How to Set Up My Recommended Squarespace Shipping Strategy 

Yay! So glad this was helpful! 🙌

Thanks! Happy to hear that. Let me know if you give this strategy a try!

Hi there - if you go to SETTINGS > WEBSITE > REGIONAL SETTINGS you can set the units of measurement to either imperial or metric.

Hi Matt - thanks for your question! The reason for this is because Squarespace has optimized the checkout flow for maximum conversion rates. It assumes that the majority of customers are in the default country that you set in SETTINGS > SELLING > CHECKOUT > DEFAULT COUNTRY. The goal here is that the maximum number of your customers can check out in as few clicks as possible. I realize this may not be ideal for international customers but I would just be sure to address the fact that you do, in fact, ship to them on a well-crafted FAQ page. More on FAQ pages here: kristineneil.com/blog/boosting-seo-and-customer-satisfaction-why-faqs-are-vital-for-your-squarespace-ecommerce-site

@@kristineneil thanks I understand it just seems quite confusing for international customers. It really should be an option.

@@matth8205 I get it! TBH, I don't see this changing though so I would just make sure to communicate the int'l shipping options otherwise if that's also a large portion of your sales.

@@kristineneil yeah that’s what I have done it looks like the only way. Seems like a very odd way to do things 🙄

Hi Jai 👋In order to do the free shipping for orders over a certain amount you do need to be on the Advanced Commerce plan. There's nothing about the configuration otherwise that would be limited by where you're located - this strategy works everywhere! The jump from Basic to Advanced Commerce is about $20/mo if paid annually and for shops with any amount of volume, the extra features such as abandoned cart emails, advanced shipping & discounting, the ability to sell subscriptions, etc. should more than offset the additional cost. I do have a post all about picking a plan that might be helpful here: kristineneil.com/blog/which-squarespace-plan-is-right-for-you (TL;DR most businesses should be on Advanced Commerce unless they're just casual sellers.) Hope this helps!

It's actually a LOT more than $20 per month when you'e converting from US to CAD unfortunately.@@kristineneil This isn't a high volume store (I've mentioned before) and really heavy products so shiping is expensive. But anyway I still wish there was a way I could help her determine if it was worth the extra cost of the upgrade as I say.

@@JaiSequoia I just ran the price difference between Basic and Advanced and in USD it's $22/mo and in CAD it's $30/mo. I would say that if the extra features netted at least $30 in extra sales per month that the upgrade would pay for itself. Even if the volume is low but the ticket price is high, all it would take it one extra order that was recovered via an abandoned cart email... or one customer attracted to a special shipping offer. For most shops, the extra $22-30/mo is more than offset by the additional sales brought in by those features.

@@kristineneil lol thank you so much for doing this for me. Numbers aren’t my forte. I’m willing to let my client know this for sure. 👍 🙏

@@JaiSequoia She can always give it a try and downgrade if it isn't paying off but those features should pay for themselves. Let me know how it goes!

Hey there! Not a stupid question at all. In fact, it's a great one! So here's how this works: when you offer free shipping over a certain order value (like I do in the video), you aren't actually eating the cost of shipping those larger orders. Instead, you're building the cost of shipping into your product prices. For example, let's say your average shipping cost per t-shirt is $2. To cover your "free shipping" on larger orders, you'd add $2 to the price of each t-shirt. So instead of selling tees for $20, you'd sell them for $22. When someone places a big order, you've already covered your shipping costs with that extra $2/shirt. Plus, you're incentivizing people to place larger orders to get the free shipping 🤑 Of course, this works best when you have a good handle on your average shipping costs. But once you do, it's an awesome strategy to boost your average order value while making your customers feel like they're getting an amazing deal. Hopefully that helps clarify things!

@@kristineneil thank you so much for the info, so I was thinking about that originally before you answered, I thought she's probably building it into the cost...maybe my brain isn't fully working but my dilemma is this, as a example Shirt cost :$16 (not important) Advertised Cost $25 Shipping cost for 1 shirt @ local USPS from lets say Florida to CA is $10 in a priority flat rate envelope. With that being said, originally someone would advertise for $25 then at checkout add the shipping... In your theory it's better to build it into the price of the shirt, okay cool...IF I built that $10 cost into my shirt it would be $35, that's fine I can deal with that as I'd still advertise free shipping, however in your video you set your first option up as $9.99 shipping for all orders under $70, my concern is I wouldn't want to advertise a shirt for $35, make people pay $9.99 more for shipping if the order was under lets say $70, how would I arrange a way around this?

@@theGrayArea2 Hey there! I hear your concern about charging shipping on top of a price that already includes some shipping costs. But here's the thing: if customers are willing to pay $35 for a shirt plus $9.99 shipping, then that's the price they're comfortable with. The goal of building shipping costs into your product price and offering free shipping over a certain threshold is twofold: 1. It encourages customers to add more items to their cart to qualify for free shipping, boosting your average order value. 2. It ensures that your shipping costs are covered (and then some) on smaller orders. Essentially, customers who don't meet the free shipping threshold are helping to subsidize the shipping costs for those who do. And that's okay! It's all part of a larger pricing and shipping strategy designed to maximize your overall profitability. So, I wouldn't worry too much about finding a way around charging shipping on those smaller orders. If customers are happy to pay it, then it's working in your favor. Of course, it's important to keep an eye on your conversion rates and abandon cart rates (I have another video on that here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Z7Zc-QWCyNI.htmlfeature=shared). If you notice a high number of people bouncing at checkout, it might be worth reevaluating your prices and shipping thresholds. But otherwise, stick with what's working for your business. Hope this helps clarify things! Let me know if you have any other questions! 👩‍💻