The Dropshipper’s Guide to TikTok Shop: Increasing Traffic & Conversions

Introduction to TikTok Shop

A significant opportunity has emerged in the dropshipping industry, potentially presenting a chance for beginners like you, the viewers, to earn their first significant monthly profit. You might be wondering about this new opportunity: it’s known as TikTok Shops. In this article, I’ll provide a comprehensive guide on TikTok Shops and explain how to integrate affiliate marketing. Additionally, I’ve prepared a free Google document containing all the tools I use. Once this video reaches a certain number of likes, I’ll share the link in the video’s description and the pinned comment. 

TikTok Shops allow you to have a webshop directly within your TikTok profile. Viewers can access your shop and make purchases with a single click on one of your organic videos. To set up a TikTok Shop, you need to visit a specific website (which I’ll include in the free resource) and sign up, ensuring you select the appropriate country, as your shop will only be able to target users from that country. You can sign up using your TikTok account. After your TikTok Shop account is approved, you’ll access your seller center to manage your shop.

The critical sections of your TikTok Shop Center include the products area, where you add items for sale; the order menu for managing orders; the shipping section for handling delivery details; and the finance section, where TikTok processes your earnings and details payment timelines and commission structures. Let’s focus on the exciting aspect of earning significant profit through this platform. I’ll use a pet product as an example for this demonstration. I’ll also refer to a video on product research in the description. 

Setting Up Your TikTok Shop

After selecting your product, navigate to the ‘products’ section in your TikTok Shop, choose ‘manage products,’ then ‘add a new product,’ where you’ll enter the basic information, starting with the product name. For instance, you can transfer the info here if you already have this product on a Shopify store. In the product categories, I’ve listed it under pet supplies, specifically for dogs and cats, including furniture and houses. Ensure the category accurately represents your product.

For product images, aim for high quality. You can source these from your AliExpress supplier’s page, featuring quality photos suitable for your TikTok Shop. To enhance these images further, consider using design tools like Canva to create custom, attractive visuals or promotional offers, making your product more appealing. Additionally, adding a video of your product can significantly benefit your listing, especially if you have promotional material from other platforms like Facebook or TikTok Organic. Upload these videos directly to your product page.

Regarding product details, this is your product description. If you have an existing description from your Shopify store, you can copy it here. If not, TikTok offers an AI-generated description feature where you input product keywords to generate a compelling description. This innovative tool helps create effective product narratives for your TikTok Shop.

In the sales information section, you can include variations of your product, which vary in color and size. You can also specify the product’s price, quantity, and stock-keeping units (SKUs), though for dropshipping, maintaining an actual inventory count is optional; I usually set the amount to a default value. Batch and bulk editing features are available and recommended to expedite the process. 

Completing the brand section is essential. This allows you to list your products under your brand on the TikTok shop, distinguishing them from others. After updating this, you can preview your product listing by navigating to the ‘manage products’ section and clicking the eye icon. This provides an insight into how your product will be presented on your TikTok page.

Although this video emphasizes the benefits of TikTok Shop, particularly for traffic coming from TikTok itself, it’s crucial to maintain a Shopify store to diversify traffic sources, like Facebook or Google ads. In line with this, I’ve developed a free Shopify theme, which, despite being free, is valued at around $100. This theme is designed to rapidly set up your dropshipping store, ensuring it looks professional and enhances conversion rates. 

Explore the Product Optimizer to see and implement the suggested improvements to enhance your page’s efficiency.  The next crucial step is setting up your shipping. Head over to the ‘shipping’ section, select ‘shipping template,’ and navigate to the area where you configure the shipping fees, excluded areas, and delivery zones. Set your shipping policy to offer free shipping, a common strategy in dropshipping where shipping costs are incorporated into the product price. After configuring, submit your shipping template. Once the shipping template is established, return to your product listing, scroll down to the ‘delivery options’ section, and choose ‘custom.’ It should indicate ‘ship from’ with an estimated cost of zero, reflecting the free shipping offer to boost conversion rates, as customers are more inclined to purchase with no separate shipping charge.

After setting up shipping, it’s time to prepare for driving traffic to your TikTok Shop. Ensure your seller profile is complete, with your email, password, and phone number updated, and link your TikTok account. This integration streamlines advertising processes and enhances the management of your shop. Verify that your TikTok account is officially connected to your seller profile to facilitate seamless operations. For optimal functionality during organic content creation, ads, or affiliate marketing, access the ‘marketing accounts’ section to ensure your account is linked there, preventing operational issues. Before diving into the exciting part of generating traffic and earning profits, discussing your product sourcing is crucial to maintaining a healthy account status.

Keep an eye on the ‘low risk’ indicator in the TikTok Shop dashboard. A shift to red could result in your shop being deactivated, leading to potential customer dissatisfaction, often related to shipping times. To avoid these issues, opt for a dependable supplier like USA Drop, which I highly recommend for beginners. This company offers fast shipping from U.S. warehouses at no additional cost, ensuring product delivery within a few days. Also, USA Drop can source products from AliExpress if unavailable in their warehouses. 

This is done by selecting ‘sourcing’ and ‘Source AliExpress products’, linking your store, and providing the AliExpress product link. For those interested in fulfilling orders on TikTok Shop, navigate to ‘manage orders’ within your TikTok Shop. You’ll be prompted to enter tracking details and confirm order fulfillment here. Your supplier can handle this in two ways: by being added as a user on your TikTok Shop under ‘my account,’ where they can directly manage orders, or by you exporting customer information as a CSV file and sending it to them regularly for order processing. Afterward, you can manually update the fulfillment status on the platform.

Let’s focus on generating substantial traffic to your TikTok Shop to increase earnings. One of the most effective strategies is leveraging organic traffic. I won’t delve into this technique here since I’ve previously released a comprehensive two-hour tutorial on going viral on TikTok. Essentially, you upload videos showcasing your product, like this example with 500,000 views, and directly link your shop to these videos. This way, viewers can immediately access and purchase your products while engaging with your content on TikTok, eliminating the need for an external link. 

Leveraging Affiliate Marketing in TikTok Shop

For another effective method, which is currently underrated and my favorite, head to your TikTok Shop dashboard and access the affiliate marketing section. Here, you’ll find an option labeled ‘affiliate homepage.’ Upon entering, you’ll encounter a screen similar to mine, displaying recommended creators, essentially serving as TikTok’s integrated platform for affiliate marketing within TikTok Shops. Navigate to the ‘shop plan’ section to initiate your first affiliate plan. I’ve set an open rate at 20%, meaning creators can propose collaboration with my store for a 20% commission on product sales.

Establishing an open plan is beneficial as it allows any creator to seek affiliation with your shop. I suggest integrating WhatsApp into your account for quicker communication with potential affiliates rather than relying on the slower TikTok Shop creative center. When creating a new open plan, select the product you want to feature, for example, ‘the patent,’ and decide on the commission percentage to offer affiliates. I choose to provide 20% to make the collaboration more appealing. Craft your elevator pitch to attract and engage influencers or affiliates effectively. For my elevator pitches, I use ChatGPT to craft compelling content. By inputting details like “I’m selling a pet product and offering 20% commission. Can you craft a sales pitch for affiliates?” I get well-formulated pitches that I then incorporate into my TikTok strategy. Copy and paste the generated pitch and submit it.

To attract high-quality promoters, revisit the plan you’ve set up and select ‘edit’ to fine-tune the details. Adjust the commission percentage, define the collaboration duration, and set specific requirements like a minimum fan count (e.g., 1,000 to 5,000) to filter out unqualified applicants. Also, sales volume and content creation expectations should be specified. For example, setting sales volume at £1,000 and content number allows you to maintain quality control. Implementing these criteria ensures that only qualified influencers can request a sample, streamlining the process to secure effective collaborations. You can then facilitate product delivery through services like Amazon Prime, ensuring quick and efficient dispatch. This strategy helps you acquire valuable promotional support from influencers at the cost of the product alone.

After establishing your affiliate plans, the next step is identifying potential affiliates. Navigate to the ‘discover creators’ section, then click ‘find creators’. This leads you to a tool designed to search for the best affiliates and influencers. You can search by username or nickname if you have a specific collaborator in mind. Otherwise, explore various categories relevant to your product; for example, I would select ‘pet supplies’ for my pet product. You can refine your search further based on follower count, age, and gender, tailoring the search to your product’s target demographic. I typically set the followers’ age range to ensure I target an audience with purchasing power. Additional filters include responsiveness, posting frequency, and reliability with samples.

Before considering any influencer’s name, evaluate critical metrics like follower count, average video views, and video GPM (Gross Profit Margin). GPM is crucial as it indicates the influencer’s profitability on TikTok, calculated as the gross merchandise value (GMV) generated per thousand short videos. This measure helps gauge the influencer’s potential impact on your product’s success.

 When selecting influencers to collaborate with, after perusing the list and identifying one whose metrics appear promising, click on their account for a detailed analysis. It’s vital to ensure the influencer’s audience aligns with your target market, particularly in age and gender. Since women generally make more purchases than men, prioritizing influencers with a predominantly female audience could be beneficial.

Also, assess their video view trends and the brands they’ve previously collaborated with on TikTok Shops. This information helps understand the influencer’s track record, gauge audience engagement, and determine the sales potential they brought to these partnerships. Essential aspects to investigate include customer reactions and the influencer’s ability to drive sales. Next, initiate contact with the influencer, inquiring about their performance with past collaborations, specifically regarding revenue or sales generated. This data will aid in estimating their potential impact on your sales and in negotiating compensation.

Optimizing Product Offerings

As for producing video ads or managing other dropshipping-related tasks, consider using services like Pushy as an alternative to Fiverr.com. This approach can source quality content and support for your TikTok Shop, enhancing your promotional efforts. Pushy functions similarly to Fiverr but is specifically tailored for dropshipping and e-commerce ventures. It offers various services, including store creation, video ad production, product description writing, logo design, and SEO. This platform is advantageous for those seeking specialized expertise in the dropshipping domain, providing access to proficient professionals and services directly related to e-commerce needs.

When using Pushy, particularly for services like video ads, you’ll notice a selection of providers who can deliver these services at competitive prices, often more affordable than Fiverr. For additional savings, follow the link in the description to avail yourself of a discount on their already reasonable rates, with potential extra savings of up to 20%. Consider leveraging TikTok ads for the third and pivotal strategy to boost your TikTok Shop’s traffic. Advertising on TikTok can be notably cost-effective, offering rates significantly lower than those for external websites, which can dramatically alter your marketing dynamics.

Setting up your Ads Manager properly is crucial before launching any advertising campaigns. Navigate to your business center to ensure your shop and product catalog is correctly listed under assets, confirming that all related components, like TikTok accounts, are fully integrated and operational for your advertising efforts. Ensure your assets are correctly listed in your business center on TikTok, as failing to do so will prevent you from running ads. After verifying this, proceed to the TikTok Ads Manager. It’s crucial to note that the ad account must be in the same country as your TikTok shop; mismatched locations between your ad account and shop will hinder your ability to run ads. For instance, if your shop operates in the UK, your ad account must also be UK-based.

After handling the prerequisites, navigate to the ‘create’ option within the Ads Manager. You’ll find the section promoting your TikTok shop, typically labeled ‘product sales.’ Select ‘TikTok shop’ over ‘catalog’ for direct promotion. Name your campaign after your product and continue to the next step. Focus on creating video shopping ads, avoiding live options, and selecting your specific shop. In the ‘placements’ settings, turn off video download to maintain control over your content distribution. The location should be auto-filled when setting demographics based on your shop’s settings. Adjust the target gender to female if that aligns with your product’s primary consumer base, then finalize the age and language preferences to tailor your ad’s reach effectively.

For language settings in your ad campaign, I keep it broad by selecting ‘all’ to encompass a wide audience. In the interest and behaviors section, I start with a broad targeting approach by setting this to zero, aiming to initially capture a wide swath of potential customers. Regarding budgeting, the minimum is suggested. Still, I prefer to increase it to enhance the quality of incoming traffic, which in turn aids in making more informed marketing decisions. Schedule your campaign for a clean launch at midnight the following day.  In terms of optimization goals, I experiment with both ‘gross revenue’ and ‘purchase’ by setting up two identical campaigns with different objectives to determine which yields better results on my ad account.

Enhancing Your Shop’s Operations

Moving to the ad setup, name your ad for easy identification (e.g., Test One) and link it to your TikTok account under ‘identity.’ Each product must be added individually for’ product details’, ensuring precise targeting. I recommend testing with three videos to gauge audience engagement effectively. Keep the accompanying text concise and direct, then submit your ad. Allow your ads to run for about two days to gather sufficient data for analysis. I’ll also provide a link to the description and a pinned comment on a detailed tutorial on managing TikTok ads. This one-hour video parallels the current discussion but focuses on utilizing TikTok shops instead of external websites for your campaigns.

Driving Traffic to Your TikTok Shop

Effectively using TikTok Shop depends on driving traffic from TikTok itself. While TikTok Shop can be a powerful tool, it’s crucial to complement it with a Shopify store, especially when using other advertising platforms like Facebook and Google. This ensures a broader traffic and sales channel. To further enhance your store’s click-through rate (CTR), I recommend integrating customer reviews through the LA product reviews tool. This service, offering a -day free trial, provides some of the industry’s most credible reviews. While many will find the free plan sufficient, your business stage might necessitate the $ plan, which is adequate for most users. You can import reviews from sources like AliExpress, directly improving the credibility and appeal of your store’s product listings.

Additionally, the Product Optimizer feature is beneficial for refining your page’s performance. Review the suggested optimizations and apply them to enhance your store’s efficiency. Next, address your shipping settings by navigating to the shipping template in your shop’s backend. Here, establish your shipping rules, often setting the price range to reflect free shipping, a common practice in dropshipping where shipping costs are included in the product’s price. After configuring these settings, ensure to submit and save the changes. After setting up, your shipping template should be visible in your shop’s settings. Revisit your product listing, scroll to ‘delivery options custom,’ and ensure it indicates ‘ship from’ with an estimated zero cost, signifying free shipping. Free shipping can significantly boost conversion rates, as additional fees often deter customers.

The following steps involve preparing your account for traffic generation. In your seller profile, confirm that your email, password, and phone number are up-to-date, and link your TikTok account to ensure seamless operations, especially when running ads or engaging in affiliate marketing. Also, visit the ‘marketing accounts’ section to integrate your account appropriately, avoiding potential operational hiccups. Before we delve into traffic generation strategies for your shop, let’s address product sourcing to maintain your account’s good standing. On your TikTok Shop dashboard, monitor the ‘low risk’ indicator; a shift to red could result in your shop being deactivated, negatively impacting customer satisfaction.

Customer satisfaction is crucial, particularly regarding shipping times. For efficient dropshipping with TikTok Shop, it’s advisable to partner with a fast and reliable supplier like USA Drop. This supplier is ideal for beginners due to its U.S. warehouses, allowing for rapid product delivery to customers within a few days. Additionally, if a desired product is outside their local inventory, they can source it from AliExpress. Provide the product link and specify the shipping destinations so you can receive a quote swiftly. Regarding order fulfillment on TikTok Shop, you must manage tracking and fulfillment status once orders are placed. You have two options for handling this: directly add your supplier as a user in your TikTok Shop under ‘my account’ to manage orders, or export customer information as a CSV file and send it to your supplier periodically for them to process orders and shipping.

After facilitating the order process with your supplier, you can update the fulfillment details manually in your TikTok Shop. Now, turning our focus to driving traffic to your TikTok Shop for monetization, the primary strategy is leveraging organic traffic. While I have detailed guidance in a two-hour tutorial on achieving virality on TikTok, the essence is to post product videos that link directly to your shop, allowing viewers to purchase immediately rather than navigating through a bio link.

Another effective yet underutilized method is utilizing the affiliate marketing feature within the TikTok Shop dashboard. Here, under the affiliate marketing section, you’ll find tools and recommended creators for collaborating on promotions. By setting up an open affiliate plan, for example, offering a 20% commission, you open doors for influencers to partner with your shop, thereby driving their followers and enhancing sales through a performance-based model.

Managing TikTok Ads

Creating an open affiliate plan on your TikTok Shop is advisable as it allows any creator to express interest in affiliating with your store. Integrating WhatsApp into your account is beneficial for more efficient communication with potential affiliates, offering a quicker alternative to the TikTok Shop creative center. To establish this plan, select ‘create a new open plan,’ choose your product (like ‘the patent’), and decide on the commission percentage you’re willing to offer, which should be competitive to attract affiliates effectively. Your elevator pitch is essential in persuading influencers or affiliates to collaborate. Utilizing tools like ChatGPT can significantly enhance the quality of your pitch. Inputting specific details about your offering, such as the commission rate, helps generate a compelling pitch you can integrate into your affiliate proposal on TikTok Shop.

To further enhance your affiliate strategy, revisit the plan you’ve created and opt for the ‘edit’ function. This allows you to fine-tune details, ensuring you attract and engage the most suitable and effective affiliates for your products. I will adjust the commission to a higher percentage to make the offer more appealing to potential influencers. Setting criteria like a minimum fan count ensures that only serious influencers can collaborate, not just those seeking free products. I’ve decided on a sales volume threshold and a content creation requirement to maintain a standard of quality and engagement. By submitting these details, influencers meeting these criteria can request a sample, effectively offering their influence in exchange for the product cost. This can be efficiently managed through services like Amazon Prime for swift delivery.

After setting up these parameters, you’re ready to scout for affiliates. On your TikTok Shop dashboard, navigate to ‘discover creators’ and ‘find creators’. This feature provides a robust tool for finding the most suitable affiliates and influencers. If you have a specific collaborator in mind, you can search by username or nickname. Otherwise, explore various categories related to your product type, such as pet supplies, to find the right partners for your affiliate marketing efforts. I’ll navigate the ‘pet supplies’ category to align with my product focus. Filtering options like follower count, age, and gender are critical to targeting the appropriate audience; I prioritize followers aged 18 to 34, ensuring they have purchasing power. I use quick response rates, frequent posting, and reliability with sample promotions to gauge influencer suitability.

Key metrics I evaluate before considering an influencer include follower count, average video views, and Gross Profit Margin (GPM). GPM, which signifies the gross merchandise value (GMV) per thousand short videos, indicates an influencer’s profitability potential. Upon reviewing the list and finding an influencer whose metrics align with my criteria, I examine their account more closely. Targeting the correct demographic, such as women, who statistically make more purchases than men, is essential. Additionally, reviewing the influencer’s video view trends and past collaborations provides insights into their effectiveness and compatibility with your brand.

Exploring an influencer’s past collaborations on TikTok Shops reveals the engagement and reaction their content received, which is crucial for assessing their effectiveness. Observing customer feedback and purchase behavior in these videos helps determine the influencer’s impact. Engaging with them to understand their contribution to previous brands regarding revenue or sales figures aids in negotiating a fair collaboration price.

Tools and Resources for Dropshipping Success

Shifting the focus to dropshipping business needs, especially for tasks like video ad creation, ‘Pushy’ is a specialized platform akin to Fiverr but tailored for dropshipping and e-commerce. It offers services ranging from store setup, video ad production, product description writing, logo design, and SEO. This specificity ensures access to experienced professionals in the dropshipping arena, often at more competitive rates than Fiverr, making ‘Pushy’ a valuable resource for sourcing various e-commerce-related services.

Remember to visit Pushy through the link in the description for a discount on their already competitively priced services. With the additional discount, you can access these specialized dropshipping services at an even lower cost. Now, moving on to the third strategy for promoting your TikTok Shop: ads. Advertising on TikTok can be cost-effective, especially when you compare the rates with those of external websites, potentially cutting your advertising costs in half.

Before launching into ad creation, preparing your Ads Manager is crucial. Ensure your business center is appropriately set up, displaying your shop and product catalog under the assets section. Verify that your TikTok accounts and other necessary components are integrated and visible in your business center. Without these elements properly configured, running ads will not be possible. Additionally, ensure your ad account aligns geographically with your TikTok Shop. Mismatched locations between your ad account and shop will lead to complications, such as needing help to run ads effectively. For instance, if you’re operating a UK-based TikTok Shop, your ad account must also be set to the UK.

After completing the preliminary setup, proceed to the Ads Manager by clicking ‘create’ to initiate your campaign. You’ll encounter options to promote your TikTok Shop; select ‘TikTok shop’ instead of ‘catalog,’ name your campaign after your product, and then click ‘continue.’ Your ad format should be ‘video shopping ads,’ not live streams, to engage directly with the product listing. In the ‘placements’ section, turn off video downloads to protect your content. Under ‘demographics,’ the location will likely be preset according to your shop’s details. Adjust the target gender based on your audience analysis—I typically choose female. Keep the language setting broad and leave interest behaviors at zero to capture a wide audience initially.

Regarding budget and scheduling, although a minimum budget is suggested, I recommend increasing it to attract higher-quality traffic, aiding in more informed decision-making. Schedule the campaign for a clean launch at midnight the next day. For the optimization goal, test both gross revenue and purchase objectives by setting up two separate campaigns with these respective goals to determine which performs better in driving sales and revenue through your TikTok Shop. After setting up your ad campaign, name your ad for clarity, like “Test One,” and ensure it’s linked to your TikTok account. Next, add product details by selecting each product you wish to advertise and confirming your choices. For video content, aim to test with three different videos to gauge which one resonates most with your audience.

Keep the ad text concise and to the point, then submit your ad. Let the ads run for about two days to collect enough data for analysis. I will provide a link in the description and a pinned comment to a detailed guide on managing your TikTok ads. I will offer an extensive overview of the process explicitly tailored for TikTok Shop promotions instead of external websites. In conclusion, this article has been informative and provided valuable insights into leveraging TikTok Shop for your business. Please share your thoughts and the type of content you wish to see next regarding TikTok Shops in the comments section. Remember to like the video to access the cheat sheet, and I look forward to addressing your questions and providing further assistance in upcoming videos.

Conclusion and Call to Action

We’ve reached the end of this article, and I hope you found it informative and valuable. It’s been quite a journey, and I trust you’ve gleaned some useful insights into TikTok Shops and dropshipping. I’m eager to hear what you’d like to explore next about TikTok Shops. What are you curious about, or what challenges do you face? Your feedback will help shape future content, ensuring it meets your needs.