Email Popup Offers: 10% Off, Free Shipping or a Gift?

The right email popup discount is the one your margin can carry on a first order and your customers actually want. For most Shopify stores that means one of three offers: a percentage off (usually 10%), free shipping, or a free gift. Each one costs you something different per order, so compare them in dollars before you pick.

This post compares the three offers side by side, shows how to work out what each one costs you, and explains how to set the code up in Shopify and in your popup. For the full popup setup, triggers and consent rules, see our email popup guide for Shopify.

Which welcome discount should your email popup offer?

Start from what makes your visitors hesitate. If they hesitate on price, a discount helps. If they hesitate at the shipping line, free shipping speaks to that directly. If your products are similar to what others sell, a gift can make your store the one they remember.

All four are standard Shopify discount codes. Shopify lets you limit the total number of uses, limit each customer to one use, require a minimum order amount, set active dates and restrict the code to certain products or collections (Shopify Help Center). Those limits matter more than the offer itself, as you’ll see below.

How do you work out what each offer costs you?

Put each offer in dollars per first order. You need three numbers from your own store: your typical first order value, your gross margin, and what you charge for shipping.

Here is a worked example with made-up numbers. Say your typical first order is $60, your gross margin is 50% (so $30 of profit before marketing), and you charge $7 for standard shipping.

Three things stand out in this example:

• Percentage offers scale with the order. 10% off is cheap on small orders and expensive on big ones.
• Free shipping and gifts are flat costs. They cost the same on a small or large order, so they can be cheaper on big baskets.
• The headline number is not the cost. “Free shipping” can sound bigger than “10% off” and still cost you about the same.

Run the same table with your real numbers. If an offer leaves too little profit on a first order, pick a smaller offer or add a minimum purchase. Our bulk discount margin math post walks through the same kind of check for quantity discounts.

When is a 10 percent off popup the right choice?

A 10 percent off popup is the default for a reason: everyone understands it, it works on every product, and you can create it in a minute. The Sam FOMO email popup template even starts with “Get 10% Off Your First Order” and a sample code, which you then replace with your own.

It fits well when:

• Your products sit in a mid price range, so 10% is a noticeable but affordable amount.
• Your margins are healthy enough to absorb it on most first orders.
• You don’t want to deal with shipping zones or gift stock.

Watch out for two things. First, on high-ticket items 10% can cost a lot, so a fixed amount with a minimum keeps the cost predictable. Second, a percentage welcome code teaches some shoppers to expect a discount. If that worries you, a gift or free shipping keeps your prices intact.

When does free shipping beat a percentage off?

Free shipping makes sense when the shipping line is where people leave. If your shipping fee is large compared with your product prices, removing it can feel like a bigger offer than 10% off.

Shopify’s free shipping discount gives you the controls to keep the cost in check (Shopify Help Center):

• Countries: apply it everywhere or only to the countries you choose. Leaving out expensive destinations protects your margin.
• Exclude shipping rates over a certain amount: so the code covers standard shipping but not an express rate.
• Minimum purchase: a minimum amount or a minimum number of items. Shopify notes the minimum amount counts product prices only.

If you already run a free shipping threshold for everyone, a welcome code for free shipping adds little. In that case, offer a percentage or a gift instead, and keep the threshold visible in a bar. Our post on free shipping bar thresholds shows how to set that number.

When does a free gift make sense?

A free gift works when you have a low-cost item your customers like: a sample size, an accessory, a refill or a small extra. It costs you the item, not a share of the order, and it doesn’t lower your prices.

In Shopify you build it as a Buy X Get Y discount code. In the “At a discounted value” section you choose Free for the gift item (Shopify Help Center). Two details from Shopify’s docs shape how you write the popup:

• The gift is not added to the cart for the customer. Shopify says the free “get” item “is never automatically added to the cart.” Your popup and thank-you message must say which item to add.
• The gift uses real stock. If the gift item sells out, it shows as sold out and the discount can’t be used. Keep enough stock, or pause the popup.

Be careful with the word “free.” The FTC’s guide on free offers says conditions should be stated “clearly and conspicuously at the outset of the offer,” and that shoppers can expect the seller not to recover the cost by raising the price of the item they must buy (16 CFR 251.1). So if the gift needs a minimum order, say so in the headline area, not in small print. And don’t raise prices to pay for the gift.

How do you set up the offer in Shopify and Sam FOMO?

Create the code in Shopify first, then show it in the popup. Here is the setup with Sam FOMO, our sales popup and social proof app, which is free to install and rated 4.6★ from 17 reviews on the Shopify App Store (Oct 2026).

1. Create the discount code in Shopify. In Discounts, create the type that matches your offer: amount off order, free shipping, or Buy X Get Y for a gift.
2. Set the limits. Turn on one use per customer, set a total usage limit, and add a minimum purchase if your math needs it. Add an end date if the offer is seasonal.
3. Create the popup. In Sam FOMO, open Popups and click Create popup. On Content & Design, write a headline that names the exact offer.
4. Attach the code. In Content, turn on Show coupon code. Choose Custom code to type the code, or Use Shopify Discounts code to pick one of your active Shopify codes from a list.
5. Write the After Submit message. This screen shows the code with a copy icon. For a gift, add one line that names the item to add to the cart.
6. Choose the trigger and pages. On Triggers & Placement, pick After delay, On scroll or On exit intent (desktop only), then choose devices and pages under Targeting.
7. Save and test. Click Save, sign up in a private window and use the code at checkout to confirm the discount applies.

Every subscriber sees the same code, so the limits from step 2 are your protection against the code spreading on coupon sites. Sign-ups appear under Popups > Subscribers, where you can export a CSV or send them to a Klaviyo list. All screens are in the email popup user guide.

If you’d rather not interrupt anyone, the same code can sit in a promo bar instead. The promo bar guide shows how to add a coupon code and button to a bar at the top or bottom of the page.

How should the popup copy change for each offer?

Name the offer in the headline, state any condition right under it, and make the button repeat the benefit.

Keep it honest. A welcome code that never ends doesn’t need “Today only.” Our exit-intent popup examples include more copy you can adapt, and the social proof guide covers how a popup fits with real recent sales and stock signals.

How do you test which offer works for your store?

Change one thing at a time and compare similar periods. A sale week tells you nothing about a quiet week.

1. Run one offer for a few weeks. Note the sign-ups under Popups > Subscribers.
2. Check code use. Shopify’s sales by discount report shows how many orders used each code.
3. Check profit, not only orders. Multiply code orders by the cost per order from your table. A bigger offer can bring more orders and less profit.
4. Watch list quality. Track opens and unsubscribes on your welcome emails. A large discount can attract people who only want the code.
5. Swap the offer and repeat. Keep the same headline style, trigger and pages, so the offer is the only change.

If none of the offers bring sign-ups, the problem may be the timing or the pages, not the discount. Try a different trigger before you raise the offer.