The Ultimate Dropshipping Checklist

Research & Planning

Use Google Trends to identify market demand Order samples from different suppliers

Shortlist suppliers based on product quality,

Research your target product’s competitive landscape
delivery time, and communication

Narrow down your target audience and create

Develop a pricing strategy
customer profiles

Research potential dropshipping automation apps Review competitor backlinks to identify SEO
(such as Oberlo or Spocket) opportunities

Research suppliers for your target product (Start with

Set up short and long term marketing goals
SaleHoo, AliDropship, and Chili-Hunter)

Setting Up Your Store

Determine the best payment methods for your store
Create a Shopify account
and set up your payment details

Choose a store name Add a review system

Create an FAQ page with answers to common

Register your store’s domain
questions about shipping and return policies,
payment methods, order statuses, and more.
Design an eye-catching logo and favicon
Write your “About” page content
Design and develop your Shopify store (or choose an
appropriate theme)
Create a privacy policy page
Research which Shopify apps can help you elevate
your store
Add security badges to your product pages
Research apps that can integrate your site with your
supplier’s inventory management (such as Dropified
Develop a customer service system
or AutoDS)

Determine your product category pages and assign

Write meta descriptions for all pages
products to corresponding categories

Optimize your site for different devices, including Optimize your product titles and descriptions for
desktop, mobile, and tablet keywords

Test your checkout process Customize customer notifications

Developing Your Marketing
Develop a digital ads strategy (social media ads,
Develop a pricing strategy
display ads, email campaigns, content marketing)

Review competitor backlinks to identify SEO

Determine your sales and promotions strategy
opportunities

A/B test different creatives, CTAs, and marketing

Research marketing software solutions (such as AdRoll)
channels (display, social, search) before launching your
first campaign
Figure out a content strategy and create a
content calendar
Add links to your social media profiles in your footer

Create social media accounts

Build SEO backlinks
Connect your social media accounts to your store for
social selling
Set up ads

Build your email marketing list

Monitoring and Optimizing

Set up an abandoned cart recovery campaign
Set up a Google Analytics account
using AdRoll

Set up Google Alerts for high-end keywords and

Collect customer feedback
trends

Use a social media tool (such as Hootsuite) to monitor

your social media accounts