Create A Same Day and Next Day Delivery Setup

You can enhance your local delivery offering by providing more flexibility to nearby customers. Set up your shipping methods to either automatically display a same-day or next-day option based on when the order is placed, or give customers the ability to choose the delivery timeframe that works best for them during checkout. This added convenience can improve the overall shopping experience and help encourage more local orders.

 

 

How It Works

There are a few different ways you can achieve this setup based on your preferences.

 

Same-Day or Next-Day With A Time Condition

• Requires two Scenarios.
• One Scenario for same-day delivery, one for next-day delivery.
• Same-day time conditions applied to each Scenario restrict when the options are shown.

Customers who order before the cut-off time will see only the same-day option at checkout, while those who order after the cut-off time will see only the next-day option.

 

Same-Day or Next-Day With A Day and Time Condition

• Similar to the previous setup.
• An additional day-of-week condition further restricts when same-day or next-day options appear.
• Optional third Scenario can display an alternative shipping method.

Customers who order before your cut-off time on specified days will see only the same-day option at checkout, while those who order after the cut-off time on specified days will see only the next-day option. A third option can be displayed all the time or just on days that don't qualify for either same-day or next-day delivery.

 

Same-Day and Next-Day Optional Delivery

• Similar to the first setup option.
• Requires at least two Scenarios.
• One Scenario for same-day delivery, one for next-day delivery.
• Same-day Scenario uses a current time condition to restrict when it's available, next-day Scenario can be displayed all the time.
• Optional third Scenario can display an alternative shipping method for deliveries beyond the next day.

Customers will always see the next-day delivery rate, and if they order before the same-day cut-off time, they’ll have the option to choose either same-day or next-day.

You can enhance this setup by adding a day-of-week condition to both Scenarios - similar to the second setup option - so that same-day and next-day delivery options are displayed together (if it's before the same-day cut-off time), but only on certain days of the week. An optional third Scenario can display a different shipping method on days that don't qualify for either same-day or next-day delivery.

 

Each setup option above uses a local delivery service shipping method that calculates rates by distance. Distance-based rate calculations require a Google API account.

All of the setup options presented in this guide use common times of day and days of the week within each configuration. If you need something more advanced - like offering next-day delivery with varying cut-off times on different days of the week - you can achieve that with condition groups.

 

 

Create A Same-Day or Next-Day Local Delivery Setup

This guide explains how to set up two separate options for same-day and next-day delivery, where only one option appears based entirely on the time of day the order is placed, regardless of the day.

You will need at least two Scenarios to complete this setup: one for your same-day delivery and one for your next-day delivery. Depending on your shipping strategy, additional Scenarios may be required.

 

Add A Same-Day Scenario

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 ‘Same Day’.

 

2. If you want the Scenario to be available right away, leave the Scenario status set to 'On'. If you want to test it first before making it public, set it to 'Test'. Remember to set it to 'On' once you've completed testing.

 

Conditions

1. Select Set restrictions.

 

2. Leave Condition match set to 'All conditions'.

 

3. Select the Current time condition type.

 

4. Select the condition logic. For this example, we’re using ‘less than or equals’ because we want the same-day option to appear before or at the time specified in Step 5. If you prefer to have it appear before - but not at - the time entered in Step 5, set it to ‘less than’.

 

5. Select or enter a time value. Selectable times are every hour on the hour. If you prefer to set a time of 10:30, you must enter it manually as '10:30'.

For example, if your cut-off time is 10:30 AM, enter ’10:30′. If the cut-off time is 2:00 PM, enter or select ’14:00′.

 

Save Your Settings

1. Click the Save button to save your same-day delivery Scenario.

 

Add A Same-Day Local Delivery Shipping Method

1. Click the Create shipping method button to add a same-day delivery method.

 

Select A Local Delivery Service

1. Click the downward arrow beside ‘Local delivery’, then select Local delivery from the drop-down list.

 

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, such as 'Same Day Delivery'. 

 

2. Choose 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.

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 a description, such as 'Delivery by 6:00 pm today'. We recommend limiting your description to 90 characters or less to ensure it displays properly on the checkout page.

Descriptions are displayed below the shipping method title at checkout.

 

Additional Display Settings

• 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.

Custom delivery times are not necessary for this setup. If you need to create a custom service code for same-day deliveries, continue with Step 1. Otherwise, skip ahead to Shipping Origin.

 

1. Click Show additional display settings.

 

2. Enter a service code, such as ‘SAMEDAY’. The service code is pushed to your fulfillment service (if applicable) when a customer successfully completes their checkout.

 

Shipping Origin

Local delivery rates can be calculated using the primary location set up in your eCommerce platform or one or more custom locations saved in Intuitive Shipping. This is beneficial if you use different retail or warehouse locations for same-day deliveries.

1. Select the ship from location.

You have two (2) settings to choose from:

• Dynamic origin location - distance rates for the shipping method will be calculated based on the distance between the customer’s address and your primary eCommerce platform address. This is the default setting.
• Specify origin location - distance rates for the shipping method will be calculated based on the address specified in the next step.

If you selected 'Dynamic origin location', skip ahead to Shipping Cost.

 

Add And Select A Custom Origin Location

All custom locations saved in the Location management system are listed in this section of the shipping method. If needed, you can add more origin locations directly from here. Any new origin locations you add will also be saved to your central locations settings, so they’re available for other shipping methods that use custom locations.

The next few steps will show you how to add a custom origin location directly from the shipping method. If the location you need is listed and you don't need to add more, skip ahead to select a location.

 

To add a location that is not currently listed:

1. Click Add location, then enter the location details.

The newly added location will appear as a selectable option in this shipping method and will also be saved in the Location management system for use in other shipping methods that use locations.

 

2. Select a location. This location will be used as the starting point for distance-based rates in this shipping method.

 

Shipping Cost

1. Enter a shipping rate.

There are three (3) fields per rate row:

• a - Up to
• b - Cost
• c - Per unit

Only a and b are required. The 'Per unit' field is optional.

a. Enter the 'Up to' (upper limit) amount for the cost in this rate row in either miles or kilometers. If you're offering a single flat rate, enter the maximum allowable distance for same-day delivery.

 

b. Enter the cost of same-day delivery for this rate row. This is the delivery cost the customer will see at checkout if their address is within the distance limit set in the previous step. Enter a number with or without decimals, such as '10' or '10.00'.

 

c. (Optional) Enter the per unit value for the cost entered in the Step 1.b. The cost will be applied on a per-unit basis.

Let's say you have a rate row configuration:

• Up to - 20 kms
• Cost - $3.00
• Per unit - 5

A customer who lives 16 km from your Shipping origin will be charged $12.00 for same-day delivery at checkout. This is because they're being charged $3.00 for every 5 kms for the first 15 kms, plus an additional $3.00 for remaining 1 km.

 

If you are setting up a flat rate (single rate row), skip ahead to Additional Shipping Cost Settings.

 

To add more rows to a rate table:

4. Click Add rate row, then repeat the above steps for 'Up to', 'Cost' and, if necessary, 'Per unit'.

When setting up a rate table, configure the rates in ascending order, starting with the lowest 'up to' limit and progressing to the highest. 

The Intuitive Shipping app uses the ~ (tilde) symbol to indicate ‘no limit’. You may have used this when setting up a custom service shipping method with a flat rate that displays the same shipping cost regardless of cart quantity or value.

If you use ~ as the upper limit in a local delivery method, it means there is no distance limit. Any customer within the assigned zone can access the same-day delivery rate. The only exceptions are if the method is assigned to a local postal code or ZIP code subzone, or if the Scenario uses a customer condition, like city name, to limit eligibility.

 

Free Shipping With Rate Rows

If you want to offer local customers a free same-day shipping rate, you can add a rate row with a 'zero' cost ($0.00). 

Let's say your rate table is configured like this:

• Up to 10 km - $0.00
• Up to 25 km - $10.00
• Up to 50 km - $25.00

A customer who lives 8 km from your shipping origin will get free delivery. Whereas, a customer who lives 32 km from your shipping origin will be charged $25.00 for delivery.

 

Additional Shipping Cost Settings

• Cart splitting can be used with a single row or multiple rate rows and allows you to charge extra when the highest 'up to' limit is exceeded, rather than preventing the customer from checking out.
• Rates table blending can only be used with multiple rate rows and allows you to charge compounding rates as each 'up to' limit on the table is exceeded. This is useful when you need to combine costs for larger orders, but a "per unit" cost setup isn't suitable because the costs are not simple multiples of each other.

Cart splitting is not recommended for this setup.

 

To set up rate table blending:

1. Click Show additional shipping cost settings, then configure the rate table blending settings as needed.

 

Google API Account

A Google API account is required to complete this setup. Without a connected Google API account, the local delivery shipping method cannot be saved.

If you haven’t created a Google API billing account yet, you’ll need to set one up before continuing.

Once your API account is ready and you have your API key, return here and complete the steps below.

If you have already connected your Google API account to Intuitive Shipping, skip ahead to select your Google account.

1. Click Add a carrier account.

 

2. Enter an account title, such a 'Google Distance' or 'Google API'.

 

3. Enter your API key

 

4. Click the Save button.

 

5. Select your Google API account.

 

Optional Settings

Optional settings for local delivery, fallback rating, cost adjustments, free shipping, custom shipping blending and rate blending give you further control of your custom shipping rates at checkout. 

• Local delivery settings let you choose if calculations will be handled using driving distance (Google Maps) or geocoding (straight line distance - 'as the crow flies') 
• Carrier service fallback rating can be enabled to ensure your customers receives a shipping rate at checkout even when rate request times out.
• Cost adjustments let you fully customize the final cost presented at checkout, regardless of the original rate calculation.
• Free shipping allows you to set a threshold for when free shipping is applicable on carts that would otherwise be charged for shipping.
• 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.

For this setup, the local delivery distance calculation type is the most relevant optional setting, however the other optional settings can be configured if desired.

If you do not need to adjust the local delivery, fallback rating or final cost settings, offer a free shipping threshold, or blend custom shipping costs or rates from other shipping methods with this shipping method, skip ahead to save your settings.

 

To configure optional settings:

1. Click Show optional settings.

 

Local Delivery Settings

Intuitive Shipping uses your Google API key to calculate the distance between your shipping origin location and the customer’s address. This can be done in one of two ways:

Routes API (formerly Distance API): By default, we try to calculate distance using this method, which looks up driving directions through Google Maps.

Geocoding API: If that fails, we try this method, which calculates straight-line distance by converting both addresses into geo-coordinates. You can choose to use either method exclusively if preferred.

The Routes API works in most cases but may fail in regions where postal codes are not used or not recognized by Google Maps. The Geocoding API generally succeeds unless an address cannot be converted into coordinates.

Each method uses one API call. If you select ‘Automatic’, Intuitive Shipping will make one API call about 75 percent of the time and two calls about 25 percent of the time.

Google charges $5.00 per 1,000 API calls. A $200 monthly credit covers up to 40,000 calls, which typically supports around 30,000 to 40,000 distance-based rate calculations per month at no cost.

 

1. Select a distance calculation type.

You have three (3) settings to choose from:

• Automatic - Intuitive Shipping first attempts to calculate distance using your Routes API. If that fails, we attempt to calculate distance using your Geocoding API. This method may result in up to two API calls per checkout to your Google API account. This is the default setting.
• Driving distance - Intuitive Shipping attempts to calculate distance using only your Routes API. This method will result in only one API call per checkout to your Google API account. 
• Geocoding - Intuitive Shipping attempts to calculate distance using only your Geocoding API. This method will result in only one API per checkout call to your Google API account.

 

Carrier Service Fallback Rate

Intuitive Shipping lets you decide if a fallback rate will be shown at checkout in situations when the Google API call reaches the timeout limit. This is useful when Google's mapping servers are down or when they're overwhelmed during peak periods.

Fallback rates are only activated when the system times out waiting for a response from Google.

 

1. Choose whether or not to enable a fallback rate.

You have two (2) settings to choose from:

• Do not use a fallback rate - when the Google API call times out, rates from the shipping method will not be displayed at checkout. This is the default setting.
• Define a fallback rate - when the Google API call times out, the fallback rate entered in the next step will be displayed at checkout, along with any fallback rate display settings entered in the steps immediately following.

 

If you selected 'Define a fallback rate' in the previous step:

2. Enter a fallback shipping cost. If you're using a flat rate for same-day delivery, enter that cost as the fallback cost. If you're using multiple rate rows for different distances, consider entering the average cost - or the maximum.

 

Additional Fallback Rate Display Settings

Additional settings are available for fallback rate titles, descriptions, delivery times and service codes that can override the shipping method's general display settings when the fallback rate is activated and displayed at checkout.

To configure display settings for a fallback rate:

1. Click Show optional display settings, then edit the fallback rate display settings as needed.

 

Cost Adjustments

Customize how same-day delivery costs appear at checkout by making final adjustments to the distance rate calculation. These adjustments are applied in the order they're listed in the app:

1. Cost limits
2. Shipping credits
3. Mark ups
4. Handling
5. Insurance
6. Discounts
7. Rounding

 

1. Make cost adjustments as needed.

 

Free Shipping

You can offer free shipping to customers whose orders exceed certain minimum or maximum thresholds. This is useful if you want to offer free same-day delivery only when customers order a minimum amount, or if you offer free same day delivery in general, but want your paid rate to apply after a certain cart weight is exceeded.

If you don't want a free shipping threshold, skip ahead to Custom Shipping Blending.

 

To set up a free shipping condition:

1. Select Set a free shipping threshold, then edit the settings as needed

 

 

Custom Shipping Blending

If you have products with custom shipping costs, Intuitive Shipping will blend those product-specific shipping rates with the local delivery rates from the shipping method.

For example, if a customer’s cart includes a product with a $100.00 custom shipping cost - meaning it always costs $100.00 to ship that product, no matter what else is in the order - and the shipping method calculates $25.00 to deliver the other products in the cart - the total shipping charge at checkout will be $125.00.

Alternatively, you can opt out of blending and choose to display either the custom shipping costs or the rates from this shipping method - whichever works best for your setup.

If products with custom shipping costs aren’t eligible for same-day delivery, but other products in the order can be delivered same day, we recommend adding a note in your same-day delivery description to let customers know.

If you don’t have products with custom shipping costs, these settings are ignored regardless of how they’re set. Skip ahead to Rate Blending.

 

1. Select a custom shipping blending option, then adjust the custom shipping blending settings as needed.

 

Rate Blending

Rates from different shipping methods can be blended together - perhaps you're setting up different same-day delivery rates based on the products being ordered. This can be achieved by:

• Selecting simple blending or advanced blending in General Settings.
• Enabling the rate blending setting (described in this section) in at least two shipping methods.
• Setting up blending rules.

Let's say one type of product has a flat rate same-day delivery cost of $10.00 and another product type has a per-km cost of $2.50 per km. When the per-km shipping method calculates $37.50, rate blending can combine it with the flat rate so the customer is charged $47.50 when both product types are in the same order.

You can also use rate blending to:

• add optional delivery upsells or fees, like 'white glove service'.
• offer expedited service options, like 'AM delivery', even when rates are coming from multiple shipping methods.

If you don't need blending rules, leave rate blending set to the default ‘Do not blend’, and skip ahead to Save Your Settings.

 

To blend rates from the shipping method with other rates:

1. Select Blend with other rates.

 

Save Your Settings

1. Click the Save button to save your same-day delivery shipping method:

 

Add A Next-Day Scenario

To simplify the process, you can create a duplicate of your Same-Day Scenario, then make changes to it rather than starting over from scratch.

1. At the top of the same-day Scenerio's edit page, click Duplicate below the Scenario heading. This will create an exact copy of the original Scenario, including the shipping method.

 

General Settings

1. Change the Scenario title from ‘Copy of [original title] to something else, like 'Next Day'.

 

2. If you want the Scenario to be available right away, leave the Scenario status set to 'On'. If you want to test it first before making it public, set it to Test.

 

Conditions

1. Change the condition logic to the opposite of the logic used in your same-day Scenario. For this example, we’re using ‘greater than’ because we used 'less than or equals' in the same-day Scenario. If your same-day Scenario used 'less than', use 'greater than or equals' here.

If you use 'less than' in one Scenario and 'greater than' (instead of 'greater than or equals') in the other, customers ordering at the exact time selected in the condition value field will not receive a shipping method.

For example, if your Same Day Scenario has the following condition:

• Current time is less than 10:00

And your Next Day Scenario has the opposing condition:

• Current time is greater than 10:00

A customer ordering at exactly 10:00 AM will not see either shipping option displayed at checkout. That's because 10:00 is neither less than nor greater than 10:00. By ensuring that at least one Scenario has a condition logic containing 'or equals', customers will always be shown one option or the other at any time of day.

 

2. Leave all other settings as-is.

 

Save Your Settings

1. Click the Save button to save your next-day Scenario. You must save changes to the duplicate Scenario before you can edit the shipping method. 

 

Update The Next Day Shipping Method

The shipping method shown in the ‘Shipping rates and services’ section of your next-day (duplicate) Scenario is an exact copy of the original same-day shipping method created in the previous steps. This happens automatically when you duplicate a Scenario. 

If you want your next-day Scenario to use a different type of shipping method, such as a custom service or parcel service shipping method, you'll need to delete the shipping method that was copied from the original and create a new one.

For this example, we're using the same shipping method that we added to our same-day Scenario, with a different title - and maybe a different description.

1. Click Edit beside the shipping method.

 

2. If needed, change the shipping method title to something like 'Next Day Delivery'. If your same-day shipping method had a generic title, like 'Shipping' or 'Local Delivery', it may not be necessary to update the title.

 

Shipping Cost

The duplicated shipping method includes the same cost settings used in your same-day delivery shipping method. If you're offering the same shipping costs for both same-day and next-day delivery, skip ahead to Optional Settings.

 

To offer different costs for next-day delivery:

1. Scroll down to the Shipping cost section.

 

2. Edit the shipping cost rates and settings as needed.

 

3. To remove excess rate rows, click the trash can icon for the corresponding rate row.

 

4. To add more rate rows, click Add rate row, then add values for Up to, Cost and - if necessary - Per unit.

 

Optional Settings

When you duplicated the original Scenario and shipping method, all optional settings were copied over. These may not need to be changed for your next-day shipping method.

If needed, you can adjust things like local delivery settings, cost adjustments, free shipping thresholds, custom shipping blending and rate blending.

If your optional settings are the same for same-day and next-day, skip ahead to Save Your Settings. 

 

To edit optional settings for your next-day delivery shipping method:

1. Click Show optional settings.

 

2. If desired, edit any local delivery settings, cost adjustments, free shipping threholds, custom shipping blending and rate blending settings copied from your original same-day shipping method to suit your next-day method.

 

Save Your Settings

1. Click the Save button to save your next-day delivery shipping method.

 

 

Create A Restricted Same-Day or Next-Day Local Delivery Setup

As with the previous setup guide, this guide explains how to set up two separate options for same-day and next-day delivery, where only one option appears based on the time of day the order is placed, and only on specific days.

You will need at least two Scenarios to complete this setup: one for your same-day delivery and one for your next-day delivery.

A third Scenario can be added to display rates all the time or only when the same-day and next-day options aren't available. 

Depending on your shipping strategy, additional Scenarios may be required.

 

Add A Same-Day Scenario

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 ‘Same Day’.

 

2. If you want the Scenario to be available right away, leave the Scenario status set to 'On'. If you want to test it first before making it public, set it to 'Test'. Remember to set it to 'On' once you've completed testing.

 

Conditions

1. Select Set restrictions.

 

2. Leave Condition match set to 'All conditions'.

 

3. Select the Current time condition type.

 

4. Select the condition logic. For this example, we’re using ‘less than or equals’ because we want the same-day option to appear before or at the time specified in Step 5. If you prefer to have it appear before - but not at - the time entered in Step 5, set it to ‘less than’.

 

5. Select or enter a time value. Selectable times are every hour on the hour. If you prefer to set a time of 10:30, you must enter it manually as '10:30'.

For example, if your cut-off time is 10:30 AM, enter ’10:30′. If the cut-off time is 2:00 PM, enter or select ’14:00′.

 

6. Click Add another condition.

 

7. Select the Current day of week condition type.

 

8. Leave the condition logic set to 'Equals'.

 

9. Select the days of the week you want your same-day delivery option to appear. For this example we're selecting all weekdays (Monday through Friday).

Customers who place their orders before 10:00 AM on any day except Saturday and Sunday will see the same-day delivery option at checkout.

 

Save Your Settings

1. Click the Save button to save your same-day delivery Scenario.

 

Add A Same-Day Local Delivery Shipping Method

1. Click the Create shipping method button to add a same-day delivery method.

 

Select A Local Delivery Service

1. Click the downward arrow beside ‘Local delivery’, then select Local delivery from the drop-down list.

 

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, such as 'Same Day Delivery'. 

 

2. Choose 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.

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 a description, such as 'Delivery by 6:00 pm today'. We recommend limiting your description to 90 characters or less to ensure it displays properly on the checkout page.

Descriptions are displayed below the shipping method title at checkout.

 

Additional Display Settings

• 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.

Custom delivery times are not necessary for this setup. If you need to create a custom service code for same-day deliveries, continue with Step 1. Otherwise, skip ahead to Shipping Origin.

 

1. Click Show additional display settings.

 

2. Enter a service code, such as ‘SAMEDAY’. The service code is pushed to your fulfillment service (if applicable) when a customer successfully completes their checkout.

 

Shipping Origin

Local delivery rates can be calculated using the primary location set up in your eCommerce platform or one or more custom locations saved in Intuitive Shipping. This is beneficial if you use different retail or warehouse locations for same-day deliveries.

1. Select the ship from location.

You have two (2) settings to choose from:

• Dynamic origin location - distance rates for the shipping method will be calculated based on the distance between the customer’s address and your primary eCommerce platform address. This is the default setting.
• Specify origin location - distance rates for the shipping method will be calculated based on the address specified in the next step.

If you selected 'Dynamic origin location', skip ahead to Shipping Cost.

 

Add And Select A Custom Origin Location

All custom locations saved in the Location management system are listed in this section of the shipping method. If needed, you can add more origin locations directly from here. Any new origin locations you add will also be saved to your central locations settings, so they’re available for other shipping methods that use custom locations.

The next few steps will show you how to add a custom origin location directly from the shipping method. If the location you need is listed and you don't need to add more, skip ahead to select a location.

 

To add a location that is not currently listed:

1. Click Add location, then enter the location details.

The newly added location will appear as a selectable option in this shipping method and will also be saved in the Location management system for use in other shipping methods that use locations.

 

2. Select a location. This location will be used as the starting point for distance-based rates in this shipping method.

 

Shipping Cost

1. Enter a shipping rate.

There are three (3) fields per rate row:

• a - Up to
• b - Cost
• c - Per unit

Only a and b are required. The 'Per unit' field is optional.

a. Enter the 'Up to' (upper limit) amount for the cost in this rate row in either miles or kilometers. If you're offering a single flat rate, enter the maximum allowable distance for same-day delivery.

 

b. Enter the cost of same-day delivery for this rate row. This is the delivery cost the customer will see at checkout if their address is within the distance limit set in the previous step. Enter a number with or without decimals, such as '10' or '10.00'.

 

c. (Optional) Enter the per unit value for the cost entered in the Step 1.b. The cost will be applied on a per-unit basis.

Let's say you have a rate row configuration:

• Up to - 20 kms
• Cost - $3.00
• Per unit - 5

A customer who lives 16 km from your Shipping origin will be charged $12.00 for same-day delivery at checkout. This is because they're being charged $3.00 for every 5 kms for the first 15 kms, plus an additional $3.00 for remaining 1 km.

 

If you are setting up a flat rate (single rate row), skip ahead to Additional Shipping Cost Settings.

 

To add more rows to a rate table:

4. Click Add rate row, then repeat the above steps for 'Up to', 'Cost' and, if necessary, 'Per unit'.

When setting up a rate table, configure the rates in ascending order, starting with the lowest 'up to' limit and progressing to the highest. 

The Intuitive Shipping app uses the ~ (tilde) symbol to indicate ‘no limit’. You may have used this when setting up a custom service shipping method with a flat rate that displays the same shipping cost regardless of cart quantity or value.

If you use ~ as the upper limit in a local delivery method, it means there is no distance limit. Any customer within the assigned zone can access the same-day delivery rate. The only exceptions are if the method is assigned to a local postal code or ZIP code subzone, or if the Scenario uses a customer condition, like city name, to limit eligibility.

 

Free Shipping With Rate Rows

If you want to offer local customers a free same-day shipping rate, you can add a rate row with a 'zero' cost ($0.00). 

Let's say your rate table is configured like this:

• Up to 10 km - $0.00
• Up to 25 km - $10.00
• Up to 50 km - $25.00

A customer who lives 8 km from your shipping origin will get free delivery. Whereas, a customer who lives 32 km from your shipping origin will be charged $25.00 for delivery.

 

Additional Shipping Cost Settings

• Cart splitting can be used with a single row or multiple rate rows and allows you to charge extra when the highest 'up to' limit is exceeded, rather than preventing the customer from checking out.
• Rates table blending can only be used with multiple rate rows and allows you to charge compounding rates as each 'up to' limit on the table is exceeded. This is useful when you need to combine costs for larger orders, but a "per unit" cost setup isn't suitable because the costs are not simple multiples of each other.

Cart splitting is not recommended for this setup.

 

To set up rate table blending:

1. Click Show additional shipping cost settings, then configure the rate table blending settings as needed.

 

Google API Account

A Google API account is required to complete this setup. Without a connected Google API account, the local delivery shipping method cannot be saved.

If you haven’t created a Google API billing account yet, you’ll need to set one up before continuing.

Once your API account is ready and you have your API key, return here and complete the steps below.

If you have already connected your Google API account to Intuitive Shipping, skip ahead to select your Google account.

1. Click Add a carrier account.

 

2. Enter an account title, such a 'Google Distance' or 'Google API'.

 

3. Enter your API key

 

4. Click the Save button.

 

5. Select your Google API account.

 

Optional Settings

Optional settings for local delivery, fallback rating, cost adjustments, free shipping, custom shipping blending and rate blending give you further control of your custom shipping rates at checkout. 

• Local delivery settings let you choose if calculations will be handled using driving distance (Google Maps) or geocoding (straight line distance - 'as the crow flies') 
• Carrier service fallback rating can be enabled to ensure your customers receives a shipping rate at checkout even when rate request times out.
• Cost adjustments let you fully customize the final cost presented at checkout, regardless of the original rate calculation.
• Free shipping allows you to set a threshold for when free shipping is applicable on carts that would otherwise be charged for shipping.
• 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.

For this setup, the local delivery distance calculation type is the most relevant optional setting, however the other optional settings can be configured if desired.

If you do not need to adjust the local delivery, fallback rating or final cost settings, offer a free shipping threshold, or blend custom shipping costs or rates from other shipping methods with this shipping method, skip ahead to save your settings.

 

To configure optional settings:

1. Click Show optional settings.

 

Local Delivery Settings

Intuitive Shipping uses your Google API key to calculate the distance between your shipping origin location and the customer’s address. This can be done in one of two ways:

Routes API (formerly Distance API): By default, we try to calculate distance using this method, which looks up driving directions through Google Maps.

Geocoding API: If that fails, we try this method, which calculates straight-line distance by converting both addresses into geo-coordinates. You can choose to use either method exclusively if preferred.

The Routes API works in most cases but may fail in regions where postal codes are not used or not recognized by Google Maps. The Geocoding API generally succeeds unless an address cannot be converted into coordinates.

Each method uses one API call. If you select ‘Automatic’, Intuitive Shipping will make one API call about 75 percent of the time and two calls about 25 percent of the time.

Google charges $5.00 per 1,000 API calls. A $200 monthly credit covers up to 40,000 calls, which typically supports around 30,000 to 40,000 distance-based rate calculations per month at no cost.

 

1. Select a distance calculation type.

You have three (3) settings to choose from:

• Automatic - Intuitive Shipping first attempts to calculate distance using your Routes API. If that fails, we attempt to calculate distance using your Geocoding API. This method may result in up to two API calls per checkout to your Google API account. This is the default setting.
• Driving distance - Intuitive Shipping attempts to calculate distance using only your Routes API. This method will result in only one API call per checkout to your Google API account. 
• Geocoding - Intuitive Shipping attempts to calculate distance using only your Geocoding API. This method will result in only one API per checkout call to your Google API account.

 

Carrier Service Fallback Rate

Intuitive Shipping lets you decide if a fallback rate will be shown at checkout in situations when the Google API call reaches the timeout limit. This is useful when Google's mapping servers are down or when they're overwhelmed during peak periods.

Fallback rates are only activated when the system times out waiting for a response from Google.

 

1. Choose whether or not to enable a fallback rate.

You have two (2) settings to choose from:

• Do not use a fallback rate - when the Google API call times out, rates from the shipping method will not be displayed at checkout. This is the default setting.
• Define a fallback rate - when the Google API call times out, the fallback rate entered in the next step will be displayed at checkout, along with any fallback rate display settings entered in the steps immediately following.

 

If you selected 'Define a fallback rate' in the previous step:

2. Enter a fallback shipping cost. If you're using a flat rate for same-day delivery, enter that cost as the fallback cost. If you're using multiple rate rows for different distances, consider entering the average cost - or the maximum.

 

Additional Fallback Rate Display Settings

Additional settings are available for fallback rate titles, descriptions, delivery times and service codes can override the shipping method's general display settings when the fallback rate is activated and displayed at checkout.

To configure display settings for a fallback rate:

1. Click Show optional display settings, then edit the fallback rate display settings as needed.

 

Cost Adjustments

Customize how same-day delivery costs appear at checkout by making final adjustments to the distance rate calculation. These adjustments are applied in the order they're listed in the app:

1. Cost limits
2. Shipping credits
3. Mark ups
4. Handling
5. Insurance
6. Discounts
7. Rounding

 

1. Make cost adjustments as needed.

 

Free Shipping

You can offer free shipping to customers whose orders exceed certain minimum or maximum thresholds. This is useful if you want to offer free same-day delivery only when customers order a minimum amount, or if you offer free same day delivery in general, but want your paid rate to apply after a certain cart weight is exceeded.

If you don't want a free shipping threshold, skip ahead to Custom Shipping Blending.

 

To set up a free shipping condition:

1. Select Set a free shipping threshold, then edit the settings as needed

 

 

Custom Shipping Blending

If you have products with custom shipping costs, Intuitive Shipping will blend those product-specific shipping rates with the local delivery rates from the shipping method.

For example, if a customer’s cart includes a product with a $100.00 custom shipping cost - meaning it always costs $100.00 to ship that product, no matter what else is in the order - and the shipping method calculates $25.00 to deliver the other products in the cart - the total shipping charge at checkout will be $125.00.

Alternatively, you can opt out of blending and choose to display either the custom shipping costs or the rates from this shipping method - whichever works best for your setup.

If products with custom shipping costs aren’t eligible for same-day delivery, but other products in the order can be delivered same day, we recommend adding a note in your same-day delivery description to let customers know.

If you don’t have products with custom shipping costs, these settings are ignored regardless of how they’re set. Skip ahead to Rate Blending.

 

1. Select a custom shipping blending option, then adjust the custom shipping blending settings as needed.

 

Rate Blending

Rates from different shipping methods can be blended together - perhaps you have different same-day delivery rates based on the products being ordered. This can be achieved by:

• Selecting simple blending or advanced blending in General Settings.
• Enabling the rate blending setting (described in this section) in at least two shipping methods.
• Setting up blending rules.

Let's say one type of product has a flat rate same-day delivery cost of $10.00 and another product type has a per-km cost of $2.50 per km. When the per-km shipping method calculates $37.50, rate blending can combine it with the flat rate so the customer is charged $47.50 when both product types are in the same order.

You can also use rate blending to:

• add optional delivery upsells or fees, like 'white glove service'.
• offer expedited service options, like 'AM delivery', even when rates are coming from multiple shipping methods.

If you don't need blending rules, leave rate blending set to the default ‘Do not blend’, and skip ahead to Save Your Settings.

 

To blend rates from the shipping method with other rates:

1. Select Blend with other rates.

 

Save Your Settings

1. Click the Save button to save your same-day delivery shipping method:

 

Add A Next-Day Scenario

To simplify the process, you can create a duplicate of your Same-Day Scenario, then make changes to it rather than starting over from scratch.

1. At the top of the same-day Scenerio's edit page, click Duplicate below the Scenario heading. This will create an exact copy of the original Scenario, including the shipping method.

 

General Settings

1. Change the Scenario title from ‘Copy of [original title] to something else, like 'Next Day'.

 

2. If you want the Scenario to be available right away, leave the Scenario status set to 'On'. If you want to test it first before making it public, set it to Test.

 

Conditions

1. Change the 'current time' condition logic to the opposite of the logic used in your same-day Scenario. For this example, we’re using ‘greater than’ because we used 'less than or equals' in the same-day Scenario. If your same-day Scenario used 'less than', use 'greater than or equals' here.

If you use 'less than' in one Scenario and 'greater than' (instead of 'greater than or equals') in the other, customers ordering at the exact time selected in the condition value field will not receive a shipping method.

For example, if your Same Day Scenario has the following condition:

• Current time is less than 10:00

And your Next Day Scenario has the opposing condition:

• Current time is greater than 10:00

A customer ordering at exactly 10:00 AM will not see either shipping option displayed at checkout. That's because 10:00 is neither less than nor greater than 10:00. By ensuring that at least one Scenario has a condition logic containing 'or equals', customers will always be shown one option or the other at any time of day.

 

2. If desired, select the days of the week you want your next-day delivery option to appear. For this example we're selecting Monday through Thursday.

 

3. Leave all other settings as-is.

Customers who place their orders after 10:00 AM on any Monday through Thursday will see the next-day delivery option at checkout.

 

Save Your Settings

1. Click the Save button to save your next-day Scenario. You must save changes to the duplicate Scenario before you can edit the shipping method. 

 

Update The Next Day Shipping Method

The shipping method shown in the ‘Shipping rates and services’ section of your next-day (duplicate) Scenario is an exact copy of the original same-day shipping method created in the previous steps. This happens automatically when you duplicate a Scenario. 

If you want your next-day Scenario to use a different type of shipping method, such as a custom service or parcel service shipping method, you'll need to delete the shipping method that was copied from the original and create a new one.

For this example, we're using the same shipping method that we added to our same-day Scenario, with a different title - and maybe a different description.

1. Click Edit beside the shipping method.

 

2. If needed, change the shipping method title to something like 'Next Day Delivery'. If your same-day shipping method had a generic title, like 'Shipping' or 'Local Delivery', it may not be necessary to update the title.

 

Shipping Cost

The duplicated shipping method includes the same cost settings used in your same-day delivery shipping method. If you're offering the same shipping costs for both same-day and next-day delivery, skip ahead to Optional Settings.

To offer different costs for next-day delivery:

1. Scroll down to the Shipping cost section.

 

2. Edit the shipping cost rates and settings as needed.

 

3. To remove excess rate rows, click the trash can icon for the corresponding rate row.

 

4. To add more rate rows, click Add rate row, then add values for Up to, Cost and - if necessary - Per unit.

 

Optional Settings

When you duplicated the original Scenario and shipping method, all optional settings were copied over. These may not need to be changed for your next-day shipping method.

If needed, you can adjust things like local delivery settings, cost adjustments, free shipping thresholds, custom shipping blending and rate blending.

If your optional settings are the same for both vendors, skip ahead to Save Your Settings.

 

To edit optional settings for your second vendor shipping method:

1. Click Show optional settings.

 

2. If desired, edit any local delivery settings, cost adjustments, free shipping threholds, custom shipping blending and rate blending settings copied from your original same-day shipping method to suit your next-day method.

 

Save Your Settings

1. Click the Save button to save your next-day delivery shipping method.

 

Add An Optional Third Scenario

If you don’t currently have any other shipping methods and want customers to be able to check out when neither the same-day nor next-day delivery options appear, you can create a third Scenario. This Scenario can include a shipping method that always displays with your same-day and next-day options, or only appears when those options are unavailable.

To offer a general shipping method that always appears, regardless of when your local delivery options appear:

• Create a new Scenario from scratch.

• Do not include any 'current day of week' or 'current time' conditions.

• Add your preferred shipping method to the Scenario, such as another local delivery shipping method with a rate for 2+ days delivery, a custom service shipping method with a standard flat rate, a table of rates or free shipping, or a parcel service shipping method that calculates real-time carrier rates.

If you want your alternative shipping method to appear only when your same-day and next-day methods do not:

• Add a 'current day of week' condition to the third Scenario.
• Select the condition logic 'does not equal'.
• Select the same days you used in your same-day and next-day delivery option Scenarios.

For example, if your next-day Scenario has the following condition:

• Current day of week equals 'Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday'

Add the following condition to your third Scenario:

• Current day of the week does not equal 'Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday'

 

Create A Same-Day and Next-Day Optional Delivery

Similarly to the previous two setups, this guide explains how to configure two separate options for same-day and next-day delivery - but, where both options can appear together, depending on the time of day, allowing the customer to decide if they want same-day or next-day delivery.

As with the previous setup, you may wish to add a third Scenario that displays a general shipping option along with same-day and next day options, or only when same-day and next-day aren't available.

You will need at least two Scenarios to complete this setup: one for your same-day delivery and one for your next-day delivery.

Depending on your shipping strategy, additional Scenarios may be required.

 

Add A Same-Day Scenario

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 ‘Same Day’.

 

2. If you want the Scenario to be available right away, leave the Scenario status set to 'On'. If you want to test it first before making it public, set it to 'Test'. Remember to set it to 'On' once you've completed testing.

 

Conditions

1. Select Set restrictions.

 

2. Leave Condition match set to 'All conditions'.

 

3. Select the Current time condition type.

 

4. Select the condition logic. For this example, we’re using ‘less than or equals’ because we want the same-day option to appear before or at the time specified in Step 5. If you prefer to have it appear before - but not at - the time entered in Step 5, set it to ‘less than’.

 

5. Select or enter a time value. Selectable times are every hour on the hour. If you prefer to set a time of 10:30, you must enter it manually as '10:30'.

For example, if your cut-off time is 10:30 AM, enter ’10:30′. If the cut-off time is 2:00 PM, enter or select ’14:00′.

If you want to limit which days of the week your same-day delivery option is displayed along side your next-day option, you can add a 'current day of week' condition (as shown in the previous setup) to achieve this. For this example, we're only using the current time condition.

 

Save Your Settings

1. Click the Save button to save your same-day delivery Scenario.

 

Add A Same-Day Local Delivery Shipping Method

1. Click the Create shipping method button to add a same-day delivery method.

 

Select A Local Delivery Service

1. Click the downward arrow beside ‘Local delivery’, then select Local delivery from the drop-down list.

 

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, such as 'Same Day Delivery'. 

 

2. Choose 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.

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 a description, such as 'Delivery by 6:00 pm today'. We recommend limiting your description to 90 characters or less to ensure it displays properly on the checkout page.

Descriptions are displayed below the shipping method title at checkout.

 

Additional Display Settings

• 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.

Custom delivery times are not necessary for this setup. If you need to create a custom service code for same-day deliveries, continue with Step 1. Otherwise, skip ahead to Shipping Origin.

 

1. Click Show additional display settings.

 

2. Enter a service code, such as ‘SAMEDAY’. The service code is pushed to your fulfillment service (if applicable) when a customer successfully completes their checkout.

 

Shipping Origin

Local delivery rates can be calculated using the primary location set up in your eCommerce platform or one or more custom locations saved in Intuitive Shipping. This is beneficial if you use different retail or warehouse locations for same-day deliveries.

1. Select the ship from location.

You have two (2) settings to choose from:

• Dynamic origin location - distance rates for the shipping method will be calculated based on the distance between the customer’s address and your primary eCommerce platform address. This is the default setting.
• Specify origin location - distance rates for the shipping method will be calculated based on the address specified in the next step.

If you selected 'Dynamic origin location', skip ahead to Shipping Cost.

 

Add And Select A Custom Origin Location

All custom locations saved in the Location management system are listed in this section of the shipping method. If needed, you can add more origin locations directly from here. Any new origin locations you add will also be saved to your central locations settings, so they’re available for other shipping methods that use custom locations.

The next few steps will show you how to add a custom origin location directly from the shipping method. If the location you need is listed and you don't need to add more, skip ahead to select a location.

 

To add a location that is not currently listed:

1. Click Add location, then enter the location details.

The newly added location will appear as a selectable option in this shipping method and will also be saved in the Location management system for use in other shipping methods that use locations.

 

2. Select a location. This location will be used as the starting point for distance-based rates in this shipping method.

 

Shipping Cost

1. Enter a shipping rate.

There are three (3) fields per rate row:

• a - Up to
• b - Cost
• c - Per unit

Only a and b are required. The 'Per unit' field is optional.

a. Enter the 'Up to' (upper limit) amount for the cost in this rate row in either miles or kilometers. If you're offering a single flat rate, enter the maximum allowable distance for same-day delivery.

 

b. Enter the cost of same-day delivery for this rate row. This is the delivery cost the customer will see at checkout if their address is within the distance limit set in the previous step. Enter a number with or without decimals, such as '10' or '10.00'.

 

c. (Optional) Enter the per unit value for the cost entered in the Step 1.b. The cost will be applied on a per-unit basis.

Let's say you have a rate row configuration:

• Up to - 20 kms
• Cost - $3.00
• Per unit - 5

A customer who lives 16 km from your Shipping origin will be charged $12.00 for same-day delivery at checkout. This is because they're being charged $3.00 for every 5 kms for the first 15 kms, plus an additional $3.00 for remaining 1 km.

 

If you are setting up a flat rate (single rate row), skip ahead to Additional Shipping Cost Settings.

 

To add more rows to a rate table:

4. Click Add rate row, then repeat the above steps for 'Up to', 'Cost' and, if necessary, 'Per unit'.

When setting up a rate table, configure the rates in ascending order, starting with the lowest 'up to' limit and progressing to the highest. 

The Intuitive Shipping app uses the ~ (tilde) symbol to indicate ‘no limit’. You may have used this when setting up a custom service shipping method with a flat rate that displays the same shipping cost regardless of cart quantity or value.

If you use ~ as the upper limit in a local delivery method, it means there is no distance limit. Any customer within the assigned zone can access the same-day delivery rate. The only exceptions are if the method is assigned to a local postal code or ZIP code subzone, or if the Scenario uses a customer condition, like city name, to limit eligibility.

 

Free Shipping With Rate Rows

If you want to offer local customers a free same-day shipping rate, you can add a rate row with a 'zero' cost ($0.00). 

Let's say your rate table is configured like this:

• Up to 10 km - $0.00
• Up to 25 km - $10.00
• Up to 50 km - $25.00

A customer who lives 8 km from your shipping origin will get free delivery. Whereas, a customer who lives 32 km from your shipping origin will be charged $25.00 for delivery.

 

Additional Shipping Cost Settings

• Cart splitting can be used with a single row or multiple rate rows and allows you to charge extra when the highest 'up to' limit is exceeded, rather than preventing the customer from checking out.
• Rates table blending can only be used with multiple rate rows and allows you to charge compounding rates as each 'up to' limit on the table is exceeded. This is useful when you need to combine costs for larger orders, but a "per unit" cost setup isn't suitable because the costs are not simple multiples of each other.

Cart splitting is not recommended for this setup.

 

To set up rate table blending:

1. Click Show additional shipping cost settings, then configure the rate table blending settings as needed.

 

Google API Account

A Google API account is required to complete this setup. Without a connected Google API account, the local delivery shipping method cannot be saved.

If you haven’t created a Google API billing account yet, you’ll need to set one up before continuing.

Once your API account is ready and you have your API key, return here and complete the steps below.

If you have already connected your Google API account to Intuitive Shipping, skip ahead to select your Google account.

1. Click Add a carrier account.

 

2. Enter an account title, such a 'Google Distance' or 'Google API'.

 

3. Enter your API key

 

4. Click the Save button.

 

5. Select your Google API account.

 

Optional Settings

Optional settings for local delivery, fallback rating, cost adjustments, free shipping, custom shipping blending and rate blending give you further control of your custom shipping rates at checkout. 

• Local delivery settings let you choose if calculations will be handled using driving distance (Google Maps) or geocoding (straight line distance - 'as the crow flies') 
• Carrier service fallback rating can be enabled to ensure your customers receives a shipping rate at checkout even when rate request times out.
• Cost adjustments let you fully customize the final cost presented at checkout, regardless of the original rate calculation.
• Free shipping allows you to set a threshold for when free shipping is applicable on carts that would otherwise be charged for shipping.
• 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.

For this setup, the local delivery distance calculation type is the most relevant optional setting, however the other optional settings can be configured if desired.

If you do not need to adjust the local delivery, fallback rating or final cost settings, offer a free shipping threshold, or blend custom shipping costs or rates from other shipping methods with this shipping method, skip ahead to save your settings.

 

To configure optional settings:

1. Click Show optional settings.

 

Local Delivery Settings

Intuitive Shipping uses your Google API key to calculate the distance between your shipping origin location and the customer’s address. This can be done in one of two ways:

Routes API (formerly Distance API): By default, we try to calculate distance using this method, which looks up driving directions through Google Maps.

Geocoding API: If that fails, we try this method, which calculates straight-line distance by converting both addresses into geo-coordinates. You can choose to use either method exclusively if preferred.

The Routes API works in most cases but may fail in regions where postal codes are not used or not recognized by Google Maps. The Geocoding API generally succeeds unless an address cannot be converted into coordinates.

Each method uses one API call. If you select ‘Automatic’, Intuitive Shipping will make one API call about 75 percent of the time and two calls about 25 percent of the time.

Google charges $5.00 per 1,000 API calls. A $200 monthly credit covers up to 40,000 calls, which typically supports around 30,000 to 40,000 distance-based rate calculations per month at no cost.

 

1. Select a distance calculation type.

You have three (3) settings to choose from:

• Automatic - Intuitive Shipping first attempts to calculate distance using your Routes API. If that fails, we attempt to calculate distance using your Geocoding API. This method may result in up to two API calls per checkout to your Google API account. This is the default setting.
• Driving distance - Intuitive Shipping attempts to calculate distance using only your Routes API. This method will result in only one API call per checkout to your Google API account. 
• Geocoding - Intuitive Shipping attempts to calculate distance using only your Geocoding API. This method will result in only one API per checkout call to your Google API account.

 

Carrier Service Fallback Rate

Intuitive Shipping lets you decide if a fallback rate will be shown at checkout in situations when the Google API call reaches the timeout limit. This is useful when Google's mapping servers are down or when they're overwhelmed during peak periods.

Fallback rates are only activated when the system times out waiting for a response from Google.

 

1. Choose whether or not to enable a fallback rate.

You have two (2) settings to choose from:

• Do not use a fallback rate - when the Google API call times out, rates from the shipping method will not be displayed at checkout. This is the default setting.
• Define a fallback rate - when the Google API call times out, the fallback rate entered in the next step will be displayed at checkout, along with any fallback rate display settings entered in the steps immediately following.

 

If you selected 'Define a fallback rate' in the previous step:

2. Enter a fallback shipping cost. If you're using a flat rate for same-day delivery, enter that cost as the fallback cost. If you're using multiple rate rows for different distances, consider entering the average cost - or the maximum.

 

Additional Fallback Rate Display Settings

Additional settings are available for fallback rate titles, descriptions, delivery times and service codes can override the shipping method's general display settings when the fallback rate is activated and displayed at checkout.

To configure display settings for a fallback rate:

1. Click Show optional display settings, then edit the fallback rate display settings as needed.

 

Cost Adjustments

Customize how same-day delivery costs appear at checkout by making final adjustments to the distance rate calculation. These adjustments are applied in the order they're listed in the app:

1. Cost limits
2. Shipping credits
3. Mark ups
4. Handling
5. Insurance
6. Discounts
7. Rounding

 

1. Make cost adjustments as needed.

 

Free Shipping

You can offer free shipping to customers whose orders exceed certain minimum or maximum thresholds. This is useful if you want to offer free same-day delivery only when customers order a minimum amount, or if you offer free same day delivery in general, but want your paid rate to apply after a certain cart weight is exceeded.

If you don't want a free shipping threshold, skip ahead to Custom Shipping Blending.

 

To set up a free shipping condition:

1. Select Set a free shipping threshold, then edit the settings as needed

 

 

Custom Shipping Blending

If you have products with custom shipping costs, Intuitive Shipping will blend those product-specific shipping rates with the local delivery rates from the shipping method.

For example, if a customer’s cart includes a product with a $100.00 custom shipping cost - meaning it always costs $100.00 to ship that product, no matter what else is in the order - and the shipping method calculates $25.00 to deliver the other products in the cart - the total shipping charge at checkout will be $125.00.

Alternatively, you can opt out of blending and choose to display either the custom shipping costs or the rates from this shipping method - whichever works best for your setup.

If products with custom shipping costs aren’t eligible for same-day delivery, but other products in the order can be delivered same day, we recommend adding a note in your same-day delivery description to let customers know.

If you don’t have products with custom shipping costs, these settings are ignored regardless of how they’re set. Skip ahead to Rate Blending.

 

1. Select a custom shipping blending option, then adjust the custom shipping blending settings as needed.

 

Rate Blending

Rates from different shipping methods can be blended together - perhaps you have different same-day delivery rates based on the products being ordered. This can be achieved by:

• Selecting simple blending or advanced blending in General Settings.
• Enabling the rate blending setting (described in this section) in at least two shipping methods.
• Setting up blending rules.

Let's say one type of product has a flat rate same-day delivery cost of $10.00 and another product type has a per-km cost of $2.50 per km. When the per-km shipping method calculates $37.50, rate blending can combine it with the flat rate so the customer is charged $47.50 when both product types are in the same order.

You can also use rate blending to:

• add optional delivery upsells or fees, like 'white glove service'.
• offer expedited service options, like 'AM delivery', even when rates are coming from multiple shipping methods.

If you don't need blending rules, leave rate blending set to the default ‘Do not blend’, and skip ahead to Save Your Settings.

 

To blend rates from the shipping method with other rates:

1. Select Blend with other rates.

 

Save Your Settings

1. Click the Save button to save your same-day delivery shipping method:

 

Add A Next-Day Scenario

To simplify the process, you can create a duplicate of your Same-Day Scenario, then make changes to it rather than starting over from scratch.

1. At the top of the same-day Scenerio's edit page, click Duplicate below the Scenario heading. This will create an exact copy of the original Scenario, including the shipping method.

 

General Settings

1. Change the Scenario title from ‘Copy of [original title] to something else, like 'Next Day'.

 

2. If you want the Scenario to be available right away, leave the Scenario status set to 'On'. If you want to test it first before making it public, set it to Test.

 

Conditions

1. Remove the current time condition that was copied with the Scenario.

This will allow your next-day delivery option to appear all the time. If a customer orders before the same-day cut-off time, they'll have the option to choose same-day or next-day delivery. If they order after the same-day cut-off time, they'll only see the next-day delivery method.

If you opted to restrict your same-day delivery option by the days of the week, and that condition was also copied from the original, you can do one of the following:

• Remove that condition as well, continuing to allow your next-day delivery option to always be displayed.
• Leave it and apply the same 'day of week' restrictions you applied to your same-day Scenario
• Edit which days your next-day delivery option is displayed, if they're different from your same-day option.

 

2. Leave all other settings as-is.

 

Save Your Settings

1. Click the Save button to save your next-day Scenario. You must save changes to the duplicate Scenario before you can edit the shipping method. 

 

Update The Next Day Shipping Method

The shipping method shown in the ‘Shipping rates and services’ section of your next-day (duplicate) Scenario is an exact copy of the original same-day shipping method created in the previous steps. This happens automatically when you duplicate a Scenario. 

If you want your next-day Scenario to use a different type of shipping method, such as a custom service or parcel service shipping method, you'll need to delete the shipping method that was copied from the original and create a new one.

For this example, we're using the same shipping method that we added to our same-day Scenario, with a different title - and maybe a different description.

1. Click Edit beside the shipping method.

 

2. If needed, change the shipping method title to something like 'Next Day Delivery'. If your same-day shipping method had a generic title, like 'Shipping' or 'Local Delivery', it may not be necessary to update the title.

 

Shipping Cost

The duplicated shipping method includes the same cost settings used in your same-day delivery shipping method. If you're offering the same shipping costs for both same-day and next-day delivery, skip ahead to Optional Settings.

To offer different costs for next-day delivery:

1. Scroll down to the Shipping cost section.

 

2. Edit the shipping cost rates and settings as needed.

 

3. To remove excess rate rows, click the trash can icon for the corresponding rate row.

 

4. To add more rate rows, click Add rate row, then add values for Up to, Cost and - if necessary - Per unit.

 

Optional Settings

When you duplicated the original Scenario and shipping method, all optional settings were copied over. These may not need to be changed for your next-day shipping method.

If needed, you can adjust things like local delivery settings, cost adjustments, free shipping thresholds, custom shipping blending and rate blending.

If your optional settings are the same for both vendors, skip ahead to Save Your Settings.

 

To edit optional settings for your second vendor shipping method:

1. Click Show optional settings.

 

2. If desired, edit any local delivery settings, cost adjustments, free shipping threholds, custom shipping blending and rate blending settings copied from your original same-day shipping method to suit your next-day method.

 

Save Your Settings

1. Click the Save button to save your next-day delivery shipping method.

 

Add An Optional Third Scenario

If you don’t currently have any other shipping methods and want customers to have an alternative to same-day and next-day delivery, you can create a third Scenario. This Scenario can include a shipping method that always appears, just like the next-day option. It’s a great way to offer a lower-cost shipping option for customers who prefer not to pay a premium for faster delivery.

If you’ve opted to set restrictions on which days of the week same-day and next-day delivery methods are available, a third Scenario lets you display a general shipping option on days those faster options are not shown.

 

To offer a general shipping method that always appears, regardless of when your same-day and next-day delivery options appear:

• Create a new Scenario from scratch.

• Do not include any 'current day of week' or 'current time' conditions.

• Add your preferred shipping method to the Scenario, such as another local delivery shipping method with a rate for 2+ days delivery, a custom service shipping method with a standard flat rate, a table of rates or free shipping, or a parcel service shipping method that calculates real-time carrier rates.

If you want your alternative shipping method to appear only when your same-day and next-day methods do not:

• Add a 'current day of week' condition to the third Scenario.
• Select the condition logic 'does not equal'.
• Select the same days you used in your same-day and next-day delivery option Scenarios.

For example, if your next-day Scenario has the following condition:

• Current day of week equals 'Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday'

Add the following condition to your third Scenario:

• Current day of the week does not equal 'Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday'

 

 

Learn more:

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