How to Get Your First 100 Customers on Shopify Without Ads

Getting your first 100 customers is the hardest (and most important) milestone in your E-commerce business owner journey. The good news? You don’t need to spend on ads to hit it. In fact, organic strategies often bring in more loyal and higher-LTV customers early on.

In this post, I’ll break down exactly how to get your first 100 customers on Shopify without running a single paid ad.

1. Start With a Clear, Specific Niche

If your product is “for everyone,” it’s for no one. This is a hard pill to swallow specially after being bombarded with the types of brands that sell to millions of people every month. Early traction requires clarity, not just for yourself in terms of positioning, but also for your early adopters who will want to know exactly what your brand is about. This is what I recommend you do:

• Pick a niche where you either have insider knowledge or an existing connection.
• Be super clear about your target customer: age, values, aesthetic, and needs.
• Your store and product should instantly resonate with a very specific kind of person.

Example: Instead of “sustainable fashion,” target “minimalist capsule wardrobes for Gen Z women who travel.”

You may think “wow, that’s way too niche! No way there’s even enough people in this market”. Remember that in the beginning, you’re just trying to find your first 100 champions, not change the world. So take it one step at a time and niche it down.

2. Use Your Personal Network in a smart way

No, don’t spam your Facebook friends with “pls support my store” posts. They are not your target customers, and actually, having those first 5 friends and family members buying your product to support you, doesn’t actually give you any of the market validation you need in the early days.

Instead:

• Reach out 1:1 to people who actually fit your ideal customer profile.
• Offer a founder’s discount, free shipping, or early access.
• Ask for honest feedback, not just sales.

Also: Encourage warm intros to their friends who might be interested. Word-of-mouth from your personal network can put you in front of the right audience, and help you unlock your first 10–20 customers.

3. Build a Waitlist Before You Launch

Get people excited about your products. Show them off before you launch, talk about them, build content around them, and most importantly, pay attention to who’s interested and who’s not. Even if you’ve already launched, creating a “drop list” or “early access” waitlist can re-ignite demand.

How to do it:

• Use a free email list tool like MailerLite, or a Shopify-integrated form to collect emails.
• Offer exclusive perks for signing up: early access, discounts, or limited drops.
• Share this waitlist everywhere: your socials, email signature, community posts, etc.

Building hype with get you eyeballs, which will in turn result in sales.

4. Partner with Nano and Micro Influencers

You don’t need Kim K. You need someone with 1k–10k highly engaged followers who matches your brand vibe. You are launching a breathable workout set who help moms recover faster post-partum? Reach out to the micro-influencer with 6k followers and engages with her audience on a daily basis!

Outreach tips:

• DM them genuinely: “Hey [Name], I love how you promote [niche topic]. I just launched a product I think your audience would love. Can I send you one?”
• Prioritize TikTok and Instagram creators with consistent engagement.
• Offer them affiliate commissions or custom discount codes.

If 5 influencers post you to 5k–10k combined followers, that’s better than spending $100 on untested ads. Now, arguably, you will need to give some products away for people to promote them, but at an early stage, you not only don’t have to spend your own money, but also get to have first hand validation and feedback.

5. Start Posting Reels and TikToks (Even If You’re Camera-Shy)

Short Form videos, particularly on Instagram and Tiktok is the cheat code for organic reach. The algorithm doesn’t care if you’re new or that nobody knows your brand. It only cares if your content is engaging with the users that see it. And guess what, when you have no money to spend, and a newly launched product, you have to show people what it is you’re selling, and why it’s worth buying. I always say “building in public” is a faster way to acquire customers for cheap.

Here are some of the types of posts that tend to work:

• Behind the scenes: Packing orders, sourcing, how you started.
• Product use cases: Show the product in action.
• Day in the life as a founder.
• Customer reactions or testimonials (ideally real but even staged).

Post consistently (1–2x/day), use trending sounds, and include niche hashtags. It may feel like you’re shooting blanks at the start, but at some point one of your videos will do well and you’ll see those sales rolling in.

6. Join (and post in) Targeted Communities

Communities are where trust lives. Instead of cold-pitching strangers, join places where your ideal customer already hangs out. But be careful to not be spammy. Always lead with value, and only name-drop your product when it can actually be of the benefit to someone.

Where to look:

• Reddit subreddits
• Facebook Groups
• Discord servers
• Slack communities

Strategy:

• Don’t pitch on Day 1.
• Answer questions, give advice, and add value.
• Then, when the time’s right, drop your product or store as a helpful recommendation.

7. Add a Referral Program (Yes, From Day One)

Referrals feel like growth on autopilot, because you don’t actually have to do any of the work. You just set up a nice automation flow that encourages people who either liked or bought from your brand to share it with others. You can do this by giving them different types of incentives. Here are some of the examples of how you can convince people to share your product with others:

• Give $5 / Get $5 models
• Tiered rewards for repeat sharing
• Limited-time referral challenges

If you manage to encourage your first 10–20 customers to bring 2–3 friends each, you can find yourself with 50+ orders without having spent any money.

💡 Pro tip: Set up appropriate referral loops that allow you to scale as you grow. Because guess what, one day when you have 1000 customers and you get them to refer others… you can experience exponential growth.

8. Write SEO-Optimized Blog (Targeting Long-Tail Terms)

SEO won’t blow up traffic overnight, but a good article can bring free clicks forever. And when I say SEO I don’t just mean Search Engine Optimization, I also mean AI Recommendations. The truth is that setting up a solid storefront with the right optimizations will allow for the Google and ChatGPT to “read” and understand your content. This makes it more likely that when people are actively searching for it, your content will be displayed.

Steps:

• Find low-competition keywords that are related to your product.
• Write helpful, authentic blog posts.
• Link back to your product and include strong CTAs.

Example: If you sell eco yoga mats, write “Best Travel Yoga Mats for Minimalists in 2025” and link to yours.

9. Collaborate with Other Small Brands

Pick a brand with a similar audience to yours, where customers may feel compelled to cross-shop. Close a partnership and create authentic content with that brand to get people talking, and offer some sort of unique, limited-time value toffer to both your customers.

Ways to partner:

• Co-host a giveaway on Instagram or TikTok.
• Bundle your product with theirs for a limited drop.
• Swap newsletters or shoutouts.

Both of you benefit, and you tap into new audiences without paying for ads. As I like to call it, a win-win situation.

10. Turn Happy Customers into Content

As a Founder it’s your job to make sure your first 10 customers help bring in the next 90. After they purchase, follow up with them, make sure they liked your product, take their feedback and show that you listen. Ultimately, if you get 10 champions who actively talk about how good of an experience they had buying from you, chances are a=others will follow suit.

Here are some of the examples in which happy customers can help you:

• They can post and tag you on their social media prodiles.
• They can agree to sharing UGC content in exhange for future discounts.
• They can repost your content and share exclusive discounts with others.

Real people selling your product is 10x more persuasive than you doing it, so lean on it.

WNas’ Note: Yes, You Can Do This Without Ads

Getting your first 100 customers on Shopify without ads isn’t just possible, it’s a stronger foundation than you may believe. You’re building a brand, not just buying clicks. You’re validating needs, not just pushing product into the world. And ultimately, you’re helping people find something that solves a particular pain point in their lives.

Want help crafting your Shopify launch strategy? Reach out here and let’s chat about how to grow without burning ad dollars.