Can you offer free samples at checkout on Shopify?

tessier
Tourist
10 0 2

Hi! I have seen old posts about this topic, but it might be some new information (I hope 🙂 ). I run a shop for cosmetics and would like to the customers to be able to pick out two samples to get for free by check out. Is there possibility to do this? I was thinking about creating a category, but I think it will be a bit complicated to get the customers to see and understand this. Do you guys have any ideas? / Therese.

Replies 9 (9)

Rae
Shopify Staff (Retired)
1166 95 361

Hi, @tessier!

 

This is Rae from Shopify.

 

Thanks for reaching out to inquire about adding free samples to your store. I understand this is an important addition for your business, so I'll be glad to share some options that can be used to implement this feature. 

 

My first recommendation is to consider using an app that offers free products to customers, such as Product Samples or Free Coupon. Product Samples is specifically designed to allow customers to order free samples, whereas Free Coupon allows customers to order a free gift from a popup that appears directly on the site. 

 

Another way to offer samples is through upsell and bundling apps like In Cart Upsell and Upsell Bundles. These apps offer deals to customers that combine with what's already added to their cart, so they may be able to provide a more targeted way of offering specific samples to customers. 

 

Please keep in mind that these are third party apps that are created and fully supported by developers who are external from Shopify. So, if you need any help with setting up these apps, or if you have any questions or concerns about their usage, make sure to reach out to the app developers directly for more information. You can do this by following the steps outlined here

 

Can you please tell me a bit more about the categories you were thinking of creating? Would these be specific collections? Once I have more details on this, I'd be glad to look into this method further. 

 

I look forward to hearing back from you! 

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.

tessier
Tourist
10 0 2

Hi Rae!

 

Thank you for your reply.

 

I would prefer not to use another app for this issue and therefore I was thinking about creating a collection for the free samples. However, I am unsure how to communicate the possibility to choose two samples for free to the customers. The optimal sollution would be to present the optional samples just before check out and let the customers add them to the cart. Do you have any idea how to do this?

 

Thank you in advance!

 

/Therese

Rae
Shopify Staff (Retired)
1166 95 361

Hi, @tessier!

 

Thanks for getting back to me with these details. 

 

In order to present your samples as options to customers without using an app, you may need to use a theme that offers product recommendations, like the ones listed here. However, if your theme doesn't have this option built in, I recommend reaching out to Shopify Experts for more information about custom coding this feature onto your site. Experts are third party developers and designers who are very skilled in our platform, so they're the best people to speak with about creating custom features like this. 

 

In the meantime though, I also suggest looking into using Buy X Get Y discount codes to offer these samples. With this method, you could create discount codes that allow customers to receive a sample product for free once they purchase a full priced item. These discounts can be created to apply to products within certain collections only, so this would work well for the collections you're planning on creating for your samples. That way, you can put all the samples into one collection, and have them priced out so that other customers can't check out with just free samples. But, if a customer already has a full price item in their cart, they can use the Buy X Get Y discount to receive a sample for free. To offer multiple samples for free with this discount code, you may also want to consider creating a product that contains multiple samples offered as a bundle. 

 

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns about this and I'll be glad to help further! 

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.

paolainsula
Visitor
1 0 0

Hi Rae! This is Paola, from Italy. I am interested in offering free samples as well, without adding an app, and my theme is one of the ones you listed (venue). Would you be so kind to explain me further how do you use product recommendations to provide free samples? Many thanks!

Rae
Shopify Staff (Retired)
1166 95 361

Hi, @paolainsula

 

Thanks for reaching out about using product recommendations to offer free samples. 

 

In your reply, you mentioned that you're using the 'Venue'  theme. This is a third-party theme developed by Safe As Milk, so they would be the best people to speak with further about how to set up product recommendations on their theme. To contact them about this, please follow these steps, or visit this link and click the 'Support'  button on the righthand side of the page. 

 

If you instead were looking to add this feature to the 'Venture'  theme - which is a theme developed by Shopify - you can find more details on how to do this here

 

In the meantime, we have more information on using product recommendations here. I suggest checking this document out to get a better idea of how this feature works, and to determine if it will suit your needs for offering free samples. 

 

I look forward to hearing back from you about this! 

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.

Fusion_Dev
Visitor
1 0 0

We would like to offer free samples in 2 ways: 

    1. User abandons cart > we send an email with a link to try a sample... need to solve remaining flow
    2. User buys a product > triggered email sent 10 days later asking them to give a free sample to a friend > friend redeems ... need to solve remaining flow

      How do we do this with automation (avoid manual work) and prevent abuse of coupon codes etc ??
Rae
Shopify Staff (Retired)
1166 95 361

Hi, @Fusion_Dev

Welcome to this thread. I appreciate you reaching out about this feature you're looking to add to your site. 

Based on the workflows you outlined below, it sounds like you're looking to offer free samples to customers in both your abandoned cart notification, as well as your order confirmation notification. Is that correct? If so, I recommend editing the text on these notification templates to add in more information about how customers can order their free samples. To edit these templates, just follow the steps outlined here

However, I'd like to learn more about how you'd like to automate this process, and the remaining flows you're trying to solve. For instance, are you hoping for these samples to be automatically fulfilled? Or, what is the remaining workflow that you'd ideally like to have? Depending on the complexity of this workflow, it may be worthwhile to consider speaking with Shopify Experts to determine if they can help build this workflow specifically for your site, based on your unique needs. 

I'd also really like to hear a bit more about your business, and where you're sourcing your products from so that I can help look into this further. Are you holding and shipping your own inventory, or are you working with a supplier, or a dropshipping company to deliver your products to your customers?

Lastly, I know you mentioned concerns relating to coupon codes being using multiple times. To prevent this from happening, I suggest using a coupon code generator app to create unique discount codes on your behalf. Some apps that offer this option are Bulk Discount Code Generator or Personal Discount. If you're interested in using these apps, but would like more information on their costing and functionality, please reach out to the app developers directly to discuss this further. 

I look forward to hearing back from you about this! 

To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Community Blog.

Audra
New Member
7 0 0

I wish Shopify would add this as a button as the Product Sample app is $12 per month. If I was making several thousands per month in sales then the app price would be worth it but, for a startup company like myself, the price is not right.

Nemanja_Janjic
Shopify Partner
86 5 15

Hi Therese,

You can absolutely use Samplio to simplify the process of offering free samples to your cosmetics customers.

Here's how you can incorporate Samplio into your store:

1. Install Samplio: First, ensure that you have the Samplio app installed and configured on your Shopify store. https://apps.shopify.com/samplio-send-free-samples?search_id=7ad9c05f-7029-4ab4-865b-971724e3c74b&su...

2. Add Sample Products: Add the individual sample products you want to offer. These should be the products customers can select as free samples.

3. Set Product Prices to $0: For these sample products, set their prices to $0. This will ensure that they are free for customers.

4. Integrate Samplio: Integrate the Samplio widget with your cart. This will enable the personalization and tracking features you need for offering free samples.

6. Customize settings: In Samplio app, customize settings so that customers are prompted to choose two free samples.

7. Analytics and Feedback: Use Samplio's analytics to gather insights into which samples are most popular. Encourage customers to leave feedback about the samples they choose.

By following these steps and integrating Samplio with your Shopify store, you'll be able to smoothly offer customers the option to choose free samples on the cart page. 

If you encounter any specific technical issues or need further guidance on the Shopify integration, consider reaching out to the support team of Samplio for assistance.

Best regards,

Nemanja

 

 

 

 

Nemanja J. CEO @Shopbooster apps - Free and premium Shopify apps | Support us
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