How to create a free shipping bar that boosts sales

The truth is, free shipping on its own isn't as exciting for customers as it used to be – because every other store offers free shipping.

Yet many stores fail to make the most of free shipping bars.

Consider this. You can tell your visitors that shipping is free. But telling them you ship for free to their city is better.

Here is another example. You can announce that shipping is free on orders over $50. But it’s way better to tell them how much they have left to spend to get free shipping.

In this article, we’ll show you how to quickly add a free shipping bar to your Shopify store and turn it into a sales machine using tactics like urgency, gentle nudging, and personalization.

How to create a free shipping bar in Getsitecontrol

The templates we’ll be using as examples are designed in Getsitecontrol. Before getting started, we recommend adding it to your website. Find Getsitecontrol in the Shopify App store and hit Install. The app will do all the heavy lifting, so you won’t have to deal with the code – just follow the instructions in your dashboard.

Step 1. Select free shipping bar template

Open the quick-start template gallery to select a free shipping bar to your taste.

Click on the templates to see them in action; once you find the one that fits your needs, follow the prompts on the right-hand side to add it to your Getsitecontrol dashboard.

Step 2. Customize the copy

You can change both the description and appearance of the free shipping bar before adding it to your Shopify store. For instance, if you want to edit the minimum order amount, add more details, or place a link, use the three main text fields

Notice how we’ve created a sense of urgency by adding TODAY ONLY! to the title. Similarly, you can write 48 HOURS ONLY or WEEKEND OFFER to emphasize that the deal is time-sensitive.

Step 3. Adjust the appearance

Using the same screen, you can change the webpage position of the bar, its color, sizing, text font, and image. For instance, instead of the default photo, you can upload a picture of your product or choose a new creative from the built-in Unsplash gallery.

Step 4. Add personalization

Personalization is a powerful tactic that drives more sales. There are several ways to use personalization when offering free shipping.

Here are some ideas to try:

• You can mention the visitor’s location in the copy
• You can display how much is left to spend to get free shipping
• You can offer free shipping for first-time or returning customers only
• You can offer free shipping on the items or brands they’ve selected

Below, we’ll review 4 shipping bar examples using personalization and explain how to replicate them.

Free shipping bar examples you can steal for your store

1. Free shipping to visitor’s location

Displaying visitors’ locations doesn’t just attract more attention, but also instantly alleviates one of the most common customer concerns regarding shipping: “Do they ship for free to my location, too?”

Here is how to implement this tactic

When editing the copy, click {{var}} to insert a city, country, or region – whatever makes sense in your case. Each visitor will see their own location on the free shipping bar.

💡 Quick tip: instead of {{$city}}, you can insert the expression {{$city | your door}}. In that case, whenever Getsitecontrol can’t detect a visitor’s location, the message will say: “Free shipping to your door”.

Keep in mind, that if you want to prevent visitors from certain locations from seeing this message, you can use Targeting settings and set the following rule: Show widget to visitor if → Region → is not – and specify the locations you’d like to exclude.

Using the same filter, you can do the opposite: select only those locations where you’d like to display the free shipping bar.

2. Free shipping bar with order amount countdown

Another practice that works well is a countdown that changes when customers start adding items to the cart.

Here is how to implement this tactic

You can implement this tactic by using the following expression in the copy: {{= 100 - $cartTotalPrice}}. In this case, $100 is a minimum order amount required to get free shipping and “cartTotalPrice” is the current total price of the items in the cart.

The best practice will be to update your customers each time they add something to the shopping cart. To do that, scroll to Start to display the widget, remove the default rule, and select ‘Product added to cart.’

However, you also want to make sure the message is only displayed until the customer reaches the required minimum. To achieve that, you need to select the following filter in the Targeting tab: Show widget to visitors if → Cart total price is less than 100.

Using the same logic, you can create another message saying “Congratulations, you get free shipping!” and display it once when the cart total price reaches the minimum order amount.

3. Free shipping for first-time customers

Offering unconditional free shipping can be tricky because many businesses struggle to afford it. One way to go about it is to offer unconditional shipping for a limited time or to a limited audience. For example, you can offer free shipping to first-time store visitors to increase the chances they will convert into customers.

Here is how to implement this tactic

To display this message to first-time visitors only, choose the corresponding filter in the Targeting tab. Scroll to Show widget to visitors if, select Visit → New visitors.

Notice that we’ve also created a sense of urgency by adding the current date to the copy. This is an easy trick implemented with the dynamic text feature: each visitor will see the date of their current visit. To replicate this, simply insert {{$date}} in the copy.

4. Free shipping on selected brands

Another easy tactic to encourage visitors to follow through with the purchase is to offer free shipping on the brand (or item) they’re looking at.

Here is how to implement this tactic

To implement this tactic, add one of the following expressions to the copy: {{$productVendor}} or {{$productType}}. This way, the brand name on the bar will change based on the product page a visitor is viewing.

Depending on your margin, you may want to offer free shipping on a selected number of products or brands. In this case, create the following rule in the Targeting tab: Show widget to visitors if → Shopify → Product vendor is – and specify the desired vendor.

Instead of (or in addition to) free shipping, you may also offer a discount coupon on selected products. This tactic is especially helpful for capitalizing on PPC traffic when you’re trying to convert first-time visitors.

💡 If you want to display a Getsitecontrol popup to those who arrive at your website through ads, you can use the following filter in the Targeting settings: Show widget to visitors if → UTM Medium.

Say goodbye to boring free shipping bars

Offering free shipping is crucial for online stores because over 60% of customers are likely to abandon their shopping carts if you don’t. However, if you struggle to offer free shipping at all times, Getsitecontrol provides you with the tools to do it in a way that maximizes conversions.