Charging shipping on every order: +9.17% revenue per visitor
Test run byDave DiederenSyntra Labs
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsRemoving the free-shipping threshold and charging shipping on every order lifted revenue per visitor by 9.17% and conversion rate by 7.02%. Dave Diederen ran this test for one brand. Average order value also rose by 2.01%.
- Revenue per visitor: +9.17% ($2.80 to $3.06), estimated at about $83,709 extra per month.
- Conversion rate: +7.02% (2.52% to 2.70%). Surprisingly, more visitors bought even with a shipping charge. The range ran from -3% to +18%.
- Average order value: +2.01% ($111.00 to $113.23).
- Profit per visitor: not shown, because cost data was not entered.
The change
The free-shipping threshold is removed and shipping is charged on every order.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
Orders above a set threshold shipped for free. The threshold amount was not shared.
Variant
The threshold was removed and every order paid for shipping. The shipping fee was not shared.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- free shipping can give away margin to people who would have bought anyway, so charging it adds revenue without losing buyers.
- when the product feels valuable, a shipping fee may not be the barrier stores fear.
- part of the revenue lift may be the shipping fees themselves, if the tool counts shipping as revenue.
- the conversion lift is the hardest part to explain and could partly be noise, given the wide range.
Caveats: Sample size, test length, threshold and fee were not shared, and the confidence ranges cross zero. This was one brand, and the result may not hold for low-priced products.
Who ran it
Dave Diederen (@DaveDiederen) shared this test on X. The numbers and screenshots are theirs.
View the original post on X
How to run this test on your store
- Hypothesis
- If we remove the free-shipping threshold and charge shipping on every order, then revenue per visitor will rise because we keep the shipping margin without losing many buyers.
- Primary metric
- Revenue per visitor
- Guardrails
- Conversion rate
- Cart abandonment at shipping step
- Repeat purchase rate
- Who should test it
- Brands with strong perceived value and orders that rarely depend on the free-shipping nudge. It is riskier in categories where competitors all ship free or shoppers compare prices closely.
Questions
Does free shipping always increase conversions?
Not in this test. Charging shipping on every order lifted conversion rate by 7.02% and revenue per visitor by 9.17%.
Should I remove my free-shipping threshold?
Test it rather than assume. It worked for this brand, but threshold, fee and product price all matter, and those details were not shared.
Does charging shipping lower average order value?
Here it did not. AOV rose 2.01%, from $111.00 to $113.23.
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