Evan Tan Interview – Dropshipping Scaling Strategy with Facebook Ads

Evan Tan:

I really just want to emphasize to anyone who’s listening that you need to diversify your risks, and make sure you’re in backup plans, for sure.

Alex Fedotoff:

Mm-hmm (affirmative). Hey guys, so here we are in Affiliate World Asia, and we have Evan Tan.

Evan Tan:

All right, thank you.

Alex Fedotoff:

Yeah, so, Evan and his brother Steve, so they’re running a massive e-commerce operation, they’re spending a lot of money on advertising, and I want to learn the things that work for them, right now, to share with you guys, and yeah, basically see what’s working. So, yeah.

Evan Tan:

Thank you so much, Alex, for having me.

Alex Fedotoff:

Yeah, thank you. Thank you. So, what’s working for you right now? So, obviously, with Facebook, with drop shipping, you guys do mostly drop shipping, correct?

Evan Tan:

Yeah, right now, we still do mostly drop shipping, for sure. Yeah.

Alex Fedotoff:

And, how is it like, are you having any issues with, regular staff, ad accounts? And…

Evan Tan:

Yeah, for sure. You know, I’m sure everyone’s facing, whether it’s the white hat, big brands, I’m sure everyone is facing issues with ad accounts, business managers getting banned, and all of that. And, over the past few months, I’m sure everyone has seen it increasingly becoming an issue. So, that has become part of our operations, making sure that our systems, that we constantly have our new business managers, new ad accounts being replaced, especially for the drop shipping operations.

Alex Fedotoff:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Evan Tan:

Yep.

Alex Fedotoff:

Cool. And so, in terms of shipping times, I know that you guys have very streamline operation, now. So, what’s typically the shipping time that still takes you, for your product?

Evan Tan:

All right. So, for sure, it depends on… we actually provide now, expedited shipping, choices for actually for customers. So, we work with a company called [inaudible 00:01:57], actually, in China, who actually do expedited shipping. So, no, there’s no… Some people might be… The old way of doing things, actually, some people, they don’t really want to spend more in shipping, right?

Alex Fedotoff:

Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yep.

Evan Tan:

But, nowadays, like having faster shipping makes a huge difference, especially on your on Facebook feedback score, and all these things. And so that, spending that extra dollar, although you might not eat into your profits a little bit, but you know, it goes a long way, for sure.

Alex Fedotoff:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Evan Tan:

Yep.

Alex Fedotoff:

And, I know we’ve chatted with Steve some time ago in my group, and he said that you guys started to do email marketing. Is that something still part of what you do?

Evan Tan:

Yeah, for sure. So, with email marketing, actually, we are not experts in it, it’s all, we actually outsource it to one of our good friend’s company, it’s called Chronos-

Alex Fedotoff:

Uh-uh (negative). Yep. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Evan Tan:

I think he’s speaking-

Alex Fedotoff:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Evan Tan:

Joshua is speaking in Affiliate, and he’s doing a great job. So, regardless of some of our niche stores, and the branded stores, and as well as drop shipping stores. With Joshua, we’re seeing an average increase of, like 15 to 20% increase, just in the marketing.

Alex Fedotoff:

Mm-hmm (affirmative). Very good.

Evan Tan:

And, that’s just free money.

Alex Fedotoff:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely.

Evan Tan:

So, if you’re not doing it, you have to do it. Something about it, for sure.

Alex Fedotoff:

Cool. And, do guys experiment with Snapchat? Like, different platforms?

Evan Tan:

Unfortunately, no. Snapchat has been something that we never actually ventured into, and after talking with Van, you know? I think, Van.

Alex Fedotoff:

Yeah, yeah, yeah man, like…

Evan Tan:

So, I was like, “Oh man, you know we really need to venture into that, for sure.”

Alex Fedotoff:

Yeah, definitely. So, he was telling me, he’s getting 6 to 1, or something like… return on the Snapchat-

Evan Tan:

Yeah, I was like, “Oh my God!” I was like, “We are missing out, huge!”

Alex Fedotoff:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Definitely. So, in terms of the products that you guys still do, like the general drop shipping model, or you guys have like, store, like, shops, one product?

Evan Tan:

Yeah. So, basically, definitely, we do both at the same time, concurrently. So, we actually know… Sometimes when we find really good products from the general drop shipping store. So, we’ll sort of white-label it a little, make it a little bit nicer, and put it onto the market. But, of course, we do both concurrently, because with general stores, you’re able to test products really quickly. Every day, whether it’s in the mom’s niche, in the beauty niche, everything, you can test it. They [inaudible 00:00:03:59], and when you find a good winner, like, it’s a really good winner, then you pass things, you go through a really quick rebranding, and pushing out as a niche store. Normally, you’re able to get higher average order value, AOVs, and you know a longer longevity for that product.

Alex Fedotoff:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Evan Tan:

Yep.

Alex Fedotoff:

So you, Evan, you in charge of the operations, right?

Evan Tan:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Alex Fedotoff:

That’s kind of like your strong side.

Evan Tan:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Alex Fedotoff:

So, what have been the major takeaways, or major like insights, in this year, 2019, what changed in your perspective, your thinking, or how you do things?

Evan Tan:

For me, definitely, as from an operational side of things… I mean, we have been talking about risk diversification for a long time. For the longest period of time we have been talking about this has been so important, but this year is even more important as ever before, because you’re looking at, banned from Facebook, banned from everywhere being so common. If you’re not prepared, if you have like only one business manager, or two business managers, they might just get shut off, even if you’re doing the right things, right? With Facebook, you never know. So, this is really important, that I really just want to emphasize to anyone who’s listening, that you need to diversify your risks, and make sure you’re in backup plans, for sure.

Alex Fedotoff:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Evan Tan:

Yep.

Alex Fedotoff:

Cool. Awesome. And, in terms of the other platforms that you’re looking into, so, you now will be considering Snapchat, do you do like Google, or anything like that?

Evan Tan:

So, right now, of course we’re doing a Google, as well, and we were exploring a lot on YouTube. YouTube is getting huge, as well. So, YouTube is something that we are planning to spend more effort on next year, as well.

Alex Fedotoff:

Okay.

Evan Tan:

Yep.

Alex Fedotoff:

So, basically-

Evan Tan:

Of course, Snapchat, as well, yeah.

Alex Fedotoff:

… advertising on YouTube.

Evan Tan:

YouTube, Google shopping, all those different things. Yeah.

Alex Fedotoff:

Okay. And, would that be like drop shipping, or you’re already looking into more like a [crosstalk 00:05:45]-

Evan Tan:

We’ll be testing for both, for sure. Yeah.

Alex Fedotoff:

Cool. Awesome. So, yeah, pleasure having you, Evan.

Evan Tan:

Thank you, so much.

Alex Fedotoff:

Yeah, thank you for sharing the insights with us. And, yeah, see you around.

Evan Tan:

All right, see you around.

Alex Fedotoff:

Yep. Thank you.

Evan Tan:

All right, thanks. Thanks.