Do you have an e-commerce site? If so, do you offer “free shipping?” Do you use this benefit in your pay per click advertising?

While conducting some research for a couple of potential e-commerce PPC clients, I noticed the extensive use of “Free Shipping!” in the pay per click ad copy of many of the PPC competitors for that industry. It makes sense, of course, because the use of “free” in your ad copy can sometimes lead to increased click-through rates.

What I found interesting about these two industries, though, is that when you clicked through to the landing pages, you discovered that there were important caveats to the “free shipping” as claimed in the paid search ad copy. Specifically, you found the shipping was only free if you spent over a specific amount of money. While the ad copy in all of the pay per click ads stated “Free Shipping!,” with no conditions or clarifiers, the landing pages specified that you only received the free shipping if you spent over $75, $99, $100 or other amounts.

Is this misleading advertising? Well, it probably depends upon who you ask. So, I thought I’d ask my contacts at Google AdWords since these examples were in their PPC Network and see if this particular example was against Google’s Editorial Guidelines.

Not surprisingly, the response I received from Google AdWords was that they were okay with this scenario so long as the paid search advertiser stated on their site, “Free Shipping on Orders Over $99.” I wasn’t surprised because Google understands the use of “Free Shipping” generates more clicks for their advertisers. More clicks equates to more revenue for Google. In addition, if a visitor clicks on an advertisement because they see “Free Shipping,” only to discover the “free” is conditional, they may very well hit the back button and return to the search results to click on another paid search ad. This is not a bad result for Google either because it generates even more revenue.

Let’s go back to the original question. Is the advertising misleading? Personally, I think it is a perfect example of a “half-truth” used by our politicians and advertisers for years. If I were conducting the search and clicked on a pay per click ad because it said “Free Shipping,” only to later find on the site the shipping was only free if I purchased above a specific amount, I’d click the back button and go to the next pay per click ad. Trust is a primary consideration to me when purchasing online and the use of misleading advertising is certainly an indicator that a site/company cannot be trusted.

Now, that’s just my personal opinion. Many potential buyers may experience the exact same scenario and not have any issue whatsoever. That’s why I think it would certainly be something that would need to be tested for your particular audience. You may find that it has little impact on your conversion rate or it could impact your conversion a great deal. As always, the best way to resolve any question is to test and see what happens.

I’ve noticed that large, well-known brands like Amazon use the ad copy, “Free Shipping on Most Orders.” To me, this is much better ad copy and you have much less chance of diminishing visitors’ trust.