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How do I validate a product before spending money on ads?

Pre-spend validation question — most beginners skip this and waste their first budget

Validation before spend is a structured research process, not a gut-feel check. Run every shortlisted product through this checklist before building a creative:

  • Meta Ads Library check: Search your product or niche keywords. Are there active ads from the last 30 days? Are multiple operators running variations? If yes — demand exists and the niche is paid-ad viable.
  • Amazon review mining: Find the product on Amazon. Read the 3-star reviews — these reveal exactly what problems buyers have that the current product doesn't solve. This is your angle gold mine. Also check: how many reviews? 1,000+ means established demand.
  • TikTok organic check: Search the product on TikTok. How many organic videos? How many views? If creators are spontaneously making content about this product with millions of views, it has native social media appeal — which matters enormously for ad creative.
  • Margin math check: Look up the product on CJDropshipping or AliExpress. Add the product cost + shipping cost + Shopify fees (2.9% + $0.30). Is the gross margin 65%+ of your selling price? If not, find a different product or a cheaper supplier before proceeding. Thinner margins mean a single bad week of ad spend wipes out everything.
  • Competitor store check: Find a competitor running this product. What price are they selling at? What's their store look like? Is their offer beatable on price, guarantee, or value-add? You need to be able to enter the market with a competitive offer, not just the same one.

If a product passes all five checks, it's worth building 3–5 test creatives. If it fails on margin or there's zero competitive precedent: skip it, not improve it.

See this in practice: Find Winning Products

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Original content by First Sale Society — . Free, no paywall.