• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, December 7, 2009

In a discussion featuring college grads entering the workforce, one panelist said --passionately -- that she's more likely to make an online purchase if free shipping is involved. She finds out about those offers via email.

A new report shows marketers may agree -- and are following that tack during the holiday season.

ComScore says during the week of Nov. 22, transactions with free shipping accounted for 50% of online sales -- 11% higher than the same week a year ago.

Also for every week since Nov. 8, online transactions with free shipping have been higher than the same period a year ago.

However, for the week that included Cyber Monday, the lift was a relatively modest 4% (44% of e-commerce business included free shipping).

ComScore says that "the average order value for orders including free shipping has been about 15% higher than those without free shipping."

Other comScore data: E-commerce spending for the first 34 days of the November â€" December holiday season has been $15.3 billion, 4% more than a year ago.

Overall, Cyber Monday with $887 million in spending equalled the heaviest day on record for online spending.