Free shipping, higher prices

Will it help to convert?

[iJeep]

I have been reading a lot of comments on conversion ratios and such and see that several people have noted that advertising free shipping boosts sales.

The products I sell are heavy (many of the orders are 50-150lbs) so I couldn't offer free shipping at the current prices. But I could simply add shipping prices into the normal price and advertise free shipping. I know that customers would recognize this as a higher price, but would they be more likely to convert to customers because they know shipping up front, though my products would be more expensive than the competitors?

[Crazy_Fool]

i've found that "free shipping" works well, and works best if "FREE SHIPPING" is prominent all over the site. IMO, it's not so much that the shipping is free, it's that the customer thinks they are getting a bargain. i've seen similar effects with other "FREE" stuff.

i call it "the Homer Simpson effect" - it doesn't matter what you give away for free, the customer sees the word "FREE" and jumps up and goes "WOO HOO" just like Homer ....

you might as well give away free air or free cardboard box or free bubblewrap, it'll have much the same effect .....

FACT - 50% of the human race is below average intelligence .... just take their money .....

[fathom]

It doesn't have any effect on "your most profitable customers" -- or the ones that actually do buy now. But it can sway the undecided - and in this case with some markets the "undecided" can be a sizable bunch of "Homers". ;)

[iJeep]

Thanks for the input.

That is who I am going after Fathom. I have updated the site so that I can track what people look at and what is in their cart. It looks like a lot of people add something to their cart, look around for 10-15min and then just vanish. I want to boost the number of people clicking the check out button.