Shipping policies help to reduce cart abandonments and customer service enquiries, but what makes a great shipping policy?
A shipping policy is a document that outlines the details of how goods are shipped to the end customer. They are typically linked to throughout product listings and include information such as domestic shipping costs, international shipping locations and costs, delivery options, speed of dispatch and returns.
A shipping policy is not required by law but is common practice and is expected by most consumers. Unclear shipping costs is one of the top causes of cart abandonment.
The purpose of a shipping policy is to let your customers know what to expect once they have placed an order.
A good shipping policy will answer common customer service questions such as: How much is delivery? When will my order arrive? Do you ship to my location? Do you offer next day delivery? My order hasn’t arrived yet, should I be concerned?
This gives customers confidence in your service, sets their expectations and also allows you to reduce customer service queries.
How you present your shipping policy is up to you. Some brands will have a dropdown within the listings, others may have a full written policy hosted on a separate page displayed as a FAQs, a table, dropdown by country or including live information. Below is just one example you could use to display your shipping options.
How soon will my items be dispatched?
We aim to dispatch all orders within 24hours. In the instance of high order volumes this may be delayed.
UK Shipping
Standard Domestic Shipping (UK)
Royal Mail 48hr tracked delivery – £X*
Estimated delivery time: 2-3 days
Free on orders over £XX
Express Domestic Shipping (UK)
Royal Mail 24hr Tracked delivery – £ X*
Estimated delivery time – 1-2 days
*Highlands (postcodes: IV, HS, KA27-28, KW, PA20-49, PA60-78, PH17- 26, PH30-44, PH49-50, ZE), Northern Ireland, Channel Islands, Isle of man and Isle of wight are subject to an additional surcharge of £7.21.
International shipping
Shipping to the EU (€x): 5-7 days
Shipping to the rest of the world ($X): 7-14 days
*all international orders are shipped from the UK with taxes paid.
Exclusions:
We do not currently ship to: XXXXXX
ASOS have a dedicated page for shipping and returns that can be personalised to the region of the customer and provides up to date information on expected delivery dates (in this example, 18th July 2024, 3 later). This makes it very clear to the customer that they are seeing the right information for them and enables them to quickly understand when their order should arrive, the delivery options, how much it will cost and how much they need to spend to get free shipping.
Gymshark have dedicated pages for each destination they ship to, which can be selected via a dropdown menu. The policy clearly states the cost, free delivery threshold, timeline and carriers used to be completely transparent with their customers. They have also located this policy within their support pages so customers can see where they track orders or raise a ticket with customer success teams, helping customers feel even more comfortable placing an order.
If you have any sales or product launches that may result in delays as you process the higher volume or orders, it is a good idea to update your shipping policy to reflect this, to keep your customers informed and avoid any unnecessary enquiries.
Likewise, if your carrier is facing any disruption such as strike action, extreme weather or very high volumes that may lead to them taking longer to transport the goods, you will want to keep an eye on this and let your customers know. This is particularly important in the run up to seasonal events and occasions such as Black Friday, Fathers Day and Christmas where customers may need goods by a particular date and online shopping is at an all time high.
If you change courier, fulfilment provider or any other factor that effects your dispatch or shipping times it is a good idea to also update this in the policy.
It is common practice to link to your shipping policy within the product listings and in the website footer as a minimum. This ensures that it is easy to locate any time during the buying journey without leaving the listings and reducing the risk of them abandoning their basket. It may be a good idea to also reference this in your support pages to reduce tickets with this frequently asked for information.
If you have a banner advertising a free shipping threshold, it is also a good idea to link to the policy here as a way to express the terms and conditions of the offer.
No it is not essential to disclose this information. So long as the shipping time and cost are accurate is it not essential to disclose how this order was processed. This allows you to change carrier, fulfilment partner and warehouse locations without unnecessary administration, such as if you decide to split orders across a number of locations and partners.
Want to add more shipping options to your policy? Speak to one of our experts today about our network of carriers.
