Why Pinterest Should Be Part of Your Ecommerce Strategy

As marketers, we all know Google and Bing. Both are tried-and-true platforms for pure search intent and play an important role in marketing strategies – especially for ecommerce.

But there’s another platform that’s often overlooked where you can increase your revenue with less competition and grow a following of new customers.

Pinterest.

Why You Should Advertise on Pinterest

Let’s start with how many people are using Pinterest. The platform says it has 619 million active monthly users, with 1.5 billion pins saved each week. That user base spans multiple generations of shoppers – all looking for inspiration.

So, with that in mind, let’s talk about why Pinterest might be the best platform to keep in your back pocket to grow your business incrementally.

Its Role as a Search Engine

Some people may think of Pinterest as another social media platform. But that’s not necessarily the case, especially in the digital marketing world.

Pinterest describes itself as a “visual search and discovery platform.” And it turns out, 39% of consumers use Pinterest as a search engine. Where things get interesting is 36% of consumers start their searches on Pinterest instead of Google, with Gen Z consumers (39%) most likely to do so. This is huge since Pinterest says Gen Z makes up 50% of its users.

Its potential to function as a discovery engine while having built-in purchase intent means Pinterest isn’t “just another social media platform” – and it's not something you want to overlook.

Trend Insights

Pinterest has its own version of Google’s Keyword Planner, full of valuable insights into current trending searches with forecasted engagement data: Pinterest Trends.

This feature works similarly to other keyword research tools you’ve probably heard of or used in the past. You enter your potential keyword, and Pinterest presents its search volume trends over time, its seasonality (spikes and slumps), and related search terms.

But unlike other keyword tools, Pinterest Trends allows you to learn what users are planning or what they’re about to buy. It allows marketers like you to better align your campaigns with real-time demand.

Pinterest and the Buyer’s Journey

Pinterest doesn’t always get the recognition it deserves in the buyer’s journey. Depending on the products you’re selling, the platform could be highly valuable because of how people search on the platform.

Users are seeking inspiration, a solid foundation, and a trustworthy starting point. It’s why the word inspo (or inspiration) gets tossed around so much with Pinterest, indicating the top-of-funnel prospecting that’s important for brand growth.

This is where you come in.

Your brand/product could be one of the things they find, discover, or learn about, just when they least expect it! Then boom, you’ve taught a new user about your product AND inserted yourself into their buying journey.

But Pinterest isn’t just useful for the beginning of the buyer’s journey. Users can also be toward the bottom of the funnel, looking for a quick fix. Maybe they’ve already done their research – or even subconsciously made their decision.

Pinterest’s format removes friction for those decision-makers. The platform shows products directly in a user’s feed, providing upfront pricing and links to product pages. So on just one platform, users can see the product, imagine it in their space, and purchase.

How Pinterest Campaign "Types" Work

One of the biggest things that separates Pinterest from other advertising platforms is that it doesn’t technically have campaign types. It has objectives.

A buyer’s journey isn’t always linear, especially on Pinterest. And users can jump stages since they’re already in the planning mindset… so advertisers on this platform need to think more along the lines of Which objective best matches the type of user's intent level I’m looking to attain?

Campaign Objectives

Awareness (For The Explorer)

The awareness objective will optimize your campaigns to maximize reach and impressions for top-of-funnel users. This objective is often used when a brand is launching a new product, entering a new category, or needs fast visibility. Overall, it allows your campaign to find the explorers on the platform and introduce them to your brand.

Consideration (For The Browser)

The consideration objective is more of a mid-funnel approach. When using this objective, Pinterest will optimize your campaign toward clicks, saves, and overall engagement. Since the browsers are in research mode, this campaign objective allows you to add keyword targeting, taking advantage of searcher intent. The consideration objective allows you to shape the demand for users actively searching for ideas and products before they’re ready to buy.

Video Views (For The Content Consumer)

The video views objective optimizes toward (…are you ready for this?) video views! This campaign objective will maximize video consumption for an upper to mid-level campaign strategy. If your brand prioritizes storytelling to build interest before clicks or engagement, this objective does just that.

Conversions (For The Cart Committer)

The conversion objective optimizes toward pure purchases and adds to carts… the users on the platform that are truly committed to their cart. Since the users the campaign optimizes toward are on the edge of converting, this objective is perfect for the lower funnel and scaling purchased revenue.

Catalog Sales (For The “I’ll Know It When I See It” Shoppers)

If you choose to use the catalog objective for your campaign, it will use your brand's product feed to dynamically show relevant products to users on the platform, meaning no creative is needed when using this campaign objective. Since this objective shows your brand's specific products, it's perfect for ecommerce (obviously) when you want to scale revenue, drive efficiency, and have continuous acquisition for new and old customers.

So… Which Objective Should You Use?

If you’re new to advertising on Pinterest, you may be drawn to the awareness or consideration objectives. But if you want my advice, conversion and catalog campaigns are the way to go for ecommerce if you’re looking to drive revenue and reach new customers simultaneously.

You can thank Pinterest’s algorithm for that one. It’ll go after users who are likely to convert, not just users who might. Let’s dive deeper into why:

Why Use the Conversions Objective

Conversion campaign objectives optimize for purchases (obviously). But on top of that, the algorithm looks at users most likely to take the action, aka new users with similar behaviors, as converters.

On top of that, you don’t have to add keywords if you don’t want to. Even without them, the ads will still show in users' search results and their home feed discovery. That means you can capture the high-intent searchers browsing around the platform.

Why Use the Catalog Sales Objective

When you use the catalog sales objective, you’re letting Pinterest scan users' searches, saves, clicks, and category browsing – then match that behavior with specific SKUs in your catalog. In other words, you’re not targeting specific audiences or interests but intent signals tied to YOUR products.

And that’s not all.

Users on Pinterest are going for that inspiration. That “let me see what's out there.” This is very beneficial for ecommerce brands. On Google or Bing, I would bet a user searching “Nike running sneakers” will click on that Nike ad instead of seeing who else is possibly selling running sneakers. A user on Pinterest will search “best running sneakers,” without being brand-specific.

That’s where your brand comes in, potentially influencing their next purchase decision.

Pinterest’s AI-Powered Automation

Performance+ is Pinterest’s artificial intelligence setting. And, similar to other platforms, it’s touted as the best invention yet. But what does it actually do?

The setting automates how ads are built, targeted, and optimized, essentially bundling Pinterest’s tools into one simplified setup. Performance+ does have a decent number of levers you can choose to pull or not pull, but the overall Pinterest Performance+ setting is a single toggle (aka lever) you can turn on when creating your campaign.

When pulling this overarching lever, you’re putting the following into Pinterest’s hands:

• Targeting (broad and signal-based)
• Bidding (optimizing for the lowest cost outcomes)
• Budget allocation

The platform then uses the learning phase to test different audiences and find who will most likely convert.

The key to Performance+ is using it in a way that benefits you and what you’re trying to accomplish with each of your campaigns.

What’s Caught My Eye With Pinterest Performance+

I’ve used Pinterest’s Performance+ setting for some of my clients here at Cypress North. And while results and settings will vary by campaign or account, this is what I’ve found so far:

• The Algorithm Advantage: Turning on the campaign-level Performance+ setting allows the campaign to leverage Pinterest’s algorithm and find the actual users out there that will convert.
• Simplified Targeting: Performance+ helps you reach a broader group of users, allowing for an easier ramp-up in impressions. Just keep in mind, by turning this on, you lose the ability for audience segmentation and can potentially waste some campaign spend on irrelevant users.
• Full Catalog Coverage: The Catalog “All Products” Targeting toggle will use your entire product catalog in the product group. Having your entire list of products allows maximum coverage and lets Pinterest’s algorithm find the best-selling SKUs to show users, but you have to give up some of your merchandising control. You can only have one product group of all products, making it slightly more difficult to report on what SKUs are selling or even what SKUs Pinterest is showing users for engagement.

There’s a lot more to Performance+ than just these few settings. These are just a few I’ve tested already.

As a whole, Performance+ replaces a lot of manual controls with its system-driven decisions. So, again, you need to use Performance+ in a way that helps your campaigns succeed, and pick and choose where to let AI take the reins.

Ready to Take Advantage of This Secret Ecommerce Weapon?

The buyer's journey has many, many touch points. It’s crucial to stay top of mind and meet the buyer where they are in their journey.

Pinterest is a place where users actively seek out guidance and inspiration. A user might see your pin, save it, and then spot your brand again later on Google, Bing, or Pinterest again – then decide to make that purchase. If they hadn’t met you on their favorite brainstorming app, you would lose out on not only the new customer but the revenue as well.

So don’t overlook Pinterest in your ecommerce strategy, because new users and higher revenue might be one pin away.

Ready to incorporate Pinterest into your ecommerce strategy? Contact our team to see how we can help!