The price that you pay for a product or service seems to be acceptable. However, the shipping cost seems to be an additional cost that is not appreciated the most as it does not add value to the consignment. For store owners, offering free shipping comes out to be the only viable solution for making them place the orders. Offering it and communicating it effectively are two separate things. This post explains in detail.
Customers come with varying mindsets and you never know their perception about the money they spend. They are often okay with a higher product price that covers shipping costs, but would not pay a penny more if it is tagged as a shipping fee.
Why would you offer free shipping?
Shipping cost is among the biggest deal breakers of an online store. Customers are reluctant to pay for it as they are looking for different ways to avoid it. Following are some of the core reasons why you would like to charge no fee for deliveries.
Quick conversions – Seeing the shipping is free of cost, customers make purchase decisions promptly. It brings more sales and conversion to the store. The news spread fast among social circles, thus bringing you more buyers.
Surpassing competition – Offering free shipping is a powerful tool in going out of the way to secure conversions in a competitive market. It breaks the competition and helps you gain a fair share of the market.
Focusing long-term goals – Securing conversions with free shipping helps you quickly achieve breakeven and go profitable, while creating a long-term relationship with customers. They used to remember the stores from where they got free deliveries.
How to promote free shipping in 7 effective ways
Not promoting an offer means it never exists. Modern revenue maximization techniques need effective techniques of promotion. To help you advertise free shipping offers, I am sharing some of the effective ways below:
Consistent display on website
Communicate a ‘free shipping’ offer through your website so that a visitor gets the message on any page he or she lands on. Most of the digital marketing efforts attract potential customers to the landing pages only. However, they forget to include the home and category pages for the promotions.
Some people may visit your home page with a direct link from your social media handle or to a ‘Contact Us’ page from a forum. Be ready to greet users with free shipping on any page of the website and not just a few product pages.
Add a Free Shipping Bar
A customized bar that appears on the top of a website gets the highest attention. Use the space for advertising free shipping bars to your targeted customers. It grabs customer attention as soon as the page loads so they get to know it before noticing anything else.
You can try different extensions compatible with the eCommerce technologies you use. Such extension helps you set conditions on offering free shipping so get control in deciding the user community to avail the facility.
Include free shipping in Metadata
The impression of your website in search engine result pages – SERPs – defines the click-through rate. By adding ‘Free Shipping’ in the Metadata, the users may get attracted and click in pursuit of saving money on shipments. They are excited a lot if they search for a product with the term ‘Free Shipping’ as it turns into bold text and gets highlighted.
Promote as an incentive
Set limits on cart items or prices for the customers to qualify for free shipping. For example, you can offer free shipping if more than 3 items are added to the cart or the total amount of the order exceeds $100.
It encourages customers to add more products to waive off the shipping cost. They can plan to get another product at the price they would pay for the delivery charges. It ultimately advertises your conditional free shipping, brings in more revenue, and improves average order value.
Restrict free delivery to loyal customers
Converting your loyal customers into repeat buyers is far easier than targeting new users who are not yet familiar with the store. They spread the word more effectively. Restrict free shipping to loyal customers only and they will become your brand advocates.
Customers will feel pride in continuing shopping as they get the privilege of free shipping. Their pride will make them convince family, friends, and neighbors to use their accounts for affordable shopping. This method may not encourage new registrations who would like to become loyal customers for the sole reason of getting things delivered free of cost.
Promote in the holiday season
A great majority of the online buyers are busy browsing stores and ordering their favorite items. Free shipping is one of their major priorities. Use a customized bar, dialog box, or soft popup to ensure they notice and take action.
The holiday season is quite fruitful in projecting the benefits your store offers as people are frequently ordering products, talking about them, and sharing the store names they bought products from. Do not miss any holiday or event for doing so let it be mother’s or father’s day, Valentine’s, or the holy occasions.
Display on After-sale page
The after-sale page is where the customers are relaxed and happy about their purchases. Let them spread the word about your free shipping offer on different social media networks. Provide social media icons so that they can easily share their purchases with friends and family over Facebook, Instagram, or even in a personal message on WhatsApp.
If they have not received the advantage of free shipping yet, offer a free-shipping coupon on the after-sale page so they or one of their loved ones can get the benefit.
Final words
Shipping cost is among the key factors of cart abandonments. If you are offering it for free, let the customers know by any means. Include it in the design like highlighting in the bar, schema tags, and various pages. I have discussed 7 effective ways of promoting free shipping in the post above that are going to help you a lot.
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