You’ve priced your products competitively. Check. You make them even more attractive with bundles and promotions. Check. You’ve got an excited audience of customers ready to buy. Check. But now you need to get your products to people… enter the thorn in your side - shipping prices.

For e-commerce merchants without a physical retail presence, the cost of shipping and postage is unavoidable.

High shipping prices are one of the foremost reasons why a potential customer will kiss goodbye to you and your store. Even if they’re in love with your products, a steep shipping price is the biggest turn off. As many as 36% of potential customers will abandon their carts if they deem shipping rates to be too high. More on this in Abandoned Carts & What To Do About Them. That could mean a massive hit to your bottom line.

Balancing profitability with shipping rates is a challenge. You not only have to consider the cost of paying a courier or postal firm to deliver the item, you also have to consider your warehousing costs, packing costs and any associated labour costs. In some cases, shipping a low cost item for free could entirely wipe out your profits on that item.

So what can you do about it?

1. Do everything you can to spread the cost

Offer a flat shipping fee across all items, no matter their size or weight. You could then recoup shipping cost expenses on larger items through a consequently higher fee on smaller items that are usually sold in higher volume. You’ll be able to offer a consistent fee to customers, without placing eye-watering charges on your heftiest products.

2. Offer free shipping above a certain purchase threshold

That magic word, "FREE", is guaranteed to give your customers the nudge they need to complete their purchase. In fact, courier company Whistl found that a whopping 94% of Brits are more likely to follow through with a purchase if they receive free delivery. Customers feel like they're getting a good deal and avoiding a pesky charge, making them more likely to add a few extra items to their cart to reach the free shipping threshold.

Those extra items in their carts mean increased sales and profits for you, and more income to cover shipping fees. And remember, higher-priced items above your free shipping limit are likely to come with a higher profit margin, helping you absorb the shipping costs even further.

3. Install a progress bar

Encourage customers to fill their cart by installing a progress bar on your site to a free shipping reward.

This teases buyers along the journey and adds a dash of gamification to motivate customers to cross the line.  They’ll be tempted to add that extra item just to reap the rewards.

Shipping fees may seem like an unavoidable cost for customers, but with these strategies you can minimise their impact on your site’s user journey and stay competitive. Get ready to say goodbye to cart abandonment and hello to more sales. Need some more guidance to help you convert? Check out our Consultancy services or get in touch.

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