When it comes to free shipping, there’s a laundry list of competing theories.
These are the most common ones:
- You should always offer it to boost conversion rate.
- You should only offer it if a customer spends $X.
- You should never offer free shipping.
While it’s easy to theorize about what might work, the answer requires some actual testing.
Testing free shipping offers
Mathias Schrøder, an e-commerce marketer, recently ran a test.
Instead of offering free shipping on orders over $99, he offered free shipping on all orders.
The results? While conversion rate was about 7% higher, the average order value decreased by nearly 9%.
In the end, offering free shipping on all orders cost his brand nearly $90k per year.
Should you offer free shipping?
You should offer free shipping occasionally as it often boosts conversion rate.
However, there’s not a one-size-fits-all answer to the debate.
To optimize your own conversions, test conditional free shipping at different dollar values: $30, $60, and $99, for example.
And test these free shipping dollar values against free shipping for everyone.
The more you test, the more easily you’ll find the sweet spot for maximum profit.
