Studies by North American Retail online survey shows ‘High Shipping and Handling Costs’ are the number one reason for Shopping Cart Abandonment.
The Recent eCommerce survey, show that about 73% of customers expect Free-Shipping!
So,How Relevant is that to your Store??
Well,the Absolute Goal of any eCommerce Store is to generate more Revenue from a new customer over his or her lifetime than it costs to acquire that customer.
This does not eliminate the fact that more than ever, internet users are tuned into the details about Shipping Prices, Speed and Carrier Choice.
As a matter of fact, most online business owners see free shipping as one of the few surefire ways to get more sales. However, you should know that rolling shipping costs into the price of your products actually takes a bite out of your Profit Margin.
Hence it only makes sense to improve your shipping offerings to help you turn site visitors into paying, Repeat Customers.Below are some Benchmarked Shipping Promotions —
(1) Promote Specific Deals:
If Your Store cannot afford to offer free shipping permanently, you may want to create few advertising campaigns to promote certain deals.
For example, you can place a number of Free or Discounted Shipping Coupons on your website or send emails with such codes to a certain set of targeted customers.
Along with this , you should use the Social Media to advertise special deals, which relate to eCommerce shipping.
(2) Consider Locations:
If you eCommerce store ships different products internationally, offering Free shipping is not a great idea. Evidently, this is because shipping goods overseas can be very expensive. Offering Local Free Shipping, is an option you may consider at this point.
(3) Evaluate Products and Orders:
If you sell heavy or large items, you should consider Setting Restrictions on free shipping deals because most of these products are costly to ship.
Additionally, never offer free shipping unless orders reach a certain value.
For example, you can provide discounted or free shipping only for orders over $50.
(4) Set a Cutoff Date:
If you choose to Guarantee Free or Discounted Shipping before Christmas, it is advisable to mention the date beyond which the offer is no longer applicable. Furthermore, offering free shipping only for Holiday dates products is a great idea if you intend to pinpoint the fact that it is a holiday deal.
For example days like such as Black Friday , Cyber Monday and Free Shipping Days are also cool to advertise Shipping deals.
(5) Offer Flat Shipping Rates:
Your third option is to offer a Flat Rate for Every Package, or Flat rates for weight ranges and order totals.
This particular method of charging for shipping requires a bit of preparation as you need to figure out your average cost of shipping a package. This is a best practice you should be doing anyway to make sure that you don’t drastically undercharge or overcharge your customers.
Google Ad-words helps you provide the exact amount you pay for each ad your run on a Cost-Per-Click Basis. This is a good stepping stone to decide which shipping campaign is good enough for you.When you hit the right cost, you’ll probably be over- or under – the actual shipping cost by a little, but it should even out in the end.
Every business has different factors working for or against them. Testing different strategies over a period will help you to find the best one. The real challenge lies in devising a shipping strategy that suits your business plans and doesn’t bite in your margins.
The strategies discussed here should point you in the right direction and help make your store competitive in the market.If you have tried and tested any other shipping options which have worked out for you, do share them with us.
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Kalpana Dogra
Digital Marketing & Communications -Avactis
