We all know finding the right product is crucial to a successful ecommerce store.
But how do you find those hidden gem products?
That's where product research tools can help.
However, like with products, there are multiple product research tools out there, so how do you choose one?
Read on as we guide you in finding the best fit for your needs!
5 Questions to ask before picking your product research tool
Here are a few questions to ask yourself when picking out a product research tool.
1. Is a free trial or a free tool important?
When choosing a product research tool for your ecommerce business, it is important to consider whether you need a free trial or a free tool.
Choosing a free trial of a product research tool can be a good idea if you want to test the tool before committing to a purchase.
A product research tool like Sell The Trend has a great 7-day free trial:
A free trial can help you determine whether the tool fits your business needs and whether you are comfortable with its features and interface.
On the other hand, choosing a free tool for product research may seem like a cost-effective option, but it can come with limitations.
Take, for example, the AliExpress Dropshipping Center:
Is it a great tool? Yes definitely!
But one of its downsides is that it only offers insights from AliExpress itself, which can be limiting.
Free tools typically won't offer the same level of precision and accuracy as paid versions and may not have the same level of customer support and fewer features all around.
However, they can still be great if you're on a budget, right?
2. What is your budget?
You want to ensure you're getting a product research tool that helps you identify winning products.
However, you don't want to overspend in the process.
So, it's essential to establish your priorities.
Which features are most important to you? Understanding your needs can help you better allocate your budget.
For example, here's a popular tool called Dropship:
From the pricing page, you can get a good idea of what kind of features you will receive with your budget:
It's important to consider the cost of the tool and weigh it against its benefits.
Remember that higher costs may not always guarantee better features or results, so it's essential to compare the cost with the tool's utility.
Let's take a look at another product research tool, Commerce Inspector:
Let's look at the pricing and some of the features:
Looking at the image above, we can see that from paying more, you don't receive much more features.
3. Do you want hand-picked products each day?
A hand-picked product of the day is a feature on a product research tool where a product is selected and recommended to the user based on various factors such as trends, demand, and competition.
EcomHunt is a great example of this:
This feature can be extremely useful for dropshippers looking for product ideas and inspiration.
Instead of spending hours researching products, you can simply open the product research tool and find a product that has already been hand-picked and analyzed for potential success.
4. What filtering options do you want?
Filtering options on a product research tool help with narrowing down the search results based on specific criteria.
These criteria can vary depending on the tool but commonly include filtering by product attributes like recent sales, popularity, category, or price.
The main purpose of filtering options is to save time and effort by quickly identifying products that fit particular criteria.
For example, if you are looking for a product that is popular among customers, you can filter your search results by the number of recent sales or customer ratings, which can save you time in finding a product that is likely to perform well.
Let's take a look at AliShark:
This is an example of a tool with a bunch of different filtering options:
In addition to saving time, filtering options can also help with improving the accuracy of search results. By specifying particular criteria, you can eliminate irrelevant products.
Some factors to consider when choosing filtering options might include the following:
- Competition. Check the level of competition in your niche to help identify underserved segments.
- Market demand. Look for features to identify products with high demand volume and analyze seasonality trends.
- Supplier and shipping options. Look for filtering options that give insights into where a product ships from to help optimize your customer experience.
5. Do you want assistance with Facebook targeting?
When choosing a product research tool, one feature worth considering is whether or not it offers Facebook targeting assistance.
This feature can be valuable if you want to optimize your Facebook Ads and ensure they reach the right audience.
With Facebook targeting assistance, the tool will provide insights on how to create effective Facebook Ads.
This feature generally offers helpful data such as specific interests, demographics, and other targeting options that can result in greater success when running Facebook Ads.
An example of a tool that comes with such a feature is Dropship Spy:
It has an 'Audiences' features that assists with Facebook ad targeting:
Whether or not you should choose to have Facebook targeting assistance will depend on the specifics of your business and the advertising strategies you plan to use.
For example, if you are planning to run Facebook Ads and are unsure of how to start, targeting assistance can be beneficial as it can help you identify what types of audience you should be targeting.
The easiest way to choose: The Product Research Tool Quiz (+ Example)
Consider taking our free product research tool quiz to help you pick out a product research tool.
The quiz will run you through many different questions so that we can help you pick the best product research tool for you and your business.
As you can see, the questions are in-depth, so we can ensure the end result is the best fit for you.
Here's an example of the result you get after answering all the questions:
This is a great tool for finding great winning products!
Amazing, right?
How do you identify a winning product?
To find winning products, we must understand what a winning product is.
Winning products are products your target audience will love and sell like crazy.
They are products that can be priced competitively, have high margins, and have a low risk of becoming obsolete or unsellable.
To find the best winning products, you must research your target audience and have a niche in which you plan to sell products.
If you have a niche and a target audience, you can begin to identify winning products within that niche.
You want to look for an item with some sort of 'wow factor.' This will attract potential customers and add interest to your product.
An example of a 'wow factor' product could be something like these pet hair removal tools:
The next key thing to look at is not being able to find it in retail stores.
If potential customers can find your product in stores, it's too generic, and potential customers are less likely to purchase it from your ecommerce store.
Here's an example of a product that you may not find in every store:
Additionally, you want to look for a product with good profit margins. If the profit margins are good, this is a great sign that the product will be a winning product!
One of the last things winning products need to be successful is the ability to solve a problem or a pain point.
Does it make a task easier or provide value to the customer? If so, that's a great sign that a product will perform well.
This product is great because it not only has a 'wow factor' but also solves a problem:
And before you make a final decision, one last thing to check out is if it's on our list of dropshipping products to avoid.
If not, that's great!
If all these things check out, you know it's time to test the product!
3 Other ways to do product research for your online store
Here are a few other ways to do product research without using a product research tool.
1. Product research on TikTok
In recent years the TikTok platform has become quite popular.
As a result, it has caught the attention of popular brands for marketing, making it a great platform for product research:
One of the best ways to do product research on TikTok is to look at what other brands and influencers are doing on the platform and what types of products they advertise.
This can give you an idea of what might sell well and some products you can test.
Another way to find great products on the TikTok platform to dropship is to look at the TikTok Creative Center.
With this tool, you can search for specific keywords and phrases related to your niche, allowing you to spot product trends.
One last powerful way to do product research on TikTok is by utilizing hashtags.
By searching popular hashtags relevant to your niche or product category, you can discover trending products, understand consumer behavior, and keep up with what competitors are doing.
A few hashtags to try to include:
- #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt
- #Amazonfinds
- #AliExpressfavorites
Be sure to check out our full article to learn more about how to do product research on TikTok!
2. Product research on Instagram
Product research on Instagram can also be an effective way to identify potential products and understand consumer behavior.
One of the best ways to begin your research is by finding influencers relevant to your niche:
These individuals can provide valuable tips and ideas about popular products, trending items, and current customer demands.
Additionally, exploring Instagram Reels can be a great way to get an idea of what products are doing well in your industry.
These are short videos where users can create reviews, unboxings, and more.
With Instagram reels, you can get a good idea of what products are trending among your audience, and you can use this information to help curate the right products for your ecommerce store.
Lastly, user-generated content (UGC) can provide great insight into which products have the most potential for success.
UGC enables you to gain feedback from real consumers and better understand their thoughts on different products before testing them out in your store.
Understanding how customers feel about a product through UGC can help you decide which products might be worth pursuing for your ecommerce business.
To learn about other ways to do product research on Instagram, be sure to check out our full article on product research on Instagram.
3. Product research on Pinterest
Doing product research on Pinterest can be an effective way to find potential winning products.
Here are a few things you can do to start with product research on Pinterest.
To get started, it’s important to optimize your Pinterest feed so that you are only shown products and ideas relevant to your store's niche.
This can be done by refining your search parameters when finding products, creating relevant boards, and pinning content from influencers.
Additionally, using keywords to search for products in your niche can help identify products with high search intent.
Start by typing the main keyword into the search box and refine your search using further suggested keywords.
You might also discover trending products by using the ‘Explore’ section.
This is where you will find 'Shopping Spotlight' collections from across Pinterest, showing you which items are currently in demand.
These are just a few ways that you can use Pinterest to find products to test on your ecommerce store.
If you'd like to learn more ways to do product research on Pinterest, be sure to check out our article on that!
Taking action
Reading and absorbing information and knowledge is great (definitely if it’s free!), but do you know what’s even better?
Taking action!
So, to help you with taking action with what you have learned in this article, take a look at the bullet points:
- Take the product research tool quiz. Our product research tool quiz will walk you through in-depth questions about you and your ecommerce business and pick out a product research tool that meets your standards based on your answers.
- Start social media accounts for product research. If you don't want a product research tool or don't want to invest in one, another great place to start would be to do product research on social media, as we explain above.
- Begin to do product research. The main place to take action is to begin product research, whether with a tool or on your own!
Conclusion
That's it!
We hope you see that it doesn't have to be difficult to find a product research tool or do product research on your own.
Thanks for reading! If you have any questions, leave them in the comments below!
Want to learn more about dropshipping?
Ready to move your dropshipping store to the next level? Check out the articles below:
