How to Set up a Successful Free Plus Shipping Funnel in WordPress [2024]
Editorial Team
February 15, 2024
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The Free Plus Shipping model is a popular and profitable funnel type where you offer the front-end product for free and only collect the shipping costs.
Although this funnel leads to an inrush of new customers and a boost in revenue, most eCommerce businesses are not using it because of the expensive tools you need to build one.
In this post, we'll show you some examples of free plus shipping offers so that you can reverse engineer your funnel. We'll also see how to build it on your WooCommerce store at a minimal cost and earn maximum profits.
The best part? It only requires a one-time effort, and you can reap the benefits of this sales funnel for a long time.
So strap on those belts, and let's begin!
Contents
A free plus shipping funnel is a marketing strategy used to acquire new customers by offering a product for free and charging only for shipping and handling costs.
Stores usually have a catalog of products. The shoppers come, pick what they like, and buy it when they want. As a store owner, you have no control over the products they purchase or the average order value of a sale.
But with a free plus shipping funnel, the environment is controlled. You build the funnel, piece by piece, and hand-hold users through the journey.
There are no unnecessary steps in the process like - Add to cart > Go to the cart page > Proceed to checkout > Land on the Checkout page, making this funnel very efficient.
And yes, also because the front-end item is free!
Free plus shipping depends on how exactly you execute it.
If you’re not incurring a loss on your front-end item or barely breaking even – then the customer also knows that you’re charging him for the product via the shipping cost.
So you’ve got to be honest here and not let their order total exceed the original shipping cost.
You don’t make your profits until they’ve accepted the order bump or the one-click upsell or an offer pitched later via emails.
Your focus should not be on the initial sale but on the average order value and the lifetime customer value.
Free plus shipping is the only way for you to acquire fresh customers and build a relationship with them.
We will take you through the various parts of a high-converting funnel so that you get a better idea of how to build one for yourself.
The first piece in the jigsaw is the advertisement. Since the product is free, you’ll not have a hard time convincing people to click and explore the details. So make sure you highlight the word free in your ad copy and image.
Take a look at this example:
The product takes center stage, and the word ‘FREE’ is written in bold and capital letters. The call to action is simple yet effective.
Look at the engagement!
Here’s another example:
It’s a 1-minute video ad with a short but to-the-point copy. Cardone doesn’t beat around the bush and encourages people to claim their free book right away.
Both examples have implemented the free plus shipping strategy beautifully.
A two-step order form embedded on a landing page is a well-converting design. We make it multi-step because it’s proven to convert better.
You can collect the necessary details on step 1 and payment-related information on the next level. Here’s how:
On step 2 of this form, we display what they’re paying for - the item and the shipping - along with the payment section:
When you click on the second step, you can see the small shipping charge.
This is the free plus shipping strategy that we're talking about!
An order bump is a low-dollar upsell offer that helps increase your average order value. I’ve already written some long posts on order bump ideas, examples, and setup – I recommend you take a look.
Here’s the order bump for our example:
Notice the bump is a beneficial product in this case because it’s post-mask care, so it complements the main item pretty well.
We have another example of an order bump, which is the ‘more of what you’re buying’ type offer.
It makes for an excellent order bump. You can add some more units to their order and charge additionally for it.
Include the additional shipping charges in the final price of the deal.
Bundles make for great one-time offers. Although creating a bundle requires a bit of research, it can potentially double the order value of customers.
In the case, you do not want to upsell a package, use this upsell framework to zero in on your offer.
According to this research, people have an innate desire to complete the set. So give them different components of the item selected to complete it.
Take a look at Cardon’s Video Training Package:
It is a bundle with recorded videos, seminar recordings, and ebooks on various topics - all related to the central theme.
If you sell physical products for you, this could be a whole kit with all your products or a bundle of multiples of the same product.
Now let’s have a look at some of the free plus shipping funnel examples.
You can also checkout a case study on free plus shipping Funnel in our blog "The Free Plus Shipping Funnel That Netted $3500 Profits and 500 New Customers: Case Study"
Here are a few e-commerce store owners who are using this funnel pretty effectively.
Feel free to carry these insights into your world. Let's now look at what all we've got:
Printed T-shirts make for great front-end products because they let people make a statement.
Moreover, who doesn't want to express themselves? Here's an example of a free t-shirt plus shipping offer:
This example is taken from Miles Beckler's awesome post on the free plus shipping funnel. Take a few minutes to read that too!
Who doesn’t like to show off a bit?
People often buy items that are different from anything their friends might have.
Here’s an example of an item that’s super cool to own and can come in handy when you might need it. Take a look:
It’s a firestarter that one would need during camping – what a great tool to have and flaunt!
Here’s the order form for this item:
Notice the product cost and taxes are zero, while the shipping and handling are $3.95.
Another excellent example of the free plus shipping model!
If you write ebooks, it's best to get them printed. You don't even need a publisher.
This book is an excellent front-end offer:
Cardone spends one whole page convincing people of the offer and why they should buy it.
He’s only charging $4.97 for shipping the book which appears authentic and is the reason for the success of his funnel.
The most significant component of this free plus shipping funnel is an enticing front-end offer because if it doesn’t attract customers, it’s a waste of effort.
Besides, it should be a low-priced product, so that you can break even on the ad spends with the shipping fees alone.
Follow this checklist to find your winner:
So, what do I mean by that?
I mean that it should be a reasonable product because you’re going to either bundle its cost in the shipping price or pay it from your pocket to acquire customers.
Therefore, do not pick an expensive product.
Something in the range of $2-$8 is just right.
It would also encourage people to buy without giving it much thought (impulse purchase).
You’ve got to entice people through your copy and attractive images of the product to convert them.
You cannot pique a buyer’s interest if the product’s bland.
So make sure you pick something that has the right amount of social proof and a credible reason backing the need for the product.
It’s not essential, but it will be a substantial addition to your offer
Let me give you an example of an emotion-evoking story:
Notice how the seller, Bryce, writes a personal letter about the survival cup. He goes on to explain the different uses of the product and also shows lifestyle images of the same.
All right! So now we’re going to look at the step-by-step process to set up this funnel.
You can do it along with us or take some time to go through the steps and execute them later.
You will need FunnelKit Funnel Builder for this because WooCommerce doesn’t provide you with these functionalities.
FunnelKit Funnel Builder is the ultimate sales funnel plugin for WordPress that allows you to create different kinds of funnels, such as Tripwire Funnel, Bridge Funnel, Challenge Funnel, etc.
And the best part is you can build a sales funnel with all the popular page builders, like Elementor, Divi, Oxygen, etc., without any coding.
Before we start the process, make sure you install and activate FunnelKit Funnel Builder.
Add a new product, make the cost zero dollars, and mark the product as hidden.
We’re doing this because there are different shipping methods activated in the store and we want to associate this class with our free product.
Go To WooCommerce (on the side panel) Settings ⇒ Shipping ⇒ Shipping Zones
Now add a new shipping zone, choose the region, and the shipping method as flat rate. You’ll have the option here to set up the shipping charges when you edit it:
In this case, I've set it up to $2:
Next, go to your free product, scroll below, and hit the Shipping tab ⇒ Shipping Class ⇒ Choose the class you just set up.
For example, we have set up a free product with $2 as the shipping charge. Set a low amount for your free plus shipping strategy to work.
For more details about advanced shipping options, read our blog “How to Set Up Free Shipping in WooCommerce”.
To create a sales funnel go to FunnelKit Funnel Builder ⇒ Funnels and click on "Create New Funnel".
Now choose the funnel type and select your preferred page builder. You should see a list of the pre-built sales funnel. Click on the preview button of the template you like.
Now choose the type of checkout page you want, single-step or muti-step checkout. After that, click on the “Import” button, provide a name, and click on Add.
Now your sales funnel should be imported.
Click on the Checkout step.
You can customize the checkout page by clicking on the "Edit Elementor Template" option.
Scroll down to the "Checkout Form Fields" to customize the form fields. You can add any new fields to the form just by dragging and dropping.
Move to the Products tab to add products to the checkout page. Here click on the “Add Product” button, then search for the product and select from the drop-down list. After adding the free product, click on “Add” to add it to the checkout page.
Here is what the main offer that free with only shipping cost looks like:
Order Bump can help you earn profits by enticing users to make impulse buys. In this section, you will offer low-dollar relevant products that users feel tempted to add to their cart instantly.
To create an order bump, click on the "Add Order Bump" option, provide a name, and click on Add.
After that choose an order bump skin.
After that add the order bump product. Here we are offering a low-dollar under-eye patch with a face mask.
Here is how the order bump will look on the checkout page. FunneKit offers a chic interface where users can easily add the order bump to the cart with just one click.
As you can observe, when you include an order bump, you can effortlessly ensure an increase in the order value. This provides you with an opportunity to recoup the money you forewent while offering the free product.
For more details on order bumps, check our blog “How to Offer Relevant Products on Checkout as Order Bump Skyrocket Your Profits.”
With an order bump, you can also offer a one-click upsell, which is mainly offered to the user right after they have placed an order. Users can buy these upsell offers with one click without providing the payment details again.
You can offer a relevant but high-dollar product in this step. For this click on the Offer step.
After that move to the Product tab and add the product you want to offer as an upsell.
For more details on how to offer to upsell using FunnelKit, check our blog “How to Offer WooCommerce Upsells to Boost AOV”
Here is what the upsell offer looks like:
You can also read our blog “Order Bump v/s One-click Upsells: What's The Difference Between The Two?”.
After making the offer, you can customize the thank you page.
And that’s it! Your free plus shipping funnel is ready to make you profits!
Free Plus Shipping funnel is pretty popular in the funnel circuit.
Although it’s quite successful in profitably converting new customers, online store owners don’t use it merely because of the different pieces involved in the jigsaw.
Now thanks to FunnelKit Funnel Builder, you know how easy it is to build such a funnel. It’s actually pretty simple to build this funnel and is quite cost-effective as well.
Especially, if you utilize the power of order bumps and upsells, then you can make this funnel your most profitable funnel.
If you are not sure if your upsells will work or not, you can A/B test your upsell offer and then choose the winning variant to ensure profit. This WooCommerce plugin offers an easy feature to A/B test your upsells in the sales funnel.
So, start using the free plus shipping funnel today and start your journey toward maximizing profit.