Free shipping coupon is available on Shopify as a friend offer and as a main advocate or affiliate reward.
Give referred friends free shipping on their first order with the Free shipping coupon friend offer. Instead of taking money off the products, the coupon removes the shipping cost at checkout — useful when your shipping rates are high enough to put people off a first purchase, or when your margins suit covering delivery better than discounting the product.
Set the two incentives separately: the friend offer is what the referred friend gets. The advocate or affiliate reward is what the person who referred them earns. On Shopify, you can choose Free shipping coupon for either. See Advocate reward types.
Set up a free shipping friend offer
From your Shopify admin, go to Campaigns > select your campaign. In the Set rewards section, click Friend offer.
Select the Free shipping coupon friend offer type.
Set the shipping coverage, the coupon settings, and the reward description described below.
Click Save.
Shipping coverage
Shipping coverage controls where the offer applies and which shipping rates it will pay for.
All countries — every referred friend gets free shipping, wherever the order ships to.
Selected countries — only friends shipping to the countries you choose get free shipping. Friends elsewhere pay your normal rates.
You can also tick Exclude shipping rates over a certain amount and enter a value.
Important — the exclusion is all-or-nothing, not a partial subsidy. As the setting itself says: "An order whose shipping rate is above this amount does not get free shipping." If the friend's shipping rate comes in above your amount, they pay the full rate — the shipping isn't discounted down to the amount you set. Set it to the highest shipping rate you're willing to cover, and expect express or long-haul orders above that line to pay in full.
Coupon settings and limits
Reward description — the wording friends see, completing the sentence "Give friends…". For example, "free shipping on your first order".
Minimum order requirements — leave as No minimum requirements, or require a minimum purchase amount (in your store currency) or a minimum quantity of items before the free shipping applies.
Coupon expiry — No expiry, or Expires after X days from issue, where you set the number of days.
Combinations — choose whether the free shipping coupon can stack with your Product discounts and Order discounts at checkout.
Subscription apps — tick Enable coupon for subscription apps if referred friends should be able to use the offer on subscription products. See [Shopify] Using coupon on products managed by subscription apps.
Note: the free shipping friend offer has two expiry options, not three. The Expires at specific date option available on an amount off coupon isn't offered for the free shipping friend offer — see Friend offer types. If you need every friend's offer to end on the same day, use an amount off coupon instead.
Free shipping applies to the whole order's delivery cost, so there's no product or collection targeting on this offer type — you can't limit free shipping to selected products the way you can with an amount off coupon.
Reward advocates or affiliates with free shipping
On Shopify referral and affiliate campaigns, Free shipping coupon is a main reward for successful referrals. ReferralCandy creates the earned reward code in Shopify Discounts so the advocate or affiliate can use it for free shipping on their next order.
Open your Shopify campaign. In Set rewards, open Advocate reward or Affiliate reward, then edit the reward tier.
Under Main reward, select Free shipping coupon.
Choose All countries or Selected countries. If you tick Exclude shipping rates over a certain amount, orders above that rate get no free shipping; the setting does not partially cover the shipping charge.
Enter a Reward description. Set any Minimum order requirements. Under Coupon expiry, choose from the options shown in the editor.
Under Combinations, choose whether to allow Product discounts and Order discounts. If the reward should apply to subscription products, tick Enable coupon for subscription apps.
Click Save.
Free shipping coupon FAQ
What happens if the friend's shipping costs more than the amount I set?
What happens if the friend's shipping costs more than the amount I set?
If you've ticked Exclude shipping rates over a certain amount and the friend's shipping rate comes in above that amount, the order gets no free shipping at all. The friend pays their full shipping cost — the shipping isn't discounted down to the amount you set, it's either free or full price. If you'd rather every order gets free shipping, leave the exclusion unticked, or set the amount high enough to include your normal rates.
Can I give advocates free shipping as their reward?
Can I give advocates free shipping as their reward?
Yes. On Shopify, you can choose Free shipping coupon as the main reward for advocates or affiliates who make successful referrals. Set it separately from the friend offer using the earned-reward setup above. For the other options, see Advocate reward types.
Can the free shipping coupon be combined with my other discounts?
Can the free shipping coupon be combined with my other discounts?
The free shipping coupon can be combined with your Product discounts and Order discounts if you tick those options under Combinations. It can't be combined with another shipping discount — Shopify doesn't allow two shipping discounts on one order, so that option isn't offered. Test a few combinations before you launch: stacked discounts can add up to more than you intended.
Does the free shipping friend offer expire?
Does the free shipping friend offer expire?
The free shipping friend offer expires only if you choose Expires after X days from issue and set a number of days — otherwise it has no expiry. The free shipping friend offer does not offer the Expires at specific date option that an amount off friend offer has.
Is free shipping available on platforms other than Shopify?
Is free shipping available on platforms other than Shopify?
Free shipping isn't offered as a friend offer type outside Shopify. For what each platform offers, see Friend offer types.