Threshold above AOV
Below it, you are gifting orders you already had.
Integrations / Promotions & free gifts
How to Set Up Free Gift and BOGO Offers on Shopify with BOGOS
A free gift above a spend threshold is one of the few promotions that lifts average order value instead of just discounting it. It is also easy to run at a loss without noticing.
- Steps8
- Time1 hr
- DifficultyNo code required
WHY THIS MATTERS
Shopify's native discounts do not cover gift-with-purchase or tiered free gifts cleanly, which is why BOGOS is on our stack. The strategic reason to prefer a gift over a percentage discount is simple: a gift costs you its cost price, while a 15% discount costs you 15% of revenue on every item in the basket — and a gift gives customers a reason to add rather than a reason to wait for the next sale. The failure mode is running out of the gift mid-campaign. Set the threshold with the AOV calculator.
Before you start
- A Shopify store
- Gift stock you can actually commit
- Your cost price on the gift item
- Your current average order value
Step by step
The same sequence we follow on client stores. Do them in order — several of the later steps depend on decisions made in the earlier ones.
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Pick a gift with low cost and high perceived value
A travel size, a sample, an accessory, branded packaging. The gap between what it costs you and what it looks worth is the entire economics of the promotion.
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Set the threshold above your current AOV
Set it just above where your average order lands so the gift prompts one more item. Set it below and you are giving gifts away on orders that were already happening — run the number in the AOV calculator.
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Install BOGOS and build the offer
Install the app and configure the rule: buy X get Y, spend-threshold gift, or a tiered ladder of gifts. Start with one rule. Stacked overlapping rules are hard to reason about and harder to explain to a customer.
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Cap the inventory you commit
Set a stock limit on the gift so the promotion cannot outrun supply. Running out mid-campaign means either disappointing customers who qualified or eating expedited restock costs.
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Show progress in the cart
Display how far the customer is from qualifying, in the cart drawer, on every page. A gift nobody knows they are close to earning changes nothing about their behaviour.
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Decide how it interacts with other discounts
Whether the gift stacks with a sale, an affiliate code, or a loyalty reward. Stacking is where promotions become genuinely unprofitable — check it against affiliate program rules and your loyalty rules.
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Check the gift ships correctly
Confirm the gift appears on the packing slip at zero value and that it does not push the parcel into a higher shipping weight band. A gift that costs you two dollars and five dollars of extra shipping is not a cheap gift.
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Set an end date and measure against baseline
Give the promotion a clear end, then compare AOV and margin per order against the period before it — not against your hopes for it.
What we do differently
The three things that separate a working setup from a default one — drawn from the stores we ship, not from the documentation.
Cap the gift inventory
Running out mid-promotion is the most common way this goes wrong.
Check the shipping weight
Free gifts that tip a parcel into the next band cost more than they look.
The app in this guide
BOGOS
Would rather we just did it?
We set this up on every store we build, and we do it as standalone work too. Start with a free audit — we will tell you what is worth changing before you spend anything.
Frequently Asked
Questions
What clients ask us about this integration before we set it up.
Free gift or percentage discount?
A gift usually protects margin better and gives shoppers a reason to add an item rather than wait for a sale. A percentage discount is simpler and better when you need to move specific stock.
Can I run BOGO on Shopify without an app?
Native Shopify discounts cover some buy-X-get-Y cases. Spend-threshold gifts, tiered gifts, and gift-selection flows generally still need an app.
Will a free gift attract the wrong customers?
If the threshold is well above your AOV and the gift fits the brand, it rewards your better customers. A low threshold on a generic gift attracts one-time bargain hunters.
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