Shopify Add Free Gift to Cart: How to Do It Automatically?

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As a Shopify merchant, you may realize that auto-adding free gifts to your customer’s cart is important. Providing gifts helps you to incentivize customers to buy more, raising your average order value. This results in an increase in revenue and return on investment for your Shopify store. When you automate the process of adding free gifts to a cart, you are improving your customers’ shopping experience.

If you are finding a solution to this question, you are in the right place. In this article, We’ll go through these things together. You will know how to automatically make it and the best practices for managing your gift promotions. Let’s check it out!

1. How does Shopify add free gift to cart work?

Shopify allows you to provide free gifts to customers with its built-in discount feature. In the Discount section on your admin dashboard, you can create a discount and follow the next steps to set it up. It’s a little long process with many steps involved. You can refer to Shopify’s discount manual to check its details.

Shopify’s discount feature is free to use, which means there is no requirement for a subscription fee like third-party apps. It allows you to provide some types of fundamental offers and is straightforward to use. You don’t need to install additional apps; just follow the guide to set it up. As it’s a built-in feature, it’s already integrated into Shopify’s backend, so you don’t need to worry about integrations as well.

However, the available feature has its own disadvantages. When using it, you have fewer customization choices in comparison with using third-party apps. Regarding gift selection, rules, and presentation, it delivers less flexibility. Furthermore, it also lacks advanced functionality like multi-tier gift options. 

If you implement “Shopify add free gift to cart” with its built-in feature, the free gifts can’t be automatically added to the cart for customers. It requires customers to add manually, even if they meet the conditions to receive the gifts. This can result in a negative impact on customers’ shopping experience.

Read more: How Do You Create a Free Gift With a Purchase on Shopify in the easiest way?

2. What is the solution to automatically add a free gift to the customer cart in Shopify?

As alternatives to Shopify’s built-in discount feature, you can use coding or third-party apps to add free gifts to customer carts. Let’s see one by one below.

Method 1: Coding

If you know coding or your team has developers, editing code can be a solution for adding free gifts to customer carts. You can also hire an external developer or develop services, but of course, it’s more expensive.

Customizing code means you can have complete control over your promotion strategies. You can edit it to fix your intention and style; however, it requires technical knowledge and may be time-consuming. Also, the custom code may need to be updated when there are theme changes or Shopify updates.

If you move forward with this solution, there are two options you can choose:

• Trigger a popup when customers add products to their carts. This popup informs customers of the gift and allows them to redeem it with just one click.
• Create a cart message or a banner letting customers know about the free gifts and remind them to add these gifts to their cart manually.

To adjust the code, in your Shopify dashboard, you can go to Themes, choose Edit Code, and customize it.

Pros

• Have complete control over promotions
• There are no recurring fees like using apps

Cons

• Require technical knowledge or hiring developers
• May be time-consuming
• Code insertion can make your website slower
• Interrupted store’s operation in case of code errors

Method 2: Using Shopify apps

Another way to add free gifts to customer carts is by using Shopify’s free gift apps. It’s an extremely convenient solution, especially when you prefer not to be involved in coding. 

Shopify App Store provides you with many apps that simplify this process. Most of them are easy to use, enabling you to establish free gift promotions without any coding knowledge. You can set up and manage your promotion campaigns efficiently with the apps and ongoing support from their developers. It also allows you to customize complicated promotions like multi-tier gift options with its advanced features.

You can go to the app store, choose the one you want to use, and install it within a few minutes. Then, navigate the app’s dashboard, configure promotion rules, and customize the promotion display. Activate the promotion and monitor with the app’s analytics features. The process of launching free gift promotions with third-party apps is usually straightforward, saving you time and effort.

In addition, apps are designed to provide a smooth customer experience. When setting up “Shopify add free gift to cart” with apps, the system will automatically add the free gift. Your customers won’t need to take any extra steps like manually adding, and you won’t need to create any notifications or banners to remind them.

Pros

• Simple to use and set up promotions
• Advanced features facilitate complicated campaigns
• Ongoing support from the developer teams
• Time-saving and efficient
• Create a smooth customer experience

Cons

• Require recurring fees for subscriptions.

Recommended Shopify free gift app

Among Shopify apps for creating promotional offers and campaigns, BOGOS is an outstanding one. It was launched in 2014 and has been used and appreciated by many Shopify merchants.

The app supports various types of offers, such as BOGO, Buy X Get Y, Free Gift With Purchase, and product bundles. With it, you can provide free gifts or products based on specific purchase conditions.

You can choose between two methods to offer gifts: auto add to cart or gift slider. If you want customers to choose gifts from a set of many products, a gift slider will be helpful. Meanwhile, the auto add-to-cart feature enables you to set up automated free gifts, which won’t require customers to take any extra steps.

BOGOS has an intuitive interface, so you can easily create and manage many offers. It also has real-time analytics, enabling you to optimize your gift promotion performance. 

Gifting methods:

• Auto add to cart
• Gift slider

Shopify rating: 4.9/5

Pricing: $23.99 – $79.99 per month

Customer support: Documentation, FAQs, live chat, email, video call

7 days free trial

Step-by-step on how to create a free gift offer with Shopify app

3. How to use a gift slider to add multiple free gifts to cart in Shopify?

What is a gift slider?

A gift slider is a type of pop-up that provides products or free gifts based on specific purchase requirements. Although similar to the auto add-to-cart feature, a slider would be more helpful for customers to choose between a set of many items.

Why use a gift slider?

Most store owners utilize a gift slider when they want to offer customers multiple gifts at the same time.

For example, if they purchase 2 T-shirts, they are eligible to select 2 items from a list of 4 to 5 free gifts. The slider will appear to showcase the entire list of free gifts in the buyer’s cart.

How to use a gift slider for free gifts in Shopify cart?

There are 2 common methods for adding multiple free gifts to a Shopify cart using a gift slider: coding in your store theme or using a third-party app.

• Coding

Navigate your live theme in the Shopify admin dashboard and duplicate it. Add a new section by editing the file’s code, then add the slider theme snippet.

Then, save the settings and click Publish the duplicate theme to activate the gift slider.

• External discount app

We recommend BOGOS, a high-performance Shopify app for creating and managing advanced discounts and free gift offers. The app has an internal gift slider tool that acts like a pop-up, showcasing free gifts when certain items are in the shopping cart.

For example, if your customer purchases 2 bathroom sets, the system identifies them as trigger products, and a pop up (gift slider) will appear showing 2 free moisturizers. Thanks to this feature, buyers are notified of incentives and automatically receive them.

4. Best Practices for Managing Free Gift Promotions

Many factors affect the impact of a free gift promotion campaign. To have the most effective one, follow our best practices below.

Choose suitable gifts

The right gift is one of the elements that influence your promotion’s success. You can choose items that complement your main products, which add value to customers’ purchases. Considering products that customers frequently buy together or new items you want to promote is a method of selecting gifts to offer.

The free gifts should also be relevant to your target audience. They should match their interests and needs. If customers don’t prefer the gifts, your promotions’ effectiveness may not be high.

As a merchant running a business, of course, you should choose cost-effective gifts so as not to affect your profit margins. Also, it’s great if you can incorporate your branding factors, like logo design, into the gifts. Take them as a chance for branding!

Clearly communicate the conditions.

You will need to clearly decide the criteria for gifts and communicate such criteria to your customers. Transparent communication is necessary to help avoid customer confusion and ensure a smooth shopping experience. 

Make sure you have worked in detail on the requirements for receiving the free gift. They can be minimum purchase amounts, specific products, or cart totals. Such conditions should be easily accessible and straightforward. 

You may use banners, popups, or product page messages to emphasize the promotion details. Use simple language and display clear product images to make your offer instantly noticeable. That helps your customers find and understand it easily.

Transparency will facilitate your campaign’s effectiveness. It also helps you to build trust and prevents misunderstandings that could lead to dissatisfaction.

Set promotion time wisely.

Timing is also a factor that contributes to a promotion campaign’s success. When setting up a free gift campaign, you can consider your target audience’s purchasing behaviors and seasonal trends or holidays. You may match the promotion with peak shopping periods or relevant events to maximize its effectiveness. 

Besides, carefully calculate the length of promotions. If you run it too long, it may dilute the impact. Instead, you can create a sense of urgency by setting clear start and end dates. Don’t forget to monitor and analyze its effectiveness to identify the suitable timing for future campaigns.

Market your promotion across channels.

Marketing is necessary for conveying your promotion to a broad audience. You can utilize your website, social media, or email newsletters to promote it. Depending on the strategy, you can use paid advertising to widen its reach as well.

For marketing effectiveness, you need to create compelling content and materials. They should highlight the value of the free gift and encourage customers to engage. You may also track the metrics of different channels to assess which ones drive the most traffic, then adjust your strategy accordingly.

Track and analyze performance.

Similar to any other campaigns, free gift promotions require tracking and analysis. If you use an app like BOGOS to manage your campaign, its built-in features will provide you with real-time analytics. Thanks to that, you can adjust your strategy for better performance.

You can monitor the metrics like conversion rates, average order value, and total sales to assess the offer’s effectiveness. Besides, collecting feedback from customers is another way to understand their experience with the promotion.

5. Conclusion

Shopify adding free gifts to the cart is a type of promotion that can contribute to your store’s development. You can set it up in several ways; however, utilizing Shopify apps is the optimal one. It’s simple, time-saving, and delivers a smooth customer experience. If you haven’t tried it yet, consider using BOGOS to launch your first free gift campaign!

6. FAQs