Bai Lu got scammed, but I became a superstar through e-commerce.

The alarm clock rang.

Qingxiao jumped up from the sofa, his eyes not fully open yet, as if he was catching up on an hour of sleep.

He went to the bathroom and washed his face.

The reflection in the mirror showed two dark circles under her eyes and bluish stubble on her beard.

He splashed cold water on his face and brushed his teeth.

Then he sat back down at his computer and opened Business Advisor.

That burgundy batwing-sleeved sweater has been on the shelves for less than twelve hours.

The data has been updated: 117 visitors, 23 added to cart, 31 added to favorites, and 1 payment made.

Qingxiao looked at the number, unable to hide his excitement.

The add-to-cart rate is close to 20%, and the collection rate is even higher.

But there's only one payment. It's not that the product is bad; it's that there's not enough traffic.

A new link, without any promotion, can only get a hundred visitors a day through organic search at most.

To make this product a hit, you have to promote it.

Qingxiao opened the backend of the Express Train.

In 2013, the Express Train interface was still very simple, with a navigation bar on the left and a data panel in the middle. He clicked on the promotion plan, created a new standard plan, and named it "Burgundy Batwing Sleeve Sweater - Test Image".

Then we started choosing words.

He knew very well the core search terms for women's clothing in 2013.

Sweater, knitwear, batwing sleeves, loose fit, Korean style, new style, autumn, burgundy, V-neck—he incorporated all these words into his plan.

The selection focused on precise keywords, supplemented by long-tail keywords, totaling fifteen.

The cost-per-click for a top-tier keyword like "women in sweaters" is ridiculously high, and his current budget simply can't cover it.

Using precise secondary keywords and long-tail keywords is the right way for new stores to test their products. It results in more accurate traffic, less competition, and lower cost per click.

Once you've chosen your keywords, the next step is to set your bids.

Qingxiao glanced at the industry average price, then placed each keyword in the top 15 position to get impressions without burning through the budget too quickly.

Then comes the most crucial step.

Qingxiao opened Photoshop, created a new folder, and named it "Test Image Materials".

He knew all too well: testing images in paid search ads is the most crucial step in creating a best-selling product. If the image is wrong, even the best design won't get clicks.

If you get the right image, the click-through rate can double.

The difference between a good image and an ordinary image can be as small as 0.5% and 1%, respectively, which is a difference of 100%.

This time, however, he has Bai Lu in his possession.

In his past life, when he was making women's clothing, his biggest headache was dealing with models.

Hiring professional models is too expensive, starting at a thousand a day.

They can't hire cheap models who can't carry off the clothes.

In the end, the only option was to use shooting methods that didn't involve being in the shot, such as hanging shots, flat lays, and fake models, but the click-through rate never went up.

He opened the batch of photos that Bai Lu had taken.

Bai Lu is wearing a burgundy batwing-sleeved sweater, size M. Against a plain white background, a soft light shines from a 45-degree angle, making the sweater's texture clearly visible. The cashmere's feel seems to be able to be touched through the screen.

He selected ten photos from them.

First photo: Full-body front view, Bai Lu is standing with his hands hanging naturally at his sides and his eyes looking directly at the camera.

Second photo: 45 degrees to the side, body slightly turned to the side, showcasing the sweater's cut and drape.

Third image: Full back view, showing the woven texture on the back.

Fourth picture: Front view of the upper body, the focus is on the neckline, the V-neck design reveals the collarbone.

Fifth picture: Bai Lu sits in a side view, with her legs together and placed to the side, the hem of her sweater naturally draped over her thighs.

Sixth picture: hands in pockets, showing the casual feel of the sweater.

The seventh image shows someone holding a cup with one hand, creating a casual, everyday atmosphere.

Eighth picture: A smile as she turns her head to the side, her hair flying in the air.

Ninth photo: Head down, adjusting cuffs, a candid shot of a natural pose.

Tenth picture: A profile view of a person smiling with their head down.

The tenth one took him the longest to choose.

Bai Lu stood sideways, head slightly lowered, a slight smile on his lips, as if he had thought of something happy, or as if he had just looked up after someone called his name.

Qingxiao stared at the photo for five seconds.

Not because it was the best shot.

It's because the angle in this photo is quite good.

In 2013, all the main images of Taobao women's clothing featured a direct frontal view.

The model, dressed in clothes, stands in front of a white background, with her hands on her hips, crossed in front of her chest, or hanging naturally, her eyes staring straight at the camera.

It's like making eye contact with the person on the other side of the screen.

Everyone is striving to present the clothing clearly, wanting to cram every detail of the garment into the main image.

But no one has considered that consumers are already visually fatigued after being bombarded with dozens or even hundreds of "directly facing" main images when browsing Taobao.

And this is a profile shot of him smiling with his head down.

She looked directly at the camera, not deliberately showing off her clothes, but quietly lowered her head, as if she had been photographed unintentionally.

On the contrary, it has an inexplicable attraction.

You can't help but take a second look, wondering what she's laughing at, and what her face looks like when she turns around.

This is not just a main image.

This is an angle that you won't find anywhere else on the internet.

This is the prototype of future online celebrity shop owners.

Moreover, only Bai Lu can capture this feeling.

Why can't the success of online celebrity shop owners be replicated?

This is the irreplaceable affability of a model, just as the most important thing for an actor is public appeal.

Qingxiao exported all ten images, cropped them to the specifications of the Express Train creative images, 800×800, and centered them.

Then he created ten creative ideas and uploaded ten images to them respectively.

The creative title should be consistently written as "2013 Autumn/Winter New Korean Style Loose Batwing Sleeve Sweater Burgundy V-Neck Knitwear for Women", ensuring that the only variable is the image itself.

The traffic allocation mode is selected as a carousel, where ten images are displayed in rotation, ensuring fair competition and preventing data bias.

Once everything was set up, he clicked "deploy".

The express train has started operating.

However, it takes time for the data from Taobao Express to accumulate. The number of impressions starts from zero, and the click-through rate can only be calculated after sufficient exposure. You can't rush it.

Taking advantage of this break, Qingxiao opened QQ.

He clicked into a group called "Hangzhou Taobao Shop Owners Mutual Aid Group".

The group has over 300 members, all of whom are small and medium-sized sellers from Hangzhou. They usually exchange ideas on product selection, share sources of goods, and introduce each other to basic sales resources.

He messaged three people privately.

"Hey bro, can you do me a favor? Place a few orders for my new products, commission will be the same as before."

All three replied "OK".

In 2013, Taobao's basic sales volume requirements were not as strict as they would become later.

New links have no sales or reviews, so the conversion rate is simply not high.

This is an unspoken rule of survival for all small and medium-sized sellers.

Qingxiao knew where the gray area of ​​this road lay.

Boost your sales by placing a few orders to reach a basic level, and then collect about ten reviews with pictures, and then stop.

Don't be greedy, don't engage in fake transactions, and don't use methods like "seven-day spiral" or "black search".

He asked three friends to search for the store using different keywords.

Some people search for "women's batwing sleeve sweater", some search for "burgundy knitwear", and some search for "loose V-neck sweater", and then browse, add to cart, and place an order.

Goods will be shipped as usual, reviews will be written as usual, and commissions will be paid as usual.

An hour later, ten reviews with pictures were posted.

Bai Lu's photo was displayed in the comments section.

Some people wrote, "The quality is very good, exactly the same as the picture," some wrote, "The color is even better than the picture, and it makes my skin look especially fair," and some wrote, "The sweater is very soft and comfortable to wear."

Qingxiao read through it, confirming that each one was genuine and natural, unlike the templated basic sales copy, and then closed the page.

He went back to the Express Train backend and glanced at the data.

Less than an hour after the campaign started, impressions were just beginning to accumulate.

That's not enough. We need to wait at least two or three hours for the data to be of any value.

Qingxiao stood up and went to the door to sort through the pile of express delivery bags.

All yesterday's orders have been labeled and moved to the door to wait for YTO Express to pick them up.

Then I sat back down at the computer, switched the Taobao chat window back to the foreground, and started replying to the backlog of messages.

"Hi, what material is this sweater made of?"

"Honey, won't burgundy make my skin look darker?"

"Hi, I'm 158cm tall and weigh 52kg. Will size M be too big for me?"

While replying to messages, he refreshed the Express Train backend every ten minutes or so.

The number of impressions is increasing.

Two hundred, five hundred, eight hundred.

At 2 hours and 40 minutes, the data for the express train began to take shape.

Qingxiao pulled out all the data for the ten ideas and compared them one by one.

The images with the highest display volume are the first one (full-body front view) and the fourth one (half-body front view).

These two images are the most standard and are most likely to be recommended by the system.

But the click-through rates are completely different.

The first image (full-body front view): 1,200 impressions, 0.3% click-through rate, far below the industry average.

The fourth image (front view, half-body): over 900 impressions, 0.5% click-through rate, barely passing.

Second image (45-degree side view): 0.6% click-through rate.

Fifth image (side view, seated): 0.5% click-through rate.

The sixth image (hands in pockets): 0.4% click rate.

The seventh image (holding a cup with one hand): had a click rate of 0.7%, the highest among all the "standard angles".

Eighth image (looking back with a smile): 0.9% click rate.

Qingxiao's fingers stopped.

The ninth image (head down adjusting cuffs): 1.1% click-through rate.

Then he saw the data for the tenth sheet.

Click-through rate: 8.4%.

Qingxiao stared at the number for a long time.

Furthermore, the add-to-cart rate in this chart is also shown, at 14%.

The click-through rate was nearly twice the industry average, and the add-to-cart rate exceeded 10%, with both core metrics meeting the standards.

He glanced at the payment data again: three orders. Adding the two orders from the previous organic search, that makes a total of four orders.

But Qingxiao knew that this was just the beginning.

He knew better than anyone that this was the potential to become a hit product.

Once the number of impressions increases and traffic comes in, the conversion rate will rise accordingly.

At that time, getting a dozen or twenty orders a day, or even a hundred, will not be a problem.

This style is going to be a hit.

His judgment was correct.