Free Shipping: Definitions, Pros & Cons
Let's start with the basics: what is free shipping?
Simply put, free shipping means that customers don't have to pay any additional fees to have their order shipped to them.
This can be a major draw for customers, as it makes the purchasing process more transparent and eliminates any surprises at checkout.
But why is free shipping so important? For starters,
- Increases conversion rates: It encourages customers to complete their purchase, leading to higher conversion rates and more sales.
- Attracts new customers: It’s a powerful marketing tool that can help attract new customers to your store.
- Improves customer satisfaction: Customers often appreciate free shipping and may have a more positive shopping experience when they receive it, leading to better customer satisfaction and potentially repeat business.
- Helps compete with other businesses: It helps you stay competitive with other businesses that may already be offering it.
- Can increase average order value: In some cases, offering free shipping may encourage customers to add more items to their cart to qualify for the promotion, which can increase the average order value for your store.
- Builds customer loyalty: It helps build trust and loyalty with your customers, potentially leading to more repeat business and positive word-of-mouth recommendations.
Of course, there are some downsides to consider too. For one,
- Offering free shipping can be expensive for store owners. Shipping fees can add up quickly, especially if you're shipping large or heavy items.
- Additionally, if you offer free shipping too often, customers may come to expect it and be less likely to make a purchase if they don't see it.
So how do you balance the benefits of free shipping with the potential downsides?
One way is to set a minimum order amount for free shipping. This can encourage customers to add more items to their cart to qualify for free shipping, which can help increase your average order value.
Another tactic is to use popups to announce discount codes and special promotions.
By offering occasional discounts instead of free shipping all the time, you can keep your customers engaged and excited about your store.
How to Set Up Free Shipping on Shopify
To simplify your shipping setup, Shopify comes with a default general shipping profile that applies uniform shipping rates to all your products.
Any new or existing products will be automatically added to this profile, and any products or variants that don't have a custom profile will use the general shipping rates by default.
If the default general shipping profile isn't suitable for your business and you need to set different shipping rates for various products, Shopify lets you create *up to 99 custom shipping profiles.
Setting Up Free Shipping as the Default Shipping Rate on Shopify
If you want to set free shipping as the default shipping rate,
- From your admin, navigate to “Settings” and then “Shipping and delivery”.
- Next, click “Manage” on the “General shipping rates” section.
- Scroll down to “Shipping zones”, click “Edit rate,” and set the shipping rate as “0” to make it free.
- Finally, click “Done” and “Save”.
That’s it! You set free shipping as your store’s default shipping rate successfully.
Setting Up Free Shipping on Orders over a Certain Amount on Shopify
In order to provide free shipping on orders that exceed a particular amount, you must include a condition based on the price of your free shipping rate.
For this,
- From your admin, navigate to “Settings” and then “Shipping and delivery”.
- Click “Create new profile” under the shipping section. (If you have a profile already, click “Manage”.)
- Scroll down to “Shipping zones” and click “Create zone” (or Edit zone if you already have one).
- After creating a zone, click “Add rate”.
- Select “Set up your own rates” and set the price as “Free”. Click “Add conditions” below and select “Based on order price”.
- After setting a minimum and maximum price, click “Done” and “Save”.
Voila! Now orders over the amount you set will automatically be set to free shipping!
Tip: Following the same steps and choosing “Based on item weight” at the last step, you can set up free shipping on orders over a specific weight.
Setting Up Free Shipping for Certain Products on Shopify
Shopify also allows you to set up free shipping for certain products if that’s what serves your business goals. For this,
- From your admin, navigate to “Settings” and then “Shipping and delivery”.
- Click “Create new profile” under the shipping section. (If you have a profile already, click “Manage”.)
- Click “Manage products” under the Products section after naming your shipping profile.
- Scroll down to “Shipping zones” and click “Create zone” (or Edit zone if you already have one).
- After creating a zone, click “Add rate”.
- Select “Set up your own rates” and set the price as “Free”.
Tip: You can also set up conditions for this shipping profile as well.
There you have it! Now only the products in this shipping profile will be shipped for free.
How to Create a Free Shipping Discount Code
Alternatively, if you wish to provide free shipping to your customers, you can generate a free shipping discount.
However, such discounts do not get applied automatically to the orders, and your customers must enter the code during checkout to avail of the discount.
To create a free shipping discount code,
- Go to your Shopify admin, click “Discounts,” and continue with “Create discount”.
- Choose “Free shipping”.
- You can set a discount code or click “Generate” to get a random discount code. Choose the countries and set a condition as excluding shipping rates over a certain amount.
Optionally, you can set up a minimum purchase requirement.
- You can choose the customers you want to offer the discount to.
- Set the number of times the discount can be used.
- Set if this discount can be combined with other discounts.
- And set the dates when the discount code will be active.
- After completing the process, select the Save option.
In order to circulate this discount, you can either send the code to your customers through email or exhibit it on your online store.
But how will you let your visitors know about the free shipping discount on your website?
How to Announce Free Shipping Discount Codes Using Popups
Discount codes can be an excellent tool to drive sales and customer loyalty, but you need to ensure that your customers are aware of them.
This is where popups can come in handy. Popups can be used to display your discount codes to customers in a more prominent and eye-catching way.
Setting up free shipping discount popups on Shopify with Popupsmart is super easy!
Just create an account for free and then choose a ready-to-use popup template from Popupsmart’s rich popup template gallery.
You can tweak it to make it a perfect fit for your website. You can also customize the timing and frequency of the popups to make sure they're not too intrusive.
Tip: Popupsmart has a Shopify element that can help you showcase your collections in a stylish way.
When creating popups, it's important to strike a balance between promoting the discount code and not being too pushy or annoying.
Effective popups are those that are well-timed, well-designed, and have clear and concise messaging.
So keeping these best practices in mind…
Create your Free Shipping Discount Popup for Free Today!
Before You Leave…
Offering free shipping is not only a great way to increase sales, but it also shows your customers that you value their time and money.
By implementing the tips we've shared in this post, you can set up free shipping on your Shopify store and give your customers a reason to keep coming back for more.
Remember, when it comes to online shopping, the customer experience is everything.
Offering free shipping can be a game-changer for your business, and by using Shopify's built-in tools, and a user-friendly popup builder, you can make it a seamless and cost-effective part of your Shopify marketing strategy.
So, go ahead and give it a try – who knows, you might just see your sales soar!
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Who Pays for Shipping on Shopify?
The responsibility of paying for shipping on Shopify depends on the agreement between the buyer and the seller.
In general, the buyer is responsible for paying for shipping unless the seller offers free shipping or includes the cost of shipping in the item price.
2. Does Shopify Automatically Create a Shipping Label?
Yes, as soon as an order in your store is prepared for fulfillment and satisfies the criteria you have established, shipping labels in draft form are generated automatically for that particular order.
3. How Shopify Shipping Cost is Calculated?
Shopify calculates shipping costs based on the shipping carrier rates that you set up in your Shopify store.
You can choose to use carrier-calculated shipping rates, which are calculated by the shipping carrier based on factors such as package weight, destination, and shipping method.
You can also choose to set your own shipping rates based on flat rates, weight-based rates, or price-based rates.
