Gift with purchase, and where to set the threshold

A gift with purchase is a free product a store adds to any order above a set value. For the store, it is usually a cheaper offer than a store-wide discount: it only costs you on the orders that cross the line, and it pushes the rest to spend more. The result depends on one number, the threshold, and it should sit above your average order.

This is how we set it up with the stores we run: the sum that decides the threshold, which gift to choose, how to tell the list and how to build it in Shopify.

Why a gift costs you less than a discount

A store-wide discount is paid by every order, including the ones that were going to happen anyway. A gift is paid only by the orders that reach the threshold, and its cost is what the gift costs you, not what it is worth to the customer.

Run both through the same sum we use in our Black Friday email plan: margin ÷ (margin − discount) tells you how much more you need to sell to earn the same as without the offer.

Take a store with a 60% margin and an $80 average order.

• 20% off everything. 60 ÷ (60 − 20) = 1.5. You need to sell 50% more to stand still.
• A gift that costs you $6, from $100. On a $100 order the gift is 6% of the sale. 60 ÷ (60 − 6) = 1.11. You need to sell 11% more, and only on the orders that qualify.

Now look at one customer who would have spent $80. Without the offer you keep $48. If the gift moves her to $100, you keep $60 minus the $6 gift, so $54. Her order is worth more to you than before the offer. With 20% off the same $100 order you would keep $40.

Set the threshold above your average order

The threshold is where most stores get it wrong. Too low and you give the gift to orders that would have reached it anyway. Too high and nobody tries.

1. Start from your average order. Use the last three months, leaving out days with big promotions that distort it.
2. Put the threshold one small product above it. The distance should be about the price of something people add without thinking. With an $80 average order and $20 accessories, that is $100, and a round figure helps.
3. Check the gap against your catalog. The difference between the average order and the threshold, $20 here, should be the price of something people add without thinking: a refill, a small accessory, a second unit. If nothing in the catalog fills that gap, the threshold is in the wrong place.
4. Count the orders already above it. Export your orders and see how many already reach $100. Those orders get the gift without changing anything. If they are a large share, move the threshold up.

If your margin is lower, redo the sum with your own numbers before you choose the gift. The formula stays the same; only the inputs change.

Choose a gift that costs little and is worth a lot

The best gift has a big gap between what it costs you and what the customer thinks it is worth. That usually means:

• Something from your own catalog, in a small or travel size. It is cheap to make, it carries your brand and it gets people to try a product they did not buy.
• Something useful with what they bought. A case, a pouch, a refill. It makes the main purchase better.
• Something only available as a gift. If it cannot be bought, it has no visible price and nobody compares it.

Avoid gifts from old stock nobody wanted. The customer notices, and the gift ends up saying more about your warehouse than about your brand. And write the conditions next to the offer, every time: until stock runs out, which countries, which dates. It is one of the rules we never skip.

Gift, discount or free shipping

The three offers do different jobs. This is how we compare them before choosing.

You can run the gift and free shipping at the same time, at different thresholds. What we do not do is stack a gift on top of a store-wide discount without checking the margin of an order that gets both.

Tell the list the exact amount

The offer only works if people know the number before they reach the cart.

• The amount goes in the subject line. "A free travel set with orders over $100" says the offer, the gift and the threshold in one line. "A gift for you" says nothing.
• Show the gift in the email. A photo of the actual gift, with what it is and its size. People do not chase a gift they cannot picture.
• One call to action, to the products that close the gap, not to the home page.
• Use the abandoned cart flow. In Klaviyo, a flow split can use data from the event that triggered the flow, so you can split on the cart's value. Anyone whose cart is a little short of the threshold gets an email that says how much is missing and suggests a product at that price. Our abandoned cart guide covers the rest of that flow.

How to set it up in Shopify

Shopify builds a gift with purchase with a Buy X get Y discount. These are the steps from its help center.

1. Go to Discounts in your Shopify admin and click Create discount.
2. Choose Buy X get Y and, under Method, Automatic discount, so nobody needs a code.
3. In Customer buys, choose Minimum purchase amount and enter the threshold.
4. In Customer gets, choose the gift product, quantity 1, and set the discount to Free.
5. Check Set the maximum number of uses per order and enter 1.
6. Set the dates, the eligible customers or markets, and the combinations with your other discounts. Save.

One detail decides whether the offer works. Shopify says the free item "is never automatically added to the cart". The customer has to add the gift themselves. Say so in the email, on the product page and in the cart, or use an app that adds it. If you do neither, customers who qualify will pay without the gift and write to you afterwards.

Shopify also allows a maximum of 25 active automatic discounts, app discounts included. In a busy season with several offers live, check the list before you add another.

The mistakes we see most often

• A threshold below the average order. Most orders get the gift without changing anything. It is a discount with a different name.
• The gift is never added. The customer qualifies, does not add it and gets nothing. See the note above.
• No stock limit. The gift runs out on the second day and the emails keep promising it. "Until stock runs out" goes in every email.
• Stacked offers. Gift plus store-wide discount plus free shipping on the same order. Do the sum before you combine them.
• A gift every month. Like discounts, if it is always there, it stops being a reason to buy now.

Sources

Checked on October 5, 2026.

• Shopify Help Center: Buy X get Y discounts
• Shopify Help Center: automatic discounts
• Shopify Help Center: free shipping discounts
• Klaviyo Help Center: getting started with flows