WooCommerce Free Shipping Tutorial in 8 Easy Steps

In this WooCommerce free shipping tutorial we will show you why free shipping is a great tool to increase your sales in a smart way. In particular context of the WooCommerce, it is a creative marketing idea. Generally speaking, it makes customers add more items to their carts and feel satisfied about it. Free shipping with conditions has been proven to be an extremely effective sales incentive and it adds a major boost to your average cart value.

Free shipping is a psychological tool

For example the power of the word “free”. Although everybody knows well, that nothing is really free, the word itself seems to be magical. Of course there are also other reasons behind the importance of free shipping. Granted that: rationalizing our shopping habits and having an excuse for online purchases, the illusion of a choice between a shipping fee or a free shipping after reaching a certain threshold can be equally weighty. Finally, it helps to avoid the number one culprit behind abandoning shopping carts – hidden fees.

Some statistics about free shipping

Consequently according to some statistics, over 60% of the eCommerce companies use the free shipping option. It influences consumer behavior on a psychological and irrational ground. Similarly, a survey from 2004 found that shipping and handling costs triggered 52% of the abandonment of online shopping carts. Therefore, in this WooCommerce Free Shipping TutForial, we will show you how to set up and configure the free shipping option.

WooCommerce free shipping tutorial in 8 steps

In order to enable the option of free shipping method it must be added to a previously configured Shipping Zone. Moreover, you can add it to any number of WooCommerce Shipping Zones – it is up to you. To illustrate how to do this:

1. Go to: WooCommerce → Settings → Shipping.
2. Secondly, select a Shipping Zone, then click the + icon to Add Shipping Method. A modal window should pop out.
3. Next choose Free Shipping from the available options and click Add shipping method.
4. Click Free Shipping in the row you would like to edit.
   
5. It will lead you to a different screen. Here you can define the free shipping method for that specific zone.
   
6. Enter a title that is displayed to customers during checkout. For example “Free Shipping”.
7. Below, press the Select Free Shipping Requires… dropdown.
   • N/A – Not available, Free Shipping is an option for every client without any conditions. Pick this option if you do not want to define any threshold. You will offer free shipping to everybody.
   • A valid free shipping coupon – A previously configured coupon that enables free shipping.
   • A minimum order amount – Set the amount in the field that will pop out after choosing this option. As a result, define your minimum order amount as a free shipping requirement.
   • A minimum order amount OR a coupon.
   • A minimum order amount AND a coupon.
8. Save changes.

Good job! You have successfully configured the WooCommerce Free Shipping.

Alternative advanced method

On the other hand, you can enable or disable Free Shipping via hooks. The free shipping method has an is_available function that can be hooked into:

return apply_filters( 'woocommerce_shipping_' . $this->id . '_is_available', $is_available );

You can use add_filter() on woocommerce_shipping_free_shipping_is_available. Then just define true or false.

Coupon vs. Minimum Amount priority

Remember, that if you offer coupons for free shipping and a min. amount at the same time, coupons take the priority. If a customer has a coupon, then the minimum amount requirement is ignored. However a minimum amount will be checked , if a client does not use any coupons.

Did you find the WooCommerce free shipping tutorial useful?

To ship or not to ship, that is the question? To recapitulate, configuring the free shipping method is extremely easy to do and could potentially bring a lot of benefits to any company. It is definitely worth considering for any WooCommerce based business. The free shipping threshold is a different topic though – most certainly interesting and exciting. All in all, sometimes a small implementation like that can notably affect an average shopping cart. Therefore take your time and think about the described ideas for your own profit.