How to Do Buy One Get One Free on Shopify (BOGO)? A detailed guide

---

According to The Hustle Daily, BOGO (buy one get one) makes up ~80% of free promotions, with 93% of shoppers using and 66% preferring them. They help many businesses sell extra inventory and boost customer traffic.

In this blog post, you will learn about the different kinds of BOGO automatic discount promotions that your Shopify store provides and how to do buy one get one free on Shopify with the pre-installed features and apps. By realizing how to create attractive BOGO promotions without a lot of effort, you’ll increase your customers’ purchases, attract new visitors to your site, and turn them into loyal clients.

1. What types of BOGO Promotions can you create on Shopify?

Here are 4 types of BOGO promotions on Shopify you should focus on:

1.1 Buy One, Get One Free (BOGOF)

This is a typical type of the famous BOGO automatic discount promotion format. It’s simple, straightforward, and offers instant value. Suppose a customer strolling around your store is confronted with a “Buy one t-shirt, get one free” promotion. After all, they will tend to purchase another t-shirt, even if they had not planned to buy two.

Read more: How Do You Create an Auto-add Shopify Free Gift With a Purchase?

1.2 Buy One, Get One at a Discount

This type of strategy is more flexible. Instead of offering the second item for free, you sell it at a reduced rate. This allows you to manage your profit margins more efficiently while at the same time offering your customers tremendous value.

For instance, you have a promo like “Buy one pair of shoes, get the second pair for 50% off”.

1.3 Tiered BOGO Promotions

Looking to persuade consumers to buy more? This is your answer. You increase the number of promotional offers given to the customer in relation to how much they are willing to purchase, e.g., Buy 2 Get 1 Free, Buy 4 Get 2 Free, Buy 6 Get 3 Free, and so on.

This strategy is particularly appropriate for products with high operating margins. As the number of customers rises, you earn more revenue, and although you give out the products for free, your profit will still be higher.

1.4 Conditional BOGO Promotions

Rather than straightforward values, these promotions activate under certain conditions. The Shopify platform and discount apps provide several ways to target specific types of customers for promotions.

For example, you can create promotions only certain customers see based on their email subscription, order history, location, or other details. Here are some examples:

• Exclusive to email subscribers: Reward your loyal customers with a BOGO promotion just for signing up for your email list.
• For first-time buyers: Encourage new customers to make their first purchase with a special BOGO promotion.
• For customer’s order history: Offer a BOGO promotion to customers who have spent a certain amount before, showing your appreciation for their loyalty.
• Customer location: Offer BOGO to local customers in specific neighborhoods or regions.

2. How to do Buy One Get One Free on Shopify without an app?

Shopify offers two methods for receiving free products: automatic and discount codes. The guiding section below will show you how to do Buy One Get One Free on Shopify using pre-installed features. 

3. Why Should You Use an App to Create a Buy one get one free Shopify Promotion?

Shopify’s discount settings are quite good in form and functionality, though they seem less potent and versatile than Shopify discount apps. Here’s why using an app is much more preferable:

Advanced Features: One of the conveniences of such apps is that they provide functionalities that Shopify has not integrated into its platform natively. This includes things like:

• Wide Range of Offers Included: Shopify discount apps offer advanced promotional options beyond basic “buy one, get one” discounts. These include tiered pricing BOGO, conditional BOGO (e.g., exclusive offers for email subscribers, first-time buyers, or customers in a certain location), and other features like quantity breaks and bundling. This expanded functionality exceeds Shopify’s native discount settings, giving you greater control over your promotions.
• Multi-Offer Management: Shopify discount apps let you run multiple discount promotions simultaneously but ensure customers only get one discount at a time. This avoids giving multiple discounts by mistake. The BOGOS Free Gift App provides effective management to prevent such overlapping discounts.
• Visual Customization: Improve the look of your BOGO pop-ups, banners, and widgets so your customers don’t miss them.
• Analytics and Reporting: Shopify analytics lets you see your store’s reports, but discount apps show how well each promotion works. This helps you track your promotions’ results more precisely.

Quick & Dedicated Customer Support: Some Shopify discount apps come with dedicated customer support services that will assist you in creating and deploying promotions.

Altogether, the Buy One Get One Free Shopify app allows you to have many strong discount strategies that increase sales and loyal consumers.

4. How to do conditional buy one get one free Shopify promotions?

In this section, we’ll use the most reliable app, BOGOS Free Gift App, as an example of setting up advanced BOGO promotions. This app was released in 2014 and is now one of the most reliable software on the Shopify app store.

• Shopify rating: 4.9/5 
• Reviews: >1,800
• Pricing: $23.99 – $79.99 per month
• Customer support: documentation, live chat, email, video call, FAQs
• 7 days free trial

In addition to the basic BOGO automatic discount offer, BOGOS allows Shopify merchants to create 2 advanced promotional types: tiered and conditional offers. This section will show you how to set them up using the BOGOS app.

Read more: Why Buy 1 Get 1 Free Shopify Promotion (BOGO) Effective On Shopify Store?

4.1. Shopify Tiered BOGO Promotions

It’s important to note that Shopify’s built-in discount features do not automatically allow you to create these, so you must install a third-party app like BOGOS Free Gift to unlock this functionality.

BOGOS has 2 ways to create tiered promotions.

• Click on “Specific product condition” (buy A, get B) to offer a discount on specific products.
• Click on “Pack of products condition” (buy A + B, get C)  to offer a discount on packs of products.

Then click “multiply gifts with a number of products” (e.g., buy 3 products = receive 3 gifts, buy 5 products = receive 5 gifts.). The “Number of products required” field sets the minimum number of products customers must buy to get the promotion. If it’s set to 1, the promotion applies to any purchase with at least one product.

4.2 Shopify Conditional BOGO Promotions

Shopify’s built-in features are also limited when setting up conditional BOGO promotions based on customer segments such as order history, tags, or location. However, the BOGOS app makes it very easy to create them.

Step 1: Click “Add sub-condition” under “Offer sub condition.”

Step 2: Choose a customer segment:

• Order History: Narrow the offer by order history. The options here are “Order created from,” “Total spent in order history,” “Total spent on last order,” “Total number of orders placed.”, and “Limit to one use per customer.” You can configure the BOGO promotion to apply only to customers who meet certain criteria in their order history.
• Customer Tags: Apply the BOGO promotion to customers with specific tags, like “VIP” or “Loyal Shopper.”
• Customer Location: The BOGO can be limited to customers in specific regions.

Step 3: Click to “Save draft“

All of these advanced features will be in the trial app version so that you can download them. Besides these features, BOGOS includes multi-offer management, real-time analytics, and on-site visibility customization.

5. Tips to Optimize Your BOGO Promotions

5.1 Strategic Product Selection

We recommend selecting a few popular items with good profit margins. You can check your sales reports to see what sells best. Offering BOGO on these star products will surely attract more customers to your store.

Just be sure there’s enough stock of each item to avoid selling out too quickly. A steady supply means the deals can keep customers coming back for more.

5.2 Impactful Marketing Strategy

To achieve the booming effect, don’t keep them a secret. Making the most of email, social media, and in-store signs to spread the word. Send an engaging email to your list highlighting your newest BOGO offerings.

Be sure to include bright product images to catch their eye. Post about the deals on Instagram or Facebook, too, so everyone can share with friends. Once in your shop, eye-catching signs will have customers scoping out more BOGO bargains as they browse.

5.3 Analyzing and Adapting

When the promotion ends, take a look at the sales data. Note your top-selling product pairs. Did certain combos fly off the shelves while others gathered dust?

Ask your customers what they love and suggest pairings for next time. Refine your approach to make future BOGO offers even more effective. With the right strategies, this promotion will repeatedly boost your bottom line.

6. Conclusion

This blog post shows you how to do buy one get one free on Shopify store with or without an app. A successful BOGO promotion can boost sales and engage customers. 

By selecting products wisely, using effective marketing strategies, and analyzing results, you can maximize your promotions. Whether you run a small or large store, various apps can help. We hope this guide offers clear insights for your BOGO campaign. Good luck!

7. FAQs