Dropshipping with ChatGPT: How To Use AI To Help Your Online Store

Since the pandemic, ecommerce has seen unprecedented growth, and with it, the development of AI to support online businesses has also grown. But how can ChatGPT help with your dropshipping business?

What is ChatGPT and how can it help you with dropshipping?

OpenAI launched ChatGPT in late November of 2022. Despite being a new player in the business world, it has already made a huge impact on the online community. ChatGPT stands for Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer and is a chatbot that uses generative artificial intelligence (AI) to understand and generate human language in the desired style and format. To train ChatGPT, it was fed large amounts of online texts to learn human language and transcripts to learn conversational skills. Users interact with ChatGPT and provide feedback to improve their responses using a reward system.

ChatGPT provides a free 3.5 version for all users, but it has some limitations on features and cannot be used during busy times or when there are too many people on the platform. ChatGPT 4 is a premium, paid version that can be used at any time of the day. This is their most capable model, offering faster response times and access to the latest features.

ChatGPT can help with non-business tasks like writing resumes and cover letters, summarising articles or solving math equations. With its advanced natural language processing capabilities, ChatGPT can understand your needs and provide you with accurate and relevant information in a matter of seconds. ChatGPT is also extremely useful for creating a successful dropshipping business. By training ChatGPT with information about your company and your target audience, you can create customised content that is tailored to your specific needs. For example, you can teach ChatGPT to use a specific tone and voice that matches your brand, or you can provide it with information about your products and services so that it can generate more targeted content. As you use the assistant more and more, it will become better at understanding your preferences and needs, providing you with even more accurate and relevant information. This makes ChatGPT an incredibly powerful tool for businesses that want to stay ahead of the competition and provide their customers with the best possible experience. However, you need to ensure you fact-check and edit ChatGPT’s responses, especially when it comes to generating written content.

11 ways to use ChatGPT with your dropshipping business

It is crucial to remember that when training ChatGPT, a new thread should be started for each topic. Think of each thread as a separate conversation with a unique person, where the AI learns from your prompts and retains the information from the discussion. Therefore, if you have a thread for one topic, say finding a store name, and you want to discuss something entirely different, like creating content, it is best to initiate a new thread.

To ensure ChatGPT performs tasks to the best of its abilities, it is also recommended to provide a clear and concise brief beforehand. Imagine you are delegating a task to a person who has no prior knowledge of it and therefore needs context to perform it effectively. You can formulate a prompt like this example and modify it to suit each unique task:

“You are my creative assistant, and your job is to create X. I will provide you with a list of keywords for each project, and I want you to return the ideas as X. Do you understand?”

There are numerous online courses and resources available that can help you learn how to train ChatGPT effectively and use it to its fullest potential. However, experimenting with different prompts is also a great way to learn.

1.     Find a domain name

Selecting a brand name is a crucial step in establishing a successful business, and it can be a time-consuming process to come up with an idea that you are happy with. A brand name serves as an entry point to your business, providing customers with a sense of the goods you offer and the type of brand you represent, so it is essential to choose wisely.

To help ChatGPT provide you with the most accurate brand name ideas, you will need to give a list of keywords related to your business. Additionally, you can describe your store and the products you sell to get domain name ideas. It is important to provide as much detail as possible to ensure that the names generated are both creative and unique. So, take your time to give ChatGPT the information it needs to provide you with the best possible names.

Because ChatGPT only holds information up to 2021, make sure you do more research if you choose a name it gives to you, as it might already be taken.

Prompt example:

• "I'm starting a dropshipping store that sells eco-friendly home products. I’m going to give you a list of keywords and I want you to suggest a list of domain names based on those keywords that emphasise sustainability and household goods."

2.     Find a niche

Finding your niche and target audience is one of the most challenging questions that an aspiring entrepreneur must face. Having a niche differentiates you from your competitors, assists in creating a unique selling proposition for your customers, and boosts your sales. While you can discover your niche by conducting product research and identifying your preferences, if you're pressed for time, ChatGPT can lend you a hand.

If you're looking for dropshipping product niche ideas and profitable products, ChatGPT can help you in two ways. You can ask for a simple list of top dropshipping product niches from which you can choose. Alternatively, you can provide ChatGPT with your profile, including your skills, interests, and the type of business you want to build. Based on your profile, ChatGPT can suggest ten or more potential dropshipping business ideas that are unique to you. You can customise the suggested ideas by specifying your target audience, location, industry, and business model. Even if you don't use ChatGPT's ideas, this process can be a great starting point for finding a suitable dropshipping niche.

Prompt examples:

• "I'm interested in starting a dropshipping business but need a niche. Can you suggest profitable and trending niches that have a good market demand?"

• "I'm going to provide you with a list of my hobbies and interests and I want you to give me a dropshipping business idea that aligns with them.”

• "I'm looking for a niche that caters to specific demographics or lifestyle preferences. What niches are popular among specific age groups or interests?"

• "I want to explore eco-friendly and sustainable products. Can you suggest niches within the eco-conscious market that are suitable for dropshipping?"

3.     Content creation

ChatGPT can be a valuable tool for content creation. If you're struggling with writer's block, ChatGPT can help you generate blog post ideas that you can then use to create your own unique content. However, we advise against completely relying on ChatGPT to write high-quality blog content. Your audience can usually tell when a piece of writing is not your own, and it may come across as less human if you rely too heavily on ChatGPT. Instead, we suggest using ChatGPT to provide you with heading ideas or a summary of a blog, and then proceed to write the content yourself.

Like any other ChatGPT prompt, when getting ideas for content you should start by giving ChatGPT context, like the name and type of business you have, the audience for the content, and what you want the content to cover. You can then detail the type of content you want ChatGPT to come up with. This might include blog ideas, outlines, titles, or social media captions, posts, and stories.

Prompt examples:

• "I'm looking to create engaging blog content for my dropshipping website. Can you suggest topics and article ideas that will attract and inform potential customers?"

• "I'd like to create product videos and tutorials to highlight the features of the items I sell. Can you provide ideas for video content that will drive sales and educate customers?"

• "I want to improve my SEO and organic traffic for my dropshipping site. Can you suggest content ideas that will help me rank higher in search engines and attract organic visitors?"

4.     Market research

Market research is an essential task that involves collecting information and data related to customers, competitors, and the industry to make informed brand decisions. It typically requires a lot of manual research, which can be time-consuming. However, ChatGPT can provide this information in a matter of seconds, making it a quick and convenient way to collate market research.

Collecting information about customers is crucial for effective market research, and surveys are one of the most effective ways to obtain such information. ChatGPT can assist you in writing surveys, saving you valuable time. Simply provide a prompt such as “I need a survey to gather feedback on my product”, and ChatGPT will create a comprehensive questionnaire that can be modified as needed. You can also ask ChatGPT to generate a list of key features that your customers may desire when shopping for your product or brand by asking something like “What traits do customers look for in online shoe shopping?” You can also input your survey results and ask ChatGPT to compile them into a table or bullet-point format and provide insights derived from the data.

For market research on something like women's fashion retailers in Australia, you can ask ChatGPT to compile a list of top competitors by entering the prompt "What are the top women's fashion retailers in Australia?". Keep in mind that the more specific your prompt is, the more valuable the information you receive will be.

Prompt examples:

• "I'm considering dropshipping in the health and wellness niche. Can you provide detailed market research on the most popular health products and customer preferences?”

• "I plan to target the millennial demographic for my dropshipping business. Can you gather market data on millennials' online shopping behaviours, including preferred platforms and buying trends?"

• "I want to identify low-competition, high-demand products in the home decor niche. Can you provide data on emerging trends and best-selling items?"

5.     Keyword research

Online businesses must conduct ongoing research of relevant, trending keywords to ensure their store is visible to customers. Utilising keywords is crucial to driving traffic, improving sales, and boosting ROI, making them an integral part of any successful online store.

ChatGPT can be a valuable tool to kick off your keyword research journey. If you're looking for keywords with higher search volume, you can ask ChatGPT to order them from least to most important and prioritise those with a higher volume. You can also ask for long-tail keywords related to a specific topic to get an idea of what people are searching for. Additionally, you can request a list of questions based on your chosen keyword, and utilise them as blog ideas. By doing so, you can ensure that you're using targeted keywords to attract potential customers to your website. For instance, something like “How to build a minimalist wardrobe” could be an excellent SEO-focused blog or article for your fashion website. Alternatively, if you've already written content for your website, you can ask ChatGPT to optimise it with relevant keywords. This practice can also be applied to your product descriptions and listings to ensure that your items are optimised for search engines.

If you want to find Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) terms related to a particular topic, ChatGPT can help. For example, you can ask ChatGPT to find LSI keywords for fashion. Additionally, you can input your competitor's content into ChatGPT and ask it to identify the keywords they use. This can help you determine which keywords are beneficial for your SEO strategy. ChatGPT can also classify keywords by their search intent. You just need to provide the keywords you want to classify and ask ChatGPT to sort them according to their intent. It will also explain the reasoning behind the search intent. To get the best results, try to provide as much detail as possible when asking ChatGPT.

Prompt examples:

• "I'm dropshipping fitness equipment and want to optimise my website for search engines. Can you provide a list of specific long-tail keywords related to 'home gym equipment' that are currently popular in search queries?"

• "I'm planning to start a dropshipping store specialising in pet supplies. Can you provide me with high-volume keywords related to 'dog toys'?"

• "I want to sell fashion accessories through my dropshipping business. Can you find keywords related to 'women's handbags' that are frequently used in search queries?"

• "I'm focusing on electronics in my dropshipping store. Can you identify keywords related to 'wireless headphones' that have a high click-through rate (CTR) and low competition?"

6.     Improve visibility

When shopping online, customers have a multitude of stores to choose from. Therefore, it's crucial that your website and products are presented to the customer before your competitors. According to Power Retail, a significant 54 per cent of online shoppers initiate their shopping journey on Google. Consequently, optimising your website for search engines is of utmost importance, and ChatGPT can help you with the fundamentals.

As previously mentioned, implementing effective SEO strategies can be one of the most valuable investments for any online business. Such strategies can significantly enhance the visibility of your website and products, and ChatGPT can help you with the basics to save you time and money. Once you have a curated list of keywords and phrases, you can seamlessly integrate them into your website content with the help of ChatGPT. The AI-powered assistant can assist you in organising your content in the most optimal way for search engines, such as including keywords in headings and meta descriptions. These elements of your content are critical for your website to be recognised and ranked highly by Google, ultimately driving more traffic to your online store.

Prompt examples:

• "I want to enhance my website's visibility. Can you provide on-page SEO recommendations for my 'home fitness equipment' category page?"

• "My dropshipping store is in the pet supplies niche. What specific off-page SEO strategies can I implement to boost my site's authority and backlinks for the 'dog toys' category?"

• "I'd like to increase my website's visibility in local search results. Can you suggest specific local SEO tactics for my electronics dropshipping business targeting the Australian market?"

• "My fashion accessories dropshipping website needs speed optimisation. Can you provide specific recommendations to improve page load times and enhance user experience?"

• "I want to make my kitchen gadgets dropshipping site more mobile-friendly. Can you offer specific tips for improving mobile responsiveness and user experience?"

7.     Product descriptions

Writing product descriptions can be an arduous and time-consuming task, particularly when you have a steady influx of new products. By utilising ChatGPT, you can instantly create product descriptions, while also optimising them with relevant keywords for improved search engine rankings. Teaching ChatGPT your brand's unique voice will help it generate product descriptions in mere seconds, freeing up valuable time for other important tasks.

To help ChatGPT learn your tone of voice, you can provide it with product descriptions that you have written in the past. This way, ChatGPT can produce results in a similar format, and you won't have to spend too much time editing them. You can also customise the output by asking ChatGPT to remove or shorten certain parts, and by specifying the word count and important details such as product materials and dimensions.

Prompt examples:

• "I'm selling a foldable treadmill for my dropshipping store. Can you write a product description that highlights its key features, such as its compact design, adjustable speed settings, and suitability for home workouts?"

• "I'm offering a collection of designer handbags on my fashion accessories dropshipping site. Can you write product descriptions for five handbags, focusing on their unique designs, materials, and style options?"

• "I'm selling wireless earbuds on my electronics dropshipping store. Can you create product descriptions for these earbuds, emphasising their sound quality, compatibility with devices, battery life, and any special features like noise-cancellation?"

8.     Social media

It is estimated that around 6.4 million Australians will use social media for online shopping by 2024. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure that your brand has a strong online presence. This will help your customers stay updated with your latest products and feel connected to your brand. If you’re not sure what kinds of social media posts to make or are feeling stuck for inspiration, ChatGPT is a great place to start.

ChatGPT can assist you in generating caption ideas for social media, as well as provide multiple ideas for social media marketing campaigns. It can suggest campaign names, the duration of those campaigns, and target audiences. Start by providing ChatGPT with context for your audience, brand, and voice. You should also be specific about the social media platform as this will impact the outcome.

Prompt examples:

• "I want to engage with our pet-loving audience on Instagram. Can you suggest specific hashtags and content ideas for our 'Dog Toy Tuesday' feature to boost engagement and follower growth?"

• "I'm looking to run a Facebook ad campaign for our fashion accessories. Can you provide specific recommendations for ad creatives, targeting options, and ad copy to maximise ROI and conversions?"

• "We're launching a giveaway on TikTok to increase our electronics store's followers. Can you help with specific guidelines for the giveaway, including prize selection, rules, and promotional videos to gain participation?"

• "Our kitchen gadgets Instagram account needs fresh and engaging content. Can you suggest specific user-generated content strategies, like running a contest, and tips for encouraging followers to submit their content?"

9.     Email marketing

As an online business owner, email marketing is crucial. 99 per cent of people check their email once a day, so it's essential to make sure your branded emails are among the ones that your customers open. If you're unsure how to create something like an email welcome journey and other email marketing campaigns, ChatGPT can assist you. According to a survey, 43 per cent of marketers who use AI find it most helpful for creating emails.

ChatGPT can assist you in creating complete emails to promote your business or products. To get started, all you need to do is provide ChatGPT with some details about what you want to focus on, such as your store name and product information. Once you give it a prompt like 'Write me an email that welcomes customers to my online store and includes a 20 per cent off voucher', ChatGPT will generate a complete email for you that, once edited, you can send directly to your customers. If you need help with creating engaging email subject lines, you can ask ChatGPT to either edit your existing subject lines to make them more effective or generate completely new ideas for subject lines based on the content of your email. To ensure that ChatGPT gives you the most accurate response, make sure to provide detailed information about your brand and the type of store you have.

Prompt examples:

• "I'm planning an email marketing campaign to promote our upcoming summer sale for fitness equipment. Can you create a specific email sequence, including a teaser email, sale announcement, and follow-up emails with product highlights and discounts?"

• "We want to re-engage inactive customers in our pet supplies dropshipping business. Can you suggest a specific email series, including a 'We Miss You' email with a discount offer, a product recommendation email, and a testimonial-driven reactivation email?"

• "Our electronics store is running a holiday email campaign. Can you create specific emails for Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions, including catchy subject lines, product highlights, and limited-time offers?"

• "We want to establish an email newsletter for our kitchen gadgets dropshipping business. Can you help with specific suggestions for a content calendar, including product spotlights, cooking tips, and customer testimonials, to engage subscribers and build brand loyalty?"

10.  Customer service templates

Research shows that 81 per cent of people are more likely to make a repeat purchase from a brand if they receive excellent customer service. With ChatGPT, you can craft responses to customer complaints or queries to ensure you improve your customer retention. You can instruct it to write an apology for a faulty item or a response to standard customer inquiries and complaints to learn how to write them in future. This will help you understand how to communicate with your customers professionally.

It's important to note that while ChatGPT can be a helpful tool for customer service, it shouldn't be relied on exclusively. Customers may be able to tell that they are interacting with an AI-powered assistant and may require emotional support that ChatGPT is unable to provide. ChatGPT may also lack the flexibility needed to respond to some inquiries. However, you can try prompting ChatGPT to respond with empathetic answers and gauge whether it is suitable for your business.

Prompt examples:

• "I've received a customer complaint regarding a damaged product in our fitness equipment store. Can you provide a specific template for an email response to address the issue, including details on our return process?"

• "We have a customer requesting a return for a fashion accessory due to sizing issues. Can you provide a specific return authorisation process, including instructions, and a template for a return confirmation email?"

• "A customer has inquired about the warranty coverage for a kitchen gadget they purchased. Can you outline the specific terms and conditions of our warranty, including coverage duration and instructions for warranty claims?"

11. Website copy

If you're looking to update your website, ChatGPT can provide you with professional website copywriting services by crafting various pieces of website copy such as an About Page, FAQs, and brand information that can help reflect your brand's values, tone, and mission. The importance of having a professional website can make or break the impression potential customers have of your brand. In fact, studies have shown that 94 per centof first impressions are made based on website design and content. Great website copy can help establish a professional image that will build trust with potential customers, ultimately increasing the likelihood of sales.

If you haven't built your website yet, you can also use ChatGPT to create a store map for your preferred ecommerce platform. This will enable you to identify the exact steps you need to take to build your dropshipping website and ensure that you cover any areas you may not have considered yet.

Prompt examples:

• "I need to update the homepage of my fitness equipment dropshipping website. Can you provide a specific copy that highlights our brand's commitment to quality, offers a brief introduction to our product range, and encourages visitors to explore our latest arrivals?"

• "Our electronics dropshipping store needs a copy for the 'About Us' page. Can you provide a compelling narrative that details our company's history, values, and dedication to quality and customer satisfaction?"

• "We want to enhance the 'Returns and Refunds' page on our pet supplies store. Can you provide a copy that outlines our return policy, including the return window, condition of returns, and the refund process?"

Caution around AI

Although ChatGPT and AI are incredibly helpful, it's important to be cautious when using them to assist your dropshipping business. Plagiarism can be an issue when using ChatGPT to create content and website copy. ChatGPT can only generate a limited amount of uniqueness, and many other dropshipping businesses may be using identical or similar copies to yours. We suggest using ChatGPT as a writing aid instead of fully relying on it. If you're experiencing writer's block, ChatGPT may be a helpful tool for generating new ideas. However, it is crucial to review and edit ChatGPT's responses to match your brand's voice and style, ensuring consistency across your website and social media. It is imperative to review and edit ChatGPT's responses, especially for content that you plan to publish on your website or social media, to ensure that it aligns with your brand's tone of voice, stays up-to-date with the latest industry trends, and is free from any language errors.

Users of the free version of ChatGPT may experience limitations during certain times of the day when the service is busy. This could mean that when you need immediate assistance, ChatGPT may not be available to help you meet your deadlines.

It’s also important to keep in mind that ChatGPT's knowledge is limited to information up to 2021, which means that its data can be outdated. If you rely on ChatGPT as your sole source of current information regarding data and trends, you may be two years behind the actual trend. You must fact-check when using ChatGPT, especially for information such as data and statistics.

Summary

In the realm of online businesses, ChatGPT is a powerful AI tool that provides various benefits for dropshippers. It can help with content creation, market research, keyword research, and email marketing, making it a valuable resource for entrepreneurs looking to simplify their operations and save time on mundane tasks. However, users should exercise caution while using ChatGPT's responses as they may lack uniqueness and require editing to align with brand voice and style. Additionally, it's crucial to fact-check the information provided by ChatGPT, as its knowledge is based on data available only up to 2021. Despite these limitations, ChatGPT can be a valuable asset for dropshippers seeking AI-driven assistance.