Create A Conditional Free Shipping Method Setup

Free shipping is an effective way to boost your average order value (AOV). This guide shows you how to create a custom service shipping method with a free shipping rate that only appears at checkout when certain conditions are met.

 

 

How It Works

To complete the conditional setup, you’ll need at least two Scenarios

• One Scenario that includes the conditional free shipping method.

• At least one Scenario that includes a standard paid shipping method.

 

All paid Scenarios should include conditions that are the opposite of those triggering free shipping. For example, if your free shipping Scenario has this condition:

• Product tag equals ‘free’ (any product)

Each paid Scenario should include:

• Product tag does not equal ‘free’ (all products)

 

If you prefer to offer free shipping without any conditions, create a custom service shipping method and select the free shipping option during setup.

 

 

Create A Free Shipping Scenario With Conditions

Scenarios allow you to set conditions that control when shipping methods appear at checkout. In this setup, a condition will be used to determine when free shipping is shown.

For this example, we’ll use a product tag condition that references a tag called 'Legacy'. However, you can use other condition types to control when free shipping is available.

 

1. Click Shipping on the sidebar menu, then select Scenarios from the drop-down list.

 

2. Click the Create scenario button.

 

General Settings

1. Enter a Scenario title, like ‘Free Shipping - Legacy Only’.

 

2. Leave the status set to ‘On’.

 

Conditions

1. Select Set restrictions.

 

2. Select the Condition match setting. 

You have three (3) settings to choose from:

• All conditions - all of the conditions being added in the following steps must be satisfied for free shipping to be displayed at checkout. This is the default setting.
• Any condition - at least one of the conditions being added in the following steps must be satisfied for free shipping to the Scenario to be displayed at checkout.
• No conditions - none of the conditions being added in the following steps must be satisfied for free shipping to the Scenario to be displayed at checkout.

For this example, we're using 'All conditions' since we're only adding one condition.

 

3. Select a condition type. For this example, we're using 'Product tag', but you can use any condition type to restrict free shipping.

 

4. Select the condition logic. For this example, we're using 'equals'. The list of available options depends on the condition type selected in the previous step.

 

5. Enter the condition value. For this example, we're entering the tag name 'legacy. Certain condition types require manual enter, such as text or number values like ‘fragile’ or ’12’. Other condition types require you to select one or more applicable options from a list, such as 'Current day of the week'.

 

6. Select the appropriate product setting.

You have three (3) settings to choose from:

• Any product - at least one product in the cart must satisfy the product condition. This is the default setting.
• All products - all products in the cart must satisfy the product condition.
• No products - none of the products in the cart must satisfy the product condition.

For this example, we’re selecting ‘Any product’, which means free shipping will be displayed at checkout as long as at least one product in the cart has the ‘Legacy’ tag. If you select ‘All products’, free shipping will only be displayed if every item in the cart is tagged ‘Legacy’. If you select ‘No products’, free shipping will be displayed when the cart contains no products tagged ‘Legacy’.

 

Save Your Settings

1. Click the Save button to save your conditional free shipping Scenario.

 

 

Create A Free Shipping Method

These steps will show you how to configure the free shipping method that will activate when your free shipping Scenario conditions have been satisfied.

1. Click the Create shipping method button.

 

Select Free Shipping

1. Select Free shipping from 'Custom services'.

 

 

2. Click the Next button at the bottom of the pop-up.

 

3. Select a Zone. If you have a lot of zones, type the zone name into the search field to narrow the list.

 

4. Click the Configure shipping button.

 

General

1. Enter a shipping method title, like ‘Free Shipping’.

 

2. Set the shipping method status. 

You have three (3) settings to choose from:

• Off - when Scenario conditions are met, the shipping method will be ignored and will not display rates, even in Sandbox mode.
• Test - when Scenario conditions are met, the shipping method will be displayed at checkout only when using ‘Intuitive’ on the checkout page (see below).
• On - when Scenario conditions are met, the shipping method will be displayed at checkout. This is the default setting.

We're selecting 'On' to make the free shipping method available right away.

When using the 'Test' setting:

• For Shopify - enter ‘Intuitive’ as either the customer’s first or last name.
• For BigCommerce or Shopify B2B - enter ‘Intuitive’ in the optional address field for ‘Apartment/ Suite/ Building’.

 

3. If desired, enter description for your free shipping method. 

Additional Display Settings

Additional display settings are available for custom delivery times and service codes.

• Delivery times are displayed at checkout and help manage expectations for customers.
• Service codes are not displayed to customers, but get pushed to your fulfilment service, if applicable) once a checkout is successfully completed.

If you don't require custom delivery times or service codes, skip ahead Free Shipping Threshold.

If you require delivery times and service codes:

1. Click Show additional display settings.

 

Free Shipping Threshold

You have six (6) settings to choose from:

• Greater than - free shipping will activate when the combined cart value is more than the value entered in the next step.
• Greater than or equals - free shipping will activate when the combined cart value is more than or the same as the value entered in the next step.
• Less than - free shipping will activate when the combined cart value is lower than the value entered in the next step.
• Less than or equals - free shipping will activate when the combined cart value is lower than or the same as the value entered in the next step.
• Equals - free shipping will activate when the combined cart value is exactly the same as the value entered in the next step.
• Does not equal - free shipping will activate when the combined cart value is anything except the value entered in the next step.

 

4. Enter the free shipping threshold value. Free shipping will activate when the cart value exceeds the value entered here, based on the settings in the previous two steps.

• If the selected threshold type is 'total', the unit of measure for the value will be based on the default currency in your eCommerce platform.
• If the selected threshold type is 'quantity', the unit of measure for the value is based on the number of items in the cart.
• If the selected threshold type is 'weight', the unit of measure for the value is based on the weight unit selected in your Intuitive Shipping general settings.

 

Optional Settings

Optional settings for custom shipping blending and rate blending give you further control of your custom shipping rates at checkout. These settings are not required for this setup.

• Custom shipping blending gives you the option to blend rates from the shipping method with product-specific shipping costs.
• Rate blending lets you combine rates from one shipping method with other shipping methods using simple or advanced blending.

If you do not need to blend custom shipping costs or rates from other shipping methods with these rates, skip ahead to Save Your Settings.

 

To configure optional settings:

1. Click Show optional settings.

 

Save Your Settings

1. Click the Save button to save your custom service shipping method. Remain on the 'Edit shipping method' page until you review the next section of this setup guide.

 

 

Copy Free Shipping Method To Multiple Zones

If you ship to multiple zones, and you want to offer condition free shipping to all of them, you can easily duplicate the free shipping method you just created and add it to other zones.

If you only require free shipping in one zone, skip ahead to

 

To add your free shipping method to other zones:

1. Click Duplicate below the page header at the top of the shipping method page.

 

2. Select a different zone.

 

3. Click the Duplicate button.

 

4. Change the title of the duplicated free shipping method from ‘Copy of [original title] to something else. You can use the same title - such as ‘Free Shipping’ - if needed, since they reside in different zones and won’t conflict with each other.

 

5. If you're applying the same settings to your duplicate free shipping method, scroll to the bottom, then click the Save button to save your free shipping method to the other zone.

 

6. Repeat the steps above to copy free shipping to other zones if needed.

 

7. Click the back button at the top of the page to return to the Edit Scenario page.

Your free shipping methods are displayed in each zone:

 

 

Update Paid Scenarios

If you have - or plan to have - paid shipping methods in other Scenarios, you'll need to add an opposing condition to prevent both free and paid shipping from appearing together, depending on how your free shipping condition is set up.

For example, if your conditional free shipping Scenario uses a product collection condition set to ‘Any product’, it will apply as long as one qualifying product is in the cart.

If your paid Scenarios don’t exclude that same product or collection, both free and paid options may appear at checkout. To prevent that:

1. Click Shipping on the sidebar menu, then select Scenarios from the drop-down list.

 

2. Click Edit beside an existing paid shipping Scenario.

 

3. If your paid shipping Scenario currently has no conditions, select Set restrictions in the Conditions section.

 

Or, if your paid shipping Scenario has conditions already, click the Add another condition button.

 

4. Select the same condition type you used in your conditional free shipping Scenario. For this example, we're selecting 'Product tag'.

 

5. Select the opposite condition logic used in your conditional free shipping Scenario. For this example, we used 'equals' for free shipping, so we're selecting 'does not equal' here.

 

6. Enter the same condition value used in your conditional free shipping Scenario. For this example, we're entering the tag name 'legacy. Certain condition types require manual enter, such as text or number values like ‘fragile’ or ’12’. Other condition types require you to select one or more applicable options from a list, such as 'Current day of the week'.

 

With product conditions, an additional setting appears below the value field. If you’re not adding opposing product conditions to the paid shipping Scenario, this setting won’t appear. Since our example uses a product condition, we’re updating this setting.

To make sure paid shipping doesn’t appear when products that qualify for conditional free shipping are in the cart (in our example, products tagged ‘legacy’):

7. Select All products.

This means paid shipping methods will only be displayed if there are no products in the cart tagged 'legacy.

 

Save Your Settings

1. Scroll to the bottom, then click the Save button to save your updated paid shipping Scenario.

 

2. Repeat the steps above for any additional paid Scenarios

 

 

Learn more:

• Common setups
• Additional setups
• How-to guides
• Connect a carrier
• General info
• FAQ