High shipping costs are the leading cause of cart abandonment at checkout. That’s why users are highly motivated by free shipping. If you offer free shipping, mention it often and prominently.

 

Say it again

On the product page, your shipping and return information needs to be reiterated. If your unique selling points (see BP #70) under the Add to Cart button already mention your shipping and returns, then ignore this best practice. If you don’t offer free shipping you won’t need this best practice either. Otherwise, it should be mentioned somewhere close to the Add to Cart button.

Having it mentioned in the header or footer is not enough. Customers can easily overlook it due to the sheer amount of information in the header. A mention in the footer can also be overlooked for the same reasons. 

The issue is more pronounced on mobile devices where space limitations lead to limited visibility. Banner announcements also tend to be overlooked since customers have grown accustomed to associating banners with ads and tend to ignore them.

Highlighting your free shipping on the Buy section keeps it fresh in the buyer’s mind. It also subtly communicates to the customer that the product they are looking at is available for free shipping.

 

Precautions

If you have free shipping qualifiers like memberships or minimum purchase requirements you need to make that clear. A customer is bound to feel cheated if you offer free shipping only for them to find out there are previously unmentioned requirements when they try to check out.

Examples