A free-shipping threshold gives free delivery on orders above a set amount, so a shopper who’s close to it has a reason to add one more item. Tendlio works out a threshold from your own orders, and when your current setup is clearly off, a card on your to-do list gives you the number to set in WooCommerce.
Where you see it #
The suggestion is a card on the To do page. It’s a low-priority card with no amount of money on it, so it sorts below the cards that have one. The button, Open shipping settings, opens WooCommerce → Settings → Shipping, where you change the threshold yourself. Tendlio never changes your shipping settings.
Tendlio doesn’t add a free-shipping progress bar to your shop. The card only gives you the number.
When the card appears #
The card needs at least 100 orders that count as a sale in the last 12 months. With fewer orders, Tendlio doesn’t have enough to suggest a stable number. The card appears after your first analysis, but not while Fill in cost prices to see your Inventory Score is on your list.
Then it appears when one of these is true:
- You don’t offer free shipping above a set amount. The card is called “A free-shipping threshold could lift your order value”.
- You give free shipping on every order, with no minimum. The card is called “You give free shipping with no minimum”.
- Your threshold is lower than your average order. A basket of average size already reaches it, so it doesn’t lead anyone to add an item, and you pay for delivery on orders you’d have had anyway. The card is called “Your free-shipping threshold is lower than it needs to be”.
- Your threshold is clearly lower than Tendlio’s suggestion. The card has the same title, “Your free-shipping threshold is lower than it needs to be”.
- Your threshold is clearly higher than Tendlio’s suggestion, so few baskets ever get close to it. The card is called “Your free-shipping threshold may be out of reach”.
A threshold a little above the suggestion doesn’t get a card: setting a round number a bit higher costs you little. How far below the suggestion counts as clearly lower depends on the numbers behind it: when you’ve entered your own shipping cost and your margin comes mostly from your own cost prices, a smaller gap is enough for the card to appear.
How Tendlio works out the number #
Tendlio starts from your average order over the last 12 months, using the orders that count as a sale. It measures each order the way WooCommerce checks its free-shipping minimum by default: the goods in the basket after coupons, without shipping, and without tax unless your store shows prices with tax.
It also needs two figures from your store:
- Your shipping cost: the Avg shipping cost / order you enter under Settings → General → Costs & profit, in Other costs (net profit). If you haven’t entered one, Tendlio uses the average delivery charge on your orders from the last 12 months that paid for delivery, and the card says it’s using what you charge rather than what delivery costs you.
- Your margin: your average margin from your last analysis, with the products that sell more counting more, and the card names the day of that analysis. For products without a cost price, that analysis uses the average margin you set, so the suggestion is only as accurate as that estimate.
With both, the threshold is your average order, plus the amount a shopper needs to add so that your margin on it pays for the shipping you give away. Say your average order is 50, shipping costs you 8 an order and your margin is 40%. A shopper who adds 20 earns you 8 at that margin, so the threshold is 50 + 20 = 70.
Without a shipping figure (none entered, and no order in the last 12 months paid for delivery), or when your average margin is zero or below, the threshold is about 30% above your average order.
Either way, Tendlio rounds the number up to a round figure.
The card also tells you how many of your orders from those 12 months, as a percentage, land between your average order and the suggested threshold. Those shoppers already spend more than average, and they’re the closest to reaching it.
How Tendlio reads your current threshold #
Tendlio reads all your WooCommerce shipping zones, including the one WooCommerce uses for locations your other zones don’t cover. If you have more than one Free shipping method with a minimum, it takes the lowest minimum among them. A Free shipping method with no requirement, in any zone, counts as free shipping on every order.
If your zones don’t show a free-shipping minimum, for example because a shipping plugin handles free shipping, Tendlio looks at your recent orders to see whether orders above some amount shipped free while the ones below it paid.
When you save a change to your shipping settings, the card follows it the next time the page loads.
Set the threshold #
- On the card, note the suggested threshold.
- Click Open shipping settings, and open the shipping zone you want to change.
- Edit its Free shipping method, or add one. Set Free shipping requires to A minimum order amount, or to A minimum order amount OR coupon if you want recovery emails to be able to offer free shipping. Type the number into Minimum order amount.
- Save. If you use more than one zone, repeat this for each one.
If you’d rather enter your own shipping cost first, add it under Settings → General → Costs & profit, and the suggestion is worked out from it.
Tip: Recover sales has its own Free-shipping threshold field, on its Settings and email tab, which it uses to choose between offering free shipping and a discount. It doesn’t read your WooCommerce setting, so when you change your threshold, change that field too.
Why the number works this way #
- The average leaves out shipping: WooCommerce compares its minimum with the goods in the basket, not with the order total. An average that included shipping would put the suggestion above the baskets it’s meant to reach.
- A threshold below your average order gets a card, even when it’s close to the suggestion: a basket of average size already clears it, so it rarely makes anyone spend more, and those orders ship free.
- A threshold a little above the suggestion doesn’t: the offer is reached a bit less often, but you’re not paying for delivery on orders that would have happened anyway.
Additional resources #
- How to give Tendlio your product costs
- What your to-do list can catch
- How to recover abandoned checkouts and carts
Frequently asked questions #
Why don't I see a free-shipping card? #
The card needs at least 100 orders in the last 12 months, and it only appears when your threshold is clearly off. It also waits while the card about cost prices is on your list. On a long to-do list it sorts below the cards with money on them, so it can be past the 20 cards the page shows at a time.
Does Tendlio change my shipping settings? #
No. The card gives you the number, and you set it in WooCommerce.
Why is the suggestion higher than 30% above my average order? #
When Tendlio knows your shipping cost and margin, it sets the threshold so the extra a shopper adds pays for the shipping at your margin. With a low margin or a high shipping cost, that's more than 30%.