@joshtCROWhy free shipping thresholds matter on the checkout
Checkout is where the shipping cost stops being a promise and becomes a line on the bill.
A threshold that looked fine on the product page can feel like a penalty here, and a fee can also be pure margin.
The tests below look at that fee directly.
Measured results
All three come from Dave Diederen, and all three won.
A flat fee beat free shipping
Dave Diederen tested flat $2, $5 and $7 fees against free shipping.
The $5 fee won +$59,894/month in revenue, with +2.37% conversion rate, +5.56% revenue per visitor, +7.50% profit per visitor and +3.11% AOV.
Conversion rate going up while shoppers paid more is the surprising part.
A higher fee held conversion
In a test of $6.95 and $7.95 against the control price, conversion rate did not change, while revenue per visitor rose +1.57%, profit per visitor +2.21% and AOV +2.59%. The result was +A$20,478/month.
Rates tuned for volume or margin
A third test compared a volume-grab rate setup with a margin-grab one.
The winner added +$28K/month, with +1.14% conversion rate, +1.89% revenue per visitor and +1.81% profit per visitor.
@DaveDiederen@DaveDiederen@DaveDiederenLosing or flat tests
None of the three lost. In the $6.95/$7.95 test conversion rate was flat, which counts as a win only because profit rose.
Three tests from one practitioner is thin evidence, so expect your own shipping price tests to lose sometimes.
Untested ideas
- Dave Diederen suggests raising the shipping price in $1 steps per test group, arguing that a higher fee often beats a lower one and is straight profit.
- Kasper Dolk suggests offering extra quantities of the same product in checkout so the shopper can reach free shipping, turning the threshold into a small game.
- Kasper Dolk also suggests lowering risk in a Shopify Plus checkout with featured reviews, guarantees, a call or email option and repeated benefits.
- Josh Thompson describes testing "Fast, Free Shipping in 2 Days" against "Free Shipping Over $50" alongside rewritten headlines and one less step. Josh claims +21% conversion and +$280K that month, but shows no test data.
Placement and design patterns that won
- Test the fee, not just the threshold. All three wins came from changing what shipping costs.
- Measure profit per visitor. Two of the three wins would look modest on conversion rate alone.
- Test several price points at once, as the $2/$5/$7 test did, rather than one change against control.
Related tests elsewhere on the store
Threshold messaging is tested more often earlier in the funnel.
See free shipping thresholds in the cart, shipping messaging on checkout and the full free shipping threshold collection.