I Tried Dropshipping With Paid TikTok Ads

Two weeks ago, I embarked on an experiment with dropshipping using only fifty dollars for paid TikTok ads. Today, I'm sharing my results and insights, particularly about our website, The Multi Bottle, to determine if paid ads are a viable strategy or if it's time to consider a new product. Let's dive into the details of this journey.

Day 1

We started by creating ads sourced from online content since I didn't have the product on hand. Ideally, one should use User-Generated Content (UGC) because it performs better. However, due to time constraints, we proceeded with existing content. We set up a Campaign Budget Optimization (CBO) with a fifty-dollar daily spend, targeting the 18 to 55 plus age range and excluding 13-year-olds to prevent unintended credit card usage.

On launch day, the ads spent only $ 3.64, resulting in 61 store sessions and one add to cart with no sales.

Day 2

Black Friday saw a substantial ad spend of exactly fifty dollars, but with a high Cost Per Mille (CPM) at $ 22. Given the competitive nature of Black Friday, this was expected. The Cost Per Click (CPC) was unusually high at $ 5, instead of the typical 10 to 20 cents, and the Click Through Rate (CTR) was at 0.45%, below the expected 1%. Shopify reported 80 store sessions, one add to cart, and zero sales.

Day 3

Despite another fifty-dollar spend, the CPM increased. Nevertheless, lower CPC and higher CTR indicated slight improvements. Shopify showed 70 store sessions, five add to carts, three reaches to checkout, and one sale.

Day 4

With the CPM still at $ 21, we cut the ads after spending seven dollars. By this point, $ 111 had been spent for just one sale. A strategic re-evaluation was necessary.

Day 5

Spent the day studying TikTok ads and creating new strategies and ads, resulting in zero ad spend.

Day 6

Launched new ads directly from the ads manager, adding Canada and enabling Automated Creative Optimization. The budget was increased to $ 100 daily for faster results. After spending $ 26, the campaign was cut due to high CPC. At this stage, $ 140 had been spent on ads for one sale, prompting a shift to a new product.

Day 7

With a new product and website, we spent $ 77 on ads. The CPM was reasonable, but CPC and CTR remained poor. Shopify reported 107 store sessions, five add to carts, two reaches to checkout, but zero sales.

Day 8

Published new ads resulting in impressive performance with minimal ad spend. With just five cents spent, we achieved our first sale. Subsequently, additional sales rolled in, ending the day with $ 202 in revenue. Factoring in ad costs, fulfillment, and payment processor fees, we netted a profit of $ 3.96.

Conclusion

Over this period, a total loss of $ 216 highlighted the necessity of having a budget ranging from $ 1000 to $ 2000 for paid ad campaigns. Given the financial constraints common among beginners, our next move is to retry organic dropshipping with TikTok, utilizing a US SIM card for better targeting. Stay tuned for the next updates!

Keywords

Dropshipping
TikTok Ads
Paid Advertising
User-generated content (UGC)
Campaign Budget Optimization (CBO)
Cost Per Mille (CPM)
Cost Per Click (CPC)
Click Through Rate (CTR)
Shopify
Organic Dropshipping

FAQ

1. Why didn't you use UGC content? Due to time constraints, we used existing content instead of UGC, which typically performs better.

2. What is the importance of CPM, CPC, and CTR in this context? CPM (Cost Per Mille) indicates the cost per thousand impressions, CPC (Cost Per Click) shows how much each click costs, and CTR (Click Through Rate) reveals the percentage of clicks per ad impression. These metrics are crucial for evaluating ad performance.

3. What was the reason for shifting products on Day 7? After spending $ 140 with poor results on the initial product, a new product was introduced to see if it would yield better results.

4. What changes were made on Day 6? Changes included creating ads directly from the ads manager, adding Canada to the target region, enabling Automated Creative Optimization, and increasing the daily budget to $ 100.

5. What was the result of the new product test on Day 8? With minimal ad spend, the new product performed unexpectedly well, achieving multiple sales and ending with $ 202 in revenue and a net profit of $ 3.96.