Accept Tips at Checkout: Get Rewarded by Happy Customers

The ability to add tips to orders is now available for all Ecwid E-commerce users around the world. Let your happy customers express their appreciation and reward you for the positive experience with your brand. Set up an order percentage or an absolute amount.

Give your loyal customers another way to say thank you.

Available on Venture, Business, and Unlimited. Upgrade.

Accepting tips has been one of the most requested features, especially in the restaurant business niche. Due to the pandemic, the food industry was devastated, and the only chance for survival was to go online.

Some could make it, and some couldn’t. But those who adapted witnessed a miracle: restaurants could thrive with almost zero reservations. Even in hysteria driven by global disease, people didn’t stop eating. They only changed the way of interaction.

Since the pandemic started, the gross merchandise value (GMV) across Ecwid stores related to the restaurant niche has grown by 6.5 times.

To endorse businesses entering a digital phase of their lifecycle, we developed a feature related to the restaurant business — Tipping feature.

How Tipping Works in Ecwid E-commerce

It’s the old way of expressing gratitude but in the digital form. In offline life, giving tips is a common practice or sometimes a part of the culture. If your business is a restaurant, delivery service, or even a non-profit organization, collecting tips at checkout is the tool that will return the income taken away by COVID-19.

With this update, you can display tipping options directly on the checkout page. The customer can choose one of the variants (“No tips” is also an option) and complete the checkout process.

Tips are calculated and displayed automatically in the order details and on the option buttons. The customer will know exactly how much they are going to spend. It’s simple and transparent.

If you choose to accept tips as a percentage of the total order, tips will be calculated as the percent of order cost before applying the tax.

The tips themselves are not subject to tax calculation on the Ecwid side. For example, if a customer pays $10 in tips, they will pay $10, not $11 or $12. Make sure you operate under your local financial regulations in this context.

After placing the order, both a customer and a merchant will see the tips as separate entities in the order details. Go to Admin → Orders → Choose the order.

Setting Up Tipping in Ecwid

To set up tipping options in your online store:

1. From your Ecwid admin, go to Settings → General → Cart & Checkout.
2. Scroll down to the bottom to the Tips and gratuity section.
3. Click the toggle next to the Tipping option at checkout to enable tips.
4. To set up the tips section, click Tip settings.
5. (Optional) Edit the title and the description section.
6. In the Tip amounts section, select the tip calculation: fixed amounts or percentage of the order total.
7. Add tip amounts that customers will be able to choose from at checkout. Zero tips are also an option.
8. Save the changes.

That’s it! Now when the tipping option is enabled, customers can add tips to orders.

4 Ideas How You Can Use Tipping

Besides the most obvious way, there are some hidden, or smart ones.

#1 Accept tips the classic way

If you’re in a restaurant or delivery business, giving tips is a common practice. People are used to it. Adding an option to appreciate the brand for being awesome is an excellent way to generate extra income from loyal customers.

What is the ideal tip percentage? People keep discussing it on the Internet, but the median of 15-20 percent, according to Qantas research, seems to be the most common option which buyers are used to, at least in the US.

Collected tips may become your stash for a rainy day or a well-deserved gift for your hardworking staff. Split the tips, reward your employees, and make their life a little better. That is a classic purpose of tipping, after all.

#2 Take tips in exchange for extra benefit

People love feeling special and are ready to pay for individual treatment or bonuses. You just need to explore their needs and offer something valuable. What could that be?

• Express delivery. Take tips for super fast delivery: the same day, in 2 hours, in 30 minutes.
• A bonus. In essence, it’s cross-selling: offer another unit or related product for a lower price. For example: if you sell burgers and french fries, give your customers an option to order an additional unit in exchange for a tip that is lower than a regular unit cost.
• A raffle. Give away free stuff to those who tip. Every tip gives a chance to win a prize: more tips — more chances.

Note, that this way of use will require manual tips tracking. Don’t forget to check the order details if you offer extra service for tips.

#3 Take tips and crowdfund

Sometimes, to ask is not a shame. People can be generous if you’re honest with them. If you need money to help your business survive, order new equipment or make repairs, just say it! Those who know you and your business will eagerly respond.

#4 Take tips as donations

Tipping is also an excellent way to collect donations for non-profit organizations. It’s reliable and secure.

You don’t need to be a non-profit to collect donations. You can become an advocate. Help save children on the other side of the planet or try solving your own neighborhood’s local problems — the choice is yours. Sadly, this way, you won’t get money profit. But reputation, loyalty, and community support will be your primary revenue.

Tipping is not the only Ecwid feature that helps local businesses like restaurants, cafes, delivery services to get over the COVID-19 crisis, and continue the competition. Check out the new Local Delivery feature that lets you manage the delivery zones and rates in one place.

Changing Wording for Tipping Options

Regardless of the use case, you should explain to customers how tipping helps your business. T do that, you can edit the texts that appear at checkout: the title and the description. Specify your goal: collecting tips, collecting donations for a charity, or something else.

To change the wording for tipping options:

1. From your Ecwid admin, go to Settings → General → Cart & Checkout.
2. Scroll down to the bottom to the Tips and gratuity section.
3. Click Tip settings.
4. In the Tip wording section, edit the title and the description.
5. Save the changes.

Customers will see the text that you specified at checkout when selecting tips.

Let your customers say THANK YOU!

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