A lot of people use Free Shipping by default and feel it helps increase the conversion rate.
There is a lot of research done on this subject which indicates that people do not like paying shipping fees.
I am personally a fan of charging people a flat shipping rate by default.
This has helped me increase my average order value and also has provided me multiple promo options which I would have missed out on if I would have provided Free Shipping by default.
A few promo ideas around shipping charges:
*Free Shipping on a higher value order( I see a lot of people doing it wrong, I will make a separate post on this one very soon)
*Free Shipping in an abandoned cart sequence.
*Free Shipping in retargeting ads.
*Free Shipping event.
*Free Shipping for club members (Amazon Prime)
You can also give an option of expedited shipping too and sell them air.
I have personally split tested this and I made more money while charging people for shipping.
Due to the flat shipping rate, people order more products and increase AOV.
Do you offer Free Shipping by default or have some promos in place?