Free shipping is an important conversion factor that is worth it for most eCommerce businesses.  Here are some tips that will help you win sales and maintain margins.

The answer to the question is yes.  You should offer free shipping to your online shoppers.

But then the moment of confusion.  Wait a second.  Is there really any such thing as free shipping?

The answer to that question is no.   One way or the other, somebody has to pay for shipping (which means that free shipping is not possible for every type of product).

Free shipping is really about perception and convenience.  People like the idea of getting a service for free.  The final price isn’t actually cheaper because you have to wrap the shipping cost into your selling price, but you call it free nonetheless.  Free is a powerful word.

Also, online shoppers prefer to have the final price for an item be the first price they see.  Consider these stats from a Bigcommerce study:

• 66% of online shoppers have decided not to buy an item because of shipping costs.
• 72% of females and 59% of males have decided to abandon their purchase because of shipping costs.

This probably has a lot to do with the anchoring effect, which is the bias we have towards information we get first.  Once someone sees a price for an item, that number anchors in their mind.  Subconsciously it’s the price they think they should pay.  When the added shipping cost comes in later, it’s a disappointment.  They abandon the purchase.

How to Offer Free Shipping By Product Type

There are some considerations with free shipping, depending on the product.

Free Shipping for Low Margin Products

If you’re selling inexpensive, low margin products, free shipping by item is not an option.  In this case, you must increase the amount of the net order to get free shipping.  Require a minimum purchase of $25-50 to activate free shipping on these products.

Free Shipping and Competitive Pricing

For items where you can roll in free shipping to the price, you need to watch how you’re stacking up against your competition.  If your price is higher than a competitor’s but they charge shipping, make sure this is clear on platforms like Google shopping:

Here shoppers can compare total prices including taxes, so make sure your overall pricing is competitive.

On items you sell that are unique to you or otherwise difficult to find online, it’s definitely better to roll the shipping into the price of the item because you have fewer concerns about price comparisons.

Free Shipping on High Margin Items

On high margin items, offering free shipping is pretty much a no-brainer.  You don’t want to hinder a high-profit sale with shipping costs.  Offer it free and remove shipping as a consideration.

Consider What Free Shipping Costs

We worked with a client who wanted to sell dog food online and ship it direct to customers.  Seemed like a great idea.

He thought he had things organized with his website and marketing, but sales were poor.  We did a test run through his check-out.

That’s where we got hit with a $30 shipping cost on a 75 lb bag of dog food sold for $45.  Pretty obvious problem.  A heavy item that has high shipping costs but a low-profit margin is not a good candidate for free shipping – and perhaps not eCommerce sales at all.   He discontinued selling heavy bags of pet food.

We currently have a client that offers prepared, healthy meals shipped directly to consumers.  These food items are perishable, so they must be sent by two-day shipping.  In this case, the exact cost of the shipping – based on the location of the customer – must be added separately from the price of the product.

As we said before, there is actually no such thing as free shipping.  The cost remains somewhere.  Make sure the products you want to ship can be sent without shipping costs that kill your margins, make the product unaffordable, or make it impractical to offer via delivery.

Promote Free Shipping On Your Website

Make sure that shoppers know you offer free shipping – and that they don’t forget it.  That means putting free shipping into your header, sidebar, and check-out so people know the price they see for an item is the final price they’ll pay.

For example, this wheels e-commerce store has free shipping in their main header (which shows on every page), the product page header, and the sidebar.

Don’t be shy.  Plaster free shipping all over the place.  As we said, free is powerful, persuasive word.

E-commerce stores that offer free shipping sell more.  If at all possible, offer free shipping on your products.

It takes the shipping cost out of people’s minds, so all they’re thinking of is new stuff arriving at their door.