Switching from free shipping to a free gift
You're already running a free-shipping threshold ("spend $50, ship free") and want to graduate to a free-gift threshold ("spend $50, get a free X"). The two promos look similar but pull different levers in the buyer's head. This walks you through the safe switch.
Why switch
A free shipping threshold gets the customer to one specific number - the threshold - and then stops working. A free-gift threshold keeps working: you can tier it ($50 / $100 / $200), pair it with a specific gift the buyer actually wants, and run it without eating into your shipping margin.
In most apparel and beauty categories, free gifts drive more AOV lift than free shipping at the same threshold - Spuma's case study with this app showed a +165% AOV lift running a tiered free-gift promo (verified live store, 2025). Your numbers will differ, but the direction (more lift from gift than from shipping) is consistent in most non-fragile categories.
That's the only attribution we cite. Anyone selling you a "+30% conversion" stat for gifting in your specific vertical without naming the store and the year is making it up.
Step 1 - Pause your free-shipping promo
In Shopify Admin → Discounts, find the free-shipping promo and click Deactivate. Don't delete it yet - you may want to A/B compare or revert.
Free shipping in Shopify is itself a discount entry, so deactivating it stops the threshold copy on your storefront (cart drawer, checkout) immediately. If you also have free-shipping copy in a theme banner or announcement strip, update those manually - Shopify doesn't manage theme copy.
Step 2 - Create the gift campaign in Valotrix Cart Rewards
In the Valotrix Cart Rewards admin, click Create campaign and pick the Spend threshold gift template. See Create your first campaign for the full walkthrough of the form. Name the campaign something internal and memorable - "Free gift over $50 (was free shipping)" works.
Step 3 - Same threshold, different reward
Set the trigger condition to the same threshold your free-shipping promo used. If shipping was free at $50, the gift threshold is $50. If shipping was free at $75, it's $75.
The threshold matters because your customers have learned the number - invoices, repeat orders, retargeting ads all anchor to it. Switching the threshold and the reward in the same week confuses the data and the buyer; switch the reward only.
- Trigger: Cart subtotal ≥ $50 (or whatever your shipping number was).
- Reward: the gift product, single specific variant.
- Discount method: Automatic (default - applies at checkout, customer types nothing).
If your store is multi-currency, the threshold can be overridden per currency (e.g. $50 USD ≠ €45 EUR ≠ £40 GBP) in the same condition editor. See Multi-currency & Markets.
Step 4 - Test on a preview link
Save the campaign as Draft, then click Preview in the page header. A 24-hour signed preview link opens - see Preview before going live for the full preview flow.
Build a real cart on the preview, cross the threshold, confirm the gift line appears and that checkout shows the free gift at -$X.XX with a 100%-off discount applied. Test on mobile and desktop. Test logged-in and logged-out.
Step 5 - Run a 2-week comparison
You want to know whether the gift outperforms the shipping promo for your store. Two ways:
- Scale plan - use A/B testing to run free-shipping vs free-gift as control and variant. Bayesian "chance to win" reads tell you when the result is real. Bucketing is deterministic - the same visitor sees the same arm.
- Lower plans - run a sequential before/after. Two weeks of free-shipping baseline (deactivate the gift campaign, reactivate shipping), then two weeks of free-gift (the reverse). Compare AOV and order count. Not as precise as a real A/B (you're catching whatever weekly seasonality you have), but a directional read is usually enough.
Either way, watch Analytics - the AOV with vs without gift comparison is the metric to follow.
What to watch
A few things change when you switch reward type:
- Gift OOS auto-disable - if your gift product goes out of stock, Valotrix Cart Rewards auto-disables the affected rule on every plan (the email alert is Pro+; the auto-disable behavior itself is universal). You don't want the threshold copy showing with no gift behind it. See Out-of-stock gifts for the full behavior.
- Per-customer limits - gifts are more abusable than shipping (one customer can pile up free totes if you don't cap). Set a per-customer redemption limit on the rule. See Per-customer limits.
- Analytics shift - your free-shipping AOV will likely tick up; your shipping cost line will tick up too (you're no longer subsidizing); your gift COGS becomes a new line. Watch the net.
- Customer expectations - buyers who got used to "free shipping over $50" will notice the change. A short email or banner ("New for May - every order over $50 gets a free tote") softens the transition.