Free shipping: how to use this strategy to sell more the right way, without losses
Free shipping can be a very efficient strategy for an e-commerce that wants to sell more. But if it is not used with planning, the loss can be huge for a store. In this article we present everything you need to know to create a good free shipping offer for your customer and your business!
Setting e-commerce prices is a fundamental task for anyone who wants to be successful in the long term, right? From how to calculate the sales price of a product to even the delivery costs for that item. All of these factors make a huge difference when it comes to attracting more customers. But can strategies like free shipping really generate more sales?
After all, what consumer doesn’t want a more competitive price or not to pay anything for delivery? But retailers need to be very careful when offering free delivery to their customers. Furthermore, can this strategy really make a difference in the search for more conversions? And when is the ideal time to use this offer in the right way?
So what do you think about clarifying all these doubts? We have prepared this complete article so that you understand how free shipping can be very advantageous for your store if it is well applied in sales strategies . Keep reading and find out how to do it!
Why offer free shipping?
But, in practice, what are the benefits of offering free shipping in your store?
Customer satisfaction
As we showed above, the customer is much more satisfied when they do not have to pay for the delivery of the product. In a scenario full of competitors, having a positive relationship with the consumer after a purchasing experience can be an important competitive differentiator. The more satisfied you are, the greater the chances of returning and purchasing from your store again .
More revenue for the store
Those customers who were in doubt whether or not to buy a product may be attracted by the free shipping offer. This can be fundamental to increasing your sales or even your store’s average ticket , depending on the strategy adopted. In the end, using this strategy with planning and balance will result in more revenue for your business.
Keeps your store competitive
Another important point of using the free shipping strategy is to keep your business competitive. Increasingly, it is the smallest details that make a big difference when closing a sale. If you create an interesting plan for your store and your customer, offering free delivery will generate more reasons for consumers to buy from you than from your competitors .
Reduces cart abandonment
Isn’t it frustrating when a customer browses your store, chooses a series of products and gives up when making payment? One of the most common causes for cart abandonment is precisely the price of delivery . With free shipping, this can be considerably reduced, taking advantage of the consumer’s enthusiasm to complete that purchase and removing any obstacles to the sale.
What are the precautions with free shipping for your store?
In addition to the benefits, there are some points to pay attention to with this strategy. How about getting to know more about them?
Someone needs to pay the bill
There is no such thing as a free lunch, much less free delivery, right? Someone needs to pay the bill for the customer to receive the benefit . This means that your store may have a lower profit margin or even need to increase the value of the products a little. Without organization, free shipping can end up becoming a very high cost for your business, especially in the long run.
More costs than planned
In addition to being a bill that needs to be paid by someone, free shipping can generate some extra costs for your business . Changing products, for example, is a headache that can exist if these customers are not satisfied with their purchase. If he needs to pay for the return, this could result in even greater dissatisfaction. The other option is to absorb even more costs into your bills.
Loss of differential
When this strategy is not used with caution and planning, it can end up becoming a headache for your online store . Offering free shipping always and in any situation can end up representing the loss of your business’s differential . After all, the customer is already used to paying nothing more than the price of the product, which will be a problem when they need to charge for delivery.
Is it worth offering free shipping?
Now that you know what the benefits and points of attention of this strategy are, after all, is it worth offering free shipping? This is a question that does not have a definitive answer. Each situation needs to be analyzed individually to determine whether free delivery is valid or not. Even more important is to create a plan that allows you to define the best time to use this technique.
How to offer free shipping?
Despite the numerous benefits, offering free shipping is not such a simple task for any business, especially smaller ones . With that in mind, we’ve put together some tips that can help you define the criteria to offer this benefit without it harming your store and understand whether it’s really worth offering free shipping or not . Check out!
Assess the costs
The first step is to analyze all the costs involving your operations . From the price to purchase the product, the contract with the supplier , the profit margin, logistics costs and even the average ticket of your customers. No free shipping action can be launched without all these questions being clarified, as they are what will guide your strategies.
Want an example? If your profit margin is already quite tight, it may be feasible to give up what you receive. At the same time, it may be interesting to negotiate with your supplier a discount for deliveries of more items, that is, requiring a minimum volume of products in the cart for the customer to activate free delivery. But these decisions can only be made by analyzing all costs.
Analyze your competitors
You can’t think about creating a free shipping strategy without analyzing who is competing with you for that consumer. Therefore, understand what your main competitors’ actions and campaigns are in relation to delivery . In some cases, this can be a customer pain point and your store’s offer of free shipping is justified, even if it represents a smaller profit margin.
As the sales volume will increase by attracting customers who are dissatisfied with their competitors, the account can be closed positively. The ideal is to analyze this information to make sure that your effort is, in fact, valid in winning over consumers. If not, it may be interesting to use other strategies to close more sales.
Don’t create doubts for customers
Another important aspect within any free shipping campaign is the transparency and clarity of the offer . There is no point in attracting consumers with a flashy advertisement, but putting in the famous fine print when defining payment. This can end up becoming a problem, damaging the customer’s entire shopping experience and reducing their chances of closing the sale.
Set a goal with the offer
Offering free shipping cannot be done just to follow a trend in consumer behavior. It is necessary to define an objective so that the next steps can be taken . Imagine that your store needs to retain its customer base. In this case, it is interesting to create a free shipping campaign that encourages repeat purchases or even a loyalty program.
Now if the idea is to attract new customers, why not use important dates, such as free shipping day or Black Friday , to run this promotion? Having a clear goal will help you choose the next steps and ensure that the offer is really attractive to the customer, without harming your store.
Choose a strategy for offering the benefit
The last point, but one of the most important, is to define a strategy for offering free delivery . As we said above, simply delivering without charging anything can be a serious mistake for your store’s coffers. Therefore, it is essential that you define strategic planning so that this tactic does not end up becoming harmful to your business.
The good news is that there are many ways to offer this difference strategically for e-commerce . The campaign can be made for those who purchase above a certain amount — usually above the average ticket — or for specific products where you can get better terms with your supplier. But don’t worry: in the next topic you will understand how to define this strategy.
5 types of free shipping campaigns that will help you sell much more
But which specific free shipping campaigns can be used? We’ve listed some ideas that will help you sell a lot more, check it out!
Free shipping over a certain amount
Remember that above we talked about the importance of having data at hand to make decisions? Using your store’s average ticket, you can create a free shipping action for customers who purchase over a certain amount . If spending on a purchase is, on average, R$30.00, running a promotion that requires purchases above R$50.00 offers a significant profit margin for your store.
It may seem repetitive, but it’s always worth highlighting: be careful not to end up creating a problem. If you need to reach a very high price for the offer to pay off for your store, a high minimum price could end up scaring the consumer. It is necessary to take into account the profile of your audience and even their spending behavior, a value above the common could deter the sale.
Free shipping on certain products
Another interesting campaign to offer free shipping to your customers is to determine some participating products . After all, the profit margin and even the fees involved in delivery can vary according to each item, right? The idea here is to make a list of products from your portfolio that allow you to offer this benefit without harming your store’s finances.
These could be products that you got for lower prices from your supplier or even items that the carrier can do for a lower price. The objective is to find situations in which free shipping is attractive to the customer and, at the same time, does not have such a large impact on your store.
Free shipping for first purchase
Speaking of first impressions, another free shipping campaign option can be aimed at those who haven’t yet made any purchases from your store . Whoever is making their first purchase has this benefit, which can even impact the average ticket for this consumer, who can take the opportunity to select more items before completing the purchase and taking advantage of this advantage.
Free shipping on specific dates
Specific trade dates are also good opportunities for those who want to start a free shipping campaign. It could be at Christmas or Black Friday, taking advantage of a time when consumers are more willing to buy is excellent for offering this extra and further increasing your chances of getting a sale.
A tip for this campaign is to identify periods of the year when your sales tend to be lower. Find this date of the year, combine it with a day that is already known to the consumer and create a free shipping offer for that period. This can help reduce the impact of seasonality on your store.
Although very efficient in getting more sales, free shipping cannot be used anyway. With proper planning, it is possible to create the ideal strategies for your business: more satisfied customers and more profits for your store . Don’t forget: analyze each situation very carefully to only offer what won’t harm your results down the road!