"Free shipping over $75" is a tax on your margin. A free gift over $75 is a reason to come back.
Free shipping at $75 works once. The customer hits $75, they get free shipping, and they check out. They learned one thing: shipping is free at $75. Next visit, they'll drive the cart to exactly $75 again. You just trained them.
Worse, every time the threshold triggers, you eat a real shipping cost. That's margin gone. If your average shipping label is $8 to $12, you're spending that every order to save a fee the customer expected to pay anyway.
A gift-with-purchase threshold flips the math. You control the cost of the gift, you pick something that feels more valuable than it costs, and the customer walks away remembering the gift, not the shipping line item. That's a better AOV lever and a better brand moment. For the underlying research, see the psychology behind gift with purchase offers and how to measure gift-with-purchase success.
Pick the threshold. Use whatever value your free shipping threshold lives at today, or nudge it a bit higher. That becomes the spend level that triggers the gift.
Pick a gift that costs less than your shipping subsidy. A sample, a travel size, a branded extra. Something that feels like a reward, not a consolation prize. Schedule start and end dates.
Launch and compare. Run the gift threshold for a cycle. Measure AOV and redemption against your old shipping-only baseline. Keep the one that makes more money.
Trade Shipping Subsidy for Margin
$19/mo flat, 15-day free trial, no per-order fees. See pricing.
No. You can run a gift-with-purchase threshold alongside your existing shipping rules, or replace your shipping threshold entirely. The gift campaign lives in Promo Party Pro, your shipping rules stay in Shopify.
A gift adds perceived value to the cart without teaching customers that shipping is negotiable. Free shipping eats real margin every time it triggers. A well-chosen gift usually costs less than the shipping subsidy and feels more generous to the shopper.
Yes. Every campaign supports start and end dates. Set them once and the gift threshold turns on and off on its own, no manual toggling.
Yes. Enable combinations in your campaign settings and the free gift stacks with customer discount codes. No conflicts.
