Short answer: Shopify can make a product free when a customer buys something else, using a Buy X Get Y discount. It cannot put that product in the cart for them. To have the gift added automatically, use a gift app that watches every cart, or send customers a link that builds the cart with the gift already in it.
This playbook covers all three routes, when each fits, and how to set thresholds and tiers.
The three ways to do it
| Shopify Buy X Get Y | Gift-with-purchase app | A link with the gift on it | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gift added to the cart for the customer | No | Yes | Yes |
| Works for every shopper on the store | Yes | Yes | Only those who arrive through the link |
| Cost | Included in Shopify | Monthly app fee | Monthly app fee |
| Needs a code | Optional | No | No |
| Best for | A simple storewide offer | An always-on storewide gift | A campaign sent to a chosen audience |
1. Shopify’s built-in Buy X Get Y
In your Shopify admin, go to Discounts, create a discount and choose Buy X Get Y. Set what the customer has to buy, set the “get” item to 100% off, and choose whether it is a code or applies automatically.
The catch is stated in Shopify’s documentation: “Customers must add all items to their cart manually. The free or discounted ‘get’ item is never automatically added to the cart.” A customer who does not notice the offer, or does not go looking for the gift product, pays full price and gets nothing extra.
Use it when the offer is simple, you can tell every shopper about it on the store itself, and you do not want another app.
2. A gift-with-purchase app
Apps in the Shopify App Store add the gift to the cart when it qualifies, for every shopper on your store. This is the right tool for a standing offer such as “free tote on orders over $75” that should apply no matter how someone arrived.
3. A link with the gift on it
A checkout link builds the cart before the customer sees it. With Checkout Links, you attach a free gift to the link, and anyone who opens the link gets the gift in their cart at no charge once the cart meets your condition.
This is the right tool when the gift is for a particular audience: an email segment, an influencer’s followers, people who scan a code on your packaging, customers you are winning back. Shoppers who come to the store another way do not get it. That is a limit if you want a storewide offer and the point if you want a targeted one.
The rest of this playbook describes the link route, as documented in the promotions help article.
Set it up on a link
- Open a link in Checkout Links, or create one, and add the products the customer is buying.
- Turn on Promotions.
- Under Conditions, choose Cart total or Cart quantity and set the minimum. Leave the conditions empty if every order through the link should get the gift.
- Click Add discount, choose Free gift and pick the product.
- Save, and send the link.
Promotions need the Checkout Links discount function switched on in the app’s settings. It is a one-time step.
Choosing the threshold
A gift with no condition is a thank-you. A gift with a threshold is a reason to add something to the cart. Both are useful, and they do different jobs.
- To raise order value, set the threshold a little above what customers on this list usually spend. Look at your own average order value for that audience and go one step higher.
- To move a second unit, use an item count: “add a second bag, get the grinder brush free”.
- To reward without conditions, leave the threshold off. This suits win-backs, apology links and loyal customers.
A condition can be a minimum (“at least $50”) or a range (“between $50 and $99”). The range matters once you add tiers.
Tiers: a better gift for a bigger cart
Add one promotion per level, each with its own gift.
| Cart total | Gift |
|---|---|
| $50 or more | Sample sachet |
| $100 or more | Travel tin |
| $150 or more | Full-size bag |
One rule to know before you build this: gifts stack. A $160 cart matches all three levels and receives all three gifts. That can be exactly what you want. If you would rather give one gift per order, set each level as a range (“$50 to $99”, “$100 to $149”, “$150 or more”) so only one applies.
Percentage and fixed discounts behave differently: when several match, the customer gets the single largest one, not the sum.
Letting the customer choose
If the gift product has variants, such as a shade or a size, the customer picks one in the link’s popup before checkout. Add a popup to the link for this. Without variants there is nothing to choose and the link can go straight to checkout.
Picking the gift
- Low cost to you, real value to them. Samples, travel sizes, accessories and past-season stock all work.
- Related to what they are buying. A gift that introduces your next product earns more than a generic one.
- Enough stock. Count the people you are sending to and assume a healthy share will qualify.
- Light to ship. A heavy gift can cost more in postage than it earns.
Gift or discount?
Work it out with your own numbers. A gift that retails for $20 but costs you $4 gives the customer $20 of perceived value for $4. A 20% discount on a $100 order costs you $20 of revenue.
A gift also leaves your prices alone, so customers do not learn to wait for a sale. A discount is simpler, needs no stock, and suits a customer who wants nothing extra. Many campaigns use both: a small discount for everyone and a gift at a threshold.
Mistakes worth avoiding
- Relying on Buy X Get Y without telling anyone. If the customer has to add the gift, say so on the product page, in the cart and in the email.
- No end date. Put an end time or a usage limit on the link so it stops with the campaign.
- Forgetting that gifts stack. Check your top tier with a test order before sending.
- A gift nobody wants. If it would not sell on its own, it will not move the order either.
- Not testing. Open the link, build a cart on each side of the threshold, and confirm the gift appears and disappears as it should.
Measuring it
Each link reports its clicks, orders and revenue. For a threshold gift, the number to watch is the share of orders that reached the threshold and the average order value against a similar send without the gift. Count the cost of the gifts and their shipping before calling it a win.
Further reading
- Promotions on a link: conditions, discount types and how matching promotions combine.
- How to set up tiered discounts on Shopify
- How to create a BOGO deal on Shopify without discount codes
- The Shopify discount codes playbook
- The influencer gifting playbook, for gifts sent to creators.
