Now that you’ve cashed in on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it’s time to set your sights on the next big selling season.
One strategy many Shopify store owners use to get customers to spend more is a free gift with purchase promotion. The customer makes a purchase or spends a certain amount, they get a free gift. It’s that simple!
But what makes a great gift? There are many factors to consider when picking a giveaway that will motivate customers to spend a little more.
Let’s start by looking at an example from Perfumania.
Small and inexpensive to produce, this bag makes an attractive accessory along with the “tempting paradise,” perfume. Holiday shoppers will easily gravitate towards this kind of offer, as it gives them a little something extra to include in their gift. Or, if they are shopping for themselves, they can enjoy the gift alongside their purchase.
Image via. okcoutlets.com
More and more eCommerce stores are running these kinds of promotions
Nowadays, buying (just about anything) online is as normal as going to the mall or shopping at your favourite retailer. Customers trust the online shopping experience, and when you tell them they are going to get a free gift, they believe it!
Also, the experience of shopping online (adding items to a cart, seeing the total balance increase, etc.) is the ideal format for running a free gift with purchase promotion.
Instead of making customers in a store do the mental math, your website can show them a progress bar or pop-up reminding them how much more they have to spend to redeem the offer.
It can say things like: “You’re almost there — spend only $4 more to get a free candle!”
The holiday shopping rush is on, and whether you’ve planned anything or not, a free gift with purchase is the perfect last-minute promotion you can quickly add to your Shopify store.
Planning a gift with purchase promotion is fairly simple, but here are a few items you should consider before you launch:
5 things to consider when planning a “free gift with purchase” offer
1. Offer something customers will actually want
The item should add enough value that customers are motivated to spend more. If your offer is free candy cane with a $100 purchase, you might have a hard time getting customers to hit the spend threshold.
Ideally your gift will be a good fit for you brand, and be something that your customers will already want or be interested in.
Here are some quick ideas:
- Get a snazzy pair of socks with every shoe purchase
- Spend $50 on shaving products and receive a free compact mirror
- Holiday special: get a free bag of dark roast coffee beans with the purchase of any french press
I’m sure you can do better. Think of something that your customers will want and use it to encourage larger purchases.
2. Make sure you have enough stock
Free gift with purchase promotions can really work! So, make sure you’re prepared if there’s a spike in orders.
Nothing would be worse than having to tell customers who went out of their way to hit the spending threshold that you ran out of the free gift you promised.
That would be like Santa Claus coming down the chimney and explaining to kids that he ran out of presents! Make sure that you have enough stock of your free item to be able to handle the increase in orders.
For instance, if you’re offering photo prints or wall art as gifts, consider partnering with suppliers who offer Custom Canvas Photo Prints in bulk. This not only allows for discounted pricing but also ensures a sufficient supply to meet the demand surge during promotions.
3. Make sure the item won’t affect shipping rates
If it’s a small item it likely won’t dramatically increase the order’s weight, but larger items might require a larger box to be shipped along with your order. Take that into consideration when setting your spending threshold.
Every free gift with purchase promotion will be different, but in general smaller, lighter items work best. This way you won’t get stuck eating costs because you decided free bowling balls would make a great holiday giveaway on your Shopify store.
4. Pick a reasonable spending target
For the best results, we recommend looking at your average order value and making it around 10 to 15 percent higher. The whole point is that you want to encourage more spending, but to an amount customers can sensibly reach based on your products’ prices.
For example, if your average order value is $58 and you sell products priced around $15, try setting the spending goal to $75. This way you’re not over asking, you’re just making it easier for shoppers to reach the minimum.
5. Make sure you’re promoting the offer
Some apps, like Bold Motivator, will display a customizable banner on your store that promotes your offer on every page. It can also automatically counts down how much more shoppers have to add to their cart to qualify for their free gift.
However, you should also promote your gift with purchase on social media, or with a holiday-themed email blast to drive traffic to your site.
Set up your gift with purchase offer
So now that you have some products in mind to offer as free gifts, it’s time to actually set the offer up.
If you have a Shopify store, there are a number of apps that can help you offer this kind of promotion, but we’re partial to our very own Bold Motivator.
Okay, we’re a little biased, but it does have over 400 five-star reviews in the Shopify app store. Plus, it will promote your offer with a customizable banner that automatically tells customer how much more they have to add to their cart to get their free gift.
Install Motivator on your store then use the video or step-by-step instructions below to get you offer up and running!
You’ll need to upgrade to the Premium version — for no extra cost while you’re in the trial period — to set up this offer.
Don’t have time to read the step-by-step instructions? Watch our “How-to” video above.
How to set up your “gift with purchase” sale
Once you have installed Bold Motivator, you’ll be able to start offering free gifts with purchase to get your customers to spend more this holiday season.
Here’s how:
Step 1: Set up the Motivator goal
Creating a new goal in the app
First, set the goal amount; this is the spending target that customers will need to reach in a single order to receive their free gift.
Next, enter in your text to make the pitch. This will be shown to the customer on a banner at the top of your store the first time they visit, letting them know that if they reach the spending goal, they’ll have a free gift added to their order.
It’s important to make this message exciting and energetic (keeping in mind your brand’s tone), while being succinct and descriptive so your message is clear.
For my fidget cube store, I used Welcome! Today only, spend over $75 (before taxes shipping) and get a FREE fidget spinner!
After this, you’ll enter a follow-up and a congratulations message. These are both very important as they not only encourage customers to increase their spending, but have the added benefit of giving them personal recognition.
This should keep them around for longer, leading to fewer abandoned carts.
Step 2: Setting up the free gift
Lastly, we’ll select the free product that will actually be added to the customer’s cart once they reach the spending goal.
Check off the Enable free product box at the bottom of the page. Now you’ll be able to select the item that you want to give away to customers.
It’s important to note that this only works for one specific variant of a product; the shopper won’t be able to choose a different variant (such as a size or colour) of the free gift they receive.
If they need to be able to do this, we recommend having your fulfillment team follow up with them to determine which specific item they’ll receive.
Other awesome Bold Motivator features
There are a few additional options that you can activate to target this offer more specifically, in particular, geo location and scheduling.
Geo location
Geo location allows you to target the offer only to visitors from specific countries.
So, if your free gift is only stocked at your U.S. warehouse, you aren’t offering it to shoppers from South Africa. This can also be useful if you’re trying to increase sales in a particular region.
Note that this works based on the IP address, which can easily be spoofed to appear as if it is coming from a different country, so always review orders with free gifts to make sure they aren’t being shipped anywhere they shouldn’t be.
Scheduling
Scheduling allows you to show the offer only during certain days and times. This can be useful if you’re trying to drive sales during a time period (perhaps an hour before your shipping cut-off?).
Well done!
You just created a gift with purchase offer on Shopify: giving your customers a free product by encouraging them to spend a little more. A gift with purchase offer is just one of many tricks Bold apps can add to your arsenal to help you increase average order value.
Still need the app?
We know our Bold Motivator app can help every single Shopify store out there, so we’re offering a FREE trial with the link below.
Download the app by clicking the button below, and watch your AOV explode.
What strategies are you using to make your promotions stand out? Have you seen an increase in your average order value? Let us know in the comments below.
Written by Marshal Fries
Marshal Fries is a copywriter at Bold and fantasy football fanatic.
This article was originally published by our friends at Bold Commerce.
