Shopify offers free standard shipping. This is one of the best ways for you to attract more customers. Shopify’s free standard shipping policy is a great way to increase sales. 79% of American shoppers are more likely than others to shop online if they receive free shipping.
Here are some helpful tips to help you set up Shopify’s free shipping.
Why not offer free shipping?
You can offer free shipping to your Shopify online store.
These are just a few of the exciting benefits you get with this offer.
Increase Sales
Online stores that offer free shipping are more attractive to clients.
These statistics will help you activate the free Shipping Bar on your shipping profile :
- Shopify stores offering free shipping rates can boost revenue up to 10%
- A free shipping rate can help increase the conversion rate by about 50%
- Orders online qualify for free shipping, which increases order by up to 90%
- With the lure of free shipping and a shipping discount, you can attract as many as 48% more customers.
Average Order Value Increases
Clients will pay more to get free shipping. 52% shoppers will buy more products to get free shipping.
Reduce Cart Abandonment
A report found that 58% buyers abandon their carts due to high shipping costs. Yes, shipping costs are a major reason potential buyers abandon their carts instead of purchasing them.
Shopify owners want their clients to buy from them.
Tip If you are unable to offer free shipping, offering such an offer to abandoned carts might encourage them to buy once more.
Encourage Customer Loyalty
It doesn’t suffice to attract new customers. You want existing customers to buy again and again. It’s easy to do this by offering free shipping
Offering a great shipping service will keep your customers coming back.
Better Marketing Techniques
Why not spend $5 on every paid advertisement? Consider shipping rates free as an operational cost.
You don’t charge your customers for website hosting and SEO costs – they are considered necessary expenses to run your store. Shipping costs can be accounted for in the same way as other shipping costs, so you can offer it free of charge without losing any revenue.
How to Get Free Shipping Rates
You will face stiff competition if you sell products that are already in high demand. You must sell your products at a lower price than the competition to generate sales.
Free shipping rates are not something you should be concerned about. The following steps will allow you to control and cover shipping costs:
Calculate Shipping Rates Into Product Pricing
You should carefully consider shipping costs and related charges before listing your product in Shopify. It can be affected by many factors such as:
- Package dimension
- Product weight
- Destination/shipping zone
- Insurance value
- Standard or express delivery time
- International deliveries are subject to customs and duties
Optimize Packaging
Shipping companies usually base shipping costs on weight, based on product size and volume. Optimizing packaging is the best way to reduce shipping costs.
If you sell products that vary in size, it is important to have a variety of packaging options. It is not a good idea to ship cosmetics in an over-sized package as this will result in higher shipping costs.
Other Service Providers
You may be eligible for a shipping discount if you stick with one courier company. You can still get shipping discounts by signing up with other courier companies.
Consider this: USPS offers regional services that are cheaper for those in the vicinity, while FedEx or UPS is better for cross-country delivery.
Keep in mind that competition is good for the market. If a company is aware that you are dealing with another company they may offer a lower shipping cost to keep you in.
Utilize Fulfilment Services
You can ship your products to warehouses that are experts in fulfilling orders.
Although you will need to pay a fee, the service is still much cheaper than the cost of shipping. Because the warehouse is close to your customers, shipping rates can be reduced.
Limited Offers
You can still offer free shipping rates even if your Shopify website is small. Only create a special offer for a short time.
If your warehouse is located in Texas, for example, you might offer free shipping within the state. For states near you, you could charge lower shipping costs and for those farther away.
Shipping Rate Options
It is understandable that you may not be able to offer free shipping rates all the time. You can still enjoy the benefits by offering free shipping promotions from time to time. These shipping rates are affordable and won’t break your budget.
These shipping rates are free and won’t break the bank:
Limited-Time Offers
What about offering free shipping rates for a specific day in a different shipping zone? This promotion could result in more sales which could offset the cost of the promo.
Tip – This should be done during payday so that your customers have enough money to purchase products from your Shopify store.
No Shipping Charge with a Specific Price Point
It is impossible to offer free shipping for low-priced items.
It is important to offer free shipping for any purchase. This will increase sales and the average order value.
Select Locations: Free Shipping Rate
Shipping cost depends on where you are shipping to. Shipping costs will be higher for Honolulu orders than those from Los Angeles.
You can also offer a free shipping rate to shipping zones with lower shipping rates. This offer may not be a good way to acquire new customers but it can generate revenue that will allow you to finance future shipments.
No shipping charges on certain products
Is there a product that doesn’t sell as well? This can be frustrating, especially for high-priced products.
You should set up a free shipping rate if you want to get rid of this product. This will not only help you make more profit, but will also allow you to stock more products.
Flat-rate Shipping Rate
You can always delegate some of the shipping costs to the customer if you are unable to pay the full amount.
Flat-rate shipping is cheap and transparent. Because customers aren’t left guessing about what shipping cost they will pay, this helps to build trust.
Tip Set the price based on most of your item’s dimensions. A $5 fee is acceptable if you are selling small cosmetics or trinkets. For larger items, however, it may be necessary to raise the shipping cost a bit. You can offer both and this will allow you to determine the best shipping cost for your store.
Program for members
Everyone wants to be part a group. Retail membership programs are the same.
This will not only increase customer loyalty but also allow you to make more sales, and generate higher revenues.
This is what makes Amazon the leader in the sector. Yes, 78% Prime members signed up because of the free shipping rate.
Think about this: The membership fees associated with such a program could help offset shipping discounts you offer. Your clients will be more likely to sign up next year if they are familiar with these perks.
Shopify offers free shipping, which is one of the best ways for you to attract customers. It’s easy to do, and you can do it in just six steps.
Although it may cost you some revenue at first, shipping free of charge is a benefit that will pay off in the long run.
Step 1: Create your free shipping plan
Online stores must accept shipping costs as a part of their daily business. To ensure that you don’t break the bank when shipping customers’ orders, it’s important to plan ahead.
This article by Neil Patel provides a great overview of the economics behind lowering shipping costs. This article covers:
- You can determine if free shipping is worth it by performing A/B testing (test if order go up before or after you offer shipping).
- How to determine the minimum order amount to be eligible for free shipping
- How to offer free shipping only when it is profitable.
- You can test whether to raise your prices just to pay shipping costs.
- Shopify’s guide states that customers are more likely than ever to abandon an order due to high shipping costs than the product prices. It is possible to increase your conversion rates by increasing the price of all your products sufficiently to cover shipping costs.
It is important to evaluate your shipping and product costs to determine what the threshold (the amount customers must spend in order to get free shipping) should be.
Keep in mind that free shipping is meant to help you sell more. Therefore, the minimum order amount should not exceed your average order value.
These are some quick tips for planning your promotion
- Take a look at your current shipping costs. Not just the price you are charging but also the actual amount being charged by carriers. This will give you an estimate of the cost of shipping free of charge by combining these costs across all your orders. This is often referred to as “average shipping costs”.
- See how much profit you make from common products. This will give you an idea of the shipping cost.
- Choose a price point that is higher than your average order value. The promotion should encourage customers choose to add one or two items to reach the goal. Shopify allows you to calculate your average order value. You can also divide your total sales for the past 30 days by how many orders you have had in the same period.
- Offer free shipping for all orders This might increase conversion rates if you have an order value that is higher than what you would consider the minimum for free shipping. Shipping costs won’t scare people away from orders that don’t meet the threshold. However, you can still pay shipping costs using margins from other orders. It’s safe to say that most people expect free shipping these day. Shipping might be one of your main revenue streams.
- Take a look at the prices for your most-purchased products. You could set the threshold at a little more than that price if they are often purchased on their own without any additional products. A strategic upsell could be offered to customers who add the product to their cart. To tempt customers, you could offer bundles at discounts to get them over the threshold for free shipping.
- Decide which countries are eligible to participate in the promotion. This should be countries you already have products for, or that you get a lot of traffic from. Consider the shipping costs to these countries, and then decide if you will extend your offer globally or if the threshold for other regions should be raised.
- You can use sales records from past holidays. You can calculate the cost of shipping free of charge if you are offering it as part a holiday promotion. Because of seasonal sales volumes, you may be able afford to offer free shipping to customers who have lower order values but still make a profit.
Step 2: Create shipping zones
The Shopify admin can set up shipping zones and decide where your store will ship. Each zone can be assigned weight and price rules that will be applied automatically when customers enter their shipping address.
You can configure shipping zones for your store by going to the Shopify admin section under “Settings”.
Here’s how it works.
- It is important to establish a base rate. If the customer doesn’t meet the free shipping threshold, this will be the rate they are charged. Customers with shopping carts valued between $0.00 to $74.99 might be subject to $5 standard shipping charges.
- After this is done, you can create a new price-based rate that applies to orders that exceed your shipping threshold. The minimum threshold amount (e.g. $75.00) should be set and the maximum can be left blank. This rate should be referred to as “Standard Shipping (FREE Over $75.00)” in the checkout.
- To avoid any shipping charges, check out Free shipping
Step 3: Use Bold’s Motivator to promote your offer
Once you have set the shipping rates for your store, it’s time to promote your offer to customers. You can quickly set up and promote a free shipping deal on your Shopify store using Bold Motivation.
The app promotes your offer by loading the homepage, updating in real-time when customers add products to their cart. This allows them to see how much they need to pay to get free shipping and motivates them to order more.
- After you have downloaded the app from your home screen, click “Create New Goal”. You will need to create a new goal for each region if you offer shipping discounts to different price points.
- To have shipping fees waived, enter the amount that customers must spend.
- To accompany your offer, type in a pitch or marketing message. Here are some suggestions:
- Orders of $50 and more qualify for free shipping
- All orders qualify for free shipping NO MINIMUMS (US ONLY)
- Weekend special: Orders over $100 get FREE standard shipping!
- This Weekend Only: Free Shipping for Orders Above $100
Problem solved!
Bravo! This is a great offer that you have created for your store. It will be promoted to all your customers and hopefully earns you more sales.
