Honest Dropshipping
Dropshipping got a bad rep. Subscribe if you still believe in its beauty and want to make it happen.
It’s time for honest dropshipping
A few days ago I felt nostalgic. Thinking about all the beautiful dropshipping moments I had, I wanted to experience this again. I typed “dropshipping” into YouTube’s search bar. The results? Internet rambos fighting for attention, claiming revenue numbers as profits and lying everyone straight to the face. They’d sell their grandmothers for a few more clicks, I guess. I still thought: “Man, dropshipping is the greatest business ever.” Which brings us to today’s email: I’m back, my friend! I...
let them work for it
IKEA could build your furniture for you. Instead, they make you suffer through terrible instructions and missing screws. Yet people love their wobbly IKEA tables more than expensive pre-built ones. Why? You worked for it. So your brain thinks it's valuable. This is commitment consistency. When you choose something, you defend that choice. Smart brands get this: Starbucks makes you customize your order. "Venti soy latte, extra hot, no foam." You didn't buy coffee. You designed it. Now you're...
Your logo doesn't matter (this does)
Nike's swoosh cost $35 in 1971. Today it's worth $32 billion. Did the logo become magical? No. Nike attached feelings to it. Most dropshippers think branding means a cool logo from Fiverr. Wrong. That's decoration, not branding. A brand is what people feel when they think about you. Nike sells "Just Do It." Apple sells "Think Different." Coca-Cola sells happiness. Your dropshipping store? You sell "high-quality products at affordable prices." So does everyone else. Zero feelings attached....
The psychology behind "I'll take it"
Hello again from Germany, McDonald's makes billions because they understand something most dropshippers don't. They make you say "yes" twice. "Would you like to make that a meal?" Yes. "Upgrade to large fries?" Yes again. Each small "yes" makes the next one easier. It's called the commitment principle. Once you commit to something small, your brain wants to stay consistent. Warby Parker gets this. They don't ask you to buy $200 glasses. They ask you to pick 5 frames to try at home. Free....
the power of invisible
Happy Monday from Germany, Today I have a marketing tip that made their inventors millions: Take something that’s invisible, and make it visible. Like dark toothpaste: Or take something visible and make it invisible. Like invisible braces: Is a dark toothpaste better than a white one? Nope. Not at all. But the contrast of teeth and dark toothpaste is strong. Even yellow’ish teeth will seem white. It’s a mind trick, that’s all. Invisible braces aren’t better either. They’re just more...
Gurus dislike this
Let’s speak about saturated markets and product selection today. Dropshippers seem to have this one mantra: “Find a winning product, or else…” I always thought this is stupid. That’s why I challenged myself to enter a heavily saturated market and document the entire journey. I sold random watches and made $6,667 in under 8 weeks. You can read about it here. The best? I didn’t even spend money on ads. But some gurus got mad at me. Because I kinda busted their entire online course business in...
one-product store or general store?
I believe one of the biggest questions in dropshipping is whether you should go with a general store or a one product store. A general, so the idea, gives you the freedom to sell whatever you want to sell. You can iterate fast and jump from one trend to the other, aiming for maximum revenue. Because, well, if you sell everything to everyone, something has to work, right? No. General stores don’t allow you to build a brand. And people that, at least potentially, shop at general stores don’t...
I love this print-on-demand brand
Today I bring you a tremendous print on demand brand. They make high six figures per month, have brand deals with Tetris, Exploding Kittens, and Munchkin. Their work is featured in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. They collaborate with amazing artists. They, unlike most POD businesses, don’t live off of high-impulsive purchases. Their customers keep coming back. And they don’t hide that they’re running a print on demand business. In fact, they make it very public and use it...
I let others steal your time, ok?
Happy new year, my friend. Personally, I don’t think the first week of the year is the best time to send you new deep-dive content. I let others steal your time. That’s just not my style. But if you have a few minutes to read, here’s everything I published so far in this newsletter: It’s time for honest dropshipping Why empathy makes (and brakes) your business How to build a (real) brand A personal letter from me Why stories work phenomenal in dropshipping The ugly side of dropshipping...
Dropshipping? I want you to learn this
Real quick before we start: thanks for the massive support last week, the email about brand building got so many positive responses… crazy! If you want me to write more about the brand, just reply to this email. Today’s email is important. It’s completely overlooked in dropshipping education. It’s the importance of having empathy with your customers. Empathy is often mistaken as “having the same opinion as everyone else”. But that’s wrong. That’s called sympathy. Empathy is for professionals....
brand building
Today I want to speak about building a brand. In fact, piggyback brand building. A brand isn’t your logo. It’s what people feel when they think about you. But building this up from scratch is tough. Luckily, there’s a hack you can use. Let’s start with your future customers… The folks you want as your customers aren’t new to shopping. They already spend thousands of dollars on stuff online. You don’t need to convince them to shop. It’s a built-in behaviour in our society. If you start out,...
Dropshipping got a bad rep. Subscribe if you still believe in its beauty and want to make it happen.