partnering with premium suppliers ensures consistent quality and reliable delivery. Superior customer service enhances brand credibility and customer loyalty.

★ Effective Marketing Strategies: Targeted marketing and retargeting keep your store top-of-mind for potential customers. Investing in SEO and social media campaigns boosts online visibility and sales.

★ Exceptional Customer Service: Promptly responding to inquiries and resolving issues builds a positive reputation. Ensuring a professional, easy-to-navigate website attracts and retains customers.

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Links and Resources Mentioned:

Pick up a copy of Lewis’ book: https://htabook.com 

Get Shopify for £1 a month for 3 months: https://www.dropshipunlocked.com/shopify 

Get a free trial with a professional phone line: https://www.dropshipunlocked.com/circle 

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Key Takeaways:

★ Focus on Quality: High-quality suppliers and products lead to fewer returns and higher customer satisfaction.

★ Build Strong Relationships: Developing long-term partnerships with premium suppliers can lead to better business terms and exclusive products.

★ Invest in Marketing: Effective marketing strategies, including SEO and retargeting, increase your store's visibility and attract more customers.

★ Prioritise Customer Service: Exceptional customer service and a user-friendly website enhance the overall shopping experience, leading to repeat business and positive word-of-mouth.

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FOLLOW:

Thank you for listening to the Dropship Unlocked Podcast! Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review on your favourite podcast platform.

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★★★Dropship Unlocked - Lewis Smith★★★

🌏Watch Our Free Training ➽ https://www.dropshipunlocked.com/training?el=podcast-83-make-customers-choose-you

is a fundamental question we see time and time again. So I think understanding this is going to hopefully transform how we approach our businesses. They ask that they really understand Okay, but why would a customer buy from you as a drop shipper as a middleman and not just go to suppliers directly, but also know that our competitive advantage is that we can be the one stop shopping niches where we help customers with everything they need? Yes, so we'll be the first that they see when customers are shopping. And then we continually appear with our retargeting ads. So we become this omnipresent business is the thing that will set you apart. Yeah, it's the it's the way you get your customers to first find you isn't it? Welcome to the dropship unlocked Podcast. I'm Louis Smith, the founder of dropship unlocked and with me is our Client Success Coach James Adly. Now when we're not recording the podcast episodes, we're running our own e commerce businesses and helping aspiring entrepreneurs launch their own high ticket drop shipping businesses, keen to build your own six or even seven figure business. My book, the home turf advantage is your blueprint for launching a profitable online store. Grab your copy and HT a book.com to date. And let's get you started. Now sit back, relax, and let's unlock your potential with the dropship unlocked Podcast. Today we're addressing one of the most common questions that we get. Why would a customer actually buy from a drop shipper? We have so many options available to customers, it's crucial to understand firstly, why customers choose our store as a drop shipper over going to the brand directly. And also we'll go deeper, we're going to explain how somebody would buy from us specifically, so that we know how we can make self chosen over all of the other options that are available to customers. So Louis, I'm looking forward to getting this one straightened out. Yeah, absolutely is a fundamental question we see time and time again. So I think understanding this is going to hopefully transform how we approach our businesses as dropshippers. So looking forward to diving into it. Absolutely. I still get this question from friends when I'm explaining the businesses that I run, and they asked me they don't really understand, Okay, but why would a customer buy from you as a drop shipper as a middleman and not just go to suppliers directly? So let's answer that question. And make sure we make it clear why customers choose us. So very important episode. So let's dive straight into it. Then, Louis, why do you think a customer would choose a dropshipping store instead of buying directly from brands? Sure. Well, one of the first things is the convenience and like curation of products and items, with our drop shipping stores that we create, we can often bring together a variety of different products in one place. And what that does is saves customers time and effort from having to look around, it's like going to a department store versus visiting multiple specialty shops individually. I remember when I first started and the convenience of having everything in one place. When I started one of these these drop shipping websites, was the thing that I noticed was one of our competitive advantages, with with customers like wanting to come to us versus wanting to go to Amazon or go to one of the big box stores, you know, and have to like shop around individually. We had the ability for the first time to become a specialist in the niche that we were in so that customers could come to us ask us any questions that they had, because we were experts in the niche or we would find out the answers if we needed to, we could help them find and pick any compatible accessory products that they may have needed at the same time. And customers will often buy an item like for example, imagine you're selling pool tables, right? So customers comes to the store and decides they want to buy a pool table. Well, usually when you buy something like that you're not just buying the pool table, you might spend a couple of 1000 on the pool table. There's a really nice high end luxury one. But you'll probably also need a set of pool balls, you'll need cues you'll need maybe a cue rack you need the chalk you need scoreboards, the tips the triangle that you need all these little accessory bits. Now we can have customers either add those all to their basket. And that's fine. And we can show those as like cross sells and upsells on our on our store. But sometimes we'll get emails from customers or phone calls now to our virtual assistants from a customer who will just say no, I just need you know, in this example, the pool table and loads of accessories to go with it. But I don't know what's compatible. I don't know what size triangle I need. I don't know what the cues for this are like, can you just do it for me. And so we'll put together like a what's called on Shopify, a draft order for them where we'll just kind of put all of the different items in there. We'll often even give them a discount because they're going to buy everything from us. We can afford to do that. And then you might create an order that's like three and a half 4000 pounds or something with all the bits that they need. II Mel that over to them, have them on the phone. And then they'll just go through and do the purchase. And so it's like shopping in a shopping center, you know, you've, they've turned up, they've arrived, they've parked their car in one place. And now they've got access to all the items they need in that shopping center, rather than having to go around and search and find out that one thing's not compatible with another. So it's kind of similar to, you know, when you order like HelloFresh, or gusto, these food ingredient delivery companies that have just rocketed in the last few years, you go to cook a recipe in the evening, and you just have all the ingredients there in the right proportions ready to go, there's no having you don't get halfway through and think that I need chicken or I need sugar or something, I've got to go to the shop and get it, it's there, it's in the pack. And so it just means that I'm happy to pay slightly more for that service, because we use services like that, because of the convenience, that's the factor that I'm willing to pay a premium for. And so as dropshipping retailers, we can usually offer quite competitive prices, and often exclusive deals as well by bundling items together. So we can say that if you buy in this example, the pool table, the Q's, the triangle, the pool border everything together, what that does is increases our average order value, or ARV, which is important as a retailer. But it also makes it so much more convenient for the customer because they're getting everything they need in one go. And then we can also reduce the price of each of those items by a certain percentage, we still make a great profit on it. But it gives the customer a great deal as well. They don't need to shop around. So it's really a real win win scenario there. And so the way I think about it is like this, though, and this is by the way, one of the things that we guide you through step by step inside week two of our masterclass program, but you can't just sell anything, you've got to first focus on finding a problem or a specific group of people that have a need. i They need a pool table, they have a pool room in their, their bar, their restaurant, their home, and they now need a pool table in our series of products to go with they have a problem and need. And then we source those products and solve that ultimate problem for them in a very specific curated way. And that's why customers will purchase from us versus just going to the discounted cheapest option for each of those items. It's the convenience, exactly. And the convenience plays a huge part in every shopping journey. We think about your own shopping journeys. I know recently, I was coming back from the airport, and you have the options about again, how do we now get home from the airport, either you can catch a train, there's going to take 10 minutes to get to the station, we're going to take half an hour, then you've got a walk back from the station. Or we could just catch an Uber, that would be double the price, yes, but it's going to be here in two minutes. And it's going to get us straight to our front door. So sometimes it's not always price is the most important factor. Oftentimes, it's convenience is the most important factor when it comes to these purchasing decisions. And that's how we'd put ourselves in front of customers to make sure that we are a very convenient option, when think about the difference between JD sports versus going to Adidas direct. If you're looking for a new pair of trainers, you've got no problem buying your trainers from JD sports, you don't feel like you have to go to Adidas direct. Because JD sports have become and branded themselves as the king of trainers. They've made themselves that specialist in the niche. And we can do the exact same thing with your games room example Louis, we can become the games room specialist. And so when people are looking for games room product, they don't have to go to the games room manufacturer, they're happy to come to a specialist store. They'd like JD sports, and they can buy all in one place. So we become a very convenient option. So if convenience, as we're saying and unique product offerings are key, then what makes a premium supplier that we partner with? What makes those standout? Yeah, well, premium suppliers will offer consistent quality and usually reliability as well, whether that's like reliability of the product or just reliability of service. So delivery times, you know, making it very, very simple and straightforward. And it's yeah, it's night and day versus working with what we call budget suppliers. It's the equivalent of dining at a Michelin star restaurant instead of just going for dinner or fast food chain. You know, I know when I first started out, I started working with a few budget suppliers at the time, I didn't realize I was just happy to have our first few suppliers. And I signed them and I thought well, that was easy enough, I signed them there was no problem there. But then I realized I was making no sales. And I just I made the mistake originally of just running ads and thinking well that will solve it, you know that the building and they shall come. So I was just pouring money into ads. And I realized these products are just not in demand. The brand is a brand that no one really wants. No one's really heard of it. And as a dropshipping retailer, we benefit from the brands that already have existing demands that have a reputation in the market that people know. So when I later on I thought okay, well maybe I'll just expand the suppliers that I have maybe that's the problem. Turns out that was and hit the nail on the head because when I on boarded some more premium suppliers Our sales shot up significantly, we went from making maybe five to 10k per month in sales up to like 50 60k per month just with one additional supplier, like a tenfold increase. But also, it's things like our return rate dropped significantly, and customer satisfaction went up, you know, the items were getting delivered like the next day, and they were really high quality. And the ad started really working because people were searching for the brands that we were selling. And we got a load of five star reviews, which then helped with social proof, which meant more people purchase. So it was this positive feedback cycle. And it's what we see time and time again. And it's why in the beginning of the masterclass, I explain how you want to continually be signing up new suppliers, because just adding one new premium supplier to your business can double or triple your business as it did to mine. And then you just keep adding those suppliers. And you know what they say about the 8020 principle 80% or 20% of your suppliers, your products will account for 80% of your revenue. So in week four of the masterclass, I walk you through exactly how to find these premium suppliers, how to get them to work with you how to contact them, how to reach out to them, and how to get them to begin supplying us a huge double or triple your business at that stage. Yeah, and once you sign these high quality premium suppliers, it puts us above and beyond other stores that perhaps haven't got that fantastic range that we have. And again, more signals to customers that we are the specialist in that niche exactly once you've experienced is very difficult to imagine running a business with just the budget suppliers is like when I grew up, my mum was cabin crew for an airline. So as a family before I turned, I think it was 21 is when I was no longer eligible. And as her child, I got to benefit from her free staff travel. So it meant that a couple of times a year, we could fly anywhere in the world, often in business cars, or sometimes even in first class. Now, if you've ever flown in business class or first class, or if you've ever even like walked through that cabin, on your way off the aircraft, you'll know how amazing it is how good the food is experienced that, but it's just incredible. And so after that going back to flying economy is really tough, isn't it, the experience is just so much better. And it's similar with premium suppliers. Once you've experienced how much better they are for your business, how much extra they can bring you in terms of additional profit, the customer satisfaction, the ease of interaction that you get with when working with them, you'll never want to go back to working with budget suppliers, the ones that everyone else is just fighting over in the market, because the premium suppliers just offer a superior customer service. And that enhances your customer experience, which then elevates your brand's credibility and your reputation as well. So I think looking back, if I started over again, from today, I would make sure to seek out and partner with suppliers who had a proven track record of reliability and quality and I knew were in demand already. And they're what we call premium suppliers. Because I know how much this boosts my brand's reputation, and ultimately, my customer loyalty and the growth and success of my business. And it had a huge impact on my businesses as well signing those few premium suppliers after the first batch of budget supplies I had on board made a huge difference to the business. So I want to really keep diving into this topic because it's it answers that crucial question of why would somebody choose us, a lot of it is down to the suppliers as well as some other key factors that we can go into as well. So okay, the thing that people might be considering now, when they're thinking about, okay, clearly, I need to get premium suppliers, they are not sure whether it's going to be a lot of hard work, or perhaps they know that it's going to invest time and effort to get hold of the premium suppliers. So why would you answer to that? Why do you think dropshippers people were starting a an E commerce business? Why do you think they should invest time in finding these premium suppliers? Yeah, it's it's everything about the business, you know, your premium suppliers ensure that you have higher product quality, which then means you get fewer returns and complaints. So it eases the burden on your customer support team your VA is but also on your profitability because you're not having to deal with returns. It's like buying a well built car that just lasts for years and years and years and hundreds of 1000s of miles versus buying a really cheap one, that you might think you've got a great deal originally, but then it breaks down frequently and you're pouring money into and keeping it running and getting it repaired. We've got a few customers on our stores who have placed order after order after Order, like 10 Plus orders with us over the years we've been running, and they've spent 1000s of pounds with our stores. And it's because the customers have been really impressed with the quality of the product. If the product was awful, they would just that obviously they wouldn't come back and buy nine more of them later on, would they it's because of the quality that it leads to those multiple repeat purchases. And so it we used to have all sorts of problems with budgets suppliers early on, because they had little to no quality control. And then that leads to customers complaining wanting to return the items. And actually early on I nearly wrote off a couple of the markets that we were in and just thought this this is just offer like, I'm not going to deal with this, this market if this is the way it is, until I persevered and signed a few premium suppliers and then overnight, everything changed. And suddenly I realized, oh, wow, I was just scratching the surface with the, what I thought were the the Drop Shipping suppliers that I'd worked with, it was like, suddenly you've got this well oiled machine that just runs smoothly and churns out sales and profit, versus one that just constantly is breaking and needs repairs every day. And you're always in there with your spanner, trying to fix it. So yeah, building those relationships with premium suppliers just leads to better business terms, it leads to exclusivity over certain products in due course, you can arrange things like that, once you're a big source of that suppliers revenue. And I think you just got to think of it as investing in a long term partnership. Rather than this like short term transaction, like like budget, suppliers will, will do. And so if you can offer those products that really set your store apart from the competitors, those premium suppliers that not everybody else can be bothered to go and get, maybe you have to go meet with the supplier to like shake their hand and really like build that trust. Suddenly, it's like being the only independent gourmet coffee shop in a town full of generic coffee shop chains, like you will be the one that stands out that people want to come to because you offer something better and above and beyond everyone else. So it's very much worth building these strong relationships with your suppliers, the mutual long term benefits, obviously, you're increasing their business significantly. So it's a huge win to them, you're dealing with all of the customer service for them, because they won't want to sell directly. Usually, if they're a great supplier, they'll just focus on supplying, but also for you, it builds a huge business for you that you can then hire, afford to hire a team and put in place automations and really step back from it and enjoy the lifestyle that it allows you, especially if you're looking to build that stable, reputable and sustainable business for the long term. Exactly, absolutely crucial. And he touched on something there as well, which is a big point is that some of these really high quality suppliers that you can sign won't even sell directly to customers themselves. And their entire route to market is through retailers like us. And so that answers the question in a nutshell, because that means that customers don't even have a choice to go to the brand directly, they have to come through a retailer, which means we can then be that specialist retailer that they find to get that access to that brand. So it makes a lot of sense. And when I could see how important it was to this business model, as he laid it out in the master class, I knew that a lot of my time, once I was up and running with my store was going to be spent signing these really high quality suppliers. And those conversations that might take five or 10 minutes, they pay you back for years to come. So it's well worth that time investment. But I think what was crucial is that I had a script to actually follow. So I knew exactly what I was saying, which is crucial to to make that point to the right suppliers and make sure they knew that we knew what we were talking about straightaway. So as well as being that specialist and having a high quality suppliers, you've got a great product range. Marketing is going to be crucial as well to making sure that customers choose us to how important do you think it is then use that for our marketing efforts to ensure that we are seen by customers before they go directly to brands themselves or before they go directly to another competitor? is the thing that will set you apart. Yeah, it's the it's the way you get your customers to first find you isn't it it's that effective marketing is going to be your stores online visibility, ensuring that customers see your offerings first, kind of like if you're driving down the road into into a city lane to London, for example. And you've got a huge billboard there that people are seeing every single day like if that's your brand that they're seeing. You'd much rather have it on that billboard versus having like maybe a little small sign on a back street that no one sees like that's marketing in action. We want to make sure that we are being seen as the brand. And so with the way that we run ads using our strategy that we go through inside week five of the masterclass which is called search intent marketing. The brand's popularity itself works in our favor. So this is another reason why you want premium suppliers. Now because of this technique, if you apply search intent marketing and you have premium suppliers built on a store based on the home turf advantage model, it causes our members to see a significant increase in traffic and sales when they start applying this in week five. I know one of our dropship unlocked masterclass members Jared who we had on the podcast a while back has been using this strategy and it has just surpassed 4 million pounds in sales using our home turf advantage model the last time we caught up with him so is is a big factor. It's like setting up your shop or your your market stand in the busiest part of town where you've got the most throughput the most people pedestrians walking paths. And the idea is that you capture customer attention early so that people associate your brand with where they want to buy. They trust you they when they're ready to make a purchase. You're the one that springs to mind And so one big strategy that we can use actually to our advantage is in week five, we walk you through our retargeting strategies. So we keep your store top of mind in customers minds by using retargeting. So for those who visited your site, you know, when you search for a product, and maybe you're out for dinner with a friend or something, and they tell you about something, and you search it, and then the next day you see on Instagram, and then you sit on Tik Tok, and then you say on Facebook, and you're like, is everywhere this this thing. And that's retargeting in action, that means that a cookie has been added on to your device, and they've kind of cross matched and they know what your computer is, they know what your bone is. It's very clever stuff. And you think, Wow, this is really powerful as psychologically, but if we can harness that, as brands ourselves, and it's what the huge corporations do, you know, is accessible to us as small businesses, we can achieve some fantastic results with that. And it gives the, the impression that our brand is like omnipresent in their world, we're everywhere. It's like they're seeing us on the news, they're seeing us on the Guardian website, they're seeing us, you know, on all over the place. So my view is that we should always be investing in advertising to increase our stores online presence, but not falling into the trap of just running ads for the sake of it in any you know, just pouring money into ADS. I cringe when I hear people say, I'm just going to boost a post, you know, when you click the boost button on meta on Facebook, and it just gives you a very untargeted approach to just running the ad. We want to do it in a very specific way that we call search, intent marketing. And so when we're setting up those retargeting ads, we can also set up things like email marketing campaigns, as well to reengage visitors, maybe they opted in to our website via email, but they didn't purchase, okay, well, then let's send them a series of follow up emails to try and market to them and convert them into buyers really squeeze as much juice out of the orange as we can. That's the the idea of all of these strategies, its lead value optimization to turning people from just a lead a customer who's not a non customer who's opted in with their email address into a paying transacting customer. Email plays a crucial role. It's all part of the marketing campaigns that we run. And it boils down the answer to this question about why would somebody choose us to quite simply? Well, it's because the customers find us first when they're looking. And when they're ready to buy. Oftentimes, it's the first website or business that they see that sells the right product, and they have that authority, and they have some reviews, and they have the right price, oftentimes, if you're the first person in front of them, and that's who they'll choose to talk to when they place their order with. And so that that is what marketing does it make sure that we are in that shop front, we're right in front of the right people, when they are ready to buy as well. We've done lots of interviews with experts in the industry of, of marketing, whether that's in paid ads, we spoke to Joe Hyde's brief, that was episode 53. We spoke to well laurenson, who's an expert in conversion rate optimization, he talks about how we can convert customers once they're on the store. And we've had email marketing experts on who have talked to us, it's caught on quite a few different episodes about how we can convert the most possible amount of people to those that opt in to our email list. And it's all ways of making customers choose us over competition. But a big question that I think we need to go into as well is that there are obviously some big brands out there, there's some big names in every niche. And that's another question that I hear a lot is why don't customers just go directly to these big players that perhaps a lot of us have already heard of? Why do you think that customers don't just go directly to these brands? Yeah, great question. So the first thing is the best brands that we work with the best premium suppliers don't even sell directly to the public. So when you're asking that question, I know that potential dropship and might be thinking about, okay, if this is going to work, like, I'm going to sell Sony TVs? And why would I not just go directly to Sony? Well, remember, we are not going to be working with these global brands that do sell directly to the public. Now, the best brands that we work with focus on doing that they focus on creating the best product, and then they have a supply chain of retailers. So when we enter the market, we just become another retailer in their existing retail chain. So that that's why it's because they don't sell directly to the public. That's why you can't go directly to them. However, there will be some brands in the market that you end up working with, that probably do sell directly. They might have a basic e commerce shop front, they're probably not set up to be this huge online retailer because if they're any good they'll focus on like the actual supply of the products, not necessarily all the marketing and the customer support. Like you tend to find that good suppliers aren't really that fussed about that kind of stuff. They know their products are good so they have them sent out through retailers like us, but even if they do sell and directly they will respect if they're a good supplier. If they're a premium supplier, they'll respect a recommended retail price. They're an RRP you hear that referred to And so we can usually offer comparative or even competitive pricing to them. So there's no difference whether they buy from the brand in that case or us, however, what we can do is add more value than if they bought the brand directly. So we could bundle that together with something else. And we could have out of a better customer experience more of a tailored concierge service, we can obviously mix and match, like the brand directly will only sell their product, their branded products, but we can sell their product and then match it with an accessory product from a different brand. Because we're a retailer, remember, we don't have just one brand, we have lots of brands. So that's our advantage that will those are our advantages. The other thing is because of the way we run our ads on the Google Shopping Network, using our search intent marketing strategy, we'll be running ads that have been optimized to often break above the brand of themselves in the search results. So someone searches for, I don't know, a brand of pool tables, the brand might come up as the second result. But if we're running our ads, effectively, we may come up above them. And so customers will often just click on the first result that they see. And go with that. So it's a visibility, it's actually getting that like billboard on the busy road that people will get in their mind. And then they'll see be retargeted by our retail ads over the next few days and weeks as they're considering making that purchase so that when they come to do it, we're not just some random retailer, we're the one they keep seeing testimonials from all over social media. So that's why it's clever psychologically. The other thing is that price isn't the only consideration. You know, I would argue that do we really want the customers? where price is that only consideration or they're only waiting category, when they're thinking about making an order. Usually, if they're kind of these discount, hunting customers, and they're just after squeezing every single penny they can out or out of us on price, they're probably going to be quite problematic to deal with, they're probably going to have like, more needy questions later on in the process, they might not be as satisfied because they were searching for the best possible deal. And so do we really want to compete on price to then just make little to no profit margin to win those customers? My view on that is no, we don't I'd rather make less sales. But the sales I do make be extremely profitable. So we don't just compete on price, we compete on things like convenience, many customers will prefer the convenience of having multiple products in one place. You know, like we said, going to the supermarket to buy all of their groceries instead of going out to like individual stores to buy the things that they need. But also making sure that we offer that tailored approach, we can offer them the customer support to help them put what they need into a draft order and purchase it all in one go. Well, we can also do is introduce customers to new and unique products that they might not find directly through brands themselves. Remember, we carry multiple brands of products, not physically, we're not actually stocking anything. But on our digital shelves on our digital storefront, we can have lots of different brands. So we can point customers in different directions and help them make different packages of different items. I always like to ensure that our stores are really easy to navigate, they offer a wide range of products, and that we serve customers with value. We help them with questions we lead with as much amazing customer support as we can. Because if you can blow customers away with their level of service and customer support, they'll often remember that and then they'll buy from you over a cheaper alternative. And they'll tell their friends about you, they'll come back especially if you can incentivize that with things like referral programs. That's how you build a fantastic brand. So yeah, really not something to worry about why? Why would customers buy directly from brands, in most cases, because they can't in other cases, because we offer a way better experience? Exactly. There's loads of reasons why drop shippers are chosen as the retailers that people go with instead of going to the brands direct. We've got to consider there's lots of different factors why customers buy, and oftentimes convenience wins out a lot of the time, I think we can be the first person people see. So I think we can understand now why drop shippers are chosen over brands directly. But how specifically, can we ensure that customers choose our specific drop shipping store? over others? Yeah, absolutely. I'll go into that. I just remembered an important point. I just wanted to slot in there because I think this will help with anyone who maybe misunderstands the process of how it works. So I've heard a question before I've seen it in our email inbox, where if someone said why would they come down? Why would customers come directly to my store, when I would then need to go and buy the item from another store, mark it up and then sell it, that there's something missing there in that person's understanding, and that is that we as retailers will have a relationship with the suppliers we work with where we get charged trade price, so they'll charge us safe 30% less than what a customer in the public would pay. So we get it to 30% less. And then we just mark it up to the same price that the retailer charges on their website. And so we make that 30% profit margin. So it's like for like in terms of pricing, whether for the customer, they're paying the same regardless. But obviously, we're offering a better deal. So I just wanted to explain that concept of trade pricing that we as a retailer pay versus retail pricing, which is what we charge to customers, for anyone that didn't get that. So yeah, in terms of how we can ensure that customers choose our store over others, I think first thing is providing incredible customer service, build that trust, build that loyalty. You know, it's like, if you walk into a shop, and there's a really friendly, helpful shop assistant that comes over, that's always ready to assist and is polite and respectful and helpful and not pushy, you're going to remember that experience, you're probably going to want to consider shopping with them if they're not overbearing, and they're not pressuring you. And they're just like I'm here to support I can answer any questions you have so much better than walking in and just kind of being ignored in a shop. So we can do that by Responding promptly to inquiries, resolving issues that any customers or prospective customers may have. And just build up that positive reputation. Ask customers, if they had a great experience, would they be willing to leave us a quick review. The other thing is you can ensure that your website is professional, it's easy to navigate. And it looks good. It's visually appealing. And just making sure that it feels like they're walking into this well organized, statically pleasing store, you know, those stores you go into, and they're playing like nice calming music, and it just the air conditionings nice and cool. And it just like creates this calm vibe. Like if you can do that in the digital sense, and have a really clear, uncluttered laid out website. That's just a nice experience for customers to go through. There'll be way more likely to look to work with you anyway. And then the other thing is, as I mentioned, you use targeted marketing strategies to reach your audience and get the position on the billboard on the busy road to get in front of their competitors by having your ads appear at the top of the search results. Having your ads appear on their social media feeds through our retargeting strategies and making sure that when they come to make that purchase, your brand is front of mind. Yes, so we'll be the first that they see when customers are shopping. And then we continually appear with our retargeting ads. So we become this omnipresent business that they first see when they're looking for products already, and they're doing that search intent marketing that we talked about, they've already raised their hand to show us that they're interested in these products, they see us first and then if they didn't buy the first time around, they see us continually all over the internet as well as their social media platforms. Because we have remarketing campaign set up when you pair that with having good reviews on our store. We have built a nice looking website that builds authority, and we've got a helpful and friendly customer service, then these are all reasons why customers are going to be happy to purchase from us. So I've got actually these questions list grab. We discussed it today, because I now have an episode to share with my friends. Whenever they asked me this question about why would a customer actually buy from us? Why would they go direct? I'll say You know what, I've got a better answer than what I can give you now, and I'll just send you the episode. And for any listeners who perhaps you already got a drop shipping business or you're about to start, and you're going to get that question. Why would somebody buy from you said that this episode, you've now got a ready made answer to directly send and share just say to be honest, I'm not going to explain here is the reason why there's so many reasons Lewis and James have been through the more in this episode. And there you go, you'll quickly convince people I hope. So to wrap up this part of the episode then Louis, what final advice would you give to somebody that was looking to start, and they want to make sure that their dropshipping store is first and foremost on a customer's mind? Yeah, I love that answer. If anyone questions you are still Why would customers buy from you versus anyone else which I hear so often that you say Save your breath and just say let me send you the URL to this podcast episode him in answer to why they would summary is because you provide outstanding customer service you build trust and loyalty, you have a great reputation. You've got friendly, helpful shop assistant vibes in your store that helped customers with hailer bundles of products that they may not be able to get if they went to a brand, not to mention the brand themselves probably don't sell directly to customers. If you're thinking about brands that do sell directly to customers, that's probably a niche that doesn't meet our validation criteria inside week two of the MasterCard so I probably wouldn't even proceed with trying to sell in that niche market anyway. So that's kind of a it's almost like take a step back before you move forward if that's what you're thinking. The other thing that we talked about today is the customers that tell us why they keep returning to our store and it's because of the great quality products and the excellent service that they received. If everything went smoothly and we blew them away with customer service. People are so much more likely to tell friends to tell family to share their experience. And especially if we can even incentivize them to do so with like, you know, get 50 pounds off your next order and get your friend 20 pounds off their first order if you share their code, and there are apps that we can use for that things like social snowball and stuff like that, then yeah, we can, we can create that viral effect. We also know that our competitive advantage is that we can be the one stop shopping niches, where we help customers with everything they need. Think of it like you've got your personal shopping concierge with you to help you tailor your shopping experience to what you need. And so I always advise our members at dropship I'm not to ensure their websites are professional, easy to navigate, visually appealing. You know, when you walk into a well organized, aesthetically pleasing shop, it just reduces the stress of that buying experience. Then if we can use targeted marketing strategies to reach our audience effectively, things like search intent marketing that we go through inside week five of our masterclass is kind of like setting up a shop in the busiest part of town where you've got existing traffic and people walking past. That's where our ideal target customers are already walking. So that's where we want to be. So if you're looking to apply the strategies effectively, that we've laid out in today's episode, you can start by picking up a copy of my book, which you can get at HTA book.com. The books called the Home midterm advantage, a reading that will provide you with a clear step by step plan that you need to get your business off the ground. So that's HTA book.com. Enjoying the podcast, we'd love to hear from you leave a comment or a review, and we might just feature it on an upcoming episode. Also, for detailed show notes and resources, head to dropship unlock.com. Forward slash podcast. If you found value from any episode of this podcast, please take just 10 seconds to leave us a quick five star review on your podcast app of choice. It helps us more than you could imagine. And who knows, you might just hear your comments on the show. Thanks for being part of our community. Your support helps us keep delivering a new episode every week. Okay, now is the section of the episode where we're going to answer a question that has come in directly from a listener of the podcast. And remember, if you want your question answered, it couldn't be more simple. All you need to do is leave a comment beneath the YouTube video version of this episode. So this week, the question has come in from Emily Clark. And Emily has asked what is the average level of success for someone starting dropshipping? Thank you for the question, Emily. Yeah, I think it's difficult because everybody treats success differently. Everybody defines it differently. And also, people dedicate different amounts of time and energy as inputs into the process. So it's, it's a tricky question to answer. I mean, I've seen members who've quit their nine to five jobs within their first year, you know, of starting and putting consistent effort in some earlier than that, you know, some may go part time or take a real step back after six months, but they put in consistent effort. You know, we're not saying this is a get rich, quick thing. It's far from it. It's, you're building a real long term sustainable, stable business that can provide you an income for the rest of your career if you treat it right. So is it worth six months of hard work, to not have to work the next 30 years of your life like that? That's the calculation I do in my head when considering this? And for me, the answer was a resounding yes, it is worth it. Some of our members take their time, though, you know, they come into this maybe balancing their new business with other commitments, maybe they got young families, maybe they got busy jobs. And that's perfectly okay to some people come into this in their retirement. So they're just looking to create a supplementary income source and have a project that they can really sink their teeth into in their retirement. So that's cool, too. And their definition of success might be that they just want to make a few 1000 pounds a month. So it's kind of like running a marathon. You know, some people pace themselves and say, I'm just going to do this pace by pace, like step by step. Others come in maybe sprinting and go really fast right from the beginning and set a record pace. There is a direct correlation, though, between those who consistently put time into building their business and those who are successful. Something we've also noticed as well is that our master cast members who achieved success faster are the ones who regularly join our bi weekly live q&a, coaching calls and speak with us directly to get their questions answered. So they can keep moving forwards. Exactly. Yeah. And there's been some fantastic success stories which you shared on the podcast. So have a listen, have a watch back of those. And you can understand these real life success stories from people that are getting started from no prior experience to they are very inspirational, and they share all of the numbers on those episodes as well. So thank you, Louis, for answering that question. We're now going to highlight a recent review that we've had for the podcast as well. So a big thank you to start up him for sharing your thoughts in an apple podcast review, which I will read out now. So startup him said the dropship or not podcast is absolutely stellar podcast for ecommerce entrepreneurs. insightful interviews and actionable tips provide a goldmine of knowledge. Each episode is a strategic roadmap, helping me navigate the complexities of online business, engaging hosts, top notch guest and invaluable content, a must listen, that deserves every bit of its five star rating. Wow, what a review. That is thank you so much startup him, whoever you are out there, we really appreciate you and really glad to hear that you've been enjoying the podcast, it's reviews like that, that keep us motivated to share our best insights. And that's one of the reasons why I love doing this. So if you're finding value in the podcast, please let us know. Please leave us a review. We'd really appreciate it. I'd also consider passing this on like we talked about today. I know we were kind of joking that we get this question from friends. But do consider passing this episode on to a friend or a colleague who might benefit from it. They might think, why would that business model work? If people could just buy directly from the brand, send them this URL, it might just be the thing that changes the rest of their journey. So if you can think of anyone in your network who has been curious about starting their own business, sharing this episode with them could be the push that they need to get started. Thanks for joining us on this episode of the dropship unlocked podcast. We hope you're walking away with insights and inspiration. to kickstart your E commerce journey. Grab a copy of my book The home of turf advantage at HT A book.com is a distilled guide based on real experience to help you build your E commerce venture. Don't forget to hit the subscribe button for more strategies and success stories. If you like what you heard a five star review would mean the world to us and you might just get a shout out on an upcoming episode. And finally, thank you for deciding to spend your time with us today. We can't wait to bring you more insights on the next episode of the dropship unwrapped podcast.