If you sell online, it has been drilled into your head that offering free shipping on Etsy will raise your sales conversion rate. But, this has been a little blown out of portion.
Published research from a variety of sources has continually showed that the number one reason for cart abandonment was HIGH shipping charges, which is not the same as saying shipping charges altogether.
For example, I was buying flowers from an online florist. The florist offered “free shipping” but when I went to checkout, while the shipping was free, there was a $15 transaction free. I went ahead with the purchase anyway, because I have ordered flowers many times and I expect a shipping fee. I did think this was kind of a slimy way of doing it.
But again, it is perspective. The flowers were $75, so if the transaction/shipping fee had been $30, then I would have abandoned the purchase because I am not going to pay another 40% of the price in shipping. In other words, a reasonable shipping fee will not likely stop the purchase.
I recently had a client whereby another “consultant” had told her that she absolutely had to offer free shipping on Etsy, and this was difficult as her product was heavy as it was made of cement. Looking at her stats, I saw that she had a good sales conversion rate of 3.3%, so to me, shipping did not seem to be an issue. As long as she kept it reasonable, she was better off to keep charging it. Otherwise, adding the free shipping into the price was going to substantially increase her product price, making it much higher than her competition, and that’s not a good thing either.
If you would like professional advice, please see my small business consultation as well as my other services.
©2012 Gail Oliver. All rights reserved. Free Shipping on Etsy
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