What it is
Shipping information is any clear statement of delivery cost and timing a shopper can see before they buy, on the product page or in the site footer: a price, a free-shipping threshold, an estimated arrival. It answers the next question after the price: what delivery will cost. When neither the page nor the wider site says, the shopper has to add the item to the cart and start checkout just to find out.
How common it is
Just over three in five audited stores (62%) show shipping information before checkout, on the product page or in the footer. The audit looks for it in those places, where a shopper sees it while deciding. It does not count the checkout delivery step, since that comes after the add-to-cart decision.
Why it costs you
Unexpected shipping cost is one of the most common reasons shoppers abandon a cart. The shopper has to commit, add to cart, enter an address, and reach the shipping step before the real total appears. If it is higher than they assumed, they leave, and now they leave from deep in checkout with the product already in the cart, the most expensive place to lose them. Showing the cost or a free-shipping line up front moves that moment forward, so the shopper decides once instead of twice.
Check it in 30 seconds
Open a product page: can you see a delivery cost, time, or free-shipping line without clicking into a tab? If not, check the footer. If the only way to learn what shipping costs is to start checkout, your shoppers find out at the same late point the ones who abandon do.
Read next: Ecommerce Design: Why Your Store’s Layout Decides Who Buys and Who Leaves
Run the free audit to see whether shoppers learn your delivery cost before the cart.