What counts as a free gift
This collection covers gifts with purchase, digital freebies, mystery gifts unlocked at a cart threshold, and tiered spend rewards.
It also includes a paid gift wrapping upsell, which is gift-related but not free.
The win/loss record
7 wins, 0 losses. Five of the seven are Oliver Kenyon's, and two of those describe a BBQ recipe e-book with similar wording, so they may be related.
Treat the record as a set of ideas, not proof gifts always help.
Where gifts were tested
- Cart: 4 tests
- Product page: 2 tests
- Other (delivered after purchase): 1 test
Biggest wins and their numbers
A gift that matches the purchase
Oliver Kenyon's client selling cooking knives added a free BBQ and grilling e-book, delivered by email after purchase.
Revenue per visitor rose +48.71%. Oliver puts it down to fit: people buying knives before summer are already picturing cooking outdoors.
A separate Oliver post reports a free Summer BBQ e-book added to product bundles: +$68,000/month and +$0.74 revenue per session.
Gifts as cart rewards
Oliver's tiered spend rewards in the cart (free shipping plus bonus items) reported +$57k/month and +$7.86 revenue per session.
Kasper Dolk's second-threshold mystery gift in the cart gave a +€30,578 revenue lift at 99% confidence over 9,868 visitors.
Milos tested a leather strap against a mystery box as the cart drawer upsell for a watch brand: +15.26% revenue per visitor and +18.19% conversion rate, with AOV down 2.48%.
The post doesn't say which option was the variant.
Gift wrapping
Oliver moved a gift wrapping option into the cart with a "Buying for someone else?" prompt and reported +$58,860/month.
It had lost before; survey data showed customers wanted gift wrap but couldn't find it.
@oliverkenyon@oliverkenyon@oliverkenyon@oliverkenyon
@CROguy_
@kasper_dolkWhen removing the gift won
Oliver tested $82 with no gift against $85 plus a gift.
The lower price won with +46% conversion rate and +$43k/month.
Oliver's read: these shoppers cared more about price than the bonus.
It's the closest thing to a losing gift test here.
Ideas not yet measured
- Kasper Dolk: show free gifts in the cart with crossed-out prices so their value is visible.
- Kasper Dolk: free shipping from $50, mystery gift from $100.
- Peter Christensen: an expiry countdown on the free gift in the cart.
- Dave Diederen: a "Free gifts with subscription" section on the product page.
How to add free gifts on Shopify
Automatic gifts at a spend threshold usually need a gift-with-purchase or cart rewards app, or Shopify's automatic discounts.
Digital gifts like e-books can be sent in the order confirmation email or a post-purchase flow.
How to test it on your store
- Hypothesis: a gift tied to how the product gets used will raise revenue per visitor more than a generic discount.
- Metric: revenue per visitor and profit per visitor, since gifts cost margin.
- Control to include: if you can, test the gift against a lower price, as Oliver did.