How To Set Up Free Shipping On Shopify?
As an online shopper, what would be most appealing to you? Undoubtedly, it would be free shipping!
Free shipping is indeed one of the most popular strategies used in the e-commerce industry.
Now, think of this, when shopping online, what would you consider before making a purchase decision? Well, it would be product quality, price, and features.
But, after finalizing these, you’ll have to pay some extra money for shipping. Looking at it, you may take a pause before placing the order.
Free shipping is something that may never put your customers to a point where they may need to think twice before completing the order. Thus, you may need to consider this for your business.
But, how would you set free shipping for your Shopify store? Don’t worry, we’ve got everything covered in this blog post. Also, you’ll get some handy tips to help you effectively implement free shipping on your store.
So, without further delay, let’s first get started with the basics!
Why You Must Offer Free Shipping in Your Shopify Store?
Let’s understand this with the help of an example.
For instance, Amie is a fashion freak and she loves buying makeup products from various brands. She prefers buying in stock such that she won’t have to visit the store for buying a single product.
While surfing the internet, she found an advertisement for a bundle box offering the makeup products that she wanted. She clicked on that advertisement, confirms and checks everything on the product page, and adds that bundle box to the cart.
After visiting the checkout page, she notices that she needs to pay an extra $9.55 for shipping. She immediately decided to abandon the cart since there was no free shipping offer. She decided to check if other brands offered a similar package with a free shipping offer.
According to the latest study, it has been found that the brands that offer free shipping on certain products or bundles have more chances of getting the window shoppers converted to paying customers. That’s why it is crucial that you offer free shipping based on a certain price, product, or weight.
Reasons to Offer Free Shipping to Customers on Your Shopify Store
If you’re willing to offer free shipping to your customers, ensure why it is a great idea for your Shopify store. Let’s have a look at the exciting benefits that come with this offer!
1. Increases Average Order Value
Free shipping offers so much excitement in the minds of the customers that they prefer spending more and more such that they can avail of free shipping rate offer.
According to the latest research, 56% of online shoppers consider adding more items to the cart to avail of free shipping. This clears up how free shipping offers can help increase the average order value for your Shopify store.
2. Increase Sales
Customers prefer buying from a store that offers free shipping on all eligible orders. Below are some statistics that will make you set up free shipping on your Shopify store:
- The Shopify stores that offer a free shipping offer can increase the revenue by 10%.
- Offering free shipping can increase the number of orders by 92%.
- Free shipping offers can increase conversion rates by 50%.
- You can get 48% more new customers with just a free shipping offer.
3. Promotes Customer Loyalty
As a Shopify merchant, it isn’t enough to get new customers to your customers. You need to work on retaining the existing ones as well such that they make purchases from your store again and again.
This can be achieved by offering free shipping. This is an amazing shipping service that will entice your customers to keep coming back to your store, which on the other hand, will promote customer loyalty.
4. Reduces Cart Abandonment
According to the latest report, 59% of online shoppers consider abandoning their carts just because shipping rates are too costly. That’s a hard but true fact that is why many prospective customers abandon carts instead of completing the purchases.
Free shipping offers will entice the customers to complete the purchases since it is something that every Shopify store owner wants for their business.
How to Set Up Free Shipping on Shopify?
Let’s learn how to offer free shipping on your Shopify store using the three main ways:
1. As A Default Shipping Rate
This is the simplest and quickest way to set up free shipping on Shopify. If you’re planning to offer free shipping on all orders, you can set the default shipping rate as free.
So, let’s quickly get into the steps:
Step 1: From your Shopify store’s admin panel, click on the Settings that you can find in the bottom left corner.
Step 2: Next, you need to click on Shipping and Delivery and click on Manage under General Shipping Rates.
Step 3: Now, click on Add Rate to the shipping zone to which you wish to offer free shipping.
You can set free shipping for a particular shipping zone or for all, one by one.
Also, assume you’re selling in India as well as the Rest of the world. But now you wish to offer free shipping only in the US, you need to create a different shipping zone for the US and set free shipping for it.
Step 4: You’ll see a popup in front of you. Click on Set up your own rates. Give the rate name under the Rate Name section. Keep the price at $0.00.
Click on Done and Save the changes made.
2. Based on Order Value
This free shipping method is a great way to increase your AOV or Average Order Value. You can offer free shipping on all orders above a certain amount.
This will encourage your customers to buy more from your Shopify store. Also, it will increase your profit margin to balance the shipping cost.
Let’s get into the steps of setting price-based conditions for your shipping rates.
Step 1: From your Shopify store’s admin panel, click on the Settings that you can find in the bottom left corner.
Step 2: Next, you need to click on Shipping and Delivery and click on Manage under General Shipping Rates.
Step 3: Now, click on Add Rate to the shipping zone to which you wish to offer free shipping.
Step 4: You’ll see a popup in front of you. Click on Set up your own rates. Give the rate name under the Rate Name section. Keep the price at $0.00. Next, click on Add Conditions > Based on order price. Enter the minimum price for the free shipping and keep the maximum price blank.
Click on Done and Save the changes made.
3. Based On Product Weight
Similar to the free shipping on order value, you can create a free shipping offer based on the product weight. For instance, you can offer free shipping for orders over 15 kg.
Let’s get into the steps of setting weight-based conditions for your shipping rates.
Step 1: From your Shopify store’s admin panel, click on the Settings that you can find in the bottom left corner.
Step 2: Next, you need to click on Shipping and Delivery and click on Manage under General Shipping Rates.
Step 3: Now, click on Add Rate to the shipping zone to which you wish to offer free shipping.
Step 4: You’ll see a popup in front of you. Click on Set up your own rates. Give the rate name under the Rate Name section. Keep the price at $0.00. Next, click on Add Conditions > Based on order item weight. Enter the Minimum Weight that you want to set a threshold for free shipping and keep the Maximum Weight blank.
Click on Done and Save the changes made.
Tips to Implement Free Shipping on Shopify Store
Here are some handy tips that you need to keep in mind if you decide to offer free shipping on your Shopify store:
1. Use the Announcement Bar to Promote Free Shipping Offer
Free shipping is one of the things that online shoppers look for in every store. highlight and promote it to let your customers know about your free shipping offer. This way, you can stand out and attract more customers to your online store.
For instance, you can use an Announcement Bar to promote your free shipping offer such that your customers may notice it at the time they visit your store.
2. Create a Limited-time Free Shipping Offer
As an e-commerce merchant, you might be aware of what urgency can do for your store. You can use this technique to combine your free shipping offer with a sense of urgency by creating a limited-time free shipping offer.
Other than that, you must notify your customers about this limited-time free shipping offer not only through your site but also through emails and social networking platforms.
3. Create a Membership-Exclusive Free Shipping Offer
Are you using Amazon Prime? Well, this is a strategy that Amazon offers where customers get free shipping by joining their program. Isn’t that appealing?
You can also use this strategy to cover the shipping costs. Also, it could be useful when your profit margins are too low.
4. Offer Different Shipping Speed Options
Many times, people look for a faster shipping option over a free shipping offer. If you’re thinking to offer faster speed along with a free shipping offer, it may not be a feasible option since faster shipping costs are higher.
Thus, you may provide two different shipping speed options, which are:
- Free shipping with regular speed
- Faster shipping with a particular shipping price
This way, your customers will be able to get products delivered faster with the second option and you’ll get extra shipping costs from those customers.
5. Occasional Free Shipping Offers
Many online merchants don’t have enough margins to offer free shipping offer on a continuous basis. Thus, you can pick specific occasions to offer free shipping on their purchases.
You can pick the occasions based on the target audience. Other than that, you can go for some evergreen festivals, events, or occasions such as Christmas, Independence Day, Easter Day, and more.
Wrapping Up
With the increased popularity of online shopping, it is also becoming challenging for online merchants to stand apart from the crowd. Hence, offering free shipping is a great idea to influence your customers from buying from your Shopify store.
Now that you’ve learned how to set up free shipping on Shopify, now it is time that you take action toward it.
If you have more queries about it, contact us today. With our Shopify developers, you can elevate your store, stand apart from the crowd, and grow your business to the next level.
If you wish to get started with the basics of Shipping on Shopify, do give this blog a read.
