I recently met someone at a party who had started an e-commerce site. They told me they wanted to start making $50,000 a month from selling their products online.

“Great! We’ve got clients who are doing just this,” I responded.

I asked them a few questions about their e-commerce shop and within minutes, I realized they were completely bonkers and out to lunch! Not only did they not have the foundation in place to make that possible, but their lack of interest in investing in acquiring sales was completely out of line with the reality of scaling a business.

I don’t want you falling into this trap. There are some fantastic products and e-commerce sites out there that think they aren’t capable of 50K a month when they ABSOLUTELY are.

Want to know whether you’re ready to scale?

Here’s the questions you need to ask yourself:

Is your e-commerce site mobile friendly? Welcome to the digital age. At least 60% of your customers buy on their phone. Make sure your customers can purchase on their platform of choice by having a responsive website design.

Does your e-commerce site take less than 3 seconds to load? If it’s taking too long, people will bounce. Don’t let them leave your website before they realize they NEED your product. 

Is your cart abandonment rate less than 70%? If not, go back and reset that puppy. Your checkout process should be smooth and seamless. 

Is your e-commerce site on a reputable platform? If your site is on Wix, it’s time to invest in a real e-commerce back-end. Shopify and Woocommerce are two of the popular choices. 

Have you priced for advertising, commissions, shipping and profit? Expect your advertising costs to be 20-30% of the final purchase price. This CAN be lower, but it’s a good estimate to start. 

Are you collecting email addresses and providing opportunity for repeat customers?  If they liked you once, they’ll like you again. Reward loyalty with sneak peaks and promotions. 

Do you have multiple products and offer bundles? It costs 2x+ to attract a new customer than it does to sell to a repeat buyer. What do you have for upsells and downsells? How do you encourage your customers to buy your other products? 

Do you have reviews and/or testimonials on your website and social media? Facebook is trying to improve the online experience by penalizing drop-shippers and companies with products not in line with what they advertise. Reviews and testimonials are now more important than ever. 

Do you have great photos/videos of your product? You’ll need a bank of enticing photography and videos that you can keep pumping out to drive new and repeat customers to your product. These creative elements can be used across your ads, website and social channels. 

Do you have regular consistent content on social media and email marketing? This is another way Facebook is trying to weed out low quality e-commerce sites – if you’ve got no content, then the cost of your ads will be higher. Photos of people loving the product or videos explaining how to use it are always best. 

How’s your supply? If you had 10x the orders tomorrow, could you keep up with demand? A HUGE part of scaling is keeping up with demand. Who makes your stuff? Can they keep up with the sales goals you have? Facebook will also penalize you if your products are consistently out of stock. You must prove you are a reliable online store. 

How’s your shipping? You’re not going to be sending all those orders from your basement – will you? Make sure your website includes information on shipping (including whether you ship international). Consider shipping incentives for those who buy a certain amount of product – like FREE shipping within USA on purchases over $49. 

Are you willing to invest at least $10,000 in advertising every month? $50,000 in sales every month is no joke. It takes time to optimize your sales funnel and make it happen. You’ll need to invest in traffic and growth — and advertising is a must to get new people to your site. 

Are you willing to invest in professionals and pay professional fees? If you’re investing in advertising, make sure you hire the best. MANY freelancers charge low fees that are unsustainable and the work is subpar. If you’re serious about scaling, hire an online advertising agency who has a proven track record in e-commerce (a.k.a not lead generation for service-based businesses) and who isn’t going to “set it and forget it”. You want an agency that is as invested in your goals as you are. 

Can you be patient? Scaling an online store to $50,000 a month doesn’t happen overnight. We’ve scaled clients over the course of months from $20,000 to $50,000. If you’ve hired a strong Facebook™ advertiser, give them at least 3 months to get the results for you.