Shopify Free Shipping Automatic Discount: Quick 2025 Guide

shopify-automatic-free-shipping-discount

Did you know that a staggering 62% of customers claimed that if an eCommerce retailer doesn’t offer free shipping, purchasing from that brand is off the table? Therefore, if you are looking for an effective way to improve your Shopify store’s overall conversion rate, leveraging Shopify free shipping automatic discount can never go wrong.

If this is the first time you set up free shipping discounts on Shopify, we’ve got you covered. In this article, we will show you how to add free shipping automatic discount Shopify and even combine it with other discounts depending on your use case.

Without further ado, let’s dive in!

1. How to set up Shopify free shipping automatic discount?

Besides creating free shipping discount codes, the great thing about Shopify is that the platform lets you set up automatic discount free shipping Shopify.

Thanks to its powerful automation, your customers will enjoy free shipping automatically applied to their shopping cart without having to enter the code manually. This will enhance your customer experience and, ultimately, lead to more sales. 

In the meantime, you can easily configure automatic free shipping discount Shopify based on these eligibility criteria:

  • Cart value (aka order value)
  • Weight
  • Specific customers

Simply follow our instructions below:

1.1. Free shipping based on value or weight

1.1.1. Set Shopify automatic free shipping discount based on value

Step 1: To set up Shopify free shipping discount on value, follow the instructions below:

  • Within your Shopify admin dashboard, click Discounts 
  • Hit the Create discount button > Choose Free shipping as your discount type
Shopify-free-shipping-automatic-discount

 

Step 2: Afterward, you will be directed to Shopify’s free shipping discount setting editor. Herein, you can easily set up your discount conditions and rules as follows:

  • First, navigate to Method section > Switch to Automatic discount 
  • Then, enter a name or message for your automatic discount in the Title field. This will be visible to your customers on the cart and checkout page. So make sure it’s clear and transparent. 
free-shipping-automatic-discount-Shopify

 

Step 3: Let’s scroll down to continue setting other important details for your Shopify free shipping automatic discount:

  • Countries: You can choose to apply the free shipping discount for all countries or selected ones only.
  • Purchase type: Set the purchase type you want your free shipping discount to apply. Be it a One-time purchase, Subscription, or Both.
    • If you choose the Subscription or Both option, you’d need to set up how the discount can be used for recurring purchases– whether it’s the first payment only, all recurring payments or a certain number of recurring payments.
Shopify-automatic-discount-free-shipping

 

  • Shipping rates: To exclude free shipping for orders with shipping rates above a certain amount, select “Exclude shipping rates over a certain amount” and enter the limit. For example, if you set the limit to $100, free shipping won’t apply to shipping rates over $100.
automatic-free-shipping-discount-Shopify

 

Step 4: Next, configure the conditions for your free shipping discount. Here, you’d have three options:

  1. No minimum requirements: Your customers get free shipping regardless of their purchasing quantity or order value.
  2. Minimum purchase amount ($): With this condition, your customers must reach the purchase threshold to enjoy free shipping. (e.g. Free shipping only for orders over $100)
  3. Minimum quantity of items: Same with the purchase amount condition, but this condition poses a threshold on the number of items your customers add to the cart instead (e.g. Free shipping for three products)
automatic-discount-free-shipping-Shopify

 

Finally, set a start and end date (optional) for your Shopify free shipping automatic discount. Click Save discount and you are all set.

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1.1.2. Set automatic shipping discount Shopify based on weight

To ensure that we’re on the same page, it’s important that you understand what shipping rate is in Shopify. 

In a few words, Shopify shipping rates are the cost your customers pay for shipping in addition to the product cost. Shipping rates on Shopify include options like free shipping, flat rates, and carrier-calculated rates (only for Advanced Shopify users).

These rates can be customized to suit your business needs. For example, you can set automatic weight-based free shipping discounts by following the steps below:

  • On your Shopify admin dashboard > Go to Settings 
  • Choose Shipping and delivery > Navigate to the shipping profile you want to add free shipping rates, click the > icon. 
automatic-shipping-discount-Shopify

 

  • Afterward, scroll down to the Shipping zones section > Click Add rate.
Shopify-shipping-rate-setup

 

Then, you can set up your weight-based free shipping rate as follows:

  • Choose the Use flat rate option in the Rate type
  • Enter your Custom rate name and Custom delivery description (optional)
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  • For the Price field, make sure that the value is 0 > Click Add conditional pricing.
  • Tick the Based on item weight condition 
  • Then, define the minimum and maximum weight you want. For example, if you set Maximum weight as 2kg, the free shipping rate will apply to orders where the total weight of items in the cart is 2kg or less.
  • Finally, click Done and Save.
shopify-free-shipping-by-weight

 

1.2. Free shipping for specific customers 

To offer free shipping for specific customers, you can create a free shipping discount code specifically for those specific customers.

Here’s how to do so:

  • From your Shopify dashboard, go to Discounts > Click Create discount.
  • From the Select discount type menu, choose Free shipping.
  • In the Discount code section, enter a name for the discount code.
Shopify-free-shipping-for-specific-customers

 

Then, follow the same Step 3 and Step 4 in the 1.1.1. Set Shopify automatic free shipping discount based on value. Next:

  • In the Eligibility section, select who this discount applies to: All customers, specific customer segments (e.g. email subscribers, visitors), or specific customers (e.g. abc@gmail.com).
  • In the Maximum discount uses, you can limit the number of times the code can be used in total or limit it to one use/customer.
Shopify-free-shipping-eligibility-settings

 

Lastly, set the start and end date of your free shipping discount and click Save discount.

 1.3. Turn off free shipping 

If you set an end date for the free shipping discount, it will automatically deactivate once the date passes. Make sure to specify the end date during setup if you want it to turn off automatically. Otherwise, no further action is needed.

That being said, in case you want to manually delete an active free shipping discount:

  • From your Shopify admin, go to Discounts.
  • Go to the free shipping discount you want to deactivate > Click Deactivate.
  • Click Deactivate again to confirm.
Deactive-shopify-free-shipping

 

💡 To offer more advanced free shipping options, like setting different rules for different markets or offering free shipping to encourage upsells, you can install Shopify apps like Hextom: Free Shipping Bar or Essential Free Shipping Upsell.

2. How to combine other discounts with Shopify free shipping automatic discount?

Now that you know how to set up Shopify automatic discount free shipping based on discount conditions, let us show you how to combine free shipping with other discount types in case you want to.

Step 1: Go to the Discount you want to combine with Free shipping discount > Scroll to Combinations and tick Shipping discounts > Click Save.

combine-shopify-free-shipping-with-other-discounts

 

Step 2: Follow the same step by going to the Free shipping discount > Scroll to Combinations and tick Product discounts.

shopify-free-shipping-combination

 

Step 3: Don’t forget to double-check your discount combination information. Click Save once you’ve finished.

free-shipping-combination-shopify

 

💡Got any troubles setting up your discount and Shopify store? Contact our Shopify store setup and configuration service experts for more insights!

Conclusion

As shipping costs now play a crucial role in your customers’ buying decisions, for many shoppers, offering free shipping is no longer a plus but rather a must.

Hence, eComStart team hopes after reading this 101 Shopify free shipping automatic discount guide, you can know how to set up free shipping properly.

Visit eComStart.io to explore more detailed guides, tips, and tricks like this.

Frequently asked questions

Author:
Finn Nguyen is an eCommerce Expert specializing in Shopify, with a passion for guiding new business owners. With over 5 years of experience in the eCommerce industry, Finn has helped many new business owners from launching their first online store to achieving thriving sale. See his LinkedIn here

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