How to Offer “Free Plus Shipping” in WooCommerce: A Beginner’s Guide
The “Free Plus Shipping” (FPS) model is a powerful marketing strategy where you offer a product for free but charge the customer for shipping and handling. It’s a popular way to attract new customers, clear out inventory, and even generate leads. Think of it like getting a “free sample” but covering the cost to get it to your doorstep.
This guide will walk you through how to implement this strategy in your WooCommerce store, even if you’re a complete newbie.
Why Use the “Free Plus Shipping” Model?
Before diving into the “how,” let’s understand the “why.” The FPS model can be beneficial for several reasons:
- Attracts Attention: The word “free” is a powerful magnet! Offering a free product significantly increases click-through rates and grabs potential customers’ attention in a crowded online market. For example, consider a promotional item like a branded phone stand. People are much more likely to click on an ad for a “free phone stand, just pay shipping” than one that costs $5 plus shipping.
- Generates Leads: You collect customer information (email address, shipping address) during the order process, which can be used for future marketing efforts. This creates an opportunity to nurture leads into paying customers.
- Recovers Product Costs: While the product itself is free, the shipping and handling fee can help you recover the cost of goods, packaging, and fulfillment.
- Introduces New Products: It’s a great way to get your products into the hands of new customers, encouraging them to try something they might not otherwise purchase. Think of it as a risk-free trial. If they like the free item, they’re more likely to buy other products from you.
- Clears Inventory: Get rid of slow-moving or overstocked items quickly. It’s better to get something for them (shipping costs) than have them sit in your warehouse.
- Go to Products > Add New in your WordPress dashboard.
- Give your product a descriptive name (e.g., “Free Premium Phone Stand – Just Pay Shipping!”).
- In the Product data section, select “Simple product.”
- Crucially, set the “Regular price” to $0.00. This is what makes it a “free” product.
- Add a compelling product description highlighting the value of the product.
- Upload high-quality images of your product.
- Select a product category and add relevant tags.
- Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping.
- Set up your Shipping zones. A Shipping zone is a geographic region to which you ship. You might have zones for “United States,” “Canada,” “Europe,” etc.
- Within each Shipping zone, add a Shipping method. Here are the common approaches for “Free Plus Shipping”:
- Flat Rate: This is the easiest. Calculate your average shipping and handling cost for this product and set that as the flat rate. For instance, if it costs you $5 to ship the phone stand (including packaging, postage, and a little extra for handling), set the Flat Rate to $5.
- Table Rate Shipping (Requires a plugin): If shipping costs vary greatly depending on location (e.g., significantly more expensive to ship to California than to a neighboring state), use a plugin like “Table Rate Shipping for WooCommerce” (many free or premium options exist). These plugins allow you to define shipping costs based on destination, weight, quantity, or price. This gives you more control.
- Consider the “Free shipping” option strategically: You can offer “Free shipping” *after* a certain spending threshold. This can encourage customers to add more items to their cart. For example, “Free shipping on orders over $50!”
- Plugins like “WooCommerce USPS Shipping” or “WooCommerce UPS Shipping” connect directly to carrier APIs to calculate real-time shipping rates based on the customer’s address, package weight, and dimensions. This is more accurate but can be complex to set up.
- Calculate all costs: Include packaging materials, postage, labor for packing, and a small margin for unexpected expenses. Underestimating shipping costs can quickly make this strategy unprofitable.
- Be transparent: Clearly display the shipping cost on the product page and during checkout. Avoid hidden fees!
- Test thoroughly: Place test orders to ensure shipping costs are calculating correctly.
- Use eye-catching visuals: Create compelling images and videos that showcase the product.
- Highlight the “free” offer prominently: Use large fonts and contrasting colors to emphasize that the product is free.
- Run targeted ads: Use Facebook Ads, Google Ads, or other advertising platforms to reach your target audience.
- Use email marketing: Send emails to your existing subscribers promoting the “free plus shipping” offer.
- Social media: Share the offer on your social media channels.
- Add your coupon code (for example ‘FREEPLUSSHIP’)
- Under General Tab:
- Discount type should be set to ‘Fixed cart discount’ and set the amount to $0.
- Check “Allow Free Shipping”. This is an *important step*.
- Under Usage Restriction Tab:
- Under products add the specific product that you setup in the previous step.
- You create a product called “Free Branded Phone Stand – Just Pay Shipping!”
- You set the price to $0.00.
- You calculate that it costs you $5 to ship the phone stand to most locations in the US.
- You set up a “Flat Rate” shipping option in WooCommerce for $5 for the “United States” zone.
- You run a Facebook ad campaign targeting people interested in mobile accessories.
- The ad says: “Get a FREE Branded Phone Stand! Just pay $5 for shipping.”
- When customers click the ad, they’re taken to your product page where they can add the phone stand to their cart and checkout, paying only the $5 shipping fee.
Setting Up “Free Plus Shipping” in WooCommerce: Step-by-Step
Here’s how you can implement the “Free Plus Shipping” model in your WooCommerce store:
1. Create Your “Free Plus Shipping” Product:
2. Configure Shipping Options:
This is the most important part! You need to accurately calculate your shipping and handling costs and set them up within WooCommerce. There are several ways to do this:
a) Using WooCommerce’s Built-in Shipping Zones and Shipping Methods:
b) Using a Real-Time Shipping Plugin (for accuracy):
Important Considerations for Shipping Costs:
3. Market Your “Free Plus Shipping” Product:
4. Implement a Free-Plus-Shipping specific coupon (Optional, but recommended):
WooCommerce coupons can be useful for more than just discounts. You can utilize a coupon to only apply the free-plus-shipping to a specific product. This way it wont apply to all the products in the store. This also helps in the tracking performance.
Go to WooCommerce > Coupons > Add Coupon.
This will ensure the coupon only applies to the specific product. This way you can clearly define rules to Free-Plus-Shipping product.
Example Scenario:
Let’s say you’re selling branded phone stands. You decide to offer them for “free plus shipping” to attract new customers.
Code Snippets (For Advanced Users)
While the above steps cover the basics, sometimes you might need to add custom code for more control. Use these snippets with caution and only if you’re comfortable with PHP and WordPress development.
Example: Modify the “Add to Cart” button text for FPS products:
This snippet changes the “Add to Cart” button text on your product page to something more specific, like “Get it Free, Just Pay Shipping!”. Put this in your `functions.php` file (or a custom plugin):
add_filter( 'woocommerce_product_add_to_cart_text', 'custom_add_to_cart_text' );
function custom_add_to_cart_text( $text ) {
global $product;
// Replace ‘your_product_id’ with the actual product ID of your FPS product
if ( $product->get_id() == YOUR_PRODUCT_ID ) {
$text = __( ‘Get it Free, Just Pay Shipping!’, ‘woocommerce’ );
}
return $text;
}
Remember to replace `YOUR_PRODUCT_ID` with the actual product ID. You can find the product ID on the product edit page in your WordPress admin panel (it’s usually in the URL).
Example: Automatically apply a shipping coupon based on cart content.
This is the example of how it might look. Please use with caution.
add_action( 'woocommerce_before_calculate_totals', 'apply_shipping_coupon_if_needed' );
function apply_shipping_coupon_if_needed( $cart ) {
if ( is_admin() && ! defined( ‘DOING_AJAX’ ) ) {
return;
}
if ( did_action( ‘woocommerce_before_calculate_totals’ ) >= 2 ) {
return;
}
$coupon_code = ‘FREEPLUSSHIP’; // Your coupon code
$product_id_to_check = YOUR_PRODUCT_ID;
$has_specific_product = false;
foreach ( $cart->get_cart() as $cart_item_key => $cart_item ) {
if ( $cart_item[‘product_id’] == $product_id_to_check ) {
$has_specific_product = true;
break;
}
}
if ( $has_specific_product && ! $cart->has_discount( $coupon_code ) ) {
$cart->apply_coupon( $coupon_code );
}
}
Again replace `YOUR_PRODUCT_ID` with your actual product ID and also the coupon code that you set up.
Tips for Success with “Free Plus Shipping”
- Know your numbers: Thoroughly calculate your costs to ensure profitability.
- Test everything: From checkout to shipping, test the entire process to identify and fix any issues.
- Track your results: Monitor key metrics like website traffic, conversion rates, and customer acquisition costs to measure the effectiveness of your campaign. Use Google Analytics or similar tools.
- Provide excellent customer service: Address any customer questions or concerns promptly and professionally. Positive customer experiences can lead to repeat business.
- Comply with advertising regulations: Be transparent and avoid misleading claims in your advertising.
Troubleshooting Common Issues
- Shipping costs not calculating correctly: Double-check your shipping zone settings, shipping method settings, and product weight/dimensions.
- Customers complaining about high shipping costs: Be transparent about your shipping and handling fees. Offer alternative shipping options if possible.
- Losing money on “free plus shipping” offers: Re-evaluate your shipping and handling costs and adjust accordingly.
By following these steps and tips, you can successfully implement the “Free Plus Shipping” model in your WooCommerce store and attract new customers, generate leads, and boost your sales. Good luck!
