As an eCommerce business are you taking full advantage of Pinterest as a marketing channel? Pinterest has over 200 million monthly active users, making it a great place to find and target new customers. This visual platform is perfect for selling products centered on images and visual representations of ideas. Whether you sell food, fashion, or fun, there are many ways Pinterest can help drive sales.
What Is Unique About Pinterest
The business model behind Pinterest is just as unique as the platform itself. It’s less of a social platform and more of an idea-collection platform. Instead of posting all personal photos and comments like Instagram or Facebook users, Pinterest users create curated pinboards. They collect and categorize photos uploaded by others and pin specific items to a board to reference them later.
In addition to uploading, saving, sorting, and managing images, users can also upload videos and other consumable media content. To learn more about Pinterest, check out this resource on Pinterest marketing statistics.
“When Pinterest works well, it helps you find things that are meaningful to you. The platform is a catalog that’s hand-picked for users.”
- Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann
How Does Pinterest Business Work & Why Use It?
A Pinterest business is easy to set up and a great way to get organic and paid traffic. Start by applying for your Verified Merchant Account. Pinterest claims that verified merchants experience a 17% higher conversion rate than merchants who don’t participate. Think of it as social verification: your brand has been vetted and deemed trustworthy.
Once you have a Pinterest Business account, use the dashboard to connect your eCommerce website. If you have a Shopify store, you can use the Shopify and Pinterest co-created app to help you integrate the two platforms. You can pin products directly from your eCommerce website to your Pinterest account.
Pinterest attracts serious buyers and decision-makers who want inspiration and look for the latest trends. 85% bought something based on Pins they saw.
Pinterest offers behavioral targeting based on personal interests, keywords, and those with similar profiles to your existing audiences. Brands that run ads on Pinterest experience a 2.3x lower cost per conversion than social media ads, making it a cost-effective marketing channel.
Using Pinterest to Boost Your eCommerce Sales
Pinterest is a great place to run giveaways and other promotions to grow your audience and eCommerce sales.
Here are some unique strategies for Pinterest to increase your eCommerce conversion rate:
Make Inspiring Pins
Pinterest pins are images that people bookmark. They can search for specific pins, save them, or click on the pin to learn more.
When it comes to making pins that people notice, there are five best practices:
- Make them visually appealing by using only high-quality images
- Always be original
- Keep your message positive
- Make photos relevant to what you're selling
- Make pins actionable so inspired users can buy now
Also, always include a "Pin it" button on product pages to increase referral traffic to your website
Include Pins on Your Website
People collect pins by putting them on a board. You can embed an entire board onto your store’s website. You can create a catalog of up to 30 pins using a widget to promote the latest holiday offers. It’s an excellent way to announce the latest products and encourage customers to follow your brand.
Use Rich Pins for Greater Brand Awareness
Rich Pins are interactive images that allow users to discover more information about a pin simply by clicking on it. Rich pins are SEO-focused, pulling metadata from the website pages where they link and increase sales of individual products.
There are three general types of rich pins, depending on the product.
- Promoted Pin - is a Pin already published on your boards
- Product Pin - contains a product image or video, description, and price. It can also include a "view product" call to action
- Offer Pin - is a Pin that promotes a discount or other special offer. Offer Pins can include an "add to cart" call to action
When you publish a Rich Pin, visitors can choose to click through to view your products or add them straight to their cart.
Create A Shopping Solution
To boost eCommerce sales on Pinterest, create a Shopping Solution. It’s a combination of a board and a wish list. Create a shopping solution featuring products related to a specific interest, such as weddings or home décor. You can make them exclusive for only those who follow you on Pinterest. A Shopping Solution is an excellent way to engage with your followers and get them excited about products related to your niche.
To learn more about shoppable social media, check out this resource on the benefits of shoppable social media for eCommerce stores.
Run Contests & Promotions to Grow Your Audience
Pinterest is a great place to run giveaways and other promotions to grow your audience and eCommerce sales. People who like your stuff enough to pin will likely share it with their followers. Running promotions can help you engage a larger audience and convert more of them into buyers.
One way to start is to let visitors make a board and provide a prize for creating the best one. You can also make it a requirement to pin your products.
Showcase Products with Video Ads
According to a study by AdWeek, video ads on Pinterest increase click-through rates by 55% and are 2x more effective in driving sales than other ads. Since Pinterest is a visual medium, video ads are an excellent tool for highlighting any eCommerce products.
Promote your website with video ads, ensuring the ad contains a URL to your website or the product page.
Use Pinterest Ad Manager
The Pinterest Ad Manager is how you manage your Pinterest ads and track their ROI. The Ad Manager allows you to schedule your ads, create highly-targeted ad campaigns, and monitor detailed analytics about your ads. The Pinterest Ad Manager will enable you to design and run ads that appear on Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram.
Inside the Ad Manager, you can also create retargeting campaigns to follow up with visitors who did not make a purchase.
Run Pinterest Analytics
Once you’ve created and implemented your Pinterest strategy for boosting eCommerce sales, you can use Pinterest Analytics and measurement tools to track your progress and engagement. Pinterest also integrates with Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, or Sprout Social.
These tools will help determine what’s working and where you should focus more attention.
Pinterest Ad Types
Pinterest Ads are pins sponsored to receive extra exposure in relevant search results. Businesses can boost sales by using any of five general ad types:
- Standard Pin Ad
- Product Pin Ad
- Shopping or Offer Ad
- Carousel Ads
- Video Ads
These ads are 2.3x more cost-efficient than ads on other channels and double return on ad spend (ROAS) for retail brands.
Pinterest Increases Sales Online and In-Store
Why is Pinterest a successful eCommerce marketing tool for new businesses? 97% of Pinterest searches are unbranded using generic keywords. 77% of users discover new relevant products through the platform. After viewing promoted Pins, half of Pinterest users made a purchase.
With millions of monthly active users, it’s a great place to find and target new customers. This visual platform is perfect for selling products centered on images and visual representations of ideas. To use Pinterest effectively, create visually-appealing products for your eCommerce store, and make sure they are pin-friendly.
Pinterest is more than an online sales platform. 41% of people who browse in stores use Pinterest as a personal shopping assistant to see samples and how other people used the product. Consider Pinterest as an additional revenue stream for your eCommerce store.
