Which popup offer costs me least: percent off, a fixed amount, free shipping or a free gift?
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Both from the same period, usually the last ordinary month.
Display only. Your figures are read in the currency you pick — nothing is converted and no exchange rate is applied.
Without shipping and tax.
What is left of a sale after the cost of the goods.
Fill in at least two. Leave the rest blank.
e.g. 10
A flat saving.
For a typical order.
Landed, not retail.
Enter your average order value and gross margin, then at least two of the offers you are weighing up. Nothing is compared until both figures and two offers are in.
- Average order valueNeeded
- Gross marginNeeded
- At least two offers to compareNeeded
Cost only: the picker says nothing about which offer more shoppers will take. Every figure comes from you, and the currency is a label only.
To test a single discount against your margin, use the discount impact calculator; to place a free-shipping line, the free shipping threshold tool.
The inputs that decide which incentive is cheapest
A popup offer comparison sets the cost of each incentive against one typical order, so a tea shop with a 32 dollar basket and a 60 percent margin finds that a 3 dollar gift costs less than 15 percent off at 4.80 dollars or free shipping at 6.50 dollars, and that percent off only becomes dearer than a flat 5 dollar discount once orders pass about 33 dollars.
No benchmark and no uptake rate is used; every cost comes from you. For your order value itself, see the AOV calculator.
Two store figures set the stage, and each offer you are weighing needs one number. Leave out any offer you are not considering; two are enough to compare.
- Average order value
- The typical basket, from your sales report over an ordinary month. Percent off is priced against it, and it is the point the whole comparison is read at.
- Gross margin
- The share of each sale left after the cost of the goods. With it, the page shows the profit on a typical basket that an offer is paid from, and flags any offer that would eat all of it.
- Percent off
- Grows with the basket: cheap on a small order, expensive on a big one. That is why it can win at one order value and lose at another.
- Amount off
- A flat saving, the same on every qualifying order. On a basket smaller than the saving it is capped at the basket, since nobody is paid to shop.
- Free shipping
- What sending a typical order actually costs you, not what you would have charged. Bulky or heavy goods make this the dearest option; light parcels can make it the cheapest.
- Free gift
- The landed cost of the item you add to the box, including any extra packaging. A sample or an overstocked accessory often costs far less than its price tag suggests.
- Crossover order value
- The basket size at which percent off and a flat-cost offer swap places. Below it percent off is cheaper; above it the flat offer is. Flat offers never cross one another.
Nudgesmart is available on the Shopify App Store. Browse the template library or see what it costs.
Six stores weigh up four incentives
Imaginary shops in US dollars, chosen to show how basket size, margin and parcel weight change the answer. Every row comes from the same code as the picker above.
| Store | Order, margin | Percent off | Amount off | Free shipping | Free gift | Cheapest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tea shop, small baskets | $32.00, 60% | 15%: $4.80 | $5.00 | $6.50 | $3.00 | A free gift |
| Apparel brand, mid-size orders | $95.00, 55% | 10%: $9.50 | $10.00 | $8.00 | $6.00 | A free gift |
| Supplements, subscription-sized orders | $68.00, 70% | 20%: $13.60 | — | $7.00 | $4.00 | A free gift |
| Home decor, bulky parcels | $140.00, 45% | 10%: $14.00 | $15.00 | $22.00 | — | 10% off |
| Electronics accessories, thin margin | $45.00, 25% | 10%: $4.50 | $5.00 | $5.00 | — | 10% off |
| Jewellery, high order value | $220.00, 65% | 15%: $33.00 | $25.00 | $9.00 | $12.00 | Free shipping |
What a cheaper offer does not settle
Cheapest is not the same as most persuasive
This picker prices incentives; it cannot say which one moves more shoppers. A gift that costs little may tempt nobody in your category, and free shipping may matter more to your buyers than any saving.
The typical basket is only typical
Real orders spread above and below the average. Read the crossover values: if many of your orders sit on the far side of one, the ranking for those orders is reversed.
Offers change the basket they are priced on
A free-shipping threshold or a gift above a spend level can pull orders upward, which moves the cost of a percent offer with them. Re-run the comparison once you see the new order value.
Other costs still come out of the margin
Payment fees, returns and paid traffic are not in this comparison. An offer that leaves some gross profit behind can still leave the order unprofitable once those are paid.
Stacking multiplies the cost
If a popup code can be combined with a sale price or another discount, the real cost per order includes both. Decide in Shopify which discounts may combine before you trust any single figure here.
Choosing a popup offer
Is free shipping cheaper than a discount?
It depends on your basket and your parcels. In the worked examples free shipping is the cheapest option for the jewellery store, whose large orders ship light, and among the dearest for the home decor store, whose parcels are bulky. Enter your own figures to see where you sit.
Should my welcome popup offer percent off or a fixed amount?
On cost alone, percent off is cheaper for small baskets and a fixed amount is cheaper for large ones. The picker shows the order value where they swap, so you can see which side of it most of your orders fall on.
What does the crossover order value mean?
It is the basket at which two offers cost you the same. A tea shop weighing 15 percent off against 5 dollars off has a crossover of about 33 dollars: below that the percent is cheaper, above it the flat saving is.
Does this tell me which offer will get more sign-ups?
No. It only compares what each incentive costs on a typical order. How shoppers respond depends on your products and audience, and nothing on this page could know that.
What should I enter as the gift cost?
What the item costs you to buy or make, plus any extra packaging or postage it adds, not its retail price. A sample worth 12 dollars on the shelf might cost you 2.
Can I share the comparison with my team?
Yes. Copy the link under the answer and the same figures open on the page. The link carries only the numbers you typed.
The cost is knowable. How shoppers respond has to be watched.
Nudgesmart reports each discount code a popup shows as displayed, copied and redeemed, and credits orders to the campaign by customer tag first, then by discount code for guest checkouts.
