Online business owners put a lot of effort into providing the best in-the-market shopping experience to the customers right from the customer lands on the website.
Intuitive design, seamless & smooth experience, and compelling content are well-known tactics that promote conversions. Online eCommerce store owners often mention this while talking about conversion rate optimization, totally ignoring the shipping & order-fulfillment part.
In this post, I will shed light on the eCommerce shipping & order fulfillment strategies that can give a little boost to the eCommerce conversion rate.
The Need for An eCommerce Shipping Strategy
Ecommerce has made it easier for customers to purchase anything from anywhere and that, too, at their fingertips. Moreover, switching to an alternative store is also easier, and the customers are more likely to do so if they face any issue during their purchase.
Image a customer who lands at your store and finds it compelling to purchase something from it. He adds products to the cart and moves towards the checkout part, where he finds that he is being charged an additional shipping fee, which is too much for him, and he fades away from the site.
Sad story, isn’t it?
That’s why you need a solid eCommerce shipping strategy to avoid such instances for your store. Moreover, a solid shipping strategy can also improve the post-sales experience for the customers, leading to enhanced customer loyalty toward the store.
Shipping Strategies to Improve eCommerce Conversions
Too much ado! Now, let’s come to the main part. Here are the top 4 shipping strategies to improve the conversion rate on your eCommerce store.
Free Shipping
Offering free shipping is one of the best ways to reduce shopping cart abandonment and motivate customers to convert. However, the fact is that the shipping is never free, and either you or your customers have to pay for the shipping. If you choose the latter option, you can slightly increase the product price to cover the shipping code.
For example, a customer is likelier to purchase a product with a $100 price with free shipping than the same product at a $90 price + $10 shipping.
Delivery Updates
The customer’s experience with your store doesn’t end on the order checkout page. Online shopping is exciting, and the customers are excited about the amazing product that they will be receiving from your store. In such a scenario, providing regular delivery updates and shipment tracking facilities to the customers can help you earn your customer’s trust
Table Rate Shipping
The flat rate shipping on your eCommerce store may not be suitable for all the customers. The shipping cost may vary according to the shipping source and destination, and therefore, you may require to add a table rate shipping method that charges fair shipping rates on the orders.
For example, the customers living in the same city where your warehouse is located may have to pay less shipping costs as compared to a customer living in another city. You can use Magento 2 Shipping Table Rate extension to have such functionality in your Magento 2 store.
Combine Multiple Shipping Options
There is no one-size-fits-all Shipping in eCommerce, and therefore you may require to club multiple shipping rules together to craft a convenient shipping strategy for your store. For instance, if the average order value (AOV) in your store is $40, you can implement a free shipping method on orders above $50 and a flat rate shipping method on orders below $50 to improve the AOV.
Conclusion
Shipping & order fulfillment is the most overlooked part of the customer’s journey with the eCommerce store. Customers love the convenience, and crafting the shipping strategies accordingly can give a little boost to the conversion of your store.