Free shipping coupon is a Shopify-only friend offer type.
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.
Important: Free shipping is a friend offer — what the referred friend gets. It isn't available as an advocate or affiliate reward. If you want to reward the advocate as well, set their reward separately under Advocate reward; 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 coupon has two expiry options, not three. The Expires at specific date option available on an amount off coupon isn't offered for free shipping — 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.
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?
Not currently. Free shipping is available as a friend offer only. Advocate and affiliate rewards use the other reward types — an amount off coupon, Buy X Get Y, cash, store credits, or a custom reward you fulfill yourself. 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 coupon expire?
Does the free shipping coupon expire?
The free shipping coupon expires only if you choose Expires after X days from issue and set a number of days — otherwise it has no expiry. Free shipping doesn't offer the Expires at specific date option that an amount off coupon has.
Can a referred friend use the free shipping offer more than once?
Can a referred friend use the free shipping offer more than once?
No. Like every friend offer, free shipping is a new-customer incentive — each referred friend redeems it once, on their first purchase. See Friend offer types for how friend offers work across all the offer types.
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.