Haven’t exactly prepared for this year’s shopping extravaganza? That’s okay, your secret is safe with us. Here are 3 simple ways to improve your shipping and checkout experience before Black Friday-Cyber Monday. (And make this your best holiday selling season yet!)
This is a guest post from our partners ShipperHQ, experts in shipping and fulfillment for eCommerce stores. Learn more at the end of this post.
1. Be Smart About Free Shipping During the Holiday Season
It’s no secret that Amazon’s fast and free Prime shipping has raised customer delivery expectations across the board.
Online shoppers want their shipping to be free and fast. And if your business fails to meet these customer demands, it’s very likely that you’re losing sales.
However, there’s one big caveat: free shipping is free to your customers, not to you.
So, the question is not if you’ll offer free shipping, but how.
Use these suggestions to offer free shipping without sacrificing your profit margins:
Build holiday shipping costs into the sticker price
This is the easiest and most common way to cover free shipping. When you factor the costs into the sale price of your products, the difference is negligible and greatly outweighed by the perceived benefit of free shipping.
Boost average order value (AOV)
If a customer is enticed to increase the dollar value of their order, you’ll see more profit with only an incremental change in shipping costs. There are a few ways to accomplish this, such as having free shipping kick in at a specific minimum order threshold, or offering free shipping on select items with higher profit margins.
Offer additional holiday shipping options
Most shoppers are willing to wait for standard shipping if it means getting it for free. Others, however, want their order as soon as possible.
Whether they have a pressing need or they are simply impatient, it’s never a bad idea to offer additional shipping options to accommodate these shoppers and prevent them from abandoning their online shopping carts.
Offer event-based free shipping
Rather than using a blanket approach to free shipping, consider using strategic timing.
Create a set schedule on certain days and times. Or run flash sales where you “randomly” announce free shipping for sales during a limited period of time.
Optimize packaging
Oversized boxes and excessive filler can unnecessarily drive up your shipping costs. Proper packaging keeps shipping expenses manageable while reducing your carbon footprint for additional savings.
Pro Tip: Not quite sure about implementing free shipping this late in the game? Consider incentivizing customers with convenient and customizable BOPIS options like In-Store Pickup, UPS Access Point™, or FedEx Hold at Location. This is a great way to offer your customers the flexible and convenient online shopping experience they want, while also helping you cut costs by waiving or reducing shipping fees. Not to mention, it won’t cost you or your customers a dime!
2. Offer Competitive Holiday Shipping Rates and Options
Cost and speed of shipping are non-negotiables for online shoppers.
Delivering on these expectations means unlocking the sales and savings you need to maximize sales this holiday season and beyond.
By investing in a Rate Shopping software, you can automatically compare shipping rates against each other. That way, your customers only see the best and most cost-efficient delivery options at checkout. This not only protects your bottom line by eliminating unnecessary and expensive shipping methods altogether, it also helps you get more customers across the finish line with optimized shipping choices that eliminates any extra decision-making on their part.
Pro Tip: Faster delivery options will be a key decision-making factor in online shopping this holiday season. Consider incentivizing faster shipping over free shipping by adding three-day, two-day or next-day shipping options.
3. Deliver Honesty at Checkout
Online shoppers expect to see clear, accurate Delivery Dates at checkout, regardless of what they are buying or where they are buying from. This expectation only intensifies around the holidays. Think about it, the last thing your customers want is to worry if their loved one will get their gift on time. So, rather than losing customers due to a lack of delivery transparency, let your customers know exactly when their order will arrive by adding clear and accurate delivery dates to your checkout. Providing more transparency at checkout is a “quick win”. You’ll give your customers the buying experience they want, while also giving you the conversion rate you want.
Pro Tip: Know your holiday shipping deadlines and account for those key dates in your shipping timelines to ensure Santa loads his toys and goodies on his sleigh on time during gifting’s busiest season.
The shipping rates and options you display at checkout can make or break you this holiday season. And with inflation and recession in the air, it’s more important than ever that your shipping offerings at checkout meet customer expectations, save you money, and help you scale your business in the long run.
Get started with a free 15-day trial and see how ShipperHQ can help you capture more sales at checkout this holiday season and beyond.
Sources:
- New Data from ShipStation Reveals 2020’s Impact on Consumer Shipping Expectations
- New Data from ShipStation Reveals 2020’s Impact on Consumer Shipping Expectations
- Consumer Psychology and The E commerce Checkout – Stats Behind The Clicks
- How Free Shipping Influence Online Buying Decisions
It’s All About a Better Customer Experience
Thanks to our friends and partners at ShipperHQ for sharing their invaluable advice!
Ready to have your highest Black Friday-Cyber Monday online sales yet?
At Shero, we’re determined to help our clients increase sales, establish long-term scalability, and provide next-level customer experience — from design, to launch, to marketing and optimization.
Just take a look here how Benchmade earned their highest Black Friday online sales after receiving a redesign, upgraded integrations, and a custom-made product customizer.
During Thanksgiving weekend through Cyber Monday sales:
- Revenue increased by more than 100%
- Transactions were up 68%
- And the average order value was up nearly 20%
- All as compared to the previous year.
- >> Read more
Contact us today for a free consultation.
About Shipper HQ
ShipperHQ enables merchants to offer shipping convenience and transparency to their customers — and increase sales for their businesses. With customizable and accurate shipping rates and options for every buying scenario, ShipperHQ is the Amazon-style checkout experience that converts. ShipperHQ’s platform is integrated with more live carriers and local delivery services than any other solution and serves thousands of merchants globally.
