Free Shipping

After scouring the internet for an answer to my question “what shipping method leads to most sales?” the conclusion was widely unanimous: offer free shipping on your site.

Not only is free shipping the #1 criteria for making a purchase, where 73% of people listed it as “critical,” but it is also a driver in purchasing more items at once. In fact, 52% of American shoppers have added items to their e-commerce shopping cart to qualify for free shipping. So not only will free shipping get people to follow through with their purchases, but it could actually encourage your customers to purchase more items.

When deciding whether or not to include free shipping on your site, keep in mind that…

With stats like these, it is hard to ignore the tremendous benefits of adding free shipping as an option to your online store. However, the question still left unanswered is whether you should offer free shipping on all orders, or only on orders over a certain minimum.

In one case, for TrailcamPro.com, the mention of Free Shipping on Orders over $99 increased sales by 20%. In this particular instance, they already offered free shipping before the study but just started advertising that they offered it and saw an increase in sales. In other cases, companies offered free shipping without having a high enough profit margin to cover the costs and ended up losing money because of it.  

Bottom line is, you have to do what is right for your company but in any case, free shipping continues to be the top incentive to drive more frequent online shoppers.

Have you tested this out and have insights to share?

 


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