5 proven free gift strategies (video)

Once you have Gift Box installed, the next question is which gift with purchase strategy to actually run. In this video, Tom from Digismoothie walks through five proven strategies you can set up directly in your Gift Box app — each one mapped to a specific offer type you'll find in the dashboard.

Pick a relatively inexpensive product — something you can source in larger quantities — and set it as a free gift for any order. Every shopper qualifies the moment they add something to cart, which gives them an extra reason to complete checkout.

Best for: boosting conversion rate across your whole store.

Set it up in Gift Box: create a new offer, choose Free gift with any purchase as the offer type, and select your gift product. Leave the threshold at 0.

Offer free shipping once a customer's cart crosses a threshold you choose. The trick is the threshold itself: look at your store's current average order value (AOV) and set the bar about 20% above it. If your AOV is $100, set free shipping at $120 — high enough to lift AOV, low enough that shoppers still feel it's reachable.

Best for: nudging average order value upward without giving away product margin.

Set it up in Gift Box: create a new offer and choose Free shipping as the offer type, then enter your threshold.

Want to maximize the impact of your new gift offer? Pair Gift Box with Candy Rack, an all-in-one slide cart app.

Candy Rack features a built-in slide cart with a rewards bar that visually tracks a customer's progress toward unlocking your free gifts right inside their cart.

Install Candy Rack from the Shopify App Store and enable the Slide cart in the app settings to turn your cart into a conversion driver.

Tie the free gift to a specific qualifying product. Pick one priced above your store's AOV so every order triggered by this offer lifts your average — and the free gift is what gets customers over the line.

Best for: pushing sales of a specific higher-priced product.

Set it up in Gift Box: create a new offer, choose Buy X, get Y as the offer type, select the qualifying product (the "X"), and the gift product (the "Y").

Instead of choosing a single gift for everyone, offer a selection and let customers pick the one they actually want. The offer resonates with a wider audience because each shopper gets to claim something relevant to them.

Best for: maximizing how many customers find the offer appealing.

Set it up in Gift Box: create a new offer, choose Free product choice as the offer type, and add multiple products. Customers select their gift from the Gift Box popup or the cart page.

Gift Box lets you run several active offers simultaneously, which means you can stack the strategies above into a single compelling experience. We recommend sticking to two or three tiers — four or five tends to confuse shoppers.

Here's a solid three-tier setup we use:

Best for: getting the most out of Gift Box by running multiple offers at once.

Set it up in Gift Box: create each tier as a separate offer in the app, then activate all three. The Gift Box popup automatically shows shoppers their progress toward every tier at once.

Rotate your gift offerings at least once a month. Returning customers will always see something new, which keeps the offer motivating order after order — they'll want to claim the gift they didn't get last time.

It used to be common to only run gift with purchase during Black Friday or the holidays, but these days we see stronger results from leaving an offer on by default all year — and then layering in something special for peak events. Customers appreciate it, and the business metrics back it up.

You can duplicate an existing offer in Gift Box to quickly swap in a new gift product without rebuilding the whole thing from scratch.

Have questions about which strategy will work best for your store, or need help setting up multiple tiers? Chat with us via the in-app chat or email [email protected]. Happy gifting!