Advanced Dropshipping Academy Review: Chris Wane Course

Are you looking for the best honest review on Chris Wane Shopify course called, Advanced Dropshipping Academy? If so you’ve come to the right place. Those familiar with this blog know that we provide the best reviews hands down.

Chris Wane recently launched his dropshipping course which has received regular updates. He’s a heavy promoter on social media such as Instagram, selling lots of dreams such as escaping the 9-to-5 and living a life of freedom. But is it all hype?

This Advanced Dropshipping Academy review will help shed some light on the course and whether it’s worth $397, the price point Chris Wane has set his course at. The course aims to teach anyone, whether you’re a complete beginner who doesn’t know what dropshipping is, through to someone who has had some success already.

Who is Chris Wane?

Chris is a 31 year old English Youtuber who has been making videos on digital marketing topics as well as dropshipping and various other make money online niches. He’s currently got over 5,500 subscribers and each video seems to get quite a few views.

On average he uploads one to two videos per week with topics such as, ‘How to manage cash flow.’ and ‘How to control $1,000/Day Budgets.’ There is then many clickbait videos such as claiming to make $25,000 with one carousel ad or ‘How this 20 year old made $200k in 16 Days.’

Videos show Chris talking to the camera, rather than the over the shoulder videos we’ve become a custom to from other Youtubers who talk about dropshipping.

It’s clear that Chris Wane knows what he’s talking about when it comes to Shopify dropshipping. However, like many Youtubers, is he cashing in on this latest trend and making all his money from his course?

Chris Wane Dropshipping Store?

To help launch his course, he did an interview with Oberlo. He also showcases his store, Big Red Gadgets which claims to be making all his money.

This store is built on the Shopify platform and uses a custom Shopify theme similar to Booster Theme.

advanced dropshipping academy review

Advanced Dropshipping Academy Review

The course is currently hosted on the Thinkific platform which is a little unusual given most course creators choose to use Clickfunnels, Kajabi or Teachables.

The course is available as a one time package of $397 or two payments of $199. The payment plan is two payments over two months so those strapped for cash can take advantage of the two smaller payments. However, you only get access to 50% of the course content until the second payment is made.

Advanced Dropshipping course includes 63 video lessons of various lessons. Some are super long while others are only a few minutes.

Video and audio quality is great as you’d expect from a Youtuber, he knows what he’s doing and you can expect high quality.

We’ll now take a dive into the course content to see what you actually learn.

Module 1: Introduction

As usual in these courses, the first few videos are taken up by an introduction to the course. Chris shows you a video where he claims to be making $500,000 from his store, yet fails to show any proof that he is actually making that much.

Remember, if it’s not obvious, revenue means very little at the end of the day. Those Shopify dashboard screenshots don’t actually take into account the cost of goods sold (i.e. the product costs) neither any of the variable costs such as shipping, refunds, fraud, your time and of course taxes.

A $500k store might be struggling to make $50k per year. Just remember that.

The last video in this module looks at whether you should start a general, niche or one product store. Of course there are benefits and disadvantages for both, but Chris goes over this in great detail to help you make the best decision.

Module 2: Finding a Winning Product

Once you’ve chosen your perfect store type, you’ll then learn how to find profitable products. I like to call these winning products.

None of the content actually looks at researching a niche, however don’t be put off, using tools such as Sell The Trend allow you to find winning products and import them into your store within minutes. There’s no point choosing a niche that might be unprofitable.

Chris Wane looks at things such as finding reputable suppliers, high mark up products and choosing products which have fast shipping.

The module then looks at free methods for finding products such as spying on the competition with Facebook and Instagram.

You then look at other paid methods for finding products to sell, I’ve actually done a post looking at 17 of the best ones here.

Many other people say using paid tools is not worth the time or money however, I personally think they are great. You can find trending products, explore products you probably would never have even considered..or heard of.. not to mention they have one click imports into your own store which saves hours of saving images, adding variants and more.

Module 3: Building Your Store

The next module looks at building your store which will allow you to sell your products, collect payments, add upsells and hopefully make bank.

Videos in this module are fairly basic, over the shoulder style videos where you’ll follow along as Chris creates a store from scratch. You’ll learn how to customize your store, add the best recommended apps and make the process nice and fast.

If you’ve been watching free Youtube videos, you’ll probably be fully across this section already.

Chris recommends using Shopify and using an automation plugin called Oberlo which allows you to fulfil orders from Aliexpress.

You also learn how to install a custom theme, there’s many different premium themes out there that can help you with conversion rate optimization. I’ve done a review on 7 of the very best but Chris recommends you checkout Shoptimized which I’ve also reviewed too (it’s a great theme).

You’ll also learn how to install the best Shopify apps, registering and connecting your own domain name (i.e. yourstore.com). You also learn how to set up G suite so you can have your very own personal email address. There’s also videos on installing Google Analytics and adding customer service.

Lastly there is videos on secret Shopify store hacks, I’ve also covered this in this article.

Module 4: Facebook Ads

Chris’ course is a Facebook Ads course which is perfectly fine BUT there are courses out there that look at a wide range of traffic sources such as Google, Bing and other social media platforms.

A lot of new dropshippers find Facebook Ads expensive, they spend a few hundred dollars, make no money and then call dropshipping a scam. If you want cheaper traffic then unfortunately Facebook Ads is not for you, and unfortunately in a course like this, you have no further training.

However,

You will learn the basics of Facebook Ads such as creating a business account and installing the Facebook pixel on your store which is very important for tracking sales. Next you’ll learn about objectives and campaign structure.

Chris goes on to show you how to use the Facebook Audience Insights research tool, how to create video ads and launching your first campaigns.

There’s videos on Satellite pages and the overall Facebook Ad strategy. There’s also two videos on targeting techniques using the broad and interests method. Lastly there is two videos on page post moderation and campaign management.

The Facebook Ads section is pretty small if you ask me, I’ve seen courses with 50+ videos on this platform so there’s lots of information lacking. This is a good start for a beginner but as you try to scale your store, there’s a lot of information you need that isn’t included.

Module 5: Order Fulfilment

This short module includes videos on how to fulfil orders via Oberlo and Dsers which are two plugins for Shopify. You could also use Dropified which is a paid version and offers automatic fulfilment. Another platform is called Ninja Seller.

The last video is a lesson on techniques to track orders once they have been placed with the supplier. I also recommend using a plugin such as Aftership for ensuring your customers receive their order updates and reduce customer service complaints.

Module 6: Retargeting Customers

One of the best ways to increase sales is to retarget those visitors that visited, maybe added to the cart but failed to checkout. Retargeting ads, while expensive can be a very worthwhile addition to your marketing campaign.

Firstly Chris looks at email and messenger retargeting which require the use of apps within your Shopify store.

Next there is SMS retargeting which can be good but can also be expensive, especially if you’re sending international SMS. It can also be seen as intrusive and may not suit your style of business. However it’s a technique Chris talks about and shows you how to use.

Next is the dynamic retargeting on Facebook Ads and also how to create custom audiences.

Lastly there is a specific product retargeting case study which is included in Advanced Dropshipping Academy.

Module 7: Scaling a Winning Product

I mentioned earlier the Facebook Ads section was quite short but this module in Chris Wane course does go into more detail about how to scale your winning products.

The first video is a case study showing you how to test effectively and then narrowing down your audience. There’s a video on building lookalike audiences and the vertical and horizontal scaling methods. You learn what Chris does to increase his average order value through upselling and cross-selling.

There’s a video on manual bidding vs automatic bidding and another case study on the $100k carousel ad that Chris ran.

Module 8+9: Outsourcing, Automation, Branding

The last four modules in the course start to get very short so I’ve combined two together.

You learn how to outsourcing customer support by hiring the services of a Virtual Assistant. This person can also help with order fulfilment once your store starts to grow.

There’s many places you can hire VA’s including Upwork.

Module 9 includes one video on print on demand and how you can do this, although it’s obvious Chris doesn’t do this for his own business, but it’s included if you were thinking of doing POD.

Lastly there is a video on creating your own products through private labeling.

Module 10+11: Selling Your Store + Conclusion

Like most courses, Advanced Dropshipping Academy includes a video on using the Shopify Exchange to sell your store.

However you need to ensure you have 6-12 months of sales as most people can see straight through dropshipping stores and they have little value without winning ads and a good solid pixel.

Module 11 includes a conclusion video, not much to say here.

Module 12+13: Bonuses

The last two modules include bonuses and future content that will be coming soon. I’m not going to post the future content as this might have changed by the time you come to reading this review. My question is, why isn’t it in the course already given you’re spending $397?

Some of the topics include points I raised earlier, Google Ads, Google Shopping, SEO, Returns etc.

The bonuses currently include four documents with:

  • The best Shopify apps to use
  • Links for signing up/themes
  • Customer service templates
  • Shopify page content
  • Break even calculator.

Facebook Mastermind Group

Buying Advanced Dropshipping Academy gives you access to  Chris’ private Facebook mastermind group where you can discuss and talk with other members of the community.

Chris claims to be a regular in the group and he’ll answer all your messages and questions.

Final Verdict

Chris Wane’s course is a great start but it could be amazing. Honestly I’m not sure why he created a Facebook Ads + Dropshipping course and left it like that. It’s rare to find a course that doesn’t even offer Instagram Influencers, SEO, Pinterest or Google Shopping these days, two HUGE ways to make money.

If you’re on a low budget, which I know a lot of you are, you’ll be screwed if you buy this course as Facebook Ads is pretty expensive, especially if you’re new to the game. However Chris does give you a good insight into Facebook Ads, but again it’s a fairly short insight.

Assuming you drop $397 into the course, you’re going to need another $250-$500 to get started with Facebook Ads. You’re also going to need a premium theme and some plugins for helping your conversions which also add money. Then you don’t even get to learn about those other traffic sources.

I’ve seen people commenting on his course asking when Instagram or Google is being added. This was over 3 months ago and still there’s no mention of it in the course.

Chris seems like a genuine guy and I’m sure you will learn a lot from him, if you’re set on buying into his brand then great.

However if you’re looking for the best course in the market and don’t really care who is talking into the camera then you’ll find Advanced Dropshipping Academy is not the course you’re looking for. At $100 less, eCom Elites $297 plan offers 200+ videos on dropshipping and covers all those topics I mentioned are missing in this course.

You get extensive product research, Facebook Ads, Instagram Influencers, Google Ads, Google Shopping, Bing Ads, Snapchat, Pinterest, Twitter and SEO. There’s also a Facebook group with thousands of other students! You can read my review and compare for yourself.

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Last Updated on August 22, 2019 by Rhys Dale

 
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3 thoughts on “Advanced Dropshipping Academy Review: Chris Wane Course”

  1. Very well written and extremely informative. I am VERY new to this drop shipping idea and appreciate all and everything I can learn about the subject. However, being a pensioner, money is always a problem and I just do not have the funds to buy into some ‘guru’s’ you-beaut scheme.
    Thank you so much for this information.

    Reply

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