s told to ShopBase by Aaron Jackson. From how he started, to the point of losing A LOT of money, then gradually learned and achieved the goal for the monthly revenue.

When I first started dropshipping via Facebook, I used to have tons of problems regarding Ads setup. It was like a house of cards. I’d get things running, but I had to be very, very careful about everything I did to make sure one little thing didn't go wrong that would just take everything down.

What I needed was a Checklist to make sure nothing goes wrong, that everything is in its right place and if things happen to go south, I'd know how to identify the problem.

Shareing is caring, I wanted to share my 3 key things when setting up ads campaigns with fellow dropshippers and those who are about to start.

1. Target audience: Be as clear as bell

The cost for advertising (CPM, CPC, CPA) can be super high and bringing back no profits when you can’t identify your targeting audience. Plain and simple.

Take detailed notes on your customers personas, for example: genders, ages, living areas, behaviors, habits,... Answer these questions

• WHO - they are
• WHAT - they do
• WHAT - they like
• WHAT - makes them feel like buying
• WHERE - they usually hang out
• HOW - to reach them

Once you are clear about who you’re selling to, your ad spend will decrease remarkably.

Example: I dropship high-end office shirts for men.

Now, targeting people who are interested in online shopping is just too obvious, anyone would do that.

I know my audience are high-income, so I target on more specific interests: People who like Golf, Tennis, Cigar, Casino, etc.

>> Be as clear as possible about your customer personas, and your Ad campaign will take effect in no time.

2. Content: Make it short n sharp

There are 4 main parts of an ad copy: Opening - Explanation - More Information - Call to Action

• Optimize the Opening three line (Always check the preview display in different versions such as desktop, mobile, tablet, iPad… as this is what make customers click on "See more")
• A great title or opening sentence, which include: an attention grabber (clickbait, the most painful point, ...), a unique selling point which can be your product’s benefit, discount, time-limited offer,...
• Very clear and concise product description. Make it one or two lines. No more no less (test different ads content to optimize later)
• Call to action. Lots of people focus on creating promotional ideas, yet fail to remind their customers to take action right at the moment. As customers tend to ignore the description content, the Call-to-Action words are important to convince people to click on your Ad.

One or two Call-to-Actions that sound urgent: "Time-Limited Offer for The First 99 Orders starting from Today to …” or “$200 Discount for Today’s Order Only"

3. A/B testing variants

Always, I mean, ALWAYS, have variants for A/B testing.

Not only for better performance.

But it's also for your learning process over time.

What I usually have are:

• 2 different types of campaign targets: Traffic vs. Conversions // Reach vs. Engagement
• 5 different types of ad group: 5 different target audience: Interests, Behavior, Demographic, Geographic, Ads placement
• 3 different ads: 3 different content types: Direct feature listing, Benefits, Pain point - Solution

After running for a day or two, I will already be able to measure the effectiveness of each test, and choose the most effective one, while "stopping” the others.

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When you first kick start your dropshipping, try not to be a perfectionist. Just make it bad, then make it better. We'll learn & improve over time! ShopBase team can help you with setting up your optimized store and Facebook Ads campaigns, enabling you to get your first sales in the first 2 weeks. Get started now!