How to Add a Free Product to Purchase in WooCommerce: A Beginner’s Guide
Want to boost sales and delight your customers? Offering a free product with a purchase in your WooCommerce store is a fantastic strategy! It can incentivize bigger orders, clear out older stock, and reward customer loyalty. Don’t worry if you’re new to WooCommerce; this guide will walk you through the process step-by-step.
Think about it: Imagine you’re buying a new coffee maker online. Seeing an option to get a free pack of coffee filters with your purchase is a nice bonus, right? It makes you feel like you’re getting more value and might even nudge you to complete the purchase. That’s the power of a free product!
Why Offer a Free Product with Purchase?
Before we dive in, let’s understand the benefits of this tactic:
- Increase Average Order Value: Customers might add more items to their cart to qualify for the free product.
- Boost Sales: The perceived value of the offer can encourage hesitant buyers to make a purchase.
- Clear Out Inventory: Got slow-moving stock? Bundle it as a free gift to move it faster.
- Enhance Customer Loyalty: Freebies make customers feel appreciated, leading to repeat business.
- Promote New Products: Introduce a new product by offering it as a freebie with qualifying purchases.
- Set a Minimum spend if you want the free product to be available only for orders above a certain amount (e.g., $50). This is a key step!
- Consider setting Usage limits per coupon and Usage limit per user to control how many times the coupon can be used.
- Create a coupon code: “SOAPGIFT”
- Set the discount type to “Fixed product discount.”
- Enter the price of the travel-sized soap (e.g., $5) as the coupon amount.
- Select the travel-sized soap as the “Individual product.”
- Set the minimum spend to $30.
- WooCommerce Gift Product: This plugin allows you to automatically add a free product to the cart based on various conditions.
- Advanced Coupons for WooCommerce: Offers a wider range of coupon features, including the ability to automatically add products.
- YITH WooCommerce Gift Cards: While primarily for gift cards, it can be adapted to offer a product as a gift when a certain value is reached.
- Automation: Plugins can automatically add the free product without the customer needing to enter a coupon code.
- Advanced Conditions: Plugins often support more complex conditions, such as offering different free products based on the products purchased.
- User-Friendly Interface: Plugins often provide a more intuitive interface for managing free product offers.
- Automatically add a free key chain to every order containing a t-shirt.
- Offer a choice of three free samples with orders over $100.
- Display a popup offering a free gift if the customer has been on the site for more than 30 seconds.
- Create a product called “Watercolor Pencil Set (Free Gift).”
- Add a banner to your website that says, “Get a Free Watercolor Pencil Set with Orders Over $75! Add it to your cart now!”
- Monitor incoming orders and manually check if the free pencils are in the cart when the order is over $75.
- Inventory Management: Ensure you have enough stock of the free product. Nothing is worse than promising a free gift and then running out!
- Clear Communication: Make the offer highly visible on your website. Use banners, product descriptions, and checkout page notices.
- Terms and Conditions: Clearly state any terms and conditions associated with the offer, such as minimum purchase requirements or expiration dates.
- Mobile Optimization: Ensure the offer is displayed correctly on mobile devices.
- Testing: Thoroughly test the process to ensure it works correctly before launching the offer.
Methods for Adding a Free Product
While WooCommerce doesn’t have a built-in feature for automatically adding a free product, there are several easy ways to achieve this:
1. Using Coupons: This is the simplest method, especially for beginners.
2. Using Plugins: Plugins offer more advanced features and automation.
3. Manual Addition (with instructions): Clearly communicate to your customers how to claim their free gift.
Let’s explore each method in detail:
1. Using Coupons: The Easiest Approach
This method is perfect for those who are just starting out. You can create a coupon that automatically adds the free product to the cart when certain conditions are met.
Steps:
1. Go to WooCommerce > Coupons in your WordPress dashboard.
2. Click Add New.
3. Generate a coupon code (e.g., FREEGIFT).
4. Under Discount type, select “Fixed product discount”.
5. In the “Coupon amount” field, enter the full price of the free product. This effectively makes it free.
6. In the “Individual products” field, select the free product you want to offer.
7. Usage restriction tab is important!
8. Publish the coupon.
Example:
Imagine you sell handmade soaps. You want to offer a free travel-sized soap with every order over $30. You would:
Now, when a customer’s order reaches $30 or more and they enter the “SOAPGIFT” coupon code, the travel-sized soap will be added to their cart for free!
2. Using Plugins: Advanced Automation
For more advanced features, consider using a plugin. These offer greater flexibility and automation. Here are a few popular options:
Why use a plugin?
Example with a Plugin (Generic):
Let’s say you use a plugin called “WooCommerce Gift Product.” You could configure it to:
Each plugin will have its own configuration process, so refer to its documentation for specific instructions.
3. Manual Addition (with Instructions)
This method is less automated but can be effective, especially if you don’t want to use plugins or coupons.
Steps:
1. Create a product for your free item (if it doesn’t already exist) and set its price to $0.
2. Clearly communicate the offer on your product pages and checkout page. For example, you could add a banner or text that says: “Get a free [Product Name] with every order over $50! Simply add the [Product Name] to your cart.”
3. Monitor orders to ensure customers are adding the free product to their cart when they qualify.
4. Manually adjust the order total if necessary.
Example:
You sell art supplies. You want to offer a free set of watercolor pencils with every order over $75. You would:
Reasoning:
This method relies on clear communication and requires more manual effort, but it can be a good option if you have a small number of orders or want to avoid using plugins.
Important Considerations
Conclusion
Adding a free product to purchase in WooCommerce is a powerful marketing tactic that can boost sales and enhance customer loyalty. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can easily implement this strategy in your online store. Whether you choose the simplicity of coupons, the advanced automation of plugins, or the manual approach, remember to clearly communicate the offer and track its performance to maximize its effectiveness. Good luck!
