Intuitive Shipping gives you the ability to customize the shipping step of your customer's purchasing journey by letting you control how shipping costs are calculated and displayed at checkout. It expands on Shopify’s built-in shipping options, giving you all the tools you need to charge your customers the right price for shipping.
Using our extensive, rules-based conditions system, you determine when and why shipping costs are displayed to customers. You may have product-based rates, or you may have different shipping costs for retail or wholesale customers. Maybe you need to calculate shipping using different criteria like product weight or the number of items in the cart. Or, perhaps you offer free shipping to customers who live in certain postal codes. Intuitive Shipping can help you manage virtually any shipping scenario imaginable from the simplest to the most complex. And with our SmartBoxing™ packing algorithm, you can take the guesswork out of which packages are required to fulfill an order.
If you have questions, check out our self-serve FAQ page. If need assistance at any time, please submit a ticket. We’re here to help you!
CONTENTS
Getting Started
After installing Intuitive Shipping from the Shopify App Store, you’ll be taken through the initial onboarding and setup process which takes just a few moments. Once the app is installed, we’ll walk you through the initial onboarding process.
During the onboarding process, you’ll be able to import your Shopify shipping zone and shipping origin location settings, if desired. And you’ll be able to configure some of the basic settings – things like communication settings, and your preferred units for dimensions, weight and distance.
Before you start setting things up, you’ll have an opportunity to learn more about Intuitive Shipping.
After clicking Continue to Intuitive Shipping, you’ll be taken to the Get Started page in the app.
Each time you return to Intuitive Shipping, the Get started page will be your starting point.
Setup
On the Get Started page, we’ll guide you to some things that will help you get set up and running as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Schedule a free onboarding session
You’ve just installed Intuitive Shipping. Now what? Getting started can be the most challenging part of using new software, so we want to help! Click the Schedule button to book a one-on-one onboarding session with one of our team members. We’ll explain some of the basics and walk you through your initial setup so you feel more comfortable doing the rest.
Get configured quickly and confidently
If you feel good about doing things yourself, or if you simply don’t have time for an onboarding session, clicking Learn the basics will bring you back here, to the Help Center. Or, if you prefer, contact us to ask any questions you might have.
Create rate blending rules
Do you have multiple shipping rates that need to be blended together into a single cost at checkout? Configure your rate blending or learn more about this commonly used feature.
Start your free trial
When you first install Intuitive Shipping, you’re automatically in Setup & Testing Mode. As long as you’re in Setup & Testing mode, Intuitive Shipping is free to use for an unlimited time. Once you’ve finished setting up and testing your shipping rates, and you’re ready to start using them in a live setting with paying customers, you’ll need to select a billing plan to activate your free trial period.
Assign dimensions to your products
Product dimensions are required if you’re planning to use our SmartBoxing™ or volume-based packing algorithms for live rates. If you’re using one of our other packing algorithms, such as weight-based or quantity-based, product dimensions are optional to help ensure the correct package is being used. If you’re offering custom shipping rates, free shipping or local delivery, product dimensions are not required, except if you need them for product conditions in your Scenarios.
Manage ship from locations
Carrier rates and local delivery rates can be calculated using shipping origin locations that are different from your default Shopify location. Add a location – or multiple locations – to take advantage of this feature.
Feedback
We want to hear from you! Many of changes we introduced to the New version of Intuitive Shipping started with feedback from merchants like you. If there’s something that would make your Intuitive Shipping experience better, click the Provide feedback button at the top of the Get Started page and let us know!
The Basics
Here are some of the basic things you should know before using Intuitive Shipping.
Shopify Plans and Features
You can use Intuitive Shipping with any Shopify plan.
Shopify requires you to add their third-party carrier-calculated shipping rates feature to your plan in order to use any third-party rate calculator, including Intuitive Shipping. This feature is what allows us to access your checkout page.
Learn more about Shopify’s carrier-calculated shipping rates feature.
Shipping Profiles and Locations
Shopify’s Shipping Profiles feature gives merchants greater flexibility with their products and shipping rates. Because of how Shopify passes information about Profiles to our system, Intuitive Shipping is unable to see multiple Shipping Profiles. This can lead to shipping calculation errors.
We strongly recommend that you only use one (1) general Shipping Profile when using Intuitive Shipping.
If you’ve been using more than one Profile, that’s okay! Intuitive Shipping is powerful and robust. Our Scenarios do everything that Profiles were intended to do – and much more!
Shopify’s multi-origin Locations feature lets merchants set up multiple shipping origin locations to make it easier to manage inventory and local deliveries. While there are a few exceptions, we generally advise against using Locations with Intuitive Shipping as it may result in calculation errors such as duplicated or missing rates.
Because of how Shopify passes information about Locations to our system, we do not have visibility of inventory.
If you don’t require multiple Shopify Locations for inventory management, and you just need secondary locations to calculate live carrier rates and local delivery costs more accurately, consider using our built-in Locations feature.
Scenarios
To use Intuitive Shipping, you’ll need to have at least one Scenario. A Scenario is a set of conditions that determine when shipping methods are displayed at checkout.
While you do need to set up at least one Scenario, conditions are not required. If you don’t have any shipping rules, that’s okay! Since shipping methods are assigned to Scenarios, you’ll still need a Scenario to set up a shipping rates.
Shipping Methods
Shipping methods determine how shipping costs are calculated at checkout, so you'll also need at least one Shipping method assigned to a Scenario.
With Intuitive Shipping, you can set up a custom service shipping method for free shipping, flat rates or a table of pre-determined rates. Or, set up a parcel service or freight service shipping method for live rates from your preferred carrier. You can even set distance-based local delivery services or connect to our integrated partners.
Zones
Whether you ship locally, regionally, nationally or globally, zones limit the geographical regions your products can ship to. Intuitive Shipping Zones function just like Shopify Shipping Zones. During installation, we can even import your Shipping Zone settings, or you can start from scratch.
For even more control, use Intuitive Shipping’s sub-zone feature to either include or exclude certain shipping options based on a customer’s postal code or zip code.
Packages
Add all of your commonly used packages to Intuitive Shipping to ensure that live carrier service rates are calculated as accurately as possible. When setting up shipping methods, you can select any or all of your package sizes, and choose from a number of different packing algorithms, including SmartBoxing™, which uses the dimensions and weights of the products in the customer’s cart to select the most efficient package set for the order.
Activities
The Activity page displays the most recent shipping costs calculated by Intuitive Shipping. You can access any of your recent shipping calculation activities from the past 14 days.
Click View beside an activity to see details about the rate calculation, including the items in the cart, the package dimensions used to calculate live rates (if applicable), all of the shipping methods displayed to the customer at check, the calculation speed, and more.
Learn more about the Activity page.
Testing
Intuitive Shipping starts in Setup & Testing Mode. While in Setup & Testing Mode, Intuitive Shipping is completely free to use, and there is no time limit! You can take as much time as you need to get Intuitive Shipping set up exactly the way you want even before activating your free trial.
Learn more about testing your setup.
Once you’ve finished testing and you’re happy with your setup, activate your free trial by clicking the Select a billing plan button at the top of the Activity page.
Billing
Select a billing plan that’s right for you.
Our billing plans are based solely on the number of completed orders you process each month. We don’t limit access to any features or functionality, and we don’t penalize you for test calculations or abandoned carts after shipping has been calculated.
Each plan includes a per-order overage charge for each successfully completed order that exceeds your plan’s monthly limit. That means you can continue to use Intuitive Shipping even if you go over your plan limit.
Plan costs, and any accrued overage charges, are included on your monthly Shopify invoice.
Learn more about billing.
Get A Demo
Are you thinking about installing Intuitive Shipping, but aren’t sure if it’s right for you? Take an introductory tour of the app with one of our amazing team members!
Live Demo
You can also book a demo right from the app. Just click the Book a demo button on the app Support page.
Free Onboarding Session
If you’ve just installed Intuitive Shipping and you're ready to go, but you’re not really sure what do next, that’s ok! We can help you. Schedule a free onboarding session with one of our team members. We’ll give you a brief overview of the app, and teach you how to get your setup started based on your specific requirements.
Book your onboarding session right from the app. Just click the Schedule button near the top of the Get Started page.
Ready to set up Intuitive Shipping? Start here.