You have amazing products, you know exactly
how to package and ship your products, and you have steady sales from loyal
customers. But even loyal customers keep their eyes out for better deals across
the internet. The cost of shipping can make a huge impact on if a customer
ultimately buys from you or not.
Unexpected shipping costs are the number one
reason why shopping carts get abandoned during a transaction. You may not
be able to offer free shipping all the time, but using free shipping as a
promotion is a great way to get a spike in sales.
Your goal is to not only get more sales, but to show
customers why they should stick around and shop with you in the future. Take these
steps to update your website so it’s looking its best before you run your
successful free shipping promotion.
Is Free Shipping A Real
Thing?
Of course, no shipping service is going to ship your
products for free, so when offering a free shipping promotion you’re going to
have to absorb the costs.
The first thing you need to do is to calculate if a free
shipping promotion will work for your company. The sad truth is it may not.
Some companies simply will not be able to offer free shipping to customers
without it negatively impacting their profit margins. If you’re considering
offering free shipping as a promotion, you may want to reconsider if:
·
You sell large and heavy products, which are
much more expensive to ship.
·
Most of your orders are shipped internationally,
or to Alaska and Hawaii.
·
You have a low profit margin on many of your
products.
For the rest of you, free shipping will likely help to boost
your sales because you aren’t forced to absorb extremely high shipping costs.
Here are some of the ways you can run your free shipping promotion without
losing money.
1. Set A Minimum Order Requirement
Setting a minimum order for
customers to receive free shipping is an excellent way to boost sales, get
customers to browse more of your products, and reduces the risk of you losing
money during a free shipping promotion. Think about your average order size.
The goal is to have customers spend more than that to get the free shipping.
Your minimum threshold should be 10% to 15% higher than the average order on
your website.
2.
Offer Free
Shipping To The 48 Contiguous States
An easy way to avoid absorbing
high shipping costs is to only offer the promotion to residents of the 48
contiguous states. You must make sure that his caveat is extremely clear. Don’t
simply put it in the fine print, because this could lead to angry customers if
they get to the end of the purchase and discover they have to pay shipping.
3.
Increase
The Prices On Your Products
This could be a risky move
depending on how many loyal customers you have. We don’t recommend increasing
your prices by the full shipping cost, but adding a dollar or two to the
product price can help to offset the cost of you covering the shipping.
4.
Adjust
Your Return Policy
This is something you can add to
the fine print of your free shipping offer. When customers return items that
you’ve offered free shipping on, you’re taking a big financial hit since you
paid to package and ship the product to the customer. State that items returned
during the free shipping promotion are subject to a “restocking” fee equal to
the amount it cost to ship the customer the product.
5.
Offer Free Shipping On Select Items
If you’re worried that free
shipping isn’t feasible for everything on your website, consider offering free
shipping on specific product categories that already give you a higher profit
margin. By offering free shipping for specific types of products you can guarantee
that you can absorb the shipping costs while still making a profit.
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