Sarah argues small businesses shouldn't feel pressured to offer free shipping. Customers care more about speed and certainty than zero cost. Same-day cutoffs and clear guarantees beat free shipping as a selling point.
Hey guys, it's Sarah at the Boutique Hub. And I am back today to answer yet again one of the most frequently asked questions that we get here at the Hub. This seems to be on everyone's mind right now and it is about free shipping. Should I offer free shipping? It's cutting into my bottom line. I don't know if I can afford to offer free shipping. Well, guys, I just want to ask you a question. What do you think your customers expect? Expect? What? Do you think they want free shipping? Is that what it is? Is that what's going to get them to make that purchase? Something to think about right now as we are entering into this day and age of convenience, right, that we find that people will pay for shipping. They will pay for shipping if they're guaranteed. It's going to be fast. So I guess I asked you this question. You as a consumer, what's more important to you to get free shipping? Something that you might not have a guarantee of when it's actually going to leave that warehouse, when you might receive it, or fast shipping? What if you could guarantee your customers that you will ship that product out today? If it's placed by 5 o', clock, 4 o', clock, noon, whatever your timeline is, if you could get it in the hands of a UPS man or a FedEx man or your local post office that day, what would your cutoff be? What kind of incentive is that for a consumer? This is what Amazon prime built their business on, right? Free but fast. And the bad thing about boutiques is a lot of times they get the bad rap that it might be free, but they might not get the product for a couple weeks. So this is just something to think about. I'm not here to answer the question fully for you. This is 100% up to you and what's important to your customers. Because at the end of the day, we are all in the business of serving our customers and solving a problem for them, right? But we make this assumption that their problem is they want free shipping. That's not always the case. So going above and beyond doing the unexpected, the undeserved, the unnecessary, maybe it's just about convenience. I know for me it's more about convenience than it is about the price. If I could pay $7 in shipping, but I know that it's going to leave that store today or tomorrow, that makes me feel confident in the purchase. If I'm not sure when exactly I would be receiving this item, it starts to make me wonder how bad I want it or if there's another way I could get it faster. So just something to think about. You guys, if you like what you're hearing, let us know. If you have other questions, please drop them below. Email us, let us know. You can always find us@thebotcub.com. my name is Sarah and we're back. Next time.
