Even More Proof Free Shipping is High on Customer Want Lists

April 8, 2009 by Eric
Filed under Conversion, Marketing Strategies

I’m always saying how offering free shipping will boost sales. After all, it is one of the most important factors in turning a potential customer who is “on the fence” into a lifetime customer.

Survey after survey reveal that consumers rate free shipping high on their list of expectations from online e-tailers.

So I ran a survey of my own on a current client site which has a number of very nice offers that distinguish them from the competition. I will add that this client has product prices which are on average higher than the competition … in some cases significantly.

We placed an optional “after order” survey on the thank you page of the website so as not to interfere with the buying process and asked a number of questions. The first question was simply “What was the main reason for your purchasing from us today?” The results are below and guess what reason was a leader of the pack? You guessed right if you said free shipping.

free shipping survey results